PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) – After being selected in the fourth round of the 2025 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros, Nick Monistere made a bittersweet decision.
The junior opted to sign with Houston, forgoing his final year of eligibility with the University of Southern Mississippi.
“Houston gave me a good opportunity, and I’m not going to be able to pass that up,” Monistere said.
“It’s been my dream my whole life to play at the big league level, and I’m grateful for it, but it’s going to suck to leave Southern Miss.”
Monistere paused, then continued.
“I love all my teammates, all the fans, all my coaches, you know. It’s a really hard decision to leave there, but I’m excited for the future.”
Monistere’s draft selection comes after a stellar 2025 campaign.
In 63 games played, the second baseman saw career highs in nearly every major offensive category.
Monistere ended his junior year batting .323 with 83 hits, 21 home runs and 72 runs batted in.
He ranked first across the Sun Belt Conference in homers and RBI.
Monistere was named the Sun Belt Conference’s 2025 Player of the Year.
He also was a Ferriss Trophy nominee, an award given annually to the top collegiate baseball player in the state of Mississippi.
Monistere said he will remember the 2025 season fondly.
“It was probably the best season I’ve ever had in my life,” Monistere said. “I just tried to play to the best of my ability and I wasn’t thinking about anything, stats, awards, none of that. I was just trying to help our team win every day, and God was with me, and I put together a great year.
“I mean, I haven’t seen a fan base travel the way our fan base travels. It felt like a home game everywhere we went. It makes it fun to play at a place like that for three years.“
As he departs Southern Miss, Monistere said he felt he helped set the bar to be used to measure future success.
“I feel like we’ve set the standard.” Monistere said. “It used to be like we’re really excited to host a regional or we’re happy about our regional streak that we’ve made. But I mean, we hosted a regional this year, and we were upset because we expected to win that regional. We were a game away from Omaha my freshman year, and then been to a regional the past two.
“I mean, I just feel like the standard’s climbing, and it’s gonna keep climbing and all those guys are bringing in the talent to be an Omaha team every single year.”
Now that Monistere’s chapter is closed with USM, he delivered a message to the Houston Astros fanbase.
“They’re gonna get a competitor with me.“ Monistere said. “I’m gonna compete every single day, and I expect to be a big leaguer and win a lot more World Series in my time with the organization, so I’m excited for it.”
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