Monthly Archives: August 2019

30 Aug

coming soon

Act II of his big league career should be starting soon for Bobby Bradley, the ex-Harrison Central High star who made his MLB debut with Cleveland back in June. With rosters expanding on Sunday, the Indians’ No. 7 prospect likely will be recalled then or shortly thereafter. The lefty-hitting first baseman, who has been scuffling of late at Triple-A Columbus, made some noise on Thursday when he went 4-for-5 with two home runs, bringing his season total to 33, 34 if you count the one he hit for the Indians during his 15-game call-up. Recently named an International League All-Star, Bradley is batting .263 with 72 RBIs, 62 runs, 44 walks and 151 strikeouts in 103 games. With 148 homers in six pro seasons, he could help supply some power for the Indians, who are chasing a playoff berth and recently lost Jose Ramirez for several weeks due to injury.

29 Aug

boys of fall

A pair of former Southern Miss pitchers will get some bonus work in the Arizona Fall League, the select circuit that begins its season on Sept. 18. Bradley Roney, currently with the Mississippi Braves in Atlanta’s system, and Kirk McCarty, pitching for Lynchburg in the Cleveland organization, are on the AFL’s initial rosters announced Wednesday. More names will be added soon. Roney is one of four current M-Braves on the Scottsdale roster, joined by outfielder Greyson Jenista, outfielder Trey Harris and pitcher Connor Johnstone. Roney returned in May from roughly two years on the injured list. The 26-year-old right-handed reliever has a 2.70 ERA, two saves and 34 strikeouts in 23 1/3 innings for Double-A Mississippi. Drafted in 2014, he reached Triple-A in 2016 before stalling out with arm injuries. McCarty, a left-handed starter, was a seventh-round pick in 2017. He has spent two stints on the IL this season at high Class A Lynchburg, where he has posted a 3-6 record with a 5.37 ERA in 12 games. He has a 4.03 career ERA. He’ll pitch for Mesa. Lefty Clayton Andrews, a Milwaukee prospect currently on Biloxi’s roster, is slated to pitch for Glendale.

28 Aug

lost season

The drought continued for Spencer Turnbull on Tuesday night. The Madison Central High alum, a rookie right-hander for Detroit, took another loss as his Tigers fell to visiting Cleveland 10-1. Turnbull has gone 12 straight starts without a win, his last coming three months ago on May 31. His record at that time was 3-4, with a 2.84 ERA. His record now is 3-13, which, when you consider that his ERA is still a respectable 4.18, says a lot about how bad the Tigers are this year. In short: Really bad. Tuesday’s loss dropped Ron Gardenhire’s club to 39-90 overall and 17-44 at home, both worst in MLB. They’re 40 games behind first-place Minnesota in the American League Central. The second-place Indians beat the Tigers for the 13th time in 14 games this season. Turnbull did not pitch well: four runs, including a two-run first-inning homer by Jason Kipnis, in five innings. “I don’t feel like I missed by much, but they did real damage on a couple swings,” Turnbull said in an Associated Press story. His teammates barely put up a fight, mustering three hits. All Turnbull can do is turn the page and look forward to his next scheduled start on Sunday. Who does he get? The Twins.

27 Aug

two in one

On this date in 1990, Vicksburg native Ellis Burks hit two home runs in one inning for Boston in a game at Cleveland. He is one of 56 players to accomplish that feat in the modern era, and the only Mississippian (native or college alumnus) to do it. Among the others on the list are Joe DiMaggio, Mark McGwire, David Ortiz, Jeff Bagwell, Dale Murphy and Willie McCovey, who is one of five players to go deep twice in one inning TWICE. Burks, a first-round pick by the Red Sox out of a Texas junior college, debuted in the big leagues in 1987 and hit 352 homers in his 18-year career, including 40 in 1996 with Colorado. He finished his career in Boston, playing 11 games in 2004 in his age 40 season and earning a World Series ring when The Curse was vanquished.

27 Aug

dee-fense, dee-fense

Fans don’t shout “Dee-fense, dee-fense” at baseball games, but making plays in the field is an essential element of winning. The ability to catch and throw, skills he displayed on Monday night, has helped Jarrod Dyson carve out a 10-year big league career. In the sixth inning of Arizona’s game at San Francisco, McComb native Dyson, playing right field, made a leaping catch against the wall for the first out. (It was one of the Top Plays on MLB Network’s Quick Pitch.) Later in the inning, Dyson, shifting toward the line against left-handed pull hitter Brandon Crawford, fielded Crawford’s hit and cut down a runner at the plate, preserving the Diamondbacks’ 3-2 lead. “I played the play in my head before it happened, and it happened exactly how I played it,” the ever-quotable Dyson told The Associated Press. Arizona went on to win 6-4 in a battle of fringe wild card contenders. Dyson has eight assists this season and 165 putouts with just two errors in 96 games. For his career, during which he often has been used as a defensive replacement, Dyson has 59 assists and a .983 fielding percentage. The swift 35-year-old has played all three outfield positions in his career — and actually played all three in Monday’s game. P.S. Mississippi State product Brent Rooker started a rehab assignment on Monday with Minnesota’s Gulf Coast League team. Rooker, out with a groin injury, last played on July 13 for Triple-A Rochester, where he was batting .281 with 14 home runs. … Ex-Southern Miss star Cody Carroll (the one from Tennessee) pitched a scoreless inning Saturday on a rehab assignment with Baltimore’s GCL team. Carroll, who made his big league debut in 2018, has been out all season with a back injury.

26 Aug

that’s the ticket

Chicago White Sox scouting and development folks had to be smiling Sunday when they got the report on James Beard. Batting leadoff and playing center field for their rookie Arizona League club, the fourth-round pick out of Loyd Star High went 3-for-5 with a double, a triple, three runs and a stolen base. Beard, the first high school player picked out of Mississippi, was widely regarded as the fastest player in the 2019 draft. How much he would hit in pro ball was the great unknown, but Beard has flashed some bat skills of late. In his last four games, the 5-foot-10, 170-pounder is 7-for-20 with three RBIs. For the season, in 31 games, he is at .213 with two homers, 12 RBIs, 19 runs and nine bags (in 12 tries). Beard was compared to Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton in pre-draft buzz, though, as MLB Pipeline’s scouting report now says: “Beard shows the potential to make much more impact at the plate than Hamilton.” Beard is rated the White Sox’s No. 21 prospect. … Joe Gray, the top prep pick from the state who signed in 2018, is rated the No. 10 prospect in Milwaukee’s system, but the ex-Hattiesburg High star is, like Beard, more of a project at this stage. Gray, also a center fielder, is batting .191 with two homers, six RBIs and three steals in 20 games at Rocky Mountain in the rookie-level Pioneer League. A second-round pick last year, the 6-1, 195-pound Gray batted .182 with two homers and six steals in the AZL last summer. His best tool might be his arm.

25 Aug

three stars

Corey Dickerson: The ex-Meridian Community College star banged out a career-high four hits and drove in five runs to lead Philadelphia to a 9-3 victory at Miami on Saturday. Dickerson, picked up by the Phillies at the trade deadline from Pittsburgh, is batting .292 with three homers and 19 RBIs in 17 games for Philadelphia, which is hanging around in third place in the National League East and third in the wild card standings. Having missed a big chunk of the first half with a shoulder injury, Dickerson is batting .302 with seven homers and 44 RBIs on the year.
Dakota Hudson: The Mississippi State product threw six shutout innings against Colorado, helping St. Louis to a 6-0 win that extended the Cardinals’ lead in NL Central to a 1.5 games. Hudson, a rookie right-hander, has worked 18 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings over his last three starts — all wins — and is 13-6 with a 3.47 ERA for the season. He yielded two hits Saturday after tossing 6 2/3 hitless innings in his last start. “A lot of it is making the hitter adjust to you a little bit,” Hudson told The Associated Press about his recent run of success.
Billy Hamilton: The former Taylorsville High standout delivered a pinch single and alertly dashed home on a defensive lapse during an eighth-inning rally as Atlanta beat the New York Mets 9-5 for its seventh straight win. The speedy Hamilton, a waiver claim last week, scored all the way from first on a single by Ronald Acuna, going third to home when a Mets outfielder lobbed a throw back to the infield. Hamilton is 2-for-5 with a run, an RBI and two steals (20 on the season) in three games with the first-place Braves.
P.S. A minors matter: Former Southern Miss star Matt Wallner is 4-for-13 with a home run and three RBIs in four games since earning a promotion to Class A Cedar Rapids in Minnesota’s system. The 2019 first-round draftee, who belted 58 homers in three years in Hattiesburg, hit .269 with six homers and 28 RBIs at rookie-level Elizabethton to start his pro career.

