July 2019 - Page 4 of 4 - All Mississippi Baseball

07 Jul

touching the bases

Hunter Renfroe, who, unfortunately, won’t be in Monday’s Home Run Derby, took the lead in the majors in home runs per at-bat on Saturday night when he mashed his 27th of the year in San Diego’s 3-1 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Mississippi State product is averaging a homer every 9.7 at-bats. He also set a career-high with his 424-foot bomb against Kenta Maeda, which was also Renfroe’s 12th go-ahead homer of the season. … Nate Lowe, another former Bulldogs star, hit his second career homer — and second in as many games since his Friday recall by Tampa Bay — to help the Rays subdue the New York Yankees. … Meridian Community College alum Corey Dickerson left Pittsburgh’s game with a groin injury that will be reevaluated today. Dickerson is batting .297 with 11 doubles and 16 RBIs in 24 games since coming off a long stint on the injured list because of a shoulder issue. … Tonight’s All-Star Futures Game in Cleveland will feature Mississippi Braves stars Cristian Pache, the dynamic center fielder, and Ian Anderson, who started the combo no-hitter on June 28, and Biloxi Shuckers right-hander Devin Williams. … Ex-MSU standout Brandon Woodruff of the Milwaukee Brewers has been named as a replacement player for Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game; he takes the spot of another Brewers pitcher and former Shuckers star, Josh Hader. Woodruff is very deserving at 10-3 with a 3.67 ERA. … Not in the All-Star Game (yet, at least): Ole Miss product Lance Lynn (11-4, 3.91), who is tied for the American League lead in wins for Texas. … Six former Mississippi Braves were originally named to the All-Star rosters, but at least half of them won’t be playing. Tommy La Stella, Mike Minor and Charlie Morton have been replaced, La Stella because of an injury and Minor and Morton because they were slated to pitch in real games today. Minor was later scratched but still won’t pitch in Cleveland. Freddie Freeman, Ronald Acuna and Mike Soroka remain on the active roster for the National League. … Colten Keith, a third baseman from Biloxi, was on one of the rosters for Saturday’s High School All-Star Game at Cleveland’s Progressive Field. … As part of the All-Star festivities, the Indians and MLB sponsored the renovation of a youth league field at Luke Easter Park in Cleveland. The park is named after the ex-Indians star who was the first black Mississippian to play in the majors.

05 Jul

watch for it

You’d be unlikely to hear the clanging of cowbells or screams of “Hotty Toddy” at Oracle Park in San Francisco tonight, but there will be a hint of the Mississippi State-Ole Miss rivalry in the air. Former State star Dakota Hudson is scheduled to start for St. Louis against ex-UM star Drew Pomeranz in a matchup of former first-round draft picks. That fact aside, the two pitchers are a study in contrast. Hudson, 24, is a right-hander in his first full MLB season and has been one of the Cardinals’ most consistent arms. He is 6-4 with a 3.40 ERA in 17 games, though he is coming off one of his worst outings of the year, last Saturday against San Diego. Pomeranz, 30, is a left-handed veteran of nine big league campaigns. Though he is 2-8, 6.25 ERA, he threw five shutout innings vs. Arizona his last time out, one of his better outings in what has been a rough season. He signed as a free agent with the Giants, his sixth big league team, after winning a ring with Boston in 2018. Hudson’s Cardinals are in the thick of a mad National League Central race, while Pomeranz’s Giants are buried in last place in the NL West. P.S. Detroit has put former Richton High standout JaCoby Jones (back) on the injured list, where he joins a host of other Mississippians: Spencer Turnbull, Tim Anderson, Mike Mayers, Mitch Moreland, Zack Cozart and Bobby Wahl. Pomeranz, Corey Dickerson, Tony Sipp, Chris Stratton and Jacob Waguespack all have spent time on the IL but are active now. … Tampa Bay has recalled MSU product Nate Lowe (see previous post) from Triple-A.

