Monthly Archives: July 2021

21 Jul

ecstasy to agony

Tough break for former Madison Central High star Spencer Turnbull, who’ll miss the rest of this season and a big chunk of 2022 because of Tommy John surgery. Turnbull threw a no-hitter in late May, the first ever by a Mississippi high school or college alum, and was having a strong year (4-2, 2.88 ERA) with a bad Detroit team when he went on the injured list June 5 with a sore arm. He was shifted to the 60-day IL on July 7, and the announcement about the arm surgery came Tuesday. Turnbull, 28, was a second-round pick by the Tigers in 2014 out of Alabama. He debuted in the big leagues in 2018 and has an 11-25, 4.25 career ledger.

20 Jul

that’s consistency

Tim Anderson was playing like an All-Star before he was named as a late addition to the American League squad. Nothing has changed since. The East Central Community College product went into the break on a 12-game hit streak that started before he was named to the team for the first time. As if he needed to validate his selection, he has hit safely in all four games he has played since the break and has homered in three straight for the first-place Chicago White Sox. “(He) is one of the big reasons why we are where we are,” manager Tony LaRussa told The Associated Press. Anderson has 12 hits in his last seven games, 28 during his 16-game streak and is batting .394 over that stretch. For the year, Anderson, in his sixth season as the White Sox’s regular shortstop, is batting .314 with nine homers, 36 RBIs, 61 runs and 14 stolen bases. Anderson will look to extend his streak when Chicago hosts Minnesota today. The club record for a hitting streak is 28, held by Carlos Lee (2004). P.S. Petal’s Demarcus Evans was recalled by Texas on Sunday, threw two scoreless innings, then was optioned back to Triple-A Monday. Thanks for playing.

17 Jul

totally random

Mississippi native Norm Bass is one of the select few – roughly 70 – who have played both major league baseball and pro football. Born in Laurel in 1939 and raised in California, Bass spent parts of three seasons (1961-63) in the majors as a pitcher with the Kansas City A’s and then played defensive back in the AFL in 1964 with the Denver Broncos. But Bass did not stop there. Arthritis curtailed his ability to perform in baseball and football, so he turned to table tennis and became a prominent player on the international scene. He medaled in the 2000 Paralympics and is in the Table Tennis Hall of Fame. Bass, whose brother Dick was also a pro football player and Mississippi native, posted a 13-17 record with a 5.32 ERA in 65 MLB games. (He allowed one of Roger Maris’ 61 home runs in 1961.) In a wonderful profile on Bass in an online publication called Sports Stories, the writer says, “No athlete I can think of has had a career like Norm Bass.” A film about his life reportedly was in the works in 2020.

16 Jul

still raking

Yes, it was Division II juco baseball, and, yes, it was with a metal bat. Still, the .504 batting average posted by Tyreque Reed at Itawamba Community College in 2017 was an eye-popping number. And Reed is proving in pro ball that it wasn’t purely a fluke. The 6-foot-1, 250-pound Houlka native can rake. Reed, now playing at High-A Greenville in the Boston system, went 3-for-3 with two walks, a homer and a career-high five RBIs in a game on Thursday. He is batting .296, slugging .587, with 14 homers and 50 RBIs for the Drive. His slugging percentage ranks second in the High-A East and the homer total is tied for third-most. Over four minor league seasons, Reed is batting .283 with 55 homers. A first baseman/DH, Reed is 24 and no doubt ready to be challenged at a higher level. He’s not rated among the Red Sox’s Top 30 prospects on mlb.com, but the organization reportedly is high on his potential. Boston plucked Reed from the Texas organization in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft in December. The Rangers had drafted him in the eighth round out of ICC in 2017; he hit a homer for them in his first big league spring training game in 2019. “(W)e really believe in the power potential, so we’re excited to bring him into the organization. He’s been someone we’ve kept an eye on even outside of the Rule 5 context,” Boston scouting exec Gus Quattlebaum told bloggingtheredsox.com in December. P.S. Former Ole Miss standout Bobby Wahl, released by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, re-signed with them Thursday to a minor league deal.

