Monthly Archives: September 2019

19 Sep

whatever happened to …

Corey Wimberly, the former Alcorn State star and longtime minor leaguer, is coaching for Peoria in the Arizona Fall League, which began play Wednesday. He has managed in the Boston Red Sox organization for the last two seasons, spending 2019 at Class A Salem. His charges lost in the Carolina League title series. Wimberly was an All-SWAC infielder for Alcorn who batted .462 with 42 stolen bases, 55 runs and 32 RBIs in 38 games in 2005. (Somehow, he did not win the Ferriss Trophy.) He was drafted as a sophomore-eligible in the sixth round by Colorado in 2005. Wimberly played 12 years of pro ball, reaching the Triple-A level (including a stint with Atlanta) but never getting the big league call. He batted .297 with 351 stolen bases for his career. He last played in the Mexican League three years ago. P.S. There are three Mississippi college products on the current AFL rosters. Ole Miss alum Brady Feigl, a right-hander in Oakland’s system, pitched a scoreless inning for Mesa in its opener. Ex-Southern Miss standout Kirk McCarty, a pitcher in the Cleveland system, is also on the Mesa club. USM product Bradley Roney, who pitched for the Mississippi Braves this season, gave up a home run but registered a hold for Scottsdale. M-Braves alum Trey Harris, Atlanta’s 2019 minor league player of the year, went 2-for-4 with a homer for the Scorpions.

19 Sep

consolation prize?

Spencer Turnbull did not get the gift of a win for his 27th birthday on Wednesday — but he didn’t get a loss, either. And that was significant. The Madison Central High product pitched five strong innings for Detroit against Cleveland, a playoff-contending team that had beaten Turnbull five times this season. Turnbull allowed just one run on six hits and struck out eight. It was a 1-1 game when he departed. The Tigers – the worst team in baseball – ultimately lost 2-1 in extra innings, their 17th loss to the Indians in 2019. For Turnbull, who has had a rough time of late (8.28 ERA over his last seven games), it was an encouraging effort. “He was a lot more confident on the mound tonight,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire told mlb.com. A win on his birthday would’ve been a nice reward. His last one came on May 31. He is 3-15 with a 4.66 ERA for a team that is 45-106 with a collective 5.23.

18 Sep

touching the bases

On this date in 2013, Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton made his first big league start for Cincinnati and flashed the skills that had so many in baseball excited about his future. Hamilton, who had already stolen five bases as a pinch runner before he got his first start, went 3-for-4 with a double, two walks, two runs, an RBI and four stolen bases as the Reds beat Houston 6-5 in 13 innings at Minute Maid Park. Hamilton led off the 13th with a walk, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Jay Bruce’s two-run double. Though he now has 298 steals – most ever by a Mississippi native – Hamilton’s inability to hit consistently (.242) has dogged his career. He is currently filling a role – and filling it well — as a pinch runner/defensive replacement for Atlanta. … With a 4-for-6 effort on Tuesday, East Central Community College alumnus Tim Anderson moved into the major league lead with a .336 batting average. The Chicago White Sox shortstop hit his 17th home run in a loss to Minnesota. The last Mississippian (native or college alum) to win a batting title was Grenada native Dave Parker, who won the National League crown in 1978 with Pittsburgh. … Corey Dickerson may have played his last game for Philadelphia. The Meridian Community College alum from McComb, a free agent after this season, went on the injured list for the Phillies on Tuesday with a broken foot. He hit .293 with eight homers and 34 RBIs in 34 games for Philly. Dickerson, a .286 career hitter, also missed a lot of time early in the season with Pittsburgh because of a shoulder injury.

18 Sep

open and shut

That was quite a 1-2 punch Milwaukee threw at San Diego on Tuesday night. Brandon Woodruff, the former Mississippi State standout, started and Drew Pomeranz, the ex-Ole Miss star, finished as the red-hot Brewers won 3-1 at Miller Park and moved into a tie with Chicago for second in the National League Central and wild card races. Between them, Woodruff and Pomeranz pitched four hitless innings with eight strikeouts. Woodruff, coming off the injured list, threw 37 pitches – hitting 99 mph – in two innings in his first appearance since July 21. “It feels, in a way, like a brand new season, the butterflies and stuff,” Woodruff told mlb.com. Pomeranz, the veteran lefty acquired from San Francisco at the trade deadline, has been a revelation working out of the Brewers’ bullpen. He has a 2.53 ERA, two saves and nine holds in 20 games, 19 in relief. He has punched out 36 batters in 21 1/3 innings, four in two innings Tuesday when he averaged 95 with his fastball. He had a 5.68 ERA in 21 games (17 starts) for the Giants. “I think, from Drew’s perspective, it’s ‘I can let it fly.’ That’s what he’s doing,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said in an mlb.com story. … The Padres’ run came on a homer by State product Hunter Renfroe, playing his first game in 10 days because of nagging injuries. His 32nd bomb was his first since Aug. 10. And, yes, he struck out against both Woodruff and Pomeranz.

