Vicksburg’s Jordan Henry now has a tough choice, but either way, it’s a win-win situation.

The Ole Miss outfielder and former Vicksburg High star was drafted on Wednesday in the seventh round of the Major League Draft by the Cleveland Indians.

“It’s a great honor and I’m very excited,” Henry said after being taken with 215th pick overall. “Cleveland is a great organization with a great minor league system.”

As a junior, Henry can negotiate with the Indians on a deal, but if the two sides can’t come to an agreement by Aug. 15, he can return to Ole Miss for his senior season and be eligible to be re-drafted in the 2010 draft by another team. Teams under rule can not re-draft previous picks unless the player gives his consent.

“I’m going to meet with the guy next week and move on from there,” Henry said. “I love Ole Miss, but I’m going to see what happens.”

According to Henry, it’s his speed at the top of the order that convinced the Indians to draft him and his season statistics at Ole Miss bear this out.

“They all mentioned my speed,” Henry said of his discussions with scouts. “I tried to be aggressive this year on the basepaths.”

No kidding.

The Rebels’ leadoff man set the table for the Southeastern Conference in steals and walks. He eclipsed the single-season steal mark at Ole Miss with 38 steals and nearly took the one in walks with 56, just three shy of breaking the record.

Primarily a contact hitter, he batted .347 and scored a team-high 70 runs with 31 driven in.

The scouting report from mlb.com is a telling one.

“Henry is a thin, speedy outfielder with the ability to steal a base and track down balls in the outfield. At the plate, he’s a line-drive hitter who goes the other way and has no power to speak of. His bat will have to play for him to be an everyday outfielder, but it’s unclear if the necessary strength is there.”

Henry knows what he needs to do to improve, whether he returns to Ole Miss or signs a deal with the Indians.

“I’ve really got to get in weight room,” Henry said. “I’ve got to get more physical and add some power to my game.”

If Jordan signs, he’ll follow in the footsteps of older brother Justin, who was a ninth-round pick of the Detroit Tigers in the 2007 draft.

The elder Henry is playing for the Lakeland Flying Tigers in the Class A Advanced Florida State League and is hitting .233 with 16 RBIs and nine stolen bases.

Since both organizations are in the same division, the American League Central, it could make for some interesting conversation between the Henry brothers should both make the big league clubs.

“It’s a weird coincidence, but it’ll be exciting for both of us to play ball in the minors,” Henry said. “We’ll have fun with it. My parents are excited about it, but they miss driving up to Oxford to seeing us play. They’re behind both of us 100 percent.”

Missing out on a trip to Omaha and the College World Series after the Rebels fell to Virginia in the Oxford Super Regional in three games was a tough pill for Henry and his teammates to swallow. But he doesn’t regret a season in which the Rebels won a share of the regular-season SEC crown and hosted a Super Regional in Oxford.

“It’s a rough way to close the season and it hurts not to make it to Omaha,” Henry said. “But we accomplished a lot of our goals for this season.”

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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com