Monthly Archives: December 2025

22 Dec

return to the show

Corey Dickerson is going back to the big leagues — as first-base coach for the Tampa Bay Rays. After one season as the coach at Jackson Academy, McComb native Dickerson has been hired by the Rays, one of the eight teams he played for in an 11-year MLB career. “I look forward to him bringing his experience and expertise to the major league club,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said in a statement. Dickerson batted .280 for his big league career and finished with 1,028 hits, last playing with Washington in 2023. He played at Brookhaven Academy and Meridian Community College before being drafted by Colorado in 2010. JA went 21-15 under Dickerson last spring. P.S. St. Louis’ trade of Willson Contreras to Boston presumably opens up the Cardinals’ first-base job for 2026. That might be good news for Blaze Jordan, the ex-DeSoto Central High standout who played at Triple-A Memphis in the St. Louis system in 2025. Jordan, 23, who has played first and third in his minor league career, hit .248 with 13 homers and 62 RBIs overall at the Triple-A level. He was traded from Boston to St. Louis in July. He is rated the Cardinals’ No. 20 prospect by MLB Pipeline. … Ex-Mississippi State star Adam Frazier remains a free agent, but rumors are the Kansas City Royals really want to re-sign him as a utility piece. Frazier batted .283 in 56 games with the Royals last summer (after a trade from Pittsburgh) and played four positions. A 10-year MLB vet, Frazier recently turned 34.

20 Dec

around the horn

Jake Mangum took to social media to thank the Tampa Bays Rays for giving him his first opportunity in the big leagues. The club may also have done the ex-Mississippi State standout a solid by trading him to Pittsburgh, where the outfield situation is much less crowded. Mangum was part of a three-team trade on Friday. “Absolutely fired up to get to work for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I’m going to give yall everything I got,” Mangum posted on X. Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz are likely set as starters in the Pittsburgh outfield, but the other spot appears wide open. Mangum can play all three positions. A switch-hitter, he batted .296 with 27 stolen bases in 118 games as a 29-year-old rookie with the Rays. He also plays plus-defense. Drafted in the fourth round as an MSU senior in 2019 by the New York Mets, Mangum bounced via trade to the Miami Marlins and then to the Rays before making The Show. He left Starkville as the Bulldogs’ all-time hits leader and is a .297 career hitter in the minors. … Chuckie Robinson, former Southern Miss star, is back in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ system, signing a minor league deal on Thursday. He’ll likely go to big league spring camp as one of the many catchers they’ll bring in. Robinson, 31, spent a chunk of the 2025 season in the Dodgers’ organization and got one MLB at-bat with the eventual World Series champs. He ended the season in Atlanta’s system. In pro ball since 2016, Robinson has appeared in 52 MLB games since 2022 and carries a .131 average. … JoJo Parker, drafted eighth overall this past summer out of Purvis High, is projected to be Toronto’s top prospect a year from now by MLB Pipeline. (He is currently No. 2.) The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Parker, a shortstop who has yet to make his pro debut, “has an intriguing mix of hit and power tools from the left side at a premium position,” per MLB Pipeline’s report. … Plans are under way for the Legacy League — a new wood-bat college summer league — to begin play in late May at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium, per an announcement from Tim Bennett of the Hank Aaron Sports Academy. Six teams, representing metro area communities, will play 32-to-36 games each, all at Smith-Wills. (The league was originally slated to begin with 10 teams in 2025.) The Legacy League is similar in structure to the Cotton States League, which has operated in New Albany for many years and was once based in Jackson.