24 Aug

clutch knocks

Atlanta picked up Billy Hamilton for his wheels and his glove. What the ex-Taylorsville High star did late Friday night was a bonus. The light-hitting outfielder singled through a drawn-in infield to score the go-ahead run in the 14th inning as the Braves took down the New York Mets 2-1 at CitiField. Hamilton said that other than his first career steal in the big leagues Friday’s moment might have been “the best feeling of my life.” Hamilton — aka “Bone” — entered the game late as a pinch runner and stayed in to play center field, two roles at which he can excel. He was having a bad year with a bad team — Kansas City — when the Braves claimed him on waivers on Monday; he said that day felt like Christmas all over again. The first-place Braves won their sixth straight and ended a five-game win streak for Ole Miss alumnus Mickey Callaway’s Mets, third in the National League East. … Adam Frazier, the former Mississippi State standout, also came up with a clutch knock on Friday, though it came in a game that had much less significance than Braves-Mets. Frazier’s bloop single scored the tying run in the ninth inning and set the stage for Pablo Reyes’ walk-off hit as Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati 3-2 in a matchup of NL Central also-rans. … East Central Community College product Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox wasted no time extending his hitting streak to 10 games, singling off ex-UM star Lance Lynn of Texas in the first inning. Anderson, batting .332, had two hits all told as the ChiSox rallied to rout Lynn and the Rangers 8-3. In one of his worst outings of the year, Lynn (14-9) yielded seven earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.
P.S. The Eastern League All-Star team named Friday is filled with young prospects trying to work their way up to The Show. One exception: relief pitcher Aaron Barrett. The former Ole Miss standout is 31 and trying to get back to the big leagues after a series of injuries derailed his career. Barrett, who has 90 MLB appearances on his ledger, is certainly having an All-Star worthy season at Double-A Harrisburg, with 29 saves and a 2.55 ERA for the Washington affiliate.

23 Aug

odds and ends

From the Sometimes This Game Ain’t Fair Dept.: Ole Miss product Jacob Waguespack shut out the best team in baseball for seven innings on Thursday night. He wound up with a no-decision as his team — the Toronto Blue Jays – lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 via a ninth-inning walk-off hit. Waguespack, pitching his 10th big league game, allowed one hit, one walk and one HBP in a 95-pitch outing. He was pulled — with a 2-0 lead — because of stomach cramps. The Jays’ bullpen gave up three runs in the ninth. Waguespack is 4-1 with a 3.63 ERA this season. … Former Southern Miss star Brian Dozier returned from paternity leave on Thursday and was back in the lineup for Washington. He went 0-for-3 in a win against Pittsburgh. … DeSoto Central High alum Austin Riley is slated to begin a rehab assignment tonight for Class A Rome in the Atlanta system. Riley, coming back from a knee injury, has 17 homers with 45 RBIs in 66 games as a Braves rookie. … Ex-Mississippi State standout Nate Lowe is batting .375 over his last 10 games at Triple-A Durham, eagerly awaiting a recall by Tampa Bay. Lowe batted .295 with five homers during previous stints with the Rays this season. … Also hoping for a September call-up is Bobby Bradley, the former Harrison Central star now at Triple-A Columbus in Cleveland’s chain. Bradley is hitting just .138 over his last 10 games. He leads all Mississippians in the minors with 30 homers; he hit one during his 15-game big league tour. … Behind the pitching of Claudio Custodio, the Mississippi Braves beat Pensacola 3-1 on Thursday at Pearl’s Trustmark Park to conclude a 4-7 homestand. At 27-33 in the second half, the M-Braves have an elimination number of 1 in the Southern League South. They have 10 games left, including an Aug. 29-Sept. 2 homestand that will end the season. … Former M-Braves star Mallex Smith, now with Seattle, will wear WATER on the back of his jersey for Players Weekend (which starts today). Why? “Because I flow anywhere.”

22 Aug

whatever happened to …

Tim Dillard, at age 36 and in his 18th pro season, has enjoyed a resurgence the last few weeks at Triple-A Nashville. Dillard, the former Itawamba Community College star from Saltillo, went seven innings Wednesday night to beat Oklahoma City 7-2 and improve to 3-0 over his last six starts. The sidewinding right-hander is 8-8 with a 4.61 ERA this season, his first in the Texas system after 17 in Milwaukee’s. The Brewers drafted Dillard, son of former big leaguer and Ole Miss alum Steve, out of ICC in 2002. He has made 582 appearances – working more than 1,500 innings — in affiliated ball, including 73 major league games, a commendable accomplishment for a 34th-round draft pick. His last MLB appearance was in 2012. Whether another call to The Show is in the cards is not something Dillard, a bit of a free spirit, is worried about. “I would say the secret to success in baseball is finding joy in every moment,” he told the Tupelo Daily Journal earlier this month. “But that’s really for life. I try to find the joy in every moment, even the bad moments.” Words to live by, for sure. P.S. Mississippi State right-hander J.T. Ginn is rated the No. 10 college prospect in the 2020 draft by mlb.com’s Jim Callis. Ginn went 8-4 with a 3.13 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 86 1/3 innings as a freshman in 2019. He’ll turn 21 next May, making him eligible for the June draft. He was the 30th overall pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers out of Brandon High in 2018.