Monthly Archives: July 2023

24 Jul

off to a good start

Will Verdung hit 25 home runs in two seasons at Itawamba Community College, tying former Indians slugger Tyreque Reed for the most in program history. So maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise what Verdung did in his first at-bat in pro ball. The Corinth native hit a three-run homer today for the Florida Complex League Braves, Atlanta’s rookie-level affiliate. Verdung finished 1-for-3 against the FCL Orioles in Sarasota. Verdung, the MACCC’s player of the year for 2023, was drafted in the 13th round by the Braves earlier this month. A 6-foot-1, 185-pound third baseman, Verdung batted .389 with 15 homers and 65 RBIs this season and was a second-team NJCAA Division II All-America pick. He had signed with Southern Miss. … USM alum Hurston Waldrep, Atlanta’s first-round pick out of Florida, has yet to make his pro debut. More Braves stuff: Kudos to Mississippi Braves alum Daysbel Hernandez for picking up the win for Atlanta on Sunday against Milawukee. Hernandez struck out the side in his one inning of relief work. … Kudos to current M-Braves lefty Luis De Avila for being named Southern League pitcher of the week after tossing six no-hit innings with 11 strikeouts at Tennessee on Sunday. De Avila, 5-5, 3.04 ERA, has a current streak off 11 no-hit innings. … Atlanta traded prospects Victor Vodnik and Tanner Gordon, both of whom were on the M-Braves’ roster, to Colorado for major league reliever Pierce Johnson.

23 Jul

all in the family

Allan Winans, another in the long line of former Mississippi Braves pitchers to crash the big leagues, seemed well on his way to earning a win in his debut Saturday when Sal Frelick, a Biloxi Shuckers alum also making his MLB debut, intervened and stole the show. Frelick went 3-for-3, drove in the tying and go-ahead runs and made two great catches in right field as Milwaukee beat visiting Atlanta 4-3 in a riveting game between the parent clubs of Mississippi’s Double-A teams. Frelick, 23, who hit .317 for Biloxi last year, was asked postgame what he had imagined his debut would be like. “I think this blew it out of the water,” he said in an espn.com story. The game between the two first-place clubs, played before 39,707 at American Family Field, ended with former Shuckers star Devin Williams striking out ex-M-Braves star Ozzie Albies with the bases loaded for his 25th save. Austin Riley, another M-Braves alum, gave the Braves a 3-0 lead by homering for the fifth straight game, his 22nd blast of the year coming in the first inning against Shuckers alum Adrian Houser, who struck out 10 Braves in his six innings. Winans, 27, who went 1-4 despite a 2.44 ERA in eight starts for the ’22 M-Braves, carried the lead into the fifth. He gave up three hits and a couple of runs in that frame — Frelick led off with a single and came around to score — and departed after 4 1/3. Frelick’s third hit of the game was a one-out single in the sixth off Michael Tonkin that tied the score 3-3. In the bottom of the eighth, Frelick’s line drive sac fly to right field plated the go-ahead run. Willy Adames scored just ahead of the bounced throw from former M-Braves star Ronald Acuna. The rubber game of the series today features M-Braves alum Bryce Elder on the bump for Atlanta against another ex-M-Braves star, Julio Teheran, now in his first season with Milwaukee. Of note: Former Mississippi State star — and Shuckers alum — Brandon Woodruff made a rehab start in A-ball on Saturday and appears close to returning to the Brewers’ rotation. He had a 0.79 ERA in two starts before going on the injured list in April.