17 Dec

market report

Back in the big leagues this past season for the first time since 2021, Drew Pomeranz showed out at age 36. The Los Angeles Angels hope the Ole Miss product has still more in the tank, signing him to a $4 million contract for 2026. Pomeranz, dogged by injuries and mired in the minors for four years, got a shot with the Chicago Cubs in 2025 and posted a 2.17 ERA in 57 appearances, working almost exclusively in relief. The 6-foot-5 left-hander also pitched well in the postseason. He has been in pro ball since 2010, when Cleveland made him the fifth overall pick out of UM. In 346 MLB games, he has a 3.82 ERA. … Among other players with state ties who remain free agents are Adam Frazier (Mississippi State); Kendall Graveman (MSU); Nathaniel Lowe (MSU); Nick Sandlin (Southern Miss); Spencer Turnbull (Madison Central HS); and Jacob Waguespack (UM). … Ex-Ole Miss star Tim Elko recently signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox, who had non-tendered him following the season. Elko had knee surgery in October and will miss the start of the 2026 campaign. He made his MLB debut in 2025, batting just .134 with four home runs in 23 games. He hit .292 with 26 homers in Triple-A. … The independent Mississippi Mud Monsters have re-signed or exercised options on a slew of players from last season’s club, including former state prep standouts Brayland Skinner and Kyle Booker. Skinner, a Mississippi State alum from Lake Cormorant, hit .294 with 49 stolen bases and 62 runs in 2025, the team’s inaugural season in the Frontier League. “He brings energy every single day, and our guys feed off that. He’s a competitor, a leader, and getting him back for 2026 is huge,” Mud Monsters manager Jay Pecci said in a team release. Booker, who played at DeSoto Central High before college ball, batted .297 with 27 steals and 66 runs. P.S. The late Luke Easter, the Jonestown native and renowned slugger, was inducted into the Puerto Rico Pro Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this month. Easter played three seasons in the Puerto Rican Winter League, won the MVP award in 1948-49 and led the league in homers at age 40 in 1955-56. The first black Mississippi native to play in the major leagues, Easter hit 93 homers over parts of six seasons with the Cleveland Indians after debuting in 1949. He previously starred for Homestead in the Negro Leagues and played many years in the minors after his MLB career ended.

13 Dec

spotlight on …

Anthony Calarco, former Ole Miss standout and the 2025 Frontier League MVP, is playing in the Puerto Rican (Roberto Clemente) Winter League, hitting .233 with a pair of homers for Ponce. Calarco batted .347 with 24 homers, 116 RBIs, 34 doubles and 82 runs for Schaumburg in the indy Frontier League. The lefty-swinging first baseman had a huge series for the Boomers when they played the Mississippi Mud Monsters at Trustmark Park in early August. After four years at Northwestern, Calarco batted .274 with five homers in 48 games for Ole Miss in 2023. He played that summer in affiliated ball in the Texas system, then spent 2024 with Schaumburg. (Former St. Andrew’s High star Banks Tolley, who was also with Schaumburg in 2025 — hitting .313 with 12 homers — has re-signed with the club.) P.S. Ryan Rolison was not in limbo for long. The Ole Miss product was claimed off waivers by the Chicago White Sox on Friday after being designated for assignment by Atlanta (see previous post). … Billy Hamilton, former Taylorsville High star, has swiped seven bases in 25 games in the Mexican Pacific League and is sitting at 860 bags for his long pro career that dates to 2009. Hamilton, 35, is batting .241 for Jalisco in his second season in the MPL. … Bobby Bradley, ex-Harrison Central standout, is currently on the reserve list with Mexicali in the Mexican Pacific League. The power-hitting first baseman, 29, batted .273 with just one homer in 16 games for the Aguilas after hitting one homer in 20 games for Tucson before changing teams. … Gorkys Hernandez, who played for the Mississippi Braves way back in 2009, is leading the Venezuelan Winter League in hitting at .377 through 46 games with Aragua. The 37-year-old Hernandez has a .471 OBP and 12 steals. … Rufus Lewis, a two-time All-Star in the Negro Leagues, was born on this date in Hattiesburg (or Johnstons Station, per other sources) in 1919. Lewis won Game 7 of the 1946 Negro League World Series for Newark.

