Ron Polk Ring of Honor 2026 Selection Chris Stratton: Available and Reliable
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College Baseball Central complements its coverage of Southeastern Conference baseball by returning our feature series on Mississippi State's Ron Polk Ring of Honor. Now in its eighth class since 2019, CBC writers Doug Kyle and Bo Carter team up again to provide insight into the 2026 class of honorees, infielder Alex Grammas, pitcher Chris Stratton, and outfielder Nat "Buck" Showalter. Today, we profile Stratton, who excelled from the time he reached campus, became a first-round pick in the MLB draft as a junior, and spent a decade in The Show by adapting and always having himself available and reliable.
By Doug Kyle
Chris Stratton grew up in Tupelo, MS, a town equidistant between Mississippi State and Ole Miss. His family had a Mississippi State connection, though, his grandfather and mother having gone to school there, and he also had an older brother who was an MSU student at the time.
“I grew up going to State sporting events,” said Stratton. “We used to tailgate really close to the stadium, where the Junction is now. I had a backyard neighbor, Chris Garrett, who committed to State in football but wound up going to LSU. His family was diehard State fans too. In middle school and high school, Tupelo was a mix of State fans and Ole Miss fans, maybe more people my age were Ole Miss fans because they were really good in baseball, the regionals and super regionals.
“And I attended more of those games than at State. So, it was basically between Ole Miss and State, and I tried to keep an open mind about it, but in the end, it was hard to turn down going to Mississippi State with all the family ties. And while State had a couple of disappointing seasons, the vision that John Cohen and Butch Thompson presented on an unofficial visit spoke really well to me.”
Like the Gleason family now with three Bulldog generations, Stratton enjoyed living the dream of growing up wearing maroon and white as a fan and transitioning that to donning it as a uniform, the real thing. “I kinda wanted to go to Mississippi State anyway, even if I was just going to school, and the fact that I might be able to go play baseball sounded great.”
As his talent and skills continued to develop, Stratton then began to realize that not only could he play at State, there was a chance he could get drafted and play a little at the next level. “It just sort of snowballed, there had never been any dream of playing in the big leagues for me, it was just step by step where God just kept presenting opportunities, doors kept opening, and I just trusted in what He had out in front of me, things just kinda worked out.”
And did they! Stratton was an immediate success as a freshman competing in the SEC. He led the Bulldogs in starts, innings pitched, strikeouts, tied for wins, and was named to the All-SEC Freshman team. It was a tough year by Mississippi State standards (23-33 overall, 6-24 SEC), and Stratton is quite candid in his assessment.
“To be blunt about it, we were not a good pitching staff at all! Our hitters were so good, a lot of seniors on the team that were experienced hitters. And John Cohen brought in, I think it was 22 new guys, on his first class to get in. We were given a lot of opportunity, thrown into the fire for lack of a better term. It was a sink or swim situation, definitely a trying year overall for everyone.
“I think that experience we got that year was so valuable, especially going into our junior year for people like Kendall Graveman, Ben Bracewell, Chad Girordo, pitchers who got a lot of opportunity early, time to develop and understand what we were about to go through the next couple years.”
In Stratton’s case, benefits began to appear even his freshman season. The Bulldogs ventured to Baton Rouge, LA, and with no 2010 postseason chances ahead, to finish the regular season against the defending national champion LSU Tigers.
In a performance that no doubt chagrined many in the home crowd that day, he proceeded to pitch seven scoreless innings, followed up by two innings of save relief from fellow freshman Graveman in a 2-1 win. It may have been the brightest moment of a tough year and a glimpse into the future, and who could have imagined the pair would both go on and enjoy a decade in Major League Baseball?
“One big memory I have from that game, being my freshman year,” said Stratton, “It was probably one of the hottest games I’ve ever played in. I just remember batting practice, guys were taking their BP tops off and trying to sit in front of fans, putting ice on themselves just because it was so hot.
“I threw a bullpen before the game, with Butch Thompson looking over me. It was by far the worst bullpen I had ever thrown. He was looking at me like ‘Do I need to be looking for somebody else?’ and then the game starts and you can’t put too much stock into a bullpen, you just have to get on the mound and forget about anything that has happened and just attack. I’ve had bullpens later on, even at the professional level, where you’re hitting your spot over and over, and a coach will tell you to throw just one errant one, so you can get out of your rhythm and then get back into a rhythm.
“It did not look pretty from the start but ended up being a big game.”
And the relationship of Stratton and Graveman extended beyond the diamond. They were in each other’s wedding and have remained good friends through the years and careers.
