June 12, 2024 - All Mississippi Baseball

this ain’t good

There was big news involving the Mississippi Braves early today. Nacho Alvarez, the highly touted shortstop prospect, was promoted to Triple-A Gwinnett, becoming the fourth top 11 Atlanta prospect promoted off the Double-A roster in the last two weeks. But later today, there was even bigger news, jaw-dropping news: The M-Braves’ scheduled home series against Rocket City has been moved to Madison, Ala., home of the Trash Pandas. Unplayable field conditions is the announced reason. First, Tuesday night’s series opener at Trustmark Park was curiously cancelled. Now tonight’s game is off, as well, with a five-game series to start Thursday at Rocket City. This ain’t a good look for a franchise that is moving to Columbus, Ga., next year. This season was supposed to be a celebration of the team’s 20 years in Mississippi. The M-Braves last played a home game on June 2 (before a reported crowd of 1,344). The infield looked pretty rough then. It looks worse now. Was no maintenance done while the team was on the road? This situation surely won’t sit well with the few fans the lame-duck team has left. They won’t see the M-Braves again in Pearl until June 25. If the field if playable, of course.

going places

Former Mississippi Braves star Drew Waters got back in The Show and former Biloxi Shuckers star Carlos F. Rodriguez got his first MLB shot among a flurry of Tuesday transactions involving players with Mississippi ties. Southern Miss product Matthew Etzel was promoted to Double-A in the Baltimore system; ex-Ole Miss standout Brandon Johnson moved up to Double-A in the Kansas City chain; former Mississippi State bullpen ace Landon Sims jumped to High-Class A in the Arizona system; and USM product Hunter Stanley came off the injured list at Triple-A Columbus in the Cleveland organization. … Waters — Southern League player of the year in 2019 — was recalled by Kansas City to replace Hunter Renfroe, the ex-State star who went on the injured list with a broken toe. Waters, hitting .277 with seven homers and 33 RBIs in Triple-A, went 0-for-4 in his first MLB game of 2024. The Royals also placed Bulldogs alum Adam Frazier on the bereavement list. … Rodriguez, Milwaukee’s No. 6 prospect who went 9-6, 2.77 ERA, for the Shuckers in 2023, allowed two runs in 3 2/3 innings and took a loss against Toronto. … Etzel, a 2023 draftee by the Orioles, was batting .306 with four homers and 31 steals at High-A Aberdeen; he got a knock in his first at-bat for Class AA Bowie. … Johnson was 3-3, two saves, 4.13, in High-A for the Royals. … Sims, a star on MSU’s national title team, had a 4.38 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings at Low-A Visalia. … Stanley, on the IL for about a month, has a 5.85 ERA over six games for Columbus. P.S. Kirk McCarty, former USM standout from Hattiesburg, threw seven shutout innings in his Chinese Professional Baseball League debut last week and allowed two runs in five innings on Tuesday for CTBC Brothers. He is 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA. The well-traveled McCarty has won 18 games the past three seasons: four in Triple-A, four in MLB with Cleveland, nine in the Korean Baseball Organization in 2023 plus the one in the CPBL. He won 22 games for USM from 2015-17.