June 2025 - Page 2 of 4 - All Mississippi Baseball

20 Jun

making a name

The Mississippi Jordans ruled in the minors on Thursday as both Dakota and Blaze (no relation) put up more good numbers in what has been a big year for both. Playing at Low-Class A San Jose, Dakota Jordan went 4-for-5 with a triple, three RBIs and two runs in sparking the Giants to a 7-1 win against Modesto. The former Mississippi State outfielder, San Francisco’s No. 5 prospect, is batting .302 with five homers, 50 RBIs and 19 steals in what is essentially his first pro season at age 22. He ranks among the California League leaders in several categories. He was the state’s Ferriss Trophy winner at MSU in 2024 and the Gatorade player of the year at Jackson Academy in 2022. Blaze Jordan, Gatorade player of the year at DeSoto Central in 2020, went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI Thursday in helping Triple-A Worcester beat Buffalo 9-4. A corner infielder, Jordan is batting .339 with two homers and nine RBIs in 14 Triple-A games in the Boston system. He batted .320 with six and 37 in Double-A before being promoted. He has slipped off the Red Sox’s Top 30 prospect list but, at 22, is clamoring to get back in. P.S. In (somewhat) related news, Rowdey Jordan, a member of MSU’s 2021 national title team, recently retired in the midst of his fifth pro season. Traded by the New York Mets to Houston in April, Jordan (no relation to the other two) was batting .243 with four homers and 16 RBIs at Corpus Christi in his third season at the Double-A level. A .231 career hitter, he won a Texas League player of the week award in May.

19 Jun

glove stories

Forget exit velo and spin rate for a moment and give some love to the glove. Hunter Elliott of Ole Miss and Jacob Keys of Pearl River Community College have been honored as ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove winners for 2025. Elliott, a left-handed pitcher from Tupelo, was named in the NCAA Division I category, and Keys, a catcher from Brandon, was selected in NJCAA Division II. Elliott, a third-team All-America pick by the NCBWA, picked off 13 base runners, a modern-era record at UM, according to a school release, and allowed just seven stolen bases among 14 attempts. He had 20 assists, six putouts and three errors over 17 games and 85 2/3 innings, winning 10 games and fanning 102 batters for a Rebels team that earned a No. 10 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Keys, a second-team NJCAA D-II All-America pick, did not make an error in 63 games behind the plate for PRCC. He registered 29 assists all told, threw out 15 of 25 would-be base stealers and yielded just six passed balls. The Wildcats, MACCC and Region 23 champions, made it all the way to the juco World Series championship game. A reverse transfer from Southern Miss, Keys is bound for Southeastern Louisiana. P.S. Former Mississippi State standout Jake Mangum had a two-run single in the third inning Wednesday as part of Tampa Bay’s amazing comeback win against Baltimore. The Rays won 12-8 after trailing 8-0 in the second inning. … Per an mlb.com poll, former Mississippi Braves catcher Drake Baldwin of Atlanta is the frontrunner to win National League rookie of the year honors. Three other M-Braves alums have won the award: Michael Harris II (2022), Ronald Acuna (2018) and Craig Kimbrel (2011). … On June 19 in baseball history, Vicksburg native Ellis Burks hit three homers in a game for Cleveland in 2001, Louisville native Marcus Thames hit two bombs for Detroit in 2009 and Greenville native George Scott homered for Boston in 1977. Burks, with 352 career homers, is the all-time leader among Mississippi natives, while Scott, with 271, ranks third. Thames, currently the Chicago White Sox’s hitting coach, clubbed 115 in just 640 career games, averaging a homer every 15.9 at-bats, comparable to David Ortiz, Frank Thomas and Willie McCovey.

