Monthly Archives: March 2017

24 Mar

honor among thieves

The major league single-season stolen base record has stood at 130 since 1982. No one has gotten within 20 bags of that mark in the 35 years since. Billy Hamilton, the ex-Taylorsville High star, could get there. Who says? No less an authority than the player who holds the record: Rickey Henderson. In a recent interview with csnbayarea.com, the Hall of Famer had a lot of good things to say about Hamilton and his base-stealing philosophy, which Henderson said reminded him of his own: “I’m gonna run until you throw me out. And if you throw me out, I’m gonna get back up and run again.” Over his 25 years, Henderson’s steal success rate was 81 percent. Over his three-plus years, Hamilton is at 82 percent. They are master thieves. Of course, the big thing for Hamilton, as Henderson acknowledged, is getting on base enough to make it all work. Henderson had an on-base percentage of .398 in 1982, when he got his 130. Hamilton stole 58 bags for Cincinnati last season in just 119 games. His OBP was a rather pedestrian .321, his batting average, even after a strong second half, a lackluster .260. There are some who think Hamilton just isn’t going to hit enough to remain a regular, his defensive skill as a center fielder notwithstanding. After an injury-curtailed 2016 season, Hamilton hasn’t had an inspiring spring. He returned to the Reds’ lineup Thursday from several days off (sore Achilles’) and took an 0-for-3 as the DH. He is batting .211 (.268 OBP, 12 strikeouts in 38 at-bats) in 14 games. When the games start to count, he’ll need to step it up. Yes, a lot. While it’s true that the stolen base has been marginalized by a variety of factors in recent years, Hamilton — who swiped 155 bags in the minors in 2012 — has shown that it can still be a weapon. When he’s on base, you’re compelled to watch. Imagine what a thrill it would be to watch him make a run at Henderson’s record.

23 Mar

movin’ on up

Kendall Graveman has risen to the top in Oakland. With Sonny Gray, the team’s presumptive ace, on the shelf with an injury, former Mississippi State star Graveman has been named the opening day starter. Graveman, 26, went 10-11 with a 4.11 ERA for the 69-win A’s last season, his second full year in the big leagues. He led the team in WHIP. Graveman was an eighth-round pick out of State by Toronto in 2013 and zipped through the minors to arrive in The Show in mid-2014. Oakland acquired him as part of the Josh Donaldson trade prior to the 2015 campaign, and Graveman went 11-10, 4.04 for the A’s that season.

23 Mar

prospecting

The sorting process likely isn’t completed in Atlanta’s minor league camp, home to a batch of prospects generally regarded as the best in baseball. When the rosters are set and the players break camp, don’t expect many of the Braves’ Top 10 to head to Mississippi. Most of the highest rated players are either past Double-A or a year or two away. Dansby Swanson, still classified as a rookie and rated Atlanta’s No. 1 by Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, is already established in Atlanta. No. 2 prospect Ozzie Albies, who did two stints in Pearl in 2016, figures to start in Triple-A. Six of the seven pitchers in the top 12 (as rated by MLB Pipeline) pitched in low-A ball or rookie ball last season. No. 6 Sean Newcomb was an M-Braves mainstay (8-7, 3.86 ERA) in 2016 who probably will pitch at Gwinnett this season. Kolby Allard (No. 4), Mike Soroka (5), Max Fried (9) and Touki Toussaint (12) were on the Rome staff that won the South Atlantic League pennant. The standard progression puts them at high-A Florida. No. 3 Kevin Maitan is a 17-year-old shortstop just getting started, and No. 8 Ronald Acuna, a 19-year-old outfielder, played at Rome in an injury-interrupted season. Unlikely to open in Mississippi, he could make Double-A at some point this year. Infielder Travis Demeritte, acquired from Texas in midseason, is No. 10 on the Braves’ list and looks like the one sure thing in that bunch to be in Trustmark Park on April 6. He hit 28 homers at the high-A level in 2016. Former DeSoto Central High star Austin Riley, the No. 13 prospect, projects as the third baseman on the high-A club, at least to start the season. The M-Braves’ opening day roster won’t be thin on talent, however. Jacob Schrader, Carlos Franco, Joey Meneses, Connor Lien and Joe Odom were among the position players who helped last year’s club reach the Southern League Championship Series, and all could be back. Plus, top 30 prospects Braxton Davidson and Alex Jackson may land in Pearl next month. P.S. The M-Braves open on April 6, two weeks from today, at the TeePee against Jacksonville, a Miami affiliate that is now, unfortunately, nicknamed the Jumbo Shrimp.

23 Mar

fish tales

Good day for Tyler Moore, who is trying to earn a roster spot with the Miami Marlins. Not so good for Scott Copeland, who is trying to do the same thing. Mississippi State product Moore hit two home runs in his two at-bats on Wednesday, giving him five for the spring. Southern Miss product Copeland got the start against the New York Mets at Port St. Lucie, Fla., and faced 15 batters. Nine of them reached base and six scored. Moore, 30, is an MLB-seasoned right-handed hitting first baseman/outfielder who spent last year in the minors with Atlanta. He signed a minor league deal with Miami in the off-season and is batting .282 this spring. Copeland, 29, who has limited big league experience and also spent 2016 in the minors (and Korea), would appear to face longer odds of sticking than Moore. The right-hander has made six appearances in the Grapefruit League and, despite a 2-0 record, has a 9.00 ERA.

