Monthly Archives: October 2014

17 Oct

back to work

After a tough year in limited time in The Show, Mississippi State product Tyler Moore is getting some extra work in the Dominican Winter League. Moore, a Brandon native who also played at Meridian Community College, went 1-for-2 with a run and two walks for Toros del Este in the DWL season opener on Thursday. Moore broke into the big leagues with a bang in 2012, belting 10 home runs and hitting .263 in 156 at-bats for Washington. His didn’t fare as well in 2013 (.222, four homers in 167 ABs) and scuffled again this season (.231, four homers in 91 ABs). Moore, 27, who can play first base or left field, has right-handed power that MLB clubs value. He twice hit 31 homers in a season in the minors and got 10 bombs (with a .265 average) at Triple-A Syracuse this year. Complicating Moore’s status in the Nationals’ organization is the emergence this season of Steven Souza Jr., another strong, right-handed hitting outfielder.

16 Oct

warming to the task

Tim Anderson, the former East Central Community College star, is heating up in Arizona after a chilly start. The Chicago White Sox’s 2013 first-round pick has five hits, including his first home run on Wednesday, over his last two games for Glendale in the Arizona Fall League. In six games, Anderson, 21, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound shortstop, is batting .400 with four runs, two RBIs and three steals. He spent most of the 2014 season, his first full pro year, at Class A Winston-Salem, hitting .297 with six homers, 31 RBIs and 10 steals. After he recovered from a late-season broken wrist, Anderson was sent to Double-A Birmingham and hit .364 in 10 games. … Kyle Wren and Daniel Castro, who played for the 2014 Mississippi Braves, are hitting .300 and .263, respectively, for Peoria in the AFL. … Former Saltillo High and Itawamba Community College standout Tim Dillard is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in three appearances for Zulia in the Venezuelan Winter League. Dillard, 31, a onetime big leaguer, posted a 3.13 ERA at Double-A Huntsville in the Milwaukee system this past season. P.S. Wednesday was a big day for Butch Thompson. The Mississippi State associate head coach was named the national assistant coach of the year for 2014 and also was announced as an inductee into the Itawamba Community College Athletic Hall of Fame. Thompson, an Amory native, was a closer at ICC in 1989 and ’90. He is currently in his seventh year of working with MSU’s pitchers. … State’s second fall scrimmage is slated for Friday at Dudy Noble Field.

15 Oct

full speed ahead

Tuesday’s League Championship Series games had the feel of defining moments. And a pair of Mississippi-connected players — former Southwest Mississippi Community College standout Jarrod Dyson and ex-Mississippi Braves star Gregor Blanco — were involved in crucial plays. Blanco’s bunt — and subsequent hustle down the first-base line — drew a wild throw from pitcher Randy Choate and sent the winning run home in San Francisco’s 5-4, 10-inning victory over St. Louis. The Giants, who blew a 4-0 advantage on Tuesday, lead the NLCS 2-1 with two more games ahead in the tricky confines of AT&T Park. Blanco, the Giants’ leadoff batter, is just 2-for-14 with no runs in the series, but that sac bunt was as big as any hit the Giants got in Game 3. In Kansas City, Dyson scored the game-winning run on a sac fly in the sixth inning as the Royals beat Baltimore 2-1 and went up 3-0 in the ALCS with two games left at crazy Kauffman Stadium. Dyson’s “bold” and much-publicized prediction that the series would not be returning to Baltimore may well hold up. Dyson is 0-for-3 in the series and twice has been caught stealing. But his speed has had an influence. The Orioles are using that strange ploy to hold Dyson on at first base, and it might have been a factor in the game’s key hit in the pivotal sixth inning. Dyson entered as a pinch runner in the 1-1 game and bolted to third when Eric Hosmer slapped a single to the right of first baseman Steve Pearce, who was still very close to the bag. According to an mlb.com story, Statcast tracking technology showed Dyson reached 21 mph en route to third base. He also reached that speed as he scored the go-ahead run — quite easily — on Billy Butler’s sac fly to left. A mad dash here and a mad dash there, and now we appear headed for a Giants-Royals World Series.