18 Jun

around the horn

Flushing a night of frustration, Austin Riley hit a walk-off 10th-inning sacrifice fly Tuesday that gave Atlanta a 5-4 win over the visiting New York Mets. “Hopefully it’s some momentum to carry the rest of the series,” the DeSoto Central High product said in a postgame interview. The Braves are a wobbly 32-39 with two games left in the series against the Mets, who lead the National League East at 45-28. Riley, an All-Star candidate who has had his struggles both at the plate and in the field, was 0-for-4 with a strikeout when he came up in the 10th with the bases loaded and one out. He had popped up in a similar situation in the eighth when the Braves trailed 4-1. This time — with the score knotted thanks to Marcell Ozuna’s three-run double in the eighth — he drove a fastball to the warning track in center field, scoring the game-winner. It was the fourth walk-off RBI in Riley’s career, including one in the 2021 National League Championship Series. He is batting .277 with 11 homers and 37 RBIs this season. … Jordan Westburg, the ex-Mississippi State star, went 3-for-5 with two runs in Baltimore’s 5-1 win against Tampa Bay. Westburg is batting .385 with three homers and eight RBIs in seven games since coming off the injured list. The Orioles (31-41) are 5-2 in those games. … Will Warren, the former Jackson Prep standout, struck out a career-high 11 batters in six innings but took a loss as the New York Yankees were shut out — again! — by the Los Angeles Angels 4-0 at Yankee Stadium. Warren, who gave up three early runs, is 4-4 with a 4.83 ERA. … MSU alum Nathaniel Lowe hit his 10th homer for Washington, but Colorado blasted seven bombs — seven! — all told in a 10-6 win that sent the Nationals to their 10th straight loss. … Zack Morris, who demonstrated punch-out stuff with the Mississippi Mud Monsters, has signed with the Colorado Rockies and been assigned to the rookie-level Arizona Complex League team. Left-hander Morris, 24, a former Arkansas and TCU star, posted a 3.86 ERA over 16 1/3 innings for the independent Mud Monsters with 29 strikeouts and just three walks. “This is exactly the kind of moment we coach for,” Mud-sters manager Jay Pecci said in a team release. “Zack came in, did the work, and got better every time out.” Morris had a 5.48 ERA over five college seasons and pitched in the indy Frontier League last year with New Jersey. … Jackson State will be well-represented in the HBCU Swingman Classic, with six Tigers bound for Atlanta’s Truist Park on July 11. Robert Tate Jr., Jordan McCladdie, Joseph Eichelberger, Eric Elliott, Nkosi Didder and Erick Gonzalez are among the 50 HBCU players chosen for the third annual all-star game. Jaylon Burrell of Alcorn State and Kade Wood of Mississippi Valley State also have been invited, along with Chenar Brown, who played two years at JSU before transferring. Former Alcorn star Corey Wimberly is one of the coaches for the game. … Jackson State’s Omar Johnson is on the coaching staff for the Collegiate National Team’s training camp at Cary, N.C., USA Baseball has announced. The staff will be split into two units for the Stars vs. Stripes series, set for June 29-July 3 at sites in North Carolina. The roster of players has yet to be announced.

17 Jun

temperature reading

Maybe there should be a CAUTION sign hanging above Jake Mangum’s locker. The Mississippi State product from Flowood is that hot, and so is his Tampa Bay team. With Mangum banging out three hits and driving in three runs, the Rays beat visiting Baltimore 7-1 on Monday. That’s four straight wins, 10 out of 13 and 19 out of 25 for the Rays, now 40-32 and just 2.5 games back of slumping New York atop the American League East. “We have a lot of faith in each other,” Mangum told mlb.com. “If I don’t get the job done, the guy behind me is gonna get it done, the guy in front of me is gonna get it done.” Lately, Mangum has been getting it done. The rookie switch-hitter is 12-for-27 (.444) over his last seven games with eight RBIs, five runs and five stolen bases. He is hitting .315 on the season with 21 RBIs, 13 runs and 10 bags in 37 games; he missed almost a month after a groin injury in late April. … And then there is the coldest team in the big leagues: Washington, which blew a ninth-inning lead Monday and lost to lowly Colorado 6-4 at Nationals Park. That’s nine straight losses for the Nats, now 30-42 and sinking in the National League East. Former Mississippi State standout Nathaniel Lowe, the regular first baseman, is also in a cold snap, with just four hits and eight strikeouts in his last 22 at-bats. Brought in this season to provide some power for a young team, he has just one home run since May 16. On the year, Lowe — a Silver Slugger winner in 2022 and a World Series champ in ’23 with Texas — is batting .227 with nine homers and 44 RBIs. He has been the subject of trade rumors, but you wonder if interest might be waning. P.S. Ex-State star J.T. Ginn came off the injured list for the A’s Monday and threw three scoreless innings in relief in a 3-1 win vs. Houston. He has a 4.79 ERA in five appearances this season.

