Former Alabama Mr. Baseball part of busy MLB trade day

Before the Major League Baseball trade deadline arrived at 5 p.m. CDT Tuesday, big-league teams made 26 trades for the day.

One of those deals involved a former Alabama high school star who was acquired by the New York Mets, an out-of-the-running team that stockpiled prospects by trading veteran players to contenders.

The Mets acquired former St. Luke’s shortstop Jeremiah Jackson from the Los Angeles Angels for pitcher Dominic Leone and cash considerations. MLB Pipeline rated Jackson as the No. 22 prospect in New York’s minor-league system after the trade.

In 2018, Jackson was Alabama’s Mr. Baseball, the AHSAA Class 2A Player of the Year and AHSAA Class 2A Hitter of the Year, as selected by the Alabama Sports Writers Association, for the Mobile school. He also won the Perfect Game/Rawlings National High School Player of the Year Award and was named a first-team All-American by Baseball America.

The Angels selected Jackson with the 57th pick in the 2018 draft.

In his fourth minor-league season, Jackson had a .248 batting with 15 home runs and 21 stolen bases for the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas in Madison.

A shortstop for most of his minor-league career, Jackson has played 29 games at third base, 21 at second base, 14 in center field, 11 at shortstop, 11 in left field and two at designated hitter for the Trash Pandas in 2023.

In his 10th Major League season, Leone has a 1-3 record with a 4.40 earned-run average in 31 appearances out of the Mets’ bullpen.

Entering Tuesday’s games, the Mets had a 50-55 record. They trailed the Atlanta Braves in the NL East by 17.5 games and were six games back in the wild-card race.

At 56-51, the Angels were 4.5 games behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West and three games out of a wild-card spot.

In the countdown to the trade deadline, New York also traded pitchers Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and former Paul Bryant High School and Alabama standout David Robertson and outfielders Tommy Pham and Mark Canha.

In contrast, the Angels also acquired first baseman C.J. Cron, outfielder Randal Grichuk and pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.