“One thing I’ll say about Kendall of which I was very envious,” Stratton revealed. “His competitiveness and personality, he would not be beaten. I was always taught to be level headed, don’t get too high, don’t get too low, and sometimes maybe I should have been more emotionally driven, even if it was internally. Kendall had the competitive drive that every player would envy, just because you knew when he got the ball, he was coming at you, and there was no way he was walking away without winning. I’m super happy for the career he’s had.”
Stratton’s sophomore year, he became somewhat of a victim of his past success, moving from Sunday starter to either Friday or Saturday and matched up often with the opponent’s ace. “My freshman year was good, and I felt like I had a terrible sophomore year. I was trying to throw a cutter that Butch Thompson had presented to me. Sometimes it would be good, a cutter, sometimes it would be straight, sometimes it would be a slider, it was just really hard for me to get a feel for.
“Some games, I’d be dominant with it, some games it was a battle, with people teeing off on me. In my mind, I felt like I had an awful year, but at the end of the year, you look at the numbers and it’s essentially the same year as the one previous.”
That summer, Stratton played in the Cape Cod League, for the Harwich Mariners. He recalls, “I talked to Butch before I left, and I said, ‘I either need to make this a slider and make it good, or I just need to get rid of it and figure out a different way to attack some of the hitters.’ That summer, I was committed to making it good, and I honestly feel like that’s what propelled me in my junior year and helped me get drafted.
“Butch was good at identifying what made you good and tweaks you could make to potentially up what you had,” Stratton added. “I was more of a north-south guy when I first got to State, kind of very over-the-top, fast ball-curve ball was my combination. But, my curve ball sometimes was so big that umpires gave up on it and called it a ball. To his credit, Butch told me I needed something in the middle, a wrinkle that’s a strike. That’s why we ended up doing the cutter/slider thing my sophomore year, and it really hammered home and propelled me that junior year.”
That 2011 season is frequently pointed to as the season State rebounded from the down years following the 2007 Men’s College World Series appearance, winning a regional in Atlanta, taking Florida to the brink in the Gainesville Super Regional, and being ranked at the end of the season. And like many, Stratton recalls the walkoff home run by Nick Vickerson in game two at Florida as a favorite memory.
“I just think it was so incredible, the team all rallied behind him, and our team came together that year even though it stung, and we knew we were going to really be good the next year. And, we had some awesome battles with Florida (ranked #1 in the Super Regional) that season. We played them seven times, and all of them were battles.”
It was not that great a year personally for Stratton, but it was for his team. “That’s the way I was raised, and that’s the way it should be. If you can’t help the team individually, you can help them in another way.”
Stratton’s junior year, he benefited from the prior year’s lessons learned about what worked best for him and his performance continued to ramp up to the eventual MLB first round draft choice he became. Recognition came with it as well, All-SEC and consensus All-American from the six recognized college baseball outlets.
While Stratton had primarily been a starter his three years, besides the freshman LSU win, his next best remembered appearance came in relief, when he slammed the door on Vanderbilt in the 2012 SEC Tournament Championship game, a 3-0 win over the Commodores. He threw just five pitches to get the final out, ending a marathon run in Hoover of six games in six straight days for the Bulldogs.
Like 2010 at LSU, Stratton recalls it being brutally hot, and he recalls that 1/3 inning was Vanderbilt’s Tony Kemp, a highly successful professional as well. “He’s a great guy, and I’d run into him all throughout the minor leagues, he’s busted me a few times about that! I got him to ground out to short, and just remember the dog pile then, with Wes Rea holding up the pile to make sure I didn’t get absolutely squished! It was a special memory, for sure. I think we played every day at noon in the heat at Hoover, Mitch Slauter caught every inning, and it was just brutal and so tiring, sweat pouring all over him. He’s at second base one time, trying to score on a base hit, and it looks like he’s running in quick sand.”
It was common in 1912 to have six-day bicycle races, but in 2012, not so much for college baseball. At the NCAA regional in Tallahassee, long-time opponent (since 1909) Samford proved the nemesis, dealing what must have been an exhausted State team both their losses sandwiched around a win over UAB.
The year finished 40-24 (16-14 SEC), and it was time for Stratton to look toward the professional opportunity he’d earned. He was a first round selection, the 20th pick overall by the San Francisco Giants, and made his Major League debut May 30, 2016 against the Atlanta Braves. He pitched exclusively in relief that year in seven appearances, then mostly a starter the next two of his three with the Giants, 36 out of 41 games, good for a 15-14 record.