22 Mar

names to know

Taylor Braley: The former Oak Grove High star pitched seven innings and doubled in the game’s first run to boost Southern Miss past Mississippi State 7-5 on Tuesday before a crowd of 5,198 at Trustmark Park in Pearl.
Kenny Wright: The junior out of Winston Academy threw a four-hitter for Millsaps in a 10-0 win against Belhaven that clinched the Maloney Trophy Series at Smith-Wills Stadium.
Blake Key: The Meridian native went 5-for-6, including Blue Mountain’s first-ever cycle in Game 2, drove in seven runs and scored six as the Toppers swept visiting Rust 17-7 and 19-1.
Cornelius Copeland: Drove in four runs and scored four more to spark Jackson State to a 17-2 win over LeMoyne-Owen, completing a doubleheader sweep at Braddy Field.
Zach Osbon: Held Henderson State to one run over the last three innings as Delta State rallied from a nine-run deficit to beat the Reddies 15-13 at Ferriss Field.
Colby Bortles: Knocked in Ole Miss’ lone run – in the ninth inning – in a 2-1 loss in 11 innings against Memphis at AutoZone Park.
Adam Frazier: The former Mississippi State standout, batting .442 this spring, scored the first and last runs of the game as Pittsburgh walked off with a 5-4 win against Tampa Bay in Grapefruit League action.
Fred Franklin and Logan Robbins: The reigning MACJC hitter and pitcher of the week will lead NJCAA Division II No. 1 Jones County Junior College (20-0) against 19th-ranked Hinds CC in a doubleheader today in Raymond.

21 Mar

hits keep comin’

He hit in high school. He hit in college. He has hit in pro ball, including an RBI knock in his first major league spring training at-bat on Saturday. Mason Robbins keeps passing the tests. The next one he faces will be the biggest yet. The former George County High and Southern Miss standout should play at the Double-A level in the Chicago White Sox’s system this season, which would put him in Birmingham of the Southern League. Robbins, a 25th-round pick in 2014, has batted .292 over his three seasons in the minors, including a .314 season at high-A Winston-Salem in 2016, when he was a postseason Carolina League All-Star. He was Mr. Baseball and a prep All-American as a senior at George County and a freshman All-America pick at USM, where he was a three-year starter. The lefty-hitting outfielder rarely walks but doesn’t strike out much either. He flashed some power at Winston-Salem with 33 doubles, seven triples and five home runs. Robbins hasn’t yet cracked the White Sox’s top 30 prospect rankings listed on mlb.com, but if he hits in Double-A – as he has everywhere else – getting attention won’t be an issue. P.S. Former East Central Community College star Tim Anderson reportedly has agreed to a 6-year, $25 million contract with the White Sox. He hit .283 in 99 games as a rookie shortstop in 2016.

21 Mar

game on

Even if you’re not partial to maroon or gold, there are compelling reasons to check out tonight’s Mississippi State-Southern Miss game at Trustmark Park in Pearl. USM (16-4) is on a seven-game winning streak that has propelled the Golden Eagles into a couple of the national polls. State (12-9) was swept three straight at Arkansas over the weekend but features the SEC’s batting average leader, Brent Rooker, a .446 hitter who also tops the league in slugging, RBIs and steals. His six homers lead the team. Jackson Prep product Jake Mangum (.378) and Ryan Gridley (.354) also have played well for the Bulldogs. The Eagles’ starting pitcher will be ex-Oak Grove High star Taylor Braley, who is also their best hitter. He has a 3.38 ERA in three starts and a .366 batting average with six homers and 22 RBIs. Meridian native Mason Irby, a juco All-America pick at Jones County Junior College in 2016, is the reigning C-USA hitter of the week. In addition to Braley, USM trots out three other sluggers with four or more homers: Dylan Burdeaux, Casey Maack and Matt Wallner, who might also make a mound appearance. State won last year’s game 13-5 and leads the series at the TeePee 5-3. … Meanwhile, at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson tonight, NCAA Division III rivals Belhaven and Millsaps will hook up in the decisive third game of the Maloney Trophy Series. The host Blazers are 12-8 and feature a trio of impressive hitters: Daniel Ammirati (.406), Terrell Hodges (.347, five homers, 22 RBIs) and Stephen Sexton (.338, six, 20). Andy Page leads the Majors (9-12) with a .341 average, and Lee Ogletree is batting .288 with three homers and 20 RBIs.