04 Jul

a few atta boys

Lot of high fives to pass out from Wednesday’s games. Start with Jacob Waguespack, the former Ole Miss standout who beat the Boston Red Sox in his second big league appearance. Waguespack was Toronto’s “featured pitcher,” coming on in the second inning following “opener” David Phelps. The 23-year-old Waguespack allowed three runs in five-plus innings but notched the W as the Blue Jays rallied against Chris Sale for a 6-3 victory. Waguespack went on the injured list (shoulder) after his MLB debut in May; he made three rehab appearances before being activated Wednesday. In nine innings for the Blue Jays, he has a 5.00 ERA and 11 strikeouts. “He’s throwing strikes, making good hitters look bad,” Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo told mlb.com. … In Pittsburgh, Meridian Community College alum Corey Dickerson delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly as the surging Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs for the third straight time, 6-5. “I love those situations, the crowd getting loud,” Dickerson, who has 17 RBIs in his 26 games, told mlb.com. Mississippi State alum Adam Frazier plated the tying run with a fielder’s choice grounder as the Bucs scored twice against Craig Kimbrel in the ninth. Frazier has 10 hits in the first three games of this series, which continues today. … In Atlanta, former DeSoto Central High star Austin Riley belted his 15th home run in the first-place Braves’ 9-2 win against Philadelphia. Rookie Riley has 40 RBIs in 45 games since his call-up. … At Washington, ex-Southern Miss standout Brian Dozier hit his 13th homer to back Stephen Strasburg’s brilliant pitching as the Nationals topped Miami 3-1. … In San Diego, MSU product Hunter Renfroe went 3-for-4 with his 25th homer in the Padres’ 7-5 loss to San Francisco. The hot-hitting Renfroe (.308 in his last seven games) is one homer shy of matching his career-high. … And down on the farm, Ryan Casteel of the Double-A Mississippi Braves hit a team-record three homers in a 14-13 loss at Pensacola. Casteel, a 28-year-old minor league vet, is batting .298 with 14 homers and 44 RBIs this season.

03 Jul

the lowe-down

Having made two trips to the big leagues this season, Nate Lowe looks like he’s ready for a third. The Mississippi State alum smacked three home runs for Triple-A Durham on Tuesday and is batting .350 over his last 10 games. Lowe went 10-for-38 in two short stints with Tampa Bay but was squeezed out of a roster spot. He slumped for a while after returning to Durham but has picked it up of late. He is batting .290 with 12 homers and 46 RBIs for the season with the Bulls and now has 50 career minor league bombs over four years. The left-handed hitting first baseman, 23, rocketed through three levels of the minors in 2018 and made his big league debut on April 29 of this season. He’s due another look from a playoff-contending Rays club. P.S. After getting five hits on Monday, ex-State star Adam Frazier banged out four more on Tuesday for Pittsburgh and will take a streak of seven straight hits into today’s game. Frazier, back in the leadoff spot where he began the season, hit his fourth homer of the year in the 5-1 win over the Chicago Cubs and boosted his average to .276. “I feel like I’m onto something,” he told mlb.com. … Former Harrison Central High star Bobby Bradley, who doubled in his first big league at-bat for Cleveland last week (see previous post), is just 3-for-27 (.111) in eight games. He has struck out 12 times.

02 Jul

one for the book

Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle put Adam Frazier in the leadoff spot on Monday for the first time since early June. It was a salient move by the former Jackson Mets skipper. Ex-Mississippi State standout Frazier went 5-for-6, scored three runs, drove in a pair and etched his name in the baseball record book with four doubles. And the Pirates, who also got three homers from Josh Bell, beat the first-place Chicago Cubs 18-5 at PNC Park. Frazier was in a 2-for-18 funk before Monday’s breakout, which might lead to more opportunities at the top of the order. He joins an impressive list of players with four two-baggers in a nine-inning game. Among the others to achieve the feat are Lou Boudreau, Joe Medwick, Orlando Cepeda, Billy Williams, Kirby Puckett, Albert Belle and Jeff Bagwell. Frazier has become the Pirates’ regular second baseman this season with the departure of Josh Harrison, and the lefty-hitting four-year veteran is batting .266 with three homers, 21 RBIs and 41 runs. The Pirates are hanging around in a crowded race in the National League Central.