22 Jul

three stars

Austin Riley: The ex-DeSoto Central High star smacked his fifth home run in four games, powering Atlanta to a 6-4 win Friday against Milwaukee in a matchup of first-place teams. Riley has 21 homers and 58 RBIs on the season and is batting .321 with 14 RBIs and nine runs in his last seven games. “I want to go out there and do my job as the third hitter, which is to drive in runs and do damage,” Riley told mlb.com.
Nathaniel Lowe: The former Mississippi State standout hit a two-run homer that put Texas ahead in the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who rallied to win 11-5 in another matchup of first-place teams. Texas had won six straight. Lowe, who also walked twice and scored another run for the Rangers, is hitting .440 with two homers, five RBIs and nine runs in his last seven games. He’s at .281 with 11 homers on the season.
Justin Steele: The George County High product notched his 10th win of the season — and third against rival St. Louis — as the Chicago Cubs won 4-3 in a matchup of National League also-rans. Steele, bouncing back from a rough outing, yielded one run in 6 1/3 innings and struck out a season-high nine. The All-Star left-hander is 10-3 with a 2.95 ERA on the year.
P.S. Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn, reportedly a coveted trade piece, allowed four home runs in the Chicago White Sox’s 9-4 loss to first-place Minnesota. Lynn is 6-9 with a 6.18 ERA and has surrendered an MLB-high 28 homers. … Kemp Alderman, the 2023 Ferriss Trophy winner out of Ole Miss, has signed for $1.4 million with Miami, which drafted him in the second round. Other newly reported signees include Magnolia Heights’ Cooper Pratt (Milwaukee), Southern Miss’ Matthew Etzel (Baltimore) and Itawamba Community College’s Will Verdung (Atlanta). Of the 14 players drafted out of the state, only Tupelo High’s Johnathan Rogers, 20th-round pick by Detroit, is unsigned, per mlb.com. Former Pearl River CC star Bryson Ware, who played at Auburn, has signed with Philadelphia, and Hinds CC alum Landon Tompkins, a Louisiana Tech alum, signed with Pittsburgh. … Mississippi Valley State will name CJ Bilbrey as its new head coach, according to blackcollegenines.com. Bilbrey will replace Milton Barney Jr., who went 15-36 in his one season. Barney replaced Stanley Stubbs, who coached one season after replacing Aaron Stevens.

21 Jul

on this date

Hal Lee was 0-for-16 in his big league career when he came to the plate on July 21, 1930, as a pinch hitter for the Brooklyn Robins. The Ludlow native hit a three-run bomb, a big hit for him but not enough to help the Robins beat St. Louis, which won 17-10 at Ebbets Field. Lee hit just .162 in 37 at-bats in his rookie season but would go on to hit .275 with 33 homers and 323 RBIs in a career that ended in 1936. A Mississippi College alum and Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer, Lee hit .303 with 18 homers — eighth in the National League — and 85 RBIs for Philadelphia in 1932, easily his best season. He had a three-homer game in 1934, one of just seven Mississippi natives to accomplish that feat. Some history buffs might contend that Lee is most famous as the player who replaced Babe Ruth in the outfield for the Boston Braves on May 30, 1935, when the Sultan of Swat left the field for the final time. P.S. Mississippi State product Kellum Clark apparently has signed with the New York Mets, who drafted him in the 20th round. That signing has not been reported by mlb.com.

21 Jul

that’s more like it

After a sluggish start to his pro career, Tanner Allen’s numbers are starting to look more like what was expected. A fourth-round pick by Miami after a tremendous 2021 season at Mississippi State, Allen hit .183 and .201 in his first two pro seasons. After a two-hit game Thursday that included a game-deciding grand slam for High-Class A Beloit, the lefty-hitting outfielder is batting .284 with eight homers, 34 RBIs and seven stolen bases in 48 games for the Sky Carp. Things have really clicked this month; he is batting .345 with four homers in 13 July games. He hit .296 at Low-A Jupiter before a May promotion. Allen was a key figure in MSU’s 2021 national championship run, batting .383 with 11 homers and 66 RBIs. He reaped numerous individual rewards: a national player of the year award, first-team All-America honors, the SEC’s player of the year award, All-College World Series honors and the state’s Ferriss Trophy. Allen, 25, has not yet cracked Miami’s Top 30 prospects list, but his breakout season surely has put him on the radar. Perhaps a promotion to Double-A Pensacola in the Southern League is in the offing this season. P.S. Southern Miss products and 2023 MLB draftees Tanner Hall and Dustin Dickerson have signed pro contracts, as has Ole Miss alum Jack Dougherty. Hall, an All-America this year, and Dougherty inked with Minnesota and Dickerson with Kansas City. Eight of the 14 players drafted earlier this month have now signed. Ole Miss’ Kemp Alderman, second-round pick by Miami, is the highest draftee still unsigned. … Former Columbia High star Ti’Quan Forbes, who was having a standout season in the independent Frontier League, is now playing for Yucatan in the Mexican League. Forbes, who spent eight years in the affiliated minors, was batting .301 with 10 homers and 14 steals for New Jersey and had been named to the league’s All-Star game before his contract was purchased by Yucatan on July 5. Forbes is 3-for-25 in nine games in the unaffiliated LMB, which is generally considered Triple-A caliber. … Ex-Ole Miss standout Thomas Dillard hit three home runs, boosting his season tally to 27, for Lexington in a loss Thursday to Lancaster in the indy Atlantic League.