16 Jun

showtime in phoenix

JoJo Parker, the Purvis High star and projected first-round draft pick, is on the list of players from Mississippi schools who have accepted invitations to attend the MLB Draft Combine, which runs Tuesday through Saturday at Chase Field in Phoenix. The Tuesday workout will be televised from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. CDT by MLB Network, with former Mississippi State standout and big league manager Buck Showalter among the crew that will provide analysis. Parker, rated the No. 10 draft prospect by MLB Pipeline, is among the players slated to participate in on-field events that will include batting practice and bullpen sessions. A game for the prep players is on tap for Tuesday night. Also scheduled to attend the showcase are Southern Miss’ Jake Cook and J.B. Middleton; Mississippi State’s Pico Kohn and Ben Davis; Ole Miss’ Mason Morris and Luke Hill; and high school grads Jacob Parker (JoJo’s twin from Purvis), Landon Harmon (East Union), Talon Haley (Lewisburg) and Griffin Enis (Corinth). Middleton, a first-team All-America pick and the state’s Ferriss Trophy winner, and Harmon, the ace of East Union’s MHSAA Class 2A state title club, are top 50 draft prospects. In 2024, per an mlb.com story, 224 of the 305 players who participated in the Combine were drafted, including 75 of the first 100 picks. P.S. Austin Riley, Colt Keith and Brent Rooker are among the top 10 vote-getters at their positions in the MLB All-Star Game ballot standings released today. Ex-DeSoto Central High star Riley is seventh in the National League third base voting, while Biloxi High product Keith is sixth and ex-MSU standout Rooker seventh in the voting for American League DH. The All-Star Game is July 15 in Atlanta.

16 Jun

all in a day

On a day when the Rafael Devers trade shook the baseball world, other things did happen throughout the game. Here’s a snapshot of Sunday movers and shakers with Mississippi ties:
In the big leagues, former Mississippi State star Jordan Westburg went 2-for-4 with a homer, two RBIs and three runs out of the leadoff spot, driving Baltimore to its third straight win, 11-2 over the Los Angeles Angels. Westburg, who has three homers since coming off the injured list on Tuesday, has seven bombs on the year and has lifted his average to .234.
At Triple-A, Southern Miss alum Hurston Waldrep, who has had a very uneven season for Gwinnett in Atlanta’s system, allowed one run in six innings with six strikeouts as the Stripers beat Memphis. Waldrep, a 2023 first-round draftee (out of Florida) and Atlanta’s No. 2 prospect, is 5-5 with a 5.84 ERA.
At Double-A, ex-Ole Miss star Kemp Alderman went 2-for-5 with a homer, three RBIs and two runs for Miami affiliate Pensacola in a win against Rocket City. Alderman, a second-round pick in 2023 after winning the Ferriss Trophy, is batting .290 with seven homers and 30 RBIs for the Blue Wahoos.
At High-Class A, MSU product Khal Stephen improved to 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA for Vancouver, throwing five innings (one run) to beat Spokane. A second-round pick by Toronto in 2024, Stephen is 6-0, 2.10, in 13 games over two levels of A-ball in his pro debut.
At the Low-A level, former MSU standout Connor Hujsak, batting third and playing right field for Charleston, went 1-for-5 with two walks, two RBIs, two runs and two steals in a doubleheader split against Augusta. A 13th-round pick by Tampa Bay in 2024, Hujsak is batting .230 with three homers, 32 RBIs and 14 bags in 58 games this season.
In the unaffiliated Mexican League, Ole Miss product and ex-big leaguer Chris Ellis notched his 12th save with a scoreless ninth for Monterrey in a 3-1 win vs. Queretaro. Ellis, 32 and in his 11th pro season, has a 2.61 ERA over 21 appearances for the Sultans.
And in the independent Frontier League, Brayland Skinner, MSU alum from Lake Cormorant, went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a steal in the Mississippi Mud Monsters’ 11-3 loss at Schaumburg. Skinner, in his second indy ball season, is hitting .310 with a league-best 25 stolen bases.

