Monthly Archives: June 2018

24 Jun

touki time

If you’re a fan of pitching – and of strikeouts, in particular – tonight’s the night to make the trek to Trustmark Park. Touki Toussaint is starting for the Mississippi Braves. Toussaint leads the Southern League – and all of Double-A baseball – in punchouts. He’s got 92 in 74 innings. Three times in his 14 starts he has K’d 10 batters, including in his most recent outing against the first-half champion Biloxi Shuckers. But, hey, he’s more than just a hard thrower. MLB Pipeline, which rates Toussaint the No. 11 prospect in Atlanta’s well-stocked minor league system, raves about his “pure stuff.” He has an outstanding curveball and a good changeup. He’s a long and lean 6 feet 3, 185 pounds with a smooth delivery. It’s fun to watch him work. Toussaint – given name Dany Gilbert Kiti – was the 16th overall pick by Arizona out of a Florida high school in 2014. The Braves got him in a 2015 trade – with quickly discarded veteran Bronson Arroyo – for Phil Gosselin. Toussaint, who just turned 22 on Wednesday, made Double-A last year and went 3-4 with a 3.18 ERA. He also pitched well in the Arizona Fall League. He is 3-6, 3.41 for the scuffling M-Braves this season. He goes against Jacksonville tonight (5 p.m.), his second outing against the Jumbo Shrimp. He struck out 10 of them in six innings the first time.

24 Jun

big league chew

East Central Community College alumnus Tim Anderson celebrated his 25th birthday on Saturday with a fine display of his multiple skills, slugging his 13th home run and stealing his 15th base for the Chicago White Sox. Anderson leads all Mississippians in the majors in homers and is tied with Billy Hamilton atop the steals chart. (Taylorsville’s Hamilton also got his 15th bag on Saturday for Cincinnati.) … Mitch Moreland, the ex-Mississippi State star from Amory, extended his hitting streak to six games with a 2-for-4 day for Boston that included his fourth triple of the year. He is 11-for-23 during the streak and has lifted is average to .300 with 10 homers and 37 RBIs. … Hunter Renfroe, former State standout from Crystal Springs, belted his fourth homer of 2018 for San Diego. Renfroe returned to the big league club from an injury-induced stint in the minors in late May but has just two homers since he got back. He hit 26 last season. … Meridian CC alum Corey Dickerson returned to Pittsburgh’s lineup after being away for three days on family leave and went 1-for-3. Dickerson is batting .303 with five homers but hasn’t gone deep since May 4. He hit 27 bombs for Tampa Bay in 2017. … Dickerson’s return to the Pirates’ active roster meant a return to the minors for State alum Adam Frazier. P.S. Worth noting from the minors: Zack Shannon, who hit 50 homers the past two seasons for Delta State, hit his first pro round-tripper on Friday for rookie-level Missoula in the Arizona organization.

23 Jun

the search

If he could bottle it, he surely would. Anthony Alford flashed his remarkable potential on Friday night, going 3-for-3 with two doubles, a triple, two runs and an RBI for Triple-A Buffalo in an 8-3 loss to Lehigh Valley. The performance earned the former Petal High star a mention on the Prospect Report segment of MLB Network’s Quick Pitch. But that kind of performance has been rare for Alford this season. He is batting just .217 with a homer, 10 RBIs and eight steals in 42 games for the Toronto affiliate. During a brief stint in the big leagues, the powerfully built outfielder hit .143. Alford has been one of Toronto’s top-rated prospects for several years but, due in part to myriad injuries, has been fighting to find consistency. That search is the key to advancement for every minor leaguer, the key to moving off the prospect chart and into a big league job. Former Harrison Central star Bobby Bradley, a highly regarded Cleveland prospect, is scuffling in his second tour of Double-A ball. The lefty-hitting first baseman had a three-hit game for Akron on Thursday night that included his 12th homer. His power is not an issue; he now has 99 bombs in his five-year minor league career. Consistent contact is what he seeks; he is batting just .196. Former Mississippi State standout Brent Rooker, playing Double-A ball in just his second pro season, has been hot and cold for Minnesota’s Chattanooga club. He struggled much of the first two months, found a groove at the start of June, then fell into another funk. He has hit just .211 in his last 10 games — and is at .263 for the season — but did begin the second half on Thursday with a home run, No. 10 on the year. Sometimes, it’s just tough luck that stalls a prospect’s upward mobility. Ex-DeSoto Central star Austin Riley was playing well at Triple-A Gwinnett after his promotion from Mississippi, hitting .284 with four homers and 18 RBIs in 26 games for the Stripers. But Atlanta’s third baseman of the future suffered a knee injury that has kept him out since June 3. It’s unclear when he might get back on track.