12 Oct

it’s a book

“Of Mudcat, Boo, The Rope and Oil Can … An Informal History of Mississippians in Major League Baseball,” written by yours truly and published by Sartoris Literary Group, will be released this week. Paperbacks will be available at Lemuria Books in Jackson, Book Mart in Starkville, Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, booksamillion.com. They will soon be available at Books-a-Million stores in Mississippi. Ebooks will be released on Wednesday, Oct. 15. Will be on Amazon, B&N, itunes/Apple, Kobo, etc. Book signings are scheduled for Lemuria on Thursday, Oct. 16, from 5-7 p.m. and Book Mart on Friday, Oct. 17, from 3-5 p.m.

10 Oct

scatter shots

Hunter Renfroe hit his first Arizona Fall League home run on Thursday night and is now batting .385 with four RBIs in three games. The former Mississippi State star from Crystal Springs, a San Diego outfield prospect, helped Surprise beat Glendale 7-4 in a game in which former East Central Community College standout Tim Anderson made his AFL debut. Anderson, a shortstop in the Chicago White Sox system, went 1-for-5 with four strikeouts for Glendale. Anderson made his Double-A debut with Birmingham at Trustmark Park this summer, going 10-for-22 in five games vs. the Mississippi Braves. … Ole Miss product Lance Lynn will start Sunday’s Game 2 for St. Louis in the National League Championship Series against San Francisco. Lynn got a no-decision in his division series start against the Los Angeles Dodgers, allowing two runs in six innings. A 15-game winner this year, the big right-hander lost his only start against the Giants on June 1, yielding four earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. Giants star Buster Posey went 3-for-3 against Lynn in that game. … Freshman Kyle Watson has made a splash during fall scrimmages at Ole Miss. The former DeSoto Central High standout, an infielder, has three home runs during the first three sets of intrasquad scrimmages. Watson hit .345 in his prep career but belted just one homer, according to his UM bio. The Rebels scrimmage again today and Saturday.

08 Oct

crazy happens

Let’s see: There was a walk that loaded the bases. Then a wild pitch that scored the go-ahead run. That was followed by an intentional ball four that went over the catcher’s head. Runner races home from third. Pitcher covers. Play at the plate. Runner called out. Video review to confirm. It was a crazy few minutes there in the seventh inning Tuesday night for Ole Miss product Aaron Barrett. Ultimately, his Washington Nationals were eliminated from the postseason with the 3-2 loss to San Francisco. Barrett’s wild pitch plated the winning run. All told, Barrett faced three batters in the postseason — he also pitched in the Nats’ 18-inning Game 2 loss — and yielded a hit and two walks. That’s what many Washington fans will remember about Barrett. But they shouldn’t forget his work during the regular season. The rookie right-hander, a ninth-round pick in 2010, went 3-0 with eight holds and a 2.66 ERA in 40 2/3 innings over 50 games for the National League East champs. He struck out 49 batters, which is one of the reasons he was inserted into Tuesday’s game with runners at first and second and one out. Washington needed a punch out. Barrett also walked 20 batters during the season — and threw six wild pitches. Those things happen, and when they happen in October, they are magnified.

07 Oct

it’s a start

The fast track seems to suit Hunter Renfroe. The ex-Mississippi State standout got off to a smooth start today in the highly competitive Arizona Fall League, going 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI for the Surprise Saguaros. Renfroe, San Diego’s first-round pick in 2013, was bumped up to Double-A at midseason this year and hit .232 with five home runs and 23 RBIs for San Antonio in the Texas League. He batted .295 with 16 homers and 52 RBIs in high-A ball. The Padres need power hitters, and the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Renfroe, a natural right fielder, might not be far away. P.S. Before he became a highly successful high school coach, Jeff McClaskey was a pretty good player. The current Northwest Rankin High coach still holds a share of the career batting average record of .412 at Hinds Community College, which will honor McClaskey on Oct. 23 as part of its new Hall of Fame class. McClaskey played at Hinds in 1982 and ’83 before going on to Delta State, where he played for Boo Ferriss. About to begin his 25th year as coach at Northwest Rankin, McClaskey has 640 wins, 11 district titles and one state championship. … Also entering the HCC Hall is Rick Trusty, who set the Eagles’ single-season batting mark at .463 in 1975 and also hit .412 career. … Former Delta State star Eli Whiteside is a free agent again. The New Albany native, 34, who has bounced around the big leagues since 2005, spent most of this season at Triple-A Iowa in the Chicago Cubs system. He went 3-for-25 in his brief MLB stint.