15 Jun

fathers and sons

There have been a fairly amazing number of father-son duos in major league history — more than 250, according to Baseball Almanac. The Griffeys and the Boones. The Bells and the Alous. More recently, the Guerreros, Witts and Hollidays. As you might figure, several of these father-son duos have had a Mississippi connection. Current Pittsburgh third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes is the son of ex-big leaguer Charlie Hayes, a Mississippi native who starred at Forrest County AHS in the early 1980s. Harry Walker, Pascagoula native who played 11 years in the big leagues between 1940 and ’55, was the son of Ewart “Dixie” Walker, a Pennsylvania native who pitched in the majors from 1909-12. Crawford native Sam Hairston, one of the first black Mississippians to play in MLB, was the father of two big leaguers and the grandfather of two more. Former Ole Miss star and coach Don Kessinger, an All-Star shortstop in his day, is the father of ex-big leaguer Keith Kessinger, who also played at UM, and the grandfather of Grae Kessinger, an Oxford native and UM alum who was in The Show in 2023-24. Ex-big leaguer Steve Dillard, another former Ole Miss standout, is the father of Tim Dillard, who played at Saltillo High and Itawamba Community College before enjoying a four-year MLB career. Del Unser, who played at Mississippi State en route to a 15-year major league career, is the son of Al Unser, who played four seasons in The Show in the 1940s. (Worth noting is the Magnolia State connection of Boston pitcher Hunter Dobbins, who has been in the news a lot of late after “dissing” the New York Yankees and then beating them twice, including on Saturday. Dobbins’ father, Lance, never made The Show but did pitch for the independent Meridian Brakemen some 30 years ago.) P.S. Konnor Griffin, the ex-Jackson Prep star, hit his first homer in High-Class A on Saturday and is batting .435 in five games since his promotion. Overall, Pittsburgh’s No. 2 prospect is batting .348 with 10 bombs, 41 RBIs and 31 steals in his first pro season. … Tim Elko, the former Ole Miss slugger, was sent back to Triple-A by the Chicago White Sox. Elko was hitting just .155 in 58 at-bats, though four of his nine hits were homers.

14 Jun

hard luck

Garrett Crochet, the former Ocean Springs High star, was two outs away from a shutout against the New York Yankees. Boston’s big left-hander was one strike away from punching out Aaron Judge for the fourth time on Friday night at Fenway Park. Then the Yankees slugger did his thing, pulverizing a 3-2 fastball 443 feet over the left-field wall, out of the park, tying the score. Exit Crochet. The Red Sox won the game 2-1 in 10 innings, but Crochet was denied his first career shutout. “Crochet deserved this win, but the team needed it more,” said Boston broadcaster Lou Merloni. The Red Sox are 35-36, in fourth place and 8.5 games back of the first-place Yankees in the American League East. Crochet, in his first year with Boston, has six wins, a 2.24 ERA and a league-leading 117 K’s, seven on Friday. … It was a hard luck day also for former Ole Miss standout Drew Pomeranz. Pitching the 10th inning for the Chicago Cubs, he was on the bump when Pittsburgh’s “ghost runner” — Mississippi State alum Adam Frazier — scored the go-ahead run on a double-play ball. The Pirates held on for a 2-1 win at Wrigley Field. Pomeranz, who had not allowed a run in 18 appearances overall before Friday, gets charged with an unearned run, per the extra-inning rules, as well as the loss. … More hard luck: Gunnar Hoglund, another Ole Miss alum, is done for the season after hip surgery; the right-hander, who made his MLB debut in May after four years in the minors, had a 6.40 ERA in six starts for the A’s. … Luck didn’t smile on ex-Ole Miss ace Ryan Rolison either. Colorado’s rookie lefty gave up four hits, a walk and five runs in the eighth inning at Atlanta during the Braves’ 12-4 win. It didn’t help that the woeful Rockies committed four errors in that frame. P.S. There’s a bundle of state products on the preliminary rosters in the Cape Cod League, which launches its season today. (Note: The rosters can and will change during the summer.) Mississippi State’s Ace Reese, Charlie Foster, Dane Burns and Duke Stone are on the Chatham roster, along with ex-Jackson Prep (and current South Alabama) star Duncan Mathews. Bourne lists Ole Miss’ Campbell Smithwick and Owen Paino and Southern Miss’ Grayden Harris. USM’s Josh Och is on Hyannis’ roster and UM’s Patrick Galle on Wareham’s. Former Mississippi Braves and MLB catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia will manage Falmouth, which lists Grayson Saunier, an ex-Ole Miss pitcher, on its roster.