11 Dec

short hops

With Atlanta’s signing of ex-San Diego closer Robert Suarez, ex-Ole Miss star Ryan Rolison has been squeezed off the Braves’ 40-man roster and designated for assignment. The Braves recently traded with Colorado to get the lefty Rolison, who was DFA’d by the Rockies last month. Rolison had a 7.20 ERA in 31 games last season as a 28-year-old rookie for the Rockies. It’s unclear if he’ll remain in the Braves’ system. … Jackson native and ex-big leaguer Stan Cliburn has stepped down as manager of the independent Southern Maryland Blue Crabs after seven seasons with the Atlantic League club. Cliburn went 458-447 with the Blue Crabs, making three playoff appearances and winning a manager of the year award. Cliburn, 68, has 2,083 minor league managerial victories, ranking 12th all time, per a league release. Cliburn said in the release that he will “pursue other challenges.” … No Mississippi products were selected in Wednesday’s Rule 5 draft of unprotected minor leaguers. (There had been speculation that Blaze Jordan, the ex-DeSoto Central High slugger, might be plucked out of the St. Louis system.) … Jackson Smith, a Mississippi College alum, re-signed with the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters. The right-hander posted a 3.06 ERA in 20 games (two starts) in 2025. … Former Mississippi Braves standout Vaughn Grissom has been traded again, going from Boston to the Los Angeles Angels. Grissom, an infielder, made little impact with the Red Sox after coming from Atlanta in the Chris Sale trade. … Ex-Biloxi Shuckers star Brice Turang has committed to play for Team USA in next spring’s World Baseball Classic. The slick-fielding second baseman batted .288 with 18 homers last season for Milwaukee. … Former Shuckers closer Devin Williams, who had a rough go with the New York Yankees in 2025, has moved to the Mets as a free agent and faces the unenviable task of replacing Edwin Diaz in their bullpen. P.S. Kyle Schwarber, returning to Philadelphia as a $150 million DH, has built his legacy on monster home runs, the so-called “Schwarbombs,” many of them game-changers. In an article in the November/December issue of Baseball Digest, Scott Lauber writes about two impactful homers Schwarber hit long before his MLB days, back in 2012, when he was playing in the Cape Cod League, the college summer circuit. His manager was Cooper Farris, the former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College coach. As the tale goes, Schwarber, coming off his freshman season at Indiana, was having a tough day in the Cape’s championship game, having made an error and struck out three times as the game reached the ninth inning. “Well, are we going to do something about it?” Farris asked Schwarber. “Yes, sir, I got this,” was Schwarber’s response. He homered in the ninth and again in the 10th as Wareham won the title. The next summer, again playing for Farris, Schwarber returned from a trip to Japan with Team USA, scrambled back to the Cape and went 4-for-4 with a homer in his first game, per the BD article. “Craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” Farris said.

05 Dec

tagging up

A toast to the late Boo Ferriss on the occasion of what would have been his 104th birthday. Ferriss, born in Shaw in 1921, is deeply intertwined in the state’s baseball fabric, having played at Mississippi State for Dudy Noble, helped the Boston Red Sox reach the World Series in an abbreviated pro career and coached consistent winning teams at Delta State for 26 years. The Ferriss Trophy is given each year by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum to the best college player in the state. Ferriss, who is in the Red Sox’s Hall of Fame, would be more widely known outside of Mississippi had his MLB career not been curtailed by illness and injury. He won 21 games as a rookie for the 1945 BoSox and 25 for the ’46 World Series team. He won only 19 more games. As the coach at Delta State, where he earned ABCA Hall of Fame recognition, he not only won a ton of games and championships but also produced a sprawling tree of prep and college coaches. The DSU field is named for him, and the program still thrives. In addition to all that, Ferriss was the consummate gentleman, gracious to all. He died in 2016 and is buried in Shaw. … Interested to see how the signing of Cedric Mullins impacts Jake Mangum in Tampa Bay, which now has a glut of outfielders. Mullins is a center fielder, which is Mangum’s best position, though the ex-Mississippi State star played all three outfield spots as a rookie in 2025. Mangum, a switch-hitter, batted .296 and stole 27 bases but provided little power (three homers) in 118 games. In the field, he had 90 putouts, including some highlight-caliber catches, and two assists with no errors. He may well prove a nice trade piece during the winter meetings. … Northeast Mississippi Community College product Tyler Samaniego was traded by Pittsburgh to Boston on Thursday as part of a five-player deal. Just added to the Pirates’ 40-man roster last month, left-hander Samaniego has a career 3.82 ERA and pitched in Double-A last season. … Five players at state schools are ranked in the Top 100 in MLB Pipeline’s new 2026 MLB draft prospects list. MSU third baseman Ace Reese is No. 18; Oak Grove High outfielder Eric Booth Jr. is ranked 28th; Ole Miss righty Cade Townsend is 78th; Jackson Prep outfielder Kevin Roberts Jr. is No. 86; and Magnolia Heights third baseman Cole Prosek checks in at 97.

05 Dec

on such a winter’s day

On a cold, wet December day — on a desktop in a cozy room somewhere in Mississippi — a team of stars from the Magnolia State took on the 1961 New York Yankees. The squad of Mississippians was a pretty formidable bunch, but the Yankees, world champs in ’61, won the game 7-4. Whitey Ford got the W, Boo Ferriss — the 1946 Boