Monthly Archives: June 2016

09 Jun

there and here

Corey Dickerson slugged two homers for Tampa Bay on Wednesday, giving the former Meridian Community College standout 11 for the year. He leads the all-Mississippi home run derby by two over Ole Miss product Zack Cozart, who hit his ninth for Cincinnati. Ex-Southern Miss star Brian Dozier (Minnesota) has seven, and State alum Mitch Moreland (Texas) and UM’s Seth Smith (Seattle) have six each. … Dakota Hudson may be the only Mississippian picked on Day 1 of the MLB draft, which will go through 77 picks today. The Mississippi State right-hander, who has been garnering all types of honors of late as he also preps for the Super Regional showdown with Arizona, is rated 13th on Baseball America’s draft prospects list and 15th on mlb.com’s. Others who might get called today include Ole Miss’ J.B. Woodman, State’s Daniel Brown, Reid Humphreys and Jacob Robson, George County High’s Walker Robbins and Oxford High’s Thomas Dillard and Grae Kessinger. … Atlanta has the third overall pick – surely the Braves will take a college bat – and Milwaukee has the fifth. … Dansby Swanson, the Braves’ top prospect, has seen his average drop 30 points the last two weeks. The shortstop, one of four Mississippi Braves named to the Southern League All-Star Game, is batting .269 with four homers and 17 RBIs after an 0-for-4 on Wednesday night. … Mason Robbins, Walker’s brother, is on a tear at Class A Winston-Salem in the Chicago White Sox’s system. The ex-USM star, a lefty-hitting outfielder, has batted .410 over his last 10 games and is at .314 with two homers and 19 RBIs for the season. … Pearl River Community College will have a new coach in place soon. Michael Avalon, formerly of Mississippi Delta CC, is expected to be approved next week. The Wildcats went 25-21 in 2016, the last of Josh Hoffpauir’s six seasons as coach. … Robert Carson, the much-traveled former Hattiesburg High star, is now pitching for Southern Maryland, the independent Atlantic League club that Stone County High product Fred Lewis also plays for.

08 Jun

caught in a draft

On the eve of the MLB draft, a flashback to the 2006 draft gives a little perspective on how hard it is to get to the big leagues. Three Mississippi-connected players who were selected that year and signed made The Show, and all three are there now: Chris Coghlan, Alex Presley and Jarrod Dyson. Coghlan was a supplemental first-round pick by Florida, fellow Ole Miss product Presley went in the eighth round to Pittsburgh and Dyson, from Southwest Mississippi Community College, was taken in the 50th round, 1,475th overall, by Kansas City. (Tyler Moore was drafted by Washington in 2006 out of Meridian CC but didn’t sign; he was drafted again by the Nationals in 2008 out of Mississippi State and signed.) According to Baseball America’s draft database, 30 Mississippians were picked in 2006, including Hillcrest product Justin Reed (fourth round), UM’s Garrett White (sixth) and Southern Miss’ Marc Maddox (ninth). Maddox made it to Triple-A, the other two never got past A-ball. Other notable names in that draft: Mississippi Valley State’s Zach Penprase, Millsaps’ Garner Wetzel and State’s Jeffrey Rea (who didn’t sign). P.S. So sad to hear about the passing of Bill Marchant, who succeeded the legendary Boo Ferriss as Delta State coach in 1989 and proceeded to leave his own stamp on the program. Marchant, who coached the last three years of his eight-year tenure in a wheelchair after a 1993 car accident, posted a 283-127-1 record with the Statesmen. His final team, in 1996, went 53-8, the winningest season in DSU history, and made the NCAA Division II World Series. Marchant also played at Delta State (for Ferriss) and taught there after he retired from coaching. “Being here was a dream come true for me, and the coaching part was something that I always wanted to do, and I enjoyed every minute of it,” he told gostatesmen.com in a 2015 interview.

08 Jun

resurgent

A walk-off home run by Joey Votto on Tuesday night stole the thunder from Billy Hamilton’s big day in Cincinnati’s 7-6 win against St. Louis. Let’s give the ex-Taylorsville High star his due: Hamilton went 3-for-3 with a homer and two steals. When Hamilton came off the bereavement list on May 16, following the death of a 3-year-old nephew in Mississippi, he was batting .235. The switch-hitting center fielder is now hitting .263 (.303 on-base percentage), and over his last 15 games has hit at a .313 clip. For the year, Hamilton has two homers, 15 steals and 26 runs in 51 games. Hamilton’s recent surge has helped the Reds win seven of their last 10, but the club is still mired in last place in the National League Central. P.S. Among the five walk-off hits on a wild Tuesday in MLB was a Brian Dozier homer for Minnesota. The Southern Miss alum hit his seventh bomb of the year – third career walk-off – to beat Miami 6-4. It’s been a tough year for the 2015 All-Star: He is batting .211 with 24 RBIs for a disappointing Twins team that sits in the cellar of the American League Central.