20 Mar

give him the ball

Lance Lynn appears to be making strides on his comeback trail. The Ole Miss product, who missed 2016 after Tommy John surgery, threw five shutout innings for St. Louis against Atlanta on Sunday, reducing his ERA this spring to 1.29 in 14 innings over four starts. He wasn’t razor sharp vs. the Braves, but the big right-hander did what he does: He battled. Lynn, who won 60 games for the Cardinals from 2012-15, made at least 29 starts and threw at least 175 innings in each of those seasons. He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he expects nothing less in 2017. “If you set yourself below that,” he said, “why take the ball?” The Cardinals in general should be angry birds. They missed the postseason last year, snapping a streak going back to 2010, and then watched the rival Chicago Cubs win it all. Lynn, who’ll turn 30 in May, may also be motivated by the fact he is eligible for free agency after this season. P.S. Joey Butler – remember him? – got a hit in his lone at-bat on Sunday for Washington, which had summoned the Pascagoula native from minor league camp. Butler, 31 and now with his fifth organization, batted .276 with eight homers for Tampa Bay in 2015 but spent all of 2016 in Triple-A with Cleveland. He might get stuck there again with the Nationals.

20 Mar

taking it all in

Ole Miss took two of three from Vanderbilt. Jackson State took two of three from Alcorn State. Delta State and William Carey scored sweeps, and Mississippi Valley State, Mississippi College and Belhaven all won conference series on the road. Oh yeah, and Jones County Junior College remained unbeaten. But as the dust settles on an eventful weekend in college baseball, Southern Miss emerges as the team of the moment. The Golden Eagles swept Louisiana Tech at Ruston, La., in their C-USA opening series. Tech, loaded with former Hinds Community College stars, was 15-2 entering the weekend and ranked in some polls. Each game was a battle: 5-2, 13-9, 8-5. The Eagles got clutch pitching from Kirk McCarty and Matt Wallner in Game 1 and from Nick Sandlin in Game 3. They blasted seven homers all told – two by Taylor Braley – in Games 2 and 3. USM is now 16-4 and will take a seven-game win streak into Tuesday’s game against Mississippi State at Trustmark Park in Pearl. MSU (12-9) was one of the few state teams to suffer a bad weekend, scoring just six runs while dropping three straight at Arkansas to start SEC play. … Ole Miss, 14-6 and up to No. 11 in Baseball America’s new poll, won a wild rubber match with Vandy 10-8 on Sunday in Oxford as Dallas Woolfolk tossed two scoreless innings late and Chase Cockrell delivered a go-ahead double in the eighth. C.J. Newsome drove in four runs and Jose Tirado pitched a sterling 4 1/3 innings of relief as JSU (12-9, 6-3 SWAC) beat Alcorn 11-6 in Sunday’s series clincher at Braddy Field. Zack Shannon, batting .440 with five homers and 33 RBIs, knocked in eight runs as DSU (18-7, 10-5 Gulf South) rolled past Alabama-Huntsville. William Carey, 22-5 and ranked 12th in NAIA, scored 49 runs in a sweep of outmanned Brewton-Parker. MC (6-18, 4-10) won its second straight GSC series, taking the rubber match from Christian Brothers 6-5 on Sunday as Will Elliott and Hunter Austin drove in two runs apiece. Landon Boyd worked seven shutout innings in relief on Saturday to lift Belhaven past McMurry and give the Blazers an American Southwest Conference series win. BU (12-8) will play Millsaps on Tuesday at Smith-Wills Stadium for the Maloney Trophy. The Majors are 9-12 and coming off a Southern Athletic Association series loss at Rhodes. Finally, Jones County JC beat East Mississippi 8-5 and 3-1 on Saturday in Scooba to improve to 20-0, 2-0 MACJC. The Bobcats are ranked No. 1 in NJCAA Division II.

18 Mar

who’s next?

East Mississippi Community College, you’re up. Ten different teams have tried and failed to take down Jones County Junior College, which is 18-0 and ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA Division II poll. The Bobcats, the defending national champs, visit Scooba for a doubleheader today to start MACJC play. The Lions are 9-3 and ranked 14th. They are led by Marcus Ragan (.364) and Alex Knight (2-0, 3.38 ERA). They’ll face a JCJC team loaded with weapons. Start with the pitching trio of Logan Robbins (5-0, 2.25), Mason Strickland (5-0, 2.67) and Ben Stiglets (4-0, 2.13). The lineup features Shelton Wallace, a .451 hitter; Erick Hoard, .385 with six home runs; Jonathan Parker, .375 with 21 RBIs; and Fred Franklin, .349, 14 steals, 29 runs. Jones has registered its share of blowouts but also has won six games decided by one or two runs. So, go get ’em Lions. P.S. In other league openers of note: No. 8 East Central is at Coahoma; No. 11 Itawamba visits No. 13 Gulf Coast; 18th-ranked Hinds hosts Northeast; and No. 20 Northwest is at Pearl River. … Props to veteran Holmes coach Kenny Dupont, who notched his 500th victory with the Bulldogs on Wednesday. Dupont has guided Holmes to 17 straight winning seasons and has the team off to a 9-9 start in 2017.