15 Jul

road not taken

The lone high school player from Mississippi picked in the MLB draft this week was not Braden Montgomery, the former Madison Central two-way star and the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year award winner. (It was Brennon McNair, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound shortstop from Magee, who was plucked by Kansas City in the 11th round as something of a sleeper pick.) Montgomery, a Stanford signee, was rated as the No. 66 draft prospect by mlb.com, but apparently his asking price to sign did not match up with what teams were willing to offer. So, he’s off to Stanford, which is still pretty awesome. A local scout called him “an exciting talent.” Montgomery posted a .479 average with seven home runs and 50 RBIs and compiled a 9-0 record on the mound with a 0.74 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 56 2/3 innings. He’ll be eligible for the draft again in three years, perhaps following the path of J.T. Ginn, the 2018 Gatorade POY at Brandon. Ginn was picked in the first round by the Los Angeles Dodgers that year but turned down a reported $2.4M to pitch at Mississippi State. He sparkled as a freshman but suffered an elbow injury that required surgery early in 2020, his sophomore season. Nevertheless, the New York Mets took him in the second round last year. The right-hander signed for $2.9M and recently began his pro career. He is 2-1 with a 2.48 ERA in Low-A ball. The 2020 and 2019 Gatorade POYs were drafted in 2020, DeSoto Central’s Blaze Jordan going to Boston in the third round and Biloxi’s Colt Keith to Detroit in the fifth and final round. Jordan signed for $1.75M and is playing in the Florida Complex League, batting .194 with a homer. Keith, a junior when he won the POY award, signed for $500,000 and is now in Low-A ball, batting .291. The 2017 and 2016 Gatorade award winners weren’t drafted, then or since. Trey Shaffer, from Biloxi, went to Southeastern Louisiana and recently transferred to LSU. Jason Barber, from Oxford, signed with Ole Miss, pitched very little as a freshman in 2017 and then gave up baseball. P.S. Walker Powell, C-USA pitcher of the year at Southern Miss, has signed with the Chicago Cubs as an undrafted free agent, according to Baseball America. The 6-foot-8 right-hander went 10-2, 2.31 ERA this season for the Golden Eagles.

14 Jul

circle the date

It happened on July 14, 2002. It had never happened before that in the big leagues and would happen only four times after that. Bill Selby, the pride of Horn Lake and a former Southern Miss star, hit a walk-off grand slam against Mariano Rivera on that date at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field. Rivera, the Hall of Famer and MLB’s all-time saves leader, had not allowed a walk-off bomb in his seven previous seasons as the New York Yankees’ closer. He yielded only four more over the next 11 years. The July 14 homer was the only walk-off Selby hit in five big league seasons. He hit only 11 homers all told. Talk about catching lightning in a bottle. Now a coach at Northwest Mississippi Community College, Selby eloquently and humbly described his star turn in a published interview a few years back: “You put yourself in a position to be successful and if it happens, then be thankful and keep on trucking. Not everyone can do what those guys (MLB stars) do. I certainly use that as motivation and to help people understand that you don’t have to be ‘the guy’ to have a ‘the guy’ moment.” Of all the homers struck by Mississippians (natives or college alums) in big league history, Selby’s improbable game-ender vs. Rivera is arguably the most memorable. Here’s a few more to round out a top 10:
2. Will Clark’s homer against Nolan Ryan in his first career at-bat in 1986.
3. Rafael Palmeiro’s 500th homer on May 11, 2003; he’s the only state product in that club.
4. Dmitri Young’s three home runs on opening day 2005, making him the third player ever to achieve that feat.
5. Marcus Thames’ homer against Randy Johnson on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues in 2002.
6. Brian Dozier’s American League-record 40th homer as a second baseman on Sept. 26, 2016; he hit 42 on the year, most ever by a Mississippi native.
7. Bill Hall’s Mother’s Day walk-off blast, with a pink bat and his mom in the stands, in 2006.
8. Luke Easter’s 477-foot bomb in 1950 at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, the longest ever hit there.
9. Brandon Woodruff’s homer off Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 of the 2018 NLCS.
10 (tie). Anthony Alford’s first career homer, a walk-off in the 15th inning on Sept. 24, 2019, and Jack Reed’s only career homer, a 22nd-inning game-winner on June 24, 1962.
Honorable mentions: Bobby Kielty’s pinch-hit homer in Game 4 of the 2007 World Series in what would be his last major league at-bat. Mitch Moreland’s two-out, three-run pinch homer in Game 4 of the 2018 World Series. Austin Riley’s 448-foot go-ahead homer in Game 1 of the 2020 NLCS. Dave Parker’s big blast in the strike-ending All-Star Game in 1981. Hunter Renfroe’s homer onto the roof of the Western Metal Supply Co. building outside Petco Park in September 2016. Tim Anderson’s brawl-inducing bat-flip homer in April 2019.

14 Jul

power grid

While the big league stars were out in Colorado on Tuesday, former Mississippi State star Brent Rooker generated some luminosity down in Triple-A. Rooker blasted three home runs and drove in a career-high seven runs to power St. Paul to a 19-1 win over Columbus. Rooker, who started this season in Minnesota but didn’t hit enough to stick, now has 17 homers on the season, tied for the most in the Triple-A East. The right-handed hitting outfielder/DH is batting .245 with 41 RBIs for the Saints as he awaits another big league shot. “(Y)ou have to just stay confident in yourself and make the right adjustments,” he told milb.com. “I believe in myself and know I can be successful (in the big leagues).” … In Double-A, Ole Miss alum Grae Kessinger hit his sixth homer for Houston’s Corpus Christi club. The infielder, in his second pro season, has lifted his average to .213 with a recent hot streak. … In High-A, ex-State star Justin Foscue and former Mississippi College standout Blaine Crim, hitting 2-3 in the Hickory lineup, produced long balls. Crim, who has been on a tear, has 13 homers and Foscue, a 2020 draftee, four for the Texas affiliate. (Foscue’s former Bulldogs teammate and 2020 draftee Jordan Westburg went 2-for-5 for Aberdeen (Baltimore) in that same game.) … In Low-A, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product Brandon Parker went yard for Augusta, an Atlanta farm club. Parker, in his second pro season, has six homers but is batting just .174. … And in the Florida Complex League on Monday, ex-DeSoto Central High star Blaze Jordan got his first pro homer. The storied slugger, 18, a third-round pick by Boston last year, is hitting .194 through eight games. P.S. Bobby Wahl, the former Ole Miss pitcher, has been released by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Wahl, 29, who has big league time, has an 11.12 ERA in 15 games this season for three minor league teams in the Milwaukee and L.A. systems.