07 Jun

feel the power

Itawamba Community College alumnus Desmond Jennings, in a slump and under fire in Tampa Bay, broke out with a 3-for-4 game on Monday that included his fourth home run of the year. Jennings, whose playing time has diminished of late, is batting .189 with 13 RBIs for the last-place Rays, who beat Arizona 6-4 for a fourth straight win. … In his first game in Triple-A, former Richton High star JaCoby Jones went deep for Toledo. Jones, one of Detroit’s hottest prospects, batted .312 with four bombs and 20 RBIs at Double-A Erie after starting the year on the suspended list. … Tim Anderson, the East Central CC product, belted his fourth homer of the season for Triple-A Charlotte in the Chicago White Sox’s system. Anderson is hitting .300 with 20 RBIs, 38 runs and 10 steals. … Harrison Central High product Bobby Bradley, who has been scuffling, hit a grand slam, plus a two-run double, for Class A Lynchburg. Cleveland’s No. 3 prospect, who turned 20 on May 29, is hitting .232 with 14 homers and 53 RBIs. P.S. The Indians, somewhat strapped for outfield help, have former Mississippi Gulf Coast CC star Joey Butler at Triple-A Columbus, but he hasn’t been hitting enough (.222 with three homers) to rate a call-up. Butler batted .276 with eight bombs in 88 games for Tampa Bay in 2015, the first year he had gotten extended big league time.

06 Jun

adventure time

Jonathan Papelbon is 15 of 17 in save chances and his team, the Washington Nationals, is in first place. There have been no dugout confrontations. But there have been some adventures on the field, such as the one Sunday at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. On to protect a two-run lead in the ninth, former Mississippi State star Papelbon gave up a single, a walk, a run-scoring double and an intentional pass to load the bases. He then got a pop out, a strikeout (of ex-Ole Miss standout Zack Cozart) and a fly out (to the warning track in center field) to escape the jam and close out a 10-9 victory. “I think my motto has always been, ‘Bend but don’t break,'” Papelbon told mlb.com. Well, maybe, but there are concerns about Papelbon in Washington beyond his explosive temperament. Now 35, he doesn’t get the punchouts he used to (only 18 in 22 2/3 innings). His ERA is up to 3.18 and his WHIP to 1.37 (career average 1.03). It’s a situation that bears watching. You don’t want your closer leading too many adventures.

05 Jun

bobcats rule

Junior college teams in the state have played in the considerable shadow of the big schools this season. For one day at least, Jones County Junior College owns the spotlight. The Bobcats won the NJCAA Division II national championship on Saturday night, beating GateWay College of Arizona 7-1 in Enid, Okla. Ben Stiglets, a freshman from Gulfport, threw an eight-hitter with eight strikeouts, and World Series MVP Erick Hoard, a freshman from Brandon, led a 15-hit attack with a 3-for-6 effort as the third-ranked Bobcats (54-9) rolled to their first national title. Jones reached the championship round in 2011. Jones got homers from Mason Irby, Tanner Huddleston and Shelton Wallace in the clincher, its second win of the day. Stiglets (10-0) was knocked around by GateWay in the Bobcats’ loss on Monday but bounced back with a sterling outing on Saturday, continuing a string of such performances by Bobcats hurlers in Enid. “It kinda helped to get slapped in the face,” first-year coach Chris Kirtland told the Enid News & Eagle. Calder Mikell, Mason Strickland and Will Brand also stepped up as JCJC won its last four games in Enid by a 40-11 count. P.S. Elsewhere, Mississippi State is in fine shape for a regional title, Southern Miss faces an uphill battle and Ole Miss is done. The Rebels bowed out in shocking fashion Saturday in the Oxford Regional, when Will Stokes gave up a two-run homer in the ninth inning against Tulane. USM, after a 7-2 loss to Florida State in the Tallahassee Regional, will have to beat South Alabama today and then take down FSU twice to win the region crown. State is 2-0 in the Starkville Regional, needing only one win to advance to a Super Regional.

03 Jun

play ball

There’s baseball in Starkville and Oxford today, and in Tallahassee, Fla., too, where Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss begin the chase for regional championships. The fourth Magnolia State school still playing also gets back on the field in Enid, Okla. It will be a battle-tested but well-rested Jones County Junior College team that plays tonight in the NJCAA Division II World Series. The third-ranked Bobcats (51-9) haven’t played since Tuesday, when they beat Brunswick (N.C.) in an elimination game. JCJC now faces GateWay (Ariz.) College, 3-0 in the tournament, following an elimination game between Mercer County (N.J.) and Sinclair (Ohio). The Bobcats were in fine form in the 11-3 victory against Brunswick: Erick Hoard (a .402 hitter with 18 homers) drove in three runs and Clint Sasser (.382 with 84 runs) scored three, Calder Mikell earned his 11th win with a strong start and Brunswick pitchers contributed 11 walks and five HBPs. For tonight’s game, pitching-rich Jones likely will bring back Mason Strickland (11-0), the starter from its Game 1 victory last Saturday.