20 Jul

a july dog day

It was a good day to be a Bulldog in the big leagues. Six Mississippi State alumni played on Wednesday and all six celebrated a win. None was bigger than Baltimore’s 8-5 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers that moved the surging Orioles into first place in the American League East. Jordan Westburg went 2-for-4 for the O’s and contributed an RBI and a run in a four-run first inning. Rookie Westburg is batting .276 with seven RBIs and nine runs in 16 games since his June 26 call-up. The Orioles begin a series at second-place Tampa Bay today. The slumping Rays fell behind Baltimore in the standings after a 5-1 loss to streaking Texas; Nathaniel Lowe was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Rangers, who’ve won six straight and lead the AL West. Lowe is hitting .280. The Los Angeles Angels completed their first three-game sweep of the last-place New York Yankees in 14 years, winning 7-3 as Hunter Renfroe drew a couple of walks and scored a run. The Angels climbed over .500 at 49-48. Brent Rooker was 0-for-2 for Oakland but did get to watch the lowly A’s beat Boston 6-5. In the National League, Dakota Hudson pitched three innings (two runs allowed) in his first start of the season for St. Louis and Chris Stratton pitched the ninth (one run) for his first save of 2023 as the Cardinals beat Miami 6-4 for their fifth straight win. Hudson has a 2.77 ERA in five games since being recalled from Triple-A; Stratton has a 4.17 in his 38 appearances. P.S. Former MSU standout Cade Smith has signed with the Yankees, becoming the fifth of the 14 players drafted out of Mississippi this year to sign. The right-hander was a sixth-round pick. … Former Southern Miss star Chuckie Robinson went 3-for-4 with four RBIs for Triple-A Louisville (Cincinnati system) and is batting .338 (sixth in the International League) with 52 RBIs. … Ole Miss product Mike Mayers gave up four runs in three innings and took the loss in his first game with Triple-A Charlotte; Mayers, an MLB veteran, was traded from Kansas City to the Chicago White Sox last week. … Jackson Prep’s Konnor Griffin has been invited to USA Baseball’s 18U national team tryout camp set for Aug. 21-25 in California. Those who make the final roster will compete for Team USA in the U-18 World Cup in Taiwan in September. … The Mississippi Baseball Congress (semi-pro) state tournament will be played this weekend at Mississippi College’s Frierson Field. Five teams, including the top-seeded Hattiesburg Black Sox and the Meridian Benchwarmers, are in the tournament, which starts Friday. Black Sox coach Trey Aby will be inducted into the state’s Semi-Pro Hall of Fame during the weekend.