22 Jun

breaking in

Ryan Rolison, the first player picked – 22nd overall by Colorado — from Mississippi in this month’s MLB draft, is on the roster of the Grand Junction Rockies but has yet to pitch in the rookie-level Pioneer League. Will Golsan, Rolison’s former Ole Miss teammate and a 26th-round selection by the Rockies, has played for Grand Junction and has some good numbers. The Columbus native is 6-for-13 with a homer and two RBIs. … Nick Sandlin, drafted by Cleveland in the second round out of Southern Miss, made his pro debut on June 18 and threw a scoreless inning for the Arizona League Indians. Sandlin won a national pitcher of the year award as well taking C-USA top pitcher honors and the Ferriss Trophy. … USM alum Luke Reynolds, C-USA player of the year and a 10th-round pick by the Chicago Cubs, has not yet made his debut. … Former Delta State star Zack Shannon, whose 31 homers in 2018 set an all-division state record, is 2-for-10 with no extra base hits in three games for the AZL Diamondbacks. … Ole Miss product Brady Feigl (fifth round by Oakland) pitched for the Vermont Lake Monsters (New York-Penn League) on Thursday night and yielded two runs in an inning of work. … UM alum Nick Fortes (fourth round, Miami) is 1-for-4 with two RBIs in one appearance, on June 16, for Batavia in the NYP League. … On the Marlins’ Gulf Coast League team are former Meridian Community College teammates Davis (Will) Bradshaw and Milton Smith Jr. Bradshaw is 0-for-7 in two games, Smith 1-for-9. … James McArthur, another Ole Miss alum (12th round, Philadelphia), is on the roster of the GCL Phillies West but has not pitched. … Pascagoula High product Willie Joe Garry Jr. made his debut for the GCL Twins on June 19 and went 0-for-4. … Of note: Former Ole Miss standout and erstwhile big leaguer Chris Coghlan is also playing in the AZL, with a Chicago Cubs affiliate. Coghlan, getting his game back in shape after many months off, is 1-for-7 in two games.

22 Jun

bad times in birdland

At the outset of the 2018 season, a sports betting agency made Baltimore’s Buck Showalter the odds-on favorite to be the first manager fired. That dubious honor went instead to Cincinnati’s Bryan Price. Showalter, the former Mississippi State star in his 20th year as a big league manager, hangs on despite what has been a truly awful first three months on the heels of a bad 2017. The team Showalter brings to Atlanta for an interleague series starting tonight is 21-52, worst record in MLB. That’s a .288 winning percentage. Showalter’s previous worst finish was a .401 in 1998 with Arizona, which was playing its inaugural season. And these Orioles figure to get worse: Stars Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Zach Britton, pending free agents, are expected to be traded. Showalter, 62, is also in the final year of his contract, as is Dan Duquette, the O’s VP for baseball operations. As bad as things are in Birdland, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hue and cry about firing Showalter. Perhaps ownership is just going to let him go out with a whimper, a relatively dignified end. The Orioles are the fourth team Showalter has managed, and he was fired from the previous three jobs though he had good years at each one. This is his ninth season with Baltimore, far and away his longest stint. He has won over 1,500 games – 643 with the O’s — and three manager of the year awards. Despite a lack of postseason success, he should get Hall of Fame consideration someday. It would be sad to see his career end with such a dismal season, but it may be headed that way. P.S. At the start of the season, few would have bet Atlanta would be in first place in the National League East in late June. Yet Brian Snitker, the former Mississippi Braves skipper and another of the seven Mississippi-connected managers in MLB, has steered this young club to a 43-30 mark. They’ve shown no signs of slowing down. M-Braves alum Sean Newcomb, an emerging ace, starts tonight. He is 8-2 with a 2.70 ERA; O’s starter Alex Cobb, one of team’s biggest disappointments, is 2-9, 7.14.