13 Jun

aw shuckers

Fans of the Biloxi Shuckers enjoyed some vicarious thrills on Thursday. The big league debut of Jacob Misiorowski was the main attraction, and Milwaukee’s top pitching prospect did not disappoint at American Family Field. “The walk in from the bullpen was like, ‘Holy cow, this is it, we’re actually doing this.’ … It’s cool. It’s really cool,” he said postgame. The 6-foot-7 right-hander threw five hitless innings at the St. Louis Cardinals, touching 102 mph on the gun while striking out five batters and walking four. Misiorowski, who pitched for the Double-A Shuckers in 2023 and ’24, left the game in the sixth inning after experiencing leg cramps. He threw 14 pitches at 100-plus. Former Shuckers stars Jackson Chourio (12th home run), Sal Frelick (3-for-4, two RBIs) and Brice Turang (2-for-4 with an RBI) also contributed in the Brewers’ 6-0 win, which moved the team ahead of St. Louis into second place in the National League Central. At Houston, ex-Shuckers ace Josh Hader notched his 18th save — 217th career — for the first-place Astros, who put down the Chicago White Sox 4-3. At Kansas City, Shuckers alum Devin Williams, now back in the closer role, nailed down his ninth save with a clean ninth for the New York Yankees in a 1-0 win. He has four saves and a 1.93 ERA this month after some early season struggles. At Colorado, the Rockies got a walk-off hit from Orlando Arcia — a star on the original Shuckers team in 2015 — in an 8-7 victory against San Francisco. Arcia is batting .200 with a homer and four RBIs in nine games for the Rockies since Atlanta cut him loose. And in Chattanooga, the current Shuckers beat the Lookouts 6-5 in 10 innings, with former Magnolia Heights standout Cooper Pratt scoring the game-deciding run. The Shuckers, at 36-24, have the best record in the Southern League.

12 Jun

juco stars come out

Individual honors continue to roll in for Pearl River Community College’s 2025 team, which finished as national runner-up this season in NJCAA Division II. Five Wildcats were named to the NJCAA All-America teams, including first-team pick K.K. Clark. Jacob Keys and Caston Thompson made second-team A-A, Topher Jones the third team and Jacob Johnson honorable mention. Itawamba CC’s Jud Files and East Central’s Pablo Roque made the third team. Clark, a Brandon High product, went 12-2 with a 1.84 ERA in his lone season with PRCC after transferring from Mississippi State. He was previously named the MACCC’s pitcher of the year and the outstanding pitcher in the juco World Series. Clark is bound for Louisiana Tech, where he’ll play for Mississippian Lane Burroughs. All told, PRCC has seen 16 players from the ’25 squad sign with four-year schools. Pearl River’s Michael Avalon was the MACCC coach of the year after guiding the Wildcats to a 53-10 record with state and Region 23 titles. … A number of MACCC players finished among the national leaders in various statistical categories. PRCC’s Clark and Johnson, both 12-game winners, tied for second in the nation in that category, and Clark ranked fourth in strikeouts with 116. Jones College’s Caden Freeman and Copiah-Lincoln’s Nash Sturdivant tied for the D-II lead in saves with nine each. Jake Meilstrup of Southwest was third in the nation in steals with a school-record 56. (The previous record was held by Maleke Fowler — not, surprisingly enough, by former MLB star Jarrod Dyson.) PRCC’s Jones led the state with 72 RBIs, a figure that ranked 10th nationally, and teammate Keegan Giger, a .349 hitter, topped the state with 82 hits, tied for 16th in the national stats. Holmes’ Hunter Azemar led the state in home runs with 15, tied for 17th-most in the nation. PRCC’s Thompson, the MACCC player of the year and a Nicholls State signee, and Jackson Hood tied for 14th in homers with 14. The MACCC’s leading hitter was Hinds’ Dawson Muenzenmay, who batted .400, with Meridian’s Brennon Wright at .381. The national ranking of batting average leaders is not available.