Mets centerfield prospect Jake Mangum brings football family to baseball

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Mangums are a proud football family, but their newest entrant into professional sports is throwing — or hitting, really — a changeup.

The son, grandson and nephew of ex-football players, centerfielder Jake Mangum is also an under-the-radar Mets prospect, rated by Baseball America as the best defensive outfielder in the farm system and mentioned by name by Kevin Howard, director of player development, as a player he is eager to watch this year.

After spending most of last season with Double-A Binghamton, Mangum, who turns 26 next month, has an outside shot at reaching the majors in 2022, depending of course on the Mets’ major-league need and his own continued development.

Among the moments that led Mangum here was the decision after ninth grade to quit the family business. He felt a need to specialize in baseball if he wanted to play at higher levels, and as a little skinny kid — he said he weighed 160 pounds when he arrived at Mississippi State — he didn’t quite have the body of some of his more hulking gridiron-prowling relatives.

Plus, baseball is great.

"There’s no clock, man," Mangum said Tuesday afternoon at the Mets’ spring training complex. "You can always come back. Ninth inning with two outs, you got all the time in the world to come back. It’s poetic. It’s just a beautiful game. Everything about it."

Mangum’s grandfather was John Mangum, who played a couple of seasons for the AFL’s Boston Patriots in the 1960s. Then came his children: John Jr., a defensive back for the Bears in the ‘90s, and Kris, a Panthers tight end from 1997-2006, after standout SEC careers.

Jake Mangum is too young to really remember his dad’s football days. But it was with John Jr. — who is Alabama’s all-time leader in passes broken up and tied for second in interceptions — that Jake worked on defense "just as hard as hitting."

"In an age where you mash the baseball as far as you can, defense is still important," Mangum said. "At the end of the day, the way I look at it is, I want every pitcher on the mound to want me behind them. I want them to trust me, that 3-and-0 they can throw a ball right down the middle and if they drive it to the outfield gap, I’m going to go get it for them."

Last season, Mangum made strides offensively, too, hitting .294 with a .342 OBP and .459 slugging percentage. He spent 2020, when the pandemic caused the cancellation of the minor-league season, overhauling and learning to trust his swing. When he struggled last summer, the Mets offered guidance on a distinct change in approach at the plate, which helped spur a hot finish.

"Nobody is going to outwork him," Howard said, noting that Mangum has worked out at the Mets’ facility for two months. "He’s got a lot of natural ability. I just really think he’s a guy that a lot of people have underestimated. He’s going to emerge as one of those top seven [prospects] before the year is over."

Mangum is one of six Mississippi State products in the Mets’ organization, a group that includes pitching prospect J.T. Ginn (2019-20) and manager Buck Showalter (1977), and he is very proud of his alma mater.

But he goes right to quoting Nick Saban, Alabama’s football coach, in discussing skepticism directed toward his playing ability.

"I look at it as the best motivator there is, man. There’s nothing better than doubt," Mangum said. "Nick Saban says it best: 'All that rat poison you get when it’s all positive [feedback], it can get you real complacent.' I had a good year last year in pro ball, but I can’t get complacent."