21 Jun

such fruitful fun

Gotta love this comment from Mississippi State ace Konnor Pilkington: “We’re just a bunch of rednecks playing ball and having fun.” A season that started out as anything but fun for Mississippi State has become a joyride in the postseason, featuring walk-off dramatics and the now ubiquitous Rally Banana. The Bulldogs are one win away from making the College World Series’ best-of-3 finals. Winning is fun, and State, once saddled with a 19-19 record and dire expectations of an NCAA Tournament bid, has gone 20-8 since mid-April. Scoring begets winning, and State, which once had trouble with the bats, has been piling up runs during its 8-2 postseason run, averaging almost eight per game with five-double digit efforts. A 12-2 win against North Carolina on Tuesday was fueled by the Banana Man himself, Jordan Westbury, who drove in seven runs. But forget banana power for a minute: Perhaps this is just a team living up to its potential. Despite the loss of 2017 star Brent Rooker, the Bulldogs were ranked in some preseason polls. They had seven players drafted by MLB clubs this month, including Pilkington (in the third round) and top hitter Jake Mangum (also drafted in 2017). So the rednecks do have talent; they didn’t just fall off the banana truck, so to speak. Now can they keep up the fun just a little longer? Oregon State, which already has a CWS loss, awaits on Friday. The Beavers may not be fueled by any fruit — and odds are there aren’t many rednecks on their roster — but they can play ball. Collegiate Baseball ranks them No. 1 in the nation. They are 51-11-1, including an 11-6 stunner of a win against North Carolina on Wednesday. And they have infielder Nick Madrigal, the fourth overall pick in the draft. P.S. A little research indicates the rally banana has been used before. Back in May 2015, the Los Angeles Dodgers were in the throes of a scoring slump, without a run in 35 straight innings. Sitting in their dugout, Kike Hernandez picked up a banana and proclaimed it the “rally banana.” The Dodgers promptly scored and won the game. They won again the next day. Alas, the banana power ran out in game three, and the Dodgers were pounded by San Diego, a grim reminder that bananas do have a relatively short shelf life.

21 Jun

all-star worthy

Voting ends Friday for the Triple-A All-Star Game, and if fans have been paying attention, ex-Mississippi State star Dakota Hudson should be leading the pack for Pacific Coast League starting pitcher. Hudson, with the Memphis Redbirds in St. Louis’ system, leads the PCL in wins and ERA. The 23-year-old right hander, the Cardinals’ No. 3 prospect, has won six of his last seven starts to move to 9-2 with a 2.13 ERA. Hudson doesn’t get a lot of strikeouts but, according to scouting reports, generates a lot of weak contact and ground balls with a heavy sinker. Drafted in the first round in 2016, he was the Texas League pitcher of the year in 2017 and got a non-roster invite to 2018 big league camp, where he posted a 1.86 ERA in four games. The Triple-A All-Star Game (see the ballot on milb.com) is slated for Columbus, Ohio, on July 11. Considering all the injuries the Cardinals have had in their rotation, Hudson might be in St. Louis well before then. P.S. There was a Mississippi Big 3 summit of sorts at Minnesota on Wednesday, when Mississippi State’s Mitch Moreland, Ole Miss’ Lance Lynn and Southern Miss’ Brian Dozier all took the field. Dozier, who’s been slumping (.135 his last 15 games), went 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI in the Twins’ 4-1 victory over Boston. Despite fighting command issues, Lynn went five innings for the win, improving to 5-5, 4.64 ERA as he pitched around three hits and five walks. Moreland got one of those hits and drew one of the walks and scored an unearned run on a throwing error. … Pittsburgh put Corey Dickerson, the former Meridian Community College standout, on the family emergency medical leave list and recalled MSU product Adam Frazier from Triple-A. … Houston produced back-to-back-to-back home runs on Wednesday, the first time the Astros have pulled that off in over 10 years. As you might have guessed, former Jackson Generals star Lance Berkman was involved in that previous trifecta.