From there, Stratton played for the Los Angeles Angels and Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019, in 35 games starting just 5. He became almost entirely a reliever after that, out of 291 appearances a single start for the Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, and Los Angeles Dodgers, where he finished his career of 374 games in 2025.
After starting a career-high 26 games in 2018, just three years later, Stratton made a career-high 68 appearances, all in relief. How did he handle and adjust to such a transition in his role?
“I used to have a ton of respect for relievers, as a starter, and I would think, ‘Man, how do these guys throw every day?’ As a starter, you get your every fifth day to start, you have your routine and your preparations, you know how to manage your workload, when to throw your bullpen, when to lift heavy, running, all those certain things.
“As a reliever, you just have to be ready to go every night. I was fortunate enough to come up with the Giants, where you had guys like Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain, just a lot of guys who had been in the league for a long time that really showed me the way, what it looked like to have a routine as a starter. You have your thing in college and the minor leagues, but just to hear it from those guys who’ve been doing it, it’s a little different how you move in the big leagues compared to anywhere else.
“You try to figure out what they did well and mimic that. Then going to the bullpen, I was fortunate enough to play with some other great relievers at the time that helped me with things like ‘This is when you need to get hot, this is when you need to get loose, you don’t have to be rapid fire right now, gotta tone it down,’ little nuances throughout the game, that veteran experience and leadership that really showed up for me. I’m very appreciative for all those guys for caring about me and my career.”
Did Stratton possibly learn more from veteran teammates than perhaps his pitching coaches?
“Absolutely, you can listen to the coach and he can have little things to help you out, little cues. They see you every day, they see you get hot every day, so they know if stuff’s working and stuff’s not working, what’s helped you in the past. They’re there like guard rails, to keep you in check. But any big changes I’ve ever really had was talking to players, about grips on pitches, how to attack a guy. Maybe a guy on our team had similar stuff to mine, and he would say ‘curve ball, bounce it to this guy, he has a tough time laying off, especially late in the count.’ I was just using their experience, doing your homework to know when you can go get a guy, when it’s best to just seek contact.”
With such a fundamental shift in role and routine, Stratton modified his approach to match.
“I used that time as a reliever, I thought my best attribute would be just being available every day. It doesn’t sound like much, but I was never really an overpowering guy, I was just one of those, whenever I got the ball, I wanted to finish the inning, and any time the coach asked if I was good to go, I always said yes. I wanted that to be my calling card, to let the manager know he could trust me with whatever was presented.”
Finishing an All-American college career, then 10 years in the Major Leagues, followed quickly by selection to the Ron Polk Ring of Honor, what does that mean to Chris Stratton?
“I think back on something Butch Thompson said to me a long time ago. He said ‘If you play as long as I think you’re going to play, you’re going to have a different coach all the time, so you need to become your own best coach.’ I just took that as each guy was going to have something to present to you, and you’re going to have to filter that the best way you know how.
“I’d say I’m a people pleaser by nature, a coach’s kid, so any time somebody would present something to me early on, I did my best to follow that. Maybe it hindered me at times, but I learned a lot from that, just to be great at what you’re good at. I heard Brent Rooker say that recently. That’s basically the gist of being a baseball player, little things like adding a new pitch, it’s the best thing you can do.”
Going back to Dudy Noble Field, seeing his plaque unveiled that day and then being greeted by it when he returns, what are Stratton’s thoughts on the recognition?
“Any time you can be mentioned in the same sentence as Ron Polk, what an honor and what a guy he was, not only for Mississippi State but for college sports. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on a new team or talking to someone who learned I went to Mississippi State and they say ‘Oh yeah, Ron Polk sent me a typed letter the other day!’ It doesn’t take much for that to make an impact for our sport, at the college level and in his time at the Cape Cod League.
"As for awards, I’m not a big show guy to reminisce about old times, but to be associated with Coach Polk’s name, I’m very honored and appreciative.”
Stratton notes there were many other supporters and mentors through the years, with a special mention to his wife, Martha, a relationship that dates back to high school. He credits her as “the rock of our family, she’s seen it all, and if not for her, I never would have been able to do what I did.”
Retired from baseball, Stratton now gets more time to spend as a husband and father to three children, son Mack (9) and daughters Mary Bennett (7) and Darby (5).
Would he ever consider coaching beyond voluntarily assisting with his son’s team?
“I don’t know, that’s a great question. When I was younger, I wanted to be a coach. It’s in my blood, my dad being a high school basketball coach, but I’m just not sure yet, still trying to keep my options open.”
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