Brighton High grad Dalton Rushing now playing for reigning World Series champs

Making a Major League Baseball roster is really, really hard.

According to Google, 0.5 percent of high school baseball players are drafted, and only about 10 percent of those ever make it to the big leagues. Until last week, just two Tipton County men – Aaron Fultz and Tucker Ashford – had ever played in the modern major leagues.

Now there are three.

Dalton Rushing, a 2019 Brighton High School graduate, was promoted to the Los Angeles Dodgers from triple A Oklahoma City on Wednesday. A day later, while starting at catcher, he picked up his first career hit, a single to center against the Oakland Athletics. He’s had four hits in 10 at-bats, including a double and two RBIs, in three games.

In his first game for the reigning world champs he was hitting in a lineup that included superstars like Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.

“Obviously, it’s special,” Rushing said. “Doing it with a team like this makes it more special. It was one of the better nights of my life.”

Of the 12 local players who have been drafted, only Covington’s Tucker Ashford, who was drafted second overall in 1974 and went on to play in the majors, was picked higher than Rushing, who was drafted 40^th by the Dodgers in the 2022 draft.

The last player from a Tipton County high school to be drafted was Colton Hathcock, a 2014 Brighton graduate who was drafted 446th in 2017. Other locals who have been drafted are Joe Melton of Brighton, Jon Ashford, Tim Corder, Tony Marbry, Jeff McCollum and Rusty Gay of Covington and Lendon Willis, Cody Overbeck, Fultz and Jeff Fayne of Munford.

Rushing had a breakout junior season in 2022 at the University of Louisville, hitting .310 with a team-high 23 homers (top 30 nationally) and 62 RBIs. Rushing played behind Henry Davis during his freshman and sophomore seasons. Davis was picked number one overall by the Pittsburg Pirates in the 2021 draft.

During the 2021 season at Louisville, Rushing hit .254 with four homers and 14 RBIs in 28 games. During 11 games of the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Rushing got six starts at first base. He hit .308 with four doubles, a homer and six RBIs.

Rushing was a four-year starter at Brighton and verbally committed to Louisville as a sophomore. He was all-state twice and the 2019 district player of the year. Rushing was the 102nd-ranked player nationally and third in Tennessee by Prep Baseball Report and a Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year finalist. He hit .491 with 10 doubles, six triples, 11 homers and 46 RBIs his senior season at Brighton.

As is tradition for a player’s first MLB hit, the baseball that Rushing drilled to center for his first hit was returned to the Dodgers’ dugout. During a postgame interview, Rushing revealed where the ball was going.

“I think it’s for sure going to my mother. She was here tonight. That’s something special she’ll keep forever and mean a lot to her.”