13 Jul

star dates

For the first time in 30 years, a Mississippi State alumnus will start in the All-Star Game. (It’s been a good year for State.) Adam Frazier draws the honor at second base, batting ninth, for the National League in tonight’s All-Star Game at Coors Field in Denver. The last State alum to start in the Midsummer Classic was Will Clark with San Francisco in 1991. In 2017, Mississippi had two All-Star starters: former Ole Miss star Zack Cozart for the NL and Meridian Community College product Corey Dickerson for the AL. Frazier, batting .330 for Pittsburgh, was voted in as the NL second baseman by fans. It’s his first All-Star appearance. MSU alum Brandon Woodruff of Milwaukee and Ole Miss product Lance Lynn of the Chicago White Sox were chosen as pitchers by fellow players, but Woodruff was scratched from the NL roster because he started Sunday. Former East Central CC star Tim Anderson of the White Sox made his first All-Star Game as a replacement player at shortstop. … Thirty years ago, at Toronto’s SkyDome, former State stars Clark and Rafael Palmeiro were on opposing sides; the “Thunder and Lightning” duo had been teammates on the NL team in 1988. Clark went 1-for-2 with a walk for the NL in ’91, and Palmeiro, with Texas at the time, came off the bench and walked in his only plate appearance for the AL. A Cal Ripken homer sparked the AL to a 4-2 win. … This year marks the 80th anniversary of one of the most dramatic home runs in All-Star Game history, the game-ending, two-out, three-run shot by Ted Williams against Waynesboro native Claude Passeau at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. Said Williams after the game: “Halfway down to first, seeing that ball going out, I stopped running and started leaping and jumping and clapping my hands, and I was so happy I laughed out loud.” … Forty years ago, the All-Star Game at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium marked the first time players got back on the field following the strike and drew a crowd of 72,000-plus. In the sixth inning, Grenada native Dave Parker hit a blast into the right-center field seats that gave the National League the lead en route to a 5-4 win. That’s one of just four All-Star Game homers by Mississippi natives. (George Scott, Frank White and Brian Dozier hit the others.) … Ten years ago, at Chase Field in Arizona, Meridian CC alum Cliff Lee, then with Cleveland, gave up a homer to Adrian Gonzalez in his one inning of work in the NL’s 5-1 win. Lee, a somewhat underrated 143-game winner in the majors, was making the third of four All-Star appearances.

13 Jul

this just in …

The first high school player from Mississippi has been picked in the MLB draft. Brennon McNair, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound shortstop from Magee, was plucked by Kansas City today in the 11th round. McNair went 319th overall; he was not rated among the top 250 draft prospects by MLB Pipeline. McNair, a South Alabama commit, hit .527 with 11 homers and 43 RBIs as a senior for Magee, which reached the Class 3A finals. … Mississippi State outfielder Rowdey Jordan (New York Mets) and Southern Miss pitcher Hunter Stanley (Cleveland) also were picked in Round 11.

13 Jul

cape notes

Southern Miss’ Ben Ethridge, recently anointed a Freshman All-America by Baseball America, sparkled Monday in his first starting assignment in the Cape Cod League. The right-hander from Collinsville pitched four shutout innings in Bourne’s 6-3 win against Hyannis. It was the fourth straight scoreless outing for Ethridge, whose 5.40 ERA over 10 innings is a product of a rocky debut in the summer league. Ethridge, a second-year freshman, went 6-2, 3.25 for USM this season and was 3-0 in 2020. He was an All-State pitcher at West Lauderdale, where he went 26-4 in four years and won a state title in 2017. … Mississippi State’s Kamren James, a second-year freshman from Southaven, made his Cape debut Monday and took an 0-for-3 in Wareham’s 6-0 loss to Cotuit. Fellow Bulldogs standout Kellum Clark, a true freshman from Brandon, is also with Wareham; he is 1-for-11 in four games. … Ole Miss’ Peyton Chatagnier went 0-for-4 for Orleans on Monday, snapping a seven-game on-base streak. He is batting .276 with three homers, eight RBIs and four steals in his eight games.