19 Jun

in other news …

Ole Miss’ Thomas Dillard is enjoying the summer, raking at a .348 clip for Cotuit in the Cape Cod League. The switch-hitting outfielder, who hit .310 with 13 homers for the Rebels this season, has six runs and one RBI in seven games in the talent-laden CCBL. … Jackson Prep’s Jerrion Ealy, a rising senior, is participating in USA Baseball’s Tournament of Stars, which is used to select the Under-18 National Team. Games began today in Cary, N.C. An outfielder with all the tools, Ealy hit .368 with three homers for Prep in 2018. The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder is an Ole Miss baseball and football commit for 2019-20. … The Collegiate National Team starts play next week at the USA Baseball complex in Cary. Ole Miss’ Parker Caracci and Southern Miss’ Matt Wallner are on the Team USA roster. … John Wesley Ray, a onetime Ole Miss and Delta State player, is wearing out the Cotton States League. The 6-5, 230-pound Ray is batting .522 with eight RBIs in seven games and is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in four pitching appearances for the North Delta Dealers. … Of the five prep players drafted from Mississippi earlier this month, first-round pick J.T. Ginn and second-rounder Joe Gray have not yet signed pro contracts. The MLB signing deadline is July 6. Brandon’s Ginn, the 30th pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers and a Mississippi State commit, stands to get a bonus offer of over $2 million, while Hattiesburg’s Gray, an Ole Miss signee who went 60th to Milwaukee, will command $1 million plus. Pascagoula’s Willie Joe Garry Jr. (ninth round) has signed with Minnesota. Madison Central’s Regi Grace (10th round) reportedly also has signed with the Twins, but the team has not officially announced it. Harrison Central’s Brendan Hardy (31st round) has reportedly agreed to terms with the New York Mets. … Former Hattiesburg High star Robert Carson and Starkville native Julio Borbon, both onetime big leaguers, are putting up good numbers in the independent Atlantic League. Left-hander Carson has a 1.90 ERA in 16 games for York, while Borbon is batting .304 with three homers and 25 RBIs for Somerset.

19 Jun

lights out

Jonathan Holder made the New York Yankees’ staff out of spring training but didn’t figure to hold a prominent role in a deep and talented bullpen. That has changed. The Mississippi State alum from Gulfport is pitching in high-leverage situations now. Case in point: Monday’s second game against Washington. Holder came on in the sixth inning with runners at first and third, no outs and the Yankees gripping a one-run lead. The right-hander got two strikeouts and a pop up to escape the jam, and New York went on to win 4-2. “After he did that you could feel a jolt across the bench,” Yankees starting pitcher Sonny Gray told mlb.com. Holder has gone 22 innings without allowing an earned run. In 23 appearances, he has a 2.19 ERA. Holder, who debuted in the majors in 2016, actually started slowly this season and was sent back to Triple-A. His response? “Go down and work on stuff,” he told nj.com. He reportedly refined his slider a bit and regained some velocity on his fastball. Since his recall on April 21, he has been lights out. For State fans, whose focus has been elsewhere (Tallahassee, Nashville, Omaha) in recent weeks, Holder’s performance should ring familiar. He was the closer on the 2013 Bulldogs team that made it all the way to the College World Series finals. That squad included six players who already have played in the majors and a couple more who might yet get there. Holder, a sophomore in 2013, went 2-0 with 21 saves and a 1.65 ERA for a 51-20 team. The Yankees drafted him in the sixth round in 2014, and he moved swiftly through their system.

18 Jun

three stars

When he’s good, he’s very good. And Billy Hamilton was at the top of his game on Sunday, slashing hits, stealing bases, scoring runs and splashing down on the PNC Park warning track after one of the great catches of the season. The former Taylorsville High star produced three hits, three runs and two stolen bases in Cincinnati’s 8-6 win at Pittsburgh. But it was his defense that stole the show. The speedy center fielder tracked down a fly ball in right-center to make a catch that, according to Statcast, had a 2 percent probability of being made. He reportedly covered 83 feet in 4.3 seconds. “It’s like video game stuff,” said Reds pitcher Anthony DeSclafani in an mlb.com article. Francisco Cervelli, who hit the ball, applauded the play, as did Pirates fans. Hamilton needed a good day at the plate. The 3-for-4 boosted his average to .197, and he now has 13 stolen bases and 34 runs in 67 games. … At Dodger Stadium, Chris Stratton, the former Mississippi State standout from Tupelo, threw six impressive innings – three hits, one walk, no earned runs – to notch his eighth win of the year for San Francisco in a 4-1 victory against Los Angeles. It was the first career win for Stratton in four decisions vs. the Dodgers. He is 8-4, 4.22 ERA on the year and tied for second in the National League in wins. … At Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Tony Sipp, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College alum from Pascagoula, worked a scoreless seventh inning and earned the win as Houston extended its streak to 11 by beating the Royals 7-4. Sipp has made four scoreless appearances during the Astros’ run. Coming off a couple of rough years, the 34-year-old lefty has sliced his ERA to 2.16 and has 16 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings over 20 appearances overall.