September 16, 2022 - All Mississippi Baseball

fall guys

Four Mississippi products, each having battled injuries this season, are on the preliminary rosters for the Arizona Fall League, the select circuit for minor league prospects. Mississippi State alums Will Bednar and J.T. Ginn, ex-Southern Miss star Reed Trimble and former Biloxi High standout Colt Keith are slotted to play in the six-team AFL, which starts its season on Oct. 3. Bednar, the MVP of the 2021 College World Series and the 14th overall pick in the ’21 draft by San Francisco, is 1-3 with a 4.19 ERA in 12 games at the Low-Class A level. Ginn, a second-round pick in 2020, has made 10 starts this year in Double-A in Oakland’s system, posting a 1-4, 6.11 ledger. Ginn was traded by the New York Mets to the A’s for Chris Bassitt during spring training. Trimble, an outfielder and 2021 draftee, is hitting .291 in Low-A ball for Baltimore. Keith, drafted in 2020 by Detroit, hit .301 with nine homers in an abbreviated season at High-A. He was Mississippi’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2019. Among Atlanta’s AFL contingent are current Mississippi Braves Justyn-Henry Malloy and Allan Winans. They’ll be with the Scottsdale team, along with Trimble and Bednar. Ginn will go to Mesa and Keith to Salt River. The rosters could change before or during the season. A bevy of Top 100 overall prospects are scheduled to participate, including four of MLB Pipeline’s Top 20.

rock ’em, sock ’em

A show of power carried the Chicago White Sox past Cleveland on Thursday. Not just the five home runs, mind you, but also the stuff coming out of Lance Lynn’s right hand. The big, burly, bearded veteran out of Ole Miss threw 106 pitches, almost exclusively fastballs, at the Guardians over 6 1/3 innings and yielded just two runs in the White Sox’s much-needed 8-2 victory at Progressive Field. The win in the makeup game moved Chicago to within 3 games of first-place Cleveland in the American League Central. Lynn, who allowed six hits and one walk while striking out six on Thursday, is 5-0 with a 1.43 ERA in his last seven starts. He has 51 punchouts and just five walks in that span, flashing the form that made him a Cy Young Award contender in 2021. Chicago needs more of that down the stretch. Lynn’s 2022 season was delayed by a spring training knee injury and surgery, and the 35-year-old had some wobbly efforts early on. He is just 7-5, 3.99 ERA, in 18 starts overall for a team that has underachieved after winning the division last year. This will be an interesting weekend in the AL Central race. While the Guardians are hosting third-place Minnesota for five games through Monday, the ChiSox are at lowly Detroit for three.