November 2025 - All Mississippi Baseball

11 Nov

sudden impact

Drake Baldwin didn’t spend much time in Double-A Mississippi. He didn’t need much minor-league seasoning, as it turned out. In just his third full professional season, the Atlanta Braves catcher claimed the National League Rookie of the Year Award on Monday, getting 21 of the 30 first-place votes in the BBWAA balloting. Drafted in 2022 out of Missouri, Baldwin was a quick study in pro ball. He reached Double-A at the end of the 2023 season and returned briefly at the start of 2024. He hit .260 with five home runs and 38 RBIs over 66 games for the M-Braves. He made Atlanta’s opening day roster — as the system’s No. 1 prospect — this past spring and hit .274 with 19 homers and 80 RBIs while sharing catching duties with oft-injured Sean Murphy. “When (former M-Braves catcher Brian McCann) came up it was the same way,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told mlb.com, comparing the former All-Star to Baldwin. “(McCann was) above his years behind the plate and as an offensive player, and Drake’s right there with him.” Baldwin is the fourth M-Braves alum to win NL rookie of the year honors, joining Michael Harris II, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Craig Kimbrel. Former Biloxi Shuckers star Devin Williams and ex-Jackson Mets standout Darryl Strawberry also won that award. … A’s slugger Nick Kurtz won the AL rookie award; ex-Jackson Prep star Will Warren of the New York Yankees got one third-place and one fourth-place vote. P.S. Marcus Thames, former big league slugger from Louisville, had been named a hitting coach on the Kansas City Royals’ staff for 2026. Thames served as hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox the past two seasons and was with the New York Yankees, Miami and the Los Angeles Angels before that. … Madison Central High alum Braden Montgomery, the White Sox’s No. 1 prospect, went 0-for-1 with two walks and ex-Mississippi State standout Cade Smith, the Yankees’ No. 19, pitched a clean inning in Sunday’s Fall Stars Game in the Arizona Fall League. … Several players with Mississippi ties became minor league free agents last week: Billy Hamilton (who was in the Chicago Cubs’ system at the end of the 2025 campaign), Dakota Hudson (Angels), Spencer Turnbull (Royals) and Jacob Waguespack (Philadelphia). … Of note: MLB teams must set their reserve lists/40-man rosters for 2026 by 3 p.m. CST on Nov. 18. The Rule 5 draft for unprotected minor leaguers is on Dec. 10.

07 Nov

on this date

Jake Gibbs, the Ole Miss icon who played parts of 10 years in the big leagues, was born on this date in 1938. A two-sport All-America pick at UM, Gibbs chose to pursue baseball and shifted from third base to catcher in the New York Yankees’ minor league system. He reached the big leagues in 1962 and played until 1971, batting .233 with 25 home runs in 538 games, primarily as a backup. His best season was 1970, when he hit .301 with eight homers and 26 RBIs over 49 games behind Thurman Munson. Gibbs became Ole Miss’ baseball coach in 1972 and his first team won the SEC championship. He won 485 games over 19 seasons. P.S. Former Mississippi prep stars Braden Montgomery and Cade Smith have been chosen to play for the American League team in Sunday’s Fall Stars Game in the Arizona Fall League. Mississippi Braves alum Nacho Alvarez Jr. made the National League roster. … Ex-Southern Miss star Chuckie Robinson was outrighted to Triple-A by Atlanta. Robinson, a catcher who got one at-bat with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, was claimed off waivers by the Braves in late September but was never activated to the 26-man roster. He has been in pro ball for 10 years, with 52 MLB games under his belt. … Justin Dean, former M-Braves standout who played for the champion Dodgers in the World Series, was claimed off waivers by San Francisco. He played parts of four seasons (2021-24) in Pearl.

06 Nov

names in the news

Bobby Halford: Congratulations to the longtime William Carey University coach on his election to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Halford is the state’s all-time winningest college coach with 1,375 wins over 40 years at the Hattiesburg school. His teams have made 26 appearances in the NAIA Tournament and three trips to the World Series. Halford has won more coach of the year honors than you can count.
Konnor Griffin: The former Jackson Prep star added a minor league Gold Glove award to the numerous player of the year honors he has collected. The first-year pro, Pittsburgh’s top prospect, had a .980 fielding percentage at shortstop with seven errors in 89 games. He also played some center field while moving through three levels.
Antoan Richardson: The ex-Mississippi Braves standout has joined new Atlanta manager Walt Weiss’ staff as first-base coach. Richardson, who coached with the New York Mets in 2025, played in Pearl in 2010-11 and made the majors in 2011 with Atlanta. He also played for the Yankees and is remembered for scoring the run on Derek Jeter’s walk-off hit in his final MLB at-bat.
Brandon Woodruff: The Mississippi State product from Wheeler declined his mutual option with Milwaukee and became a free agent. Woodruff went 7-2 with a 3.20 ERA in 12 games in 2025 but ended the season on the injured list. He missed all of 2024 following arm surgery. He is 53-28 over an eight-year big league career.
Michael Fowler: The former Southern Miss pitcher has made six appearances in the Arizona Fall League without allowing an earned run over seven innings. Milwaukee signed Fowler off the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters’ roster last summer, and he put up good numbers in A-ball.

03 Nov

ring it up

Justin Dean doesn’t have a big league hit on his resume, but he will have a World Series ring. The ex-Mississippi Braves star, who won a Double-A ring in 2021, was in center field for the final out of Game 7 on Saturday night and celebrated with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates after they won the World Series for the second straight year. Dean’s postseason line with the Dodgers is interesting: 13 games, no at-bats, one run, one steal, six putouts. He played in three of the Series games and made that heady move in Game 6, throwing up his arms to signal that a ball had gotten stuck under the outfield padding for a ground-rule double. Toronto likely would have scored a big run on the hit. Dean, in his MLB debut, went 0-for-2 in the regular season for L.A., appearing in 17 games and making seven putouts. He has played 689 minor league games, having spent parts of four seasons with the M-Braves. In 2024, the team’s finale at Trustmark Park, Dean stole 47 bases and set the M-Braves career record with 117 bags. He signed with L.A. as a minor league free agent in December. … Former M-Braves star Freddie Freeman earned a second ring with the Dodgers, as did ex-M-Braves pitcher Evan Phillips, a reliever who made seven appearances in 2025 before going on the injured list and having elbow surgery in May. P.S. Braden Montgomery, former Madison Central High star and top Chicago White Sox prospect, is listed among the Arizona Fall League top performers for week four of the season by mlb.com. Montgomery, completing his first pro season, went 5-for-15 last week with a homer, a triple and five RBIs. He is batting .385 overall in the AFL and has drawn 10 walks. … Ke’Bryan Hayes won a second Gold Glove at third base in the National League; his dad, Hattiesburg native Charlie, never got one of those but did win a World Series with the 1996 New York Yankees. … Former Ole Miss standouts Chris Ellis and Cooper Johnson are batterymates in the Dominican Winter League with Cibao. Ellis, who has pitched in the majors, has worked three scoreless innings. He posted a 3.66 ERA and 19 saves in the Mexican League in 2025. Johnson, who played in the Texas system this past season, is 4-for-15 in seven games in the DWL. … Veteran slugger and ex-big leaguer Bobby Bradley from Gulfport is toiling for Tucson, an expansion team in the Mexican Pacific League; he is hitting .250 with a homer in 15 games. Bradley has 254 career homers in pro ball.