17 Sep

welcome back

Another day, another former Bulldog in the MLB spotlight. Tonight, ex-Mississippi State standout Brandon Woodruff will return from nearly two months on the injured list to start for Milwaukee against San Diego at Miller Park. On Monday, Dakota Hudson pitched seven strong innings for St. Louis in a big victory – his 16th — against Washington. Woodruff and the Brewers are chasing the first-place Cardinals in the National League Central and the Nationals in the wild card race. Milwaukee has won 13 of its last 16, keeping its surge alive despite the loss of MVP candidate Christian Yelich. The Brewers hope to get a lift from Woodruff, who is 11-3 with a 3.75 ERA and made the All-Star Game back in July. The 26-year-old right-hander last pitched on July 21, when he suffered an oblique strain. He told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel it was a long, slow process getting back to form. “We’re playing some good baseball right now,” he said. “I want to be part of it and I want to contribute any way I can.” Woodruff reportedly threw no more than 45 pitches in his tuneup sessions, so three innings might be all the Brewers can expect from him tonight. P.S. Gulfport native Bobby Bradley and the Columbus Clippers take on the Sacramento River Cats in tonight’s Triple-A National Championship Game at Memphis’ AutoZone Park. FS1 will televise the game at 7 p.m. Bradley, an International League All-Star, hit .264 with 33 homers for the Clippers and also did a 15-game stint with Cleveland. Sacramento is a San Francisco affiliate.

16 Sep

on center stage

If you can watch/listen to only one game tonight, make it Washington-St. Louis at Busch Stadium. Former Mississippi State star Dakota Hudson (15-7, 3.38 ERA) leads the Cardinals against Stephen Strasburg (17-6, 3.49) and the Nationals in a game that means a lot to a lot of teams. St. Louis (83-66) leads the National League Central by 2 games over Chicago, which is second in the wild card standings to Washington (82-66). Milwaukee is still in the thick of the Central and wild card races, as well, and New York, Philadelphia and even Arizona aren’t yet toast. Hudson, a ground-ball machine, has had a great season. Still classified as a rookie, the 24-year-old right-hander is 5-1, 1.70 over his last seven starts; the lone loss came last week at Colorado. No Nationals batter has more than four at-bats against Hudson, and none has more than one hit. Southern Miss product Brian Dozier, a Nationals second baseman, is 0-for-4 vs. Hudson.

16 Sep

title hungry

Congratulations to Phillip Wellman, the former Mississippi Braves manager who piloted the Amarillo Sod Poodles to a Texas League championship on Sunday, beating Tulsa 8-3 in the decisive fifth game. This is the team’s first year in Amarillo after the franchise – still a San Diego affiliate — moved from San Antonio. (Sod poodle is a pioneer nickname for prairie dog.) It was the second championship for Wellman in 19 seasons as a minor league skipper; he won the other in 2008 in the second of his four seasons with the M-Braves. … Condolences to the Biloxi Shuckers, who lost at Jackson, Tenn., on Sunday in Game 5 of the Southern League Championship Series. The Shuckers, a Milwaukee affiliate, have lost in the SL finals in three of their five seasons on the Coast. … It’s now been 11 years since Mississippi celebrated a pro baseball championship, which is beginning to feel like a drought. Over a 15-year span starting in 1981, Jackson’s Texas League clubs won five championships – the Mets in 1981, ’84 and ’85 and the Generals in ’93 and ’96. The independent Senators won a Central League crown in 2003, and five years later, the M-Braves won their lone Southern League title. Long before that, Jackson-based teams won league championships in 1908, 1913, 1925, 1927, 1931, 1940 and 1947, according to research in the Minor League Encyclopedia of Baseball. The 1913 team, known as the Lawmakers, posted an impressive 71-24 record (.747 winning percentage) in the old Cotton States League. Mississippi did not have a pro club from 1953, when the original Senators left town, to 1975, when the Mets moved into Smith-Wills Stadium.