06 Oct

thinking october

Dennis Boyd, better known as “Oil Can,” celebrates his 55th birthday today. The colorful and controversial Meridian native and ex-Jackson State star was a respectable 78-77 with a 4.04 ERA in 10 big league seasons, from 1982-91. His best year was 1986, when he won 16 games for the Boston Red Sox. Boyd won a game in the ’86 American League Championship Series against California but lost his only start in the World Series, which the BoSox infamously dropped in seven to the New York Mets. Boyd put a stain on his own career when he claimed in a recent biography that he frequently pitched under the influence of cocaine, even in 1986. … More deserving of an October shout out is Chad Bradford, the Jackson native of “Moneyball” fame. Bradford pitched in seven different postseasons for five different teams. In 23 1/3 innings over 24 appearances, he allowed one run. That’s a 0.39 ERA. In the October spotlight. Bradford made it to only one World Series and was on the losing end with Tampa Bay in 2008. The former Byram High, Hinds Community College and Southern Miss star put up a 3.26 ERA in 561 MLB games. He is now the pitching coach at HCC. … Another October achievement to marvel at was accomplished by Mississippi State product Will Clark. Clark was 29-for-62, a .468 batting average, in League Championship Series play. That’s a record by a wide margin for players with at least 50 LCS at-bats. Clark also came up short of winning a World Series ring. His only appearance in the Fall Classic came in 1989, when his San Francisco club lost to Oakland in the Earthquake Series.

05 Oct

no looking back

He was one of the best high school players in the state in 2011, a first-team All-America outfielder from a strong Pascagoula High program. He was drafted in the eighth round by the Boston Red Sox and reportedly offered $1.4M to sign. Had he done so, he might have reached the Double-A level by now, knocking on the door of the big leagues. But he turned the Red Sox down, going off instead to try his hand at two sports, football and baseball, at Ole Miss. That plan didn’t work out so well. He’s barely played any baseball for the Rebels and he hadn’t made a huge impact in football either. Until Saturday. If Senquez Golson had any regrets about passing on pro baseball, he doesn’t have any at this moment. The 5-foot-9 senior defensive back’s interception in the back of the end zone against Alabama sealed one of Ole Miss’ biggest football victories ever. This might be a special season for the Rebels, and Golson surely will love having been a part of it. He might have a future in football. Heck, he might get another shot at baseball — though he won’t get another $1.4M bonus. As Peter Marshall used to say on Hollywood Squares, “I might have gone to Paul Lynde to block, but this may work out.”

04 Oct

been there, done that

Lance Lynn, the former Ole Miss standout, gets the ball tonight for St. Louis with a chance to drop the hammer on the Los Angeles Dodgers. After their stunning comeback against Clayton Kershaw at Dodger Stadium on Friday, the Cardinals are up 1-0 in the National League Division Series. If they head back to St. Louis with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5, it’s all but over. Lynn, who went 15-10, 2.74 ERA this season, faced LA twice in 2014. In a July 18 game at Busch Stadium, he beat them, allowing just four hits and two runs over six innings. In a June 28 game in Dodger Stadium, he didn’t fare so well. Lynn lasted just two innings, allowing nine hits, two walks and seven runs (six earned). Zack Greinke, who starts tonight for the Dodgers, was the winner in that 9-1 game. Lynn doesn’t lack for postseason experience; this will be his 22nd appearance over the past four years. He has both started and relieved, compiling a 5-4 record and 4.81 ERA. One of his wins came against the Dodgers, in LA, last Oct. 15 in the Game 4 of the NL Championship Series, which the Cards won in six. If there is a troubling aspect on Lynn’s ledger it might be that he failed four times to get win No. 16 down the stretch this season as the Cardinals were fighting to win the NL Central title. P.S. McComb’s Jarrod Dyson was at it again on Friday, this time using his arm to help Kansas City take a 2-0 lead in its American League Division Series against the LA Angels. Dyson, freshly inserted as a defensive replacement in center field in a 1-1 game, threw out a runner at third base in the eighth inning to complete a double play. “I assume they thought I don’t have a good arm,” the ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College star said in a TV interview. Ned Yost’s Royals won 4-1 in 11 innings, their third straight extra-inning postseason victory. Dyson, as a pinch runner, contributed a stolen base and a key run in the wild card game against Oakland on Tuesday. … Ole Miss product Aaron Barrett, a righty reliever, made Washington’s postseason roster but didn’t get into Game 1 of the NLDS on Friday as the Nationals lost at home to San Francisco.