02 Jun

links

While the ranks of Mississippi Braves alumni playing for Atlanta has thinned considerably of late, there are still a few making an impact for Brian Snitker’s crew. Take Wednesday night’s game. Freddie Freeman, an M-Braves star from way back in 2009, hit the walk-off home run to beat San Francisco 5-4 in 11 innings. Starter Williams Perez wasn’t particularly sharp but battled for 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs and keeping the Braves in the fight. Mallex Smith had an RBI triple and scored a run. Batting just .240, he has three homers, four triples, 19 RBIs, 18 runs and six stolen bases in 44 games. Arodys Vizcaino and Hunter Cervenka pitched well in relief. Jeff Francoeur, who played for Snitker on the original M-Braves club of 2005, had a pinch hit. Those connections aren’t insignificant. The Braves were 9-28 and almost unwatchable when Snitker took the reins as interim manager on May 17. They are 16-36 today, with four wins in their last six games. This team isn’t going to make any bold charge in the standings, but as we’ve seen lately it can be competitive, maybe even entertaining. Smith, Perez and Vizcaino, along with Julio Teheran and Daniel Castro, are among the building blocks for 2017 and beyond. More M-Braves alums – Tyrell Jenkins, Rio Ruiz, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, Chris Ellis? – could arrive in the ATL this season, providing more glimpses of that bright future we keep hearing about.

01 Jun

up for a challenge

Don’t overlook Utah in the Oxford Regional. Picked by at least one national publication to finish last in the Pac-12, the Utes won the league championship. They had to win the last two games of the regular season to earn that title and keep playing in June. They did, beating Washington by scores of 12-8 and 21-7. So forget that 25-27 overall record. This team went 19-11 in the Pac-12, a very competitive league. And this team has a legitimate ace, Jayson Rose, who’ll face Ole Miss and counterpart Brady Bramlett on Friday at Oxford-University Stadium. “I’ll take Jayson Rose over anybody right now,” Utah coach Bill Kinneberg told the Salt Lake Tribune. “I feel pretty good about that matchup.” Rose, a 5-foot-11 right-hander, went 8-5 with a 2.62 ERA and a school-record 102 strikeouts in 103 innings. In Pac-12 competition, he was 6-3, 2.44 with wins over Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford, Cal, Oregon and UCLA. Against Ole Miss (43-17), Rose may face as strong an array of hitters – Henri Lartigue, Tate Blackman, J.B. Woodman, et al. – as he’s seen all season. That could be a challenge. But the Utes seem to like it that way.

01 Jun

here and there

Seth Smith blasted two home runs for Seattle on Tuesday, then got hit by a pitch. But it’s not what you think. The former Ole Miss standout was plunked in the foot by what was described as an “eephus-type pitch” thrown by San Diego’s Christian Bethancourt, the ex-Mississippi Braves catcher who was working in mop-up duty in a 16-4 game. Bethancourt, known for his arm, touched 96 mph from the mound while also throwing some pitches in the 50-mph range. According to mlb.com, Smith told Bethancourt after the HBP: “As long as it’s not your fastball, we’re all right.” … Meridian Community College alum Corey Dickerson also went deep on Tuesday for Tampa Bay. Of his 31 hits, nine are homers; he is batting .204 with 24 RBIs. … Ole Miss product David Goforth has been sent down by Milwaukee; he has a 9.39 ERA in seven appearances. … Ex-Southern Miss star Scott Copeland is struggling in the Korean Baseball Organization. The right-hander, who pitched for Toronto in 2015, is 1-1 with a 7.07 ERA in six starts for the LG Twins. … Hunter Renfroe, the former Mississippi State standout, belted his 12th home run on Tuesday for El Paso, the Padres’ Triple-A club. He is batting .320 with 39 RBIs and surely itching for a call-up. … Adam Frazier, another Bulldogs product, is hitting .302 with 14 stolen bases at Triple-A Indianapolis in the Pittsburgh system. … Even after a rough outing on Memorial Day, UM alum Cody Satterwhite has a 1.96 ERA and a 3-1 record in 17 appearances for Salt Lake, the Los Angeles Angels’ Triple-A team. … There is much speculation that the Chicago White Sox may be ready to call up East Central CC alum Tim Anderson, the shortstop prospect who is batting .305 with 10 steals at Triple-A Charlotte. “He could come up and do well,” J.B. Shuck, recently recalled from Charlotte by the ChiSox, told csnchicago.com. “He has that personality where he’s not going to get rattled by anything.” … Ex-State standout Brandon Woodruff notched his first Double-A win on Tuesday when he worked seven strong innings for Biloxi in a 7-1 win over the M-Braves. … Anthony Alford, the former Mr. Baseball from Petal, has gotten hot at Class A Dunedin in Toronto’s organization. Coming back from a knee injury that contributed to a slow start, Alford hit .368 over his last 10 games and is up to .233 in 27 games on the season.