13 Sep

something to celebrate

Coming through with big hits in the postseason is a good way to impress the brass in the minor leagues. Tyreque Reed came through on Thursday night. The ex-Itawamba Community College star from Houlka went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs to help Hickory stave off elimination in the South Atlantic League Championship Series. “What I was thinking and doing tonight, it worked,” Reed said in an milb.com story. The Crawdads’ cleanup batter was 1-for-7 in the first two games as Lexington took both. Reed, drafted in 2017 by Texas, hit .282 with 13 homers and 48 RBIs for the Crawdads in his second stint with the low Class A club after scuffling at the high-A level to start 2019. … Bobby Bradley, the Harrison Central High product, celebrated an International League pennant on Thursday night when Columbus finished off a sweep of Durham for the Governors’ Cup. He went 0-for-3 with a walk in Game 3 but was 6-for-20 with two homers and eight RBIs during the Clippers’ postseason run. Columbus will play the Pacific Coast League champ in the Triple-A title game on Sept. 17 at Memphis. Bradley is surely anticipating a recall to Cleveland. P.S. Mississippi State alum Hunter Renfroe and East Central CC’s Tim Anderson are among the 30 nominees, one per MLB team, for the Roberto Clemente Award. The award is “the annual recognition of a major league player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.” As part of the selection process, fans can vote through Sept. 29 for the overall winner via this link: mlb.com/clemente21.

12 Sep

helping hand

The South Bend Cubs got to use a “ringer” as their starting pitcher in Game 1 of the Midwest League Championship Series, and former Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman gave them the type of performance they might have expected. Veteran big leaguer Graveman, on an injury rehab assignment for the Class A Cubs, worked 3 2/3 innings, allowing a run on three hits, and South Bend beat Clinton 3-1 on Wednesday night. Graveman, 28, made his fourth rehab start – each one at a different minor league level — as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery last summer. In 13 1/3 innings, the right-hander has a 2.03 ERA and 16 strikeouts. Graveman signed with Chicago as a free agent after being a fixture in Oakland’s rotation for most of the previous four seasons. P.S. Hot-hitting Corey Dickerson left Philadelphia’s game – a 3-1 loss — against Atlanta on Wednesday with a sore left foot that the Meridian Community College alum described as “pretty painful.” … Ex-State star Brandon Woodruff threw live batting practice for Milwaukee on Wednesday and the All-Star righty appears close to returning to the club’s rotation. The Brewers, smarting from the loss of MVP candidate Christian Yelich, won their sixth straight Wednesday to move into a tie with the fading Cubs for the second wild card spot in the National League.

11 Sep

ups and downs

Corey Dickerson, who hasn’t yet played a postseason game in his seven-year big league career, is playing like a man on a mission for a Philadelphia team battling for a wild card berth in the National League. The former Meridian Community College star from McComb hit two home runs on Tuesday night, propelling the Phillies to a huge 6-5 win against visiting Atlanta. Philly is 2 games out of the second wild card spot. Since joining the Phillies at the trade deadline, Dickerson has batted .300 with eight homers and 34 RBIs in 33 games. “I’ve loved it here,” he told mlb.com. For the year, including 44 games with Pittsburgh, Dickerson is batting .307 with 12 bombs and 59 RBIs. … Hunter Renfroe, the Mississippi State product from Crystal Springs, has been out of the San Diego lineup for several days and apparently will be out for quite a few more as he rests a sore ankle. The ankle issue, coupled with an elbow problem, helps to explain Renfroe’s woeful second half. (He never publicly complained about either injury.) He is batting .169 with four homers and 13 RBIs since the All-Star break. He has two homers since the start of August. On the year, Renfroe has 31 homers with a .222 average and 143 strikeouts in 414 at-bats. P.S. Down on the farms: Harrison Central High alum Bobby Bradley hit a three-run homer to help Columbus beat Durham 8-3 in the opener of the Governors’ Cup, aka the International League Championship Series. It was the second postseason clout for Bradley, who hit 33 homers for the Clippers in the regular season, plus one in MLB with Cleveland. … Ex-State star Jake Mangum singled and scored the tying run in the seventh inning as Brooklyn rallied past Lowell 4-3 to win the New York-Penn League championship. Mangum, a 2019 draftee of the New York Mets, batted .247 with 18 RBIs and 29 runs in 53 games for the short season Class A Cyclones.