19 Jul

random numbers

7 — Austin Riley’s career-high RBI total from Tuesday night’s game, which Atlanta lost 16-13 at home to Arizona. DeSoto Central High product Riley hit two home runs — both go-ahead bombs — and now has 18 on the year with 52 RBIs.
3 — Hits by Tim Anderson in the Chicago White Sox’s 11-10 loss to the New York Mets. The ex-East Central Community College standout might finally be heating up. With seven hits in his last four games, he has lifted his average to .234. (He did, however, make the last out of the game with the go-ahead run at second base.)
197 — Total runs scored in MLB games on Tuesday, a season-high; there were four games in which both teams scored double-digits, a modern era record. Riley scored three of those runs, Anderson two and Nathaniel Lowe, Mississippi State alum now with Texas, scored once. No other Mississippians contributed a run.
1.54 — Tyler Stuart’s ERA, which — as of Tuesday a.m. — led all qualified minor leaguers, per mlb.com. The ex-Southern Miss star, a 2022 draftee by the Mets, was 4-0, 1.55, at High-Class A Brooklyn and allowed one run in six innings in his Double-A debut for Binghamton last Saturday. The 6-foot-9 Stuart pitched mostly in relief in two seasons at USM. The Mets made him a starter this spring. “I feel like I get better as the game goes on,” he said in an mlb.com piece.
8 — Wins by Derek Diamond, the former Ole Miss standout now at Low-A Bradenton in Pittsburgh’s system. The right-hander, a 2022 draftee, threw seven innings on Tuesday, allowing four hits, a walk and a lone run to beat Fort Myers 5-2. He is 8-3 with a 3.98.
6 — Appearances in the Florida Complex League by Colby White, who is on a rehab assignment with Tampa Bay. White, an ex-MSU star, blew through four levels of the minors in 2021 (4-3, 11 saves, 1.44 ERA all told) and went to spring training with the Rays in 2022 before an arm injury cost him the entire year. He has a 1.59 ERA in the FCL this season and may be close to making his big league debut.
16 — Number of 2023 Pearl River Community College players bound for four-year schools this fall. It’s a program record, according to a release from the school. Of note: Gabe Broadus and Landen Payne are USM signees, Will Passeau is off to MSU, Tristan Hickman to Delta State, Blaise Breerwood to Mississippi College, Bobby Magee to William Carey and Alex Perry to Tennessee. PRCC won the NJCAA Division II national title in 2022 and was the preseason No. 1 this year.

18 Jul

starting point

Ex-Ole Miss star Jacob Gonzalez, the first player drafted out of the state this year, has signed with the Chicago White Sox and will soon begin the journey toward the big leagues. There is no roadmap, no timetable, no guarantee that he’ll even make it that far. That’s how it works. Only the fittest survive. Over the last 10 years, going back to 2014, the experiences of the top picks from the state each year have been quite varied. Blake Anderson, a catcher at West Lauderdale High, was a surprise pick at 36th overall in 2014 by the Marlins. The Southern Miss signee never made it out of A-ball, even after a conversion to pitcher. Four of the five top picks between 2015 and ’19 have reached The Show, and two of them — Austin Riley and Brent Rooker — were All-Stars this year. Riley, drafted 41st overall out of DeSoto Central by Atlanta in 2015, rose rather smoothly in the Braves’ system, made a splash as a rookie in 2019, took a brief step back to the minors but has been a fixture at third base — a legit star — since 2020. Rooker’s path was much more winding. The 35th overall selection out of Mississippi State by Minnesota in 2017, he is now with Oakland — his fourth organization. He has put up some nice stats this season but still is not playing everyday. Dakota Hudson was the 34th overall pick out of MSU by St. Louis in 2016. He reached the big leagues in 2018, won 16 games in 2019, had arm surgery in 2020 and has been inconsistent ever since. He is currently with the Cardinals after starting the year in Triple-A and picked up a win with 3 1/3 shutout innings in relief on Saturday. Ethan Small, 28th overall pick out of MSU by Milwaukee in 2019, has made three wobbly MLB appearances over the last two seasons and appears stuck in Triple-A. Ex-Ole Miss star Ryan Rolison was the 22nd overall selection by Colorado in 2018. The left-hander (12-13, 4.56 ERA, in his minor league career) has been beset by injuries and is currently on the 60-day injured list at Triple-A. The first pick in 2020 was MSU’s Justin Foscue, 14th overall by Texas. The infielder is in Triple-A, playing well, and is the Rangers’ No. 6 prospect. He’ll get there soon. The first pick in 2021 was MSU College World Series star Will Bednar, taken 14th by San Francisco. Stalled by injuries, he has made just 20 appearances in the minors and currently is on the IL. Ex-Bulldogs standout Landon Sims was coming off Tommy John surgery when he was drafted 34th overall last July by Arizona. He has pitched in six games this season, all in the rookie Arizona Complex League, where he might soon cross paths with UM alum Gonzalez, both at the starting point of an uncertain journey. P.S. Other 2023 draftees from Mississippi schools who have signed include Colton Ledbetter with Tampa Bay, Calvin Harris with the White Sox and Justin Storm with Miami. Atlanta has signed first-rounder Hurston Waldrep, a USM alum who pitched at Florida in 2023. … MSU’s Hunter Hines has been selected to the Cape Cod League All-Star Game, to be played Saturday in Norwich, Conn. Hines leads the CCBL in homers (nine) and RBIs (34) and is batting .274 for Yarmouth-Dennis.

17 Jul

remember that guy …

Drew Waters had a season for the ages in 2019 with the Mississippi Braves, winning the Southern League batting title and taking MVP honors. Only four Jackson area Double-A players have earned an MVP award, the others being Darryl Strawberry, Gregg Jefferies and Roberto Petagine, all in the Texas League era. A true five-tool player and switch-hitter, Waters batted .319 with five homers, 41 RBIs, 63 runs, 35 doubles, nine triples and 13 stolen bases in 2019. Then he sort of faded away. Squeezed out in the talent-thick Atlanta system, the outfielder was traded to Kansas City in July of last year. Now in his second big league stint with the Royals, Waters is starting to make some noise. He went 2-for-4 Sunday with a 465-foot homer, a triple and two RBIs to help the awful Royals (27-67) beat first-place Tampa Bay 8-4 at Kauffman Stadium. Waters started the 2023 season on the injured list and scuffled when he first returned. But he has hit .319 over his last 15 games to boost his average to .252. He has four homers and 14 RBIs in 40 games. He might be a smart pick to click down the stretch. P.S. Cristian Pache, another former M-Braves standout, has had his resurgent season with Philadelphia interrupted by elbow surgery to have a screw removed. He previously had knee surgery this year. A onetime top Atlanta prospect, Pache is batting .327 in 32 games for the Phillies, his third MLB team. … Jake Mangum, former Mississippi State and Jackson Prep star still seeking his first big league call-up, is batting .333 in July and .293 overall at Triple-A Jacksonville in Miami’s chain. He hit his third homer on Sunday and now has 32 RBIs plus nine steals on the year. … Ole Miss alum Tim Elko belted his second homer and first grand slam at High-Class A Winston-Salem in the Chicago White Sox’s system and is batting .294 in 13 games at this new level. He hit .297 with 17 homers at Low-A Kannapolis. … The White Sox have signed former Ole Miss star Jacob Gonzalez, their first-round draft pick, for a $3.9 million bonus.

16 Jul

you never know

On paper, based on practically all the relevant stats, this should not have happened. Lance Lynn and the Chicago White Sox should not have beaten Spencer Strider and the Atlanta Braves. But it happened on Saturday night at Truist Park in Atlanta. Over the course of 162 games, games like this do happen, which is one of the joys of baseball. The White Sox, 38-55 after a 9-0 loss on Friday, beat the Braves (61-29, best record in MLB) in a roller coaster affair, 6-5. Former Ole Miss star Lynn, 5-8 with a 6.03 ERA going in, got the win against All-Star Strider, 11-2 with a 3.44. Both threw 97 pitches in the Georgia swelter, and neither was particularly sharp. Ex-Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman got the save, his eighth as the fill-in closer, but not before giving up a home run to Ronald Acuna leading off the ninth that made it a one-run game. Graveman gave up two more hits before getting a ground ball up the middle that East Central Community College product Tim Anderson, who has had his issues at shortstop, turned into a nifty 6-3 double play to end the game. Lynn worked 5 1/3 innings, yielding six hits, three walks and four runs. He gave up two homers; his season total of 24 is the highest in baseball. He struck out six and has 133 on the year, ranking sixth in MLB. The last run Lynn allowed came on a fifth-inning single by DeSoto Central High alum Austin Riley that tied the score 4-4. Strider, who fanned 10 on Saturday, leads MLB in that category with 176. But he allowed eight hits — several on two-strike pitches — and five runs over six innings. The ChiSox took the lead for the third and final time on a two-out, two-strike homer by Jake Burger off Strider in the sixth. Strider has allowed 14 homers. The teams go at it again today. On paper, the Braves should win. But as Saturday showed, you never know. P.S. Ex-DeSoto Central star Blaze Jordan’s first Double-A homer was a big one. His two-run ninth-inning blast gave Portland a 3-2 win at Reading in the Eastern League contest. Jordan was promoted Friday from High-Class A Greenville in the Boston system. … Minnesota recalled former Southern Miss slugger Matt Wallner from Triple-A on Saturday; he did not play in the Twins’ 10-7 win vs. Oakland. Wallner, who made his MLB debut in 2022, was 7-for-19 with a homer and four RBIs in two previous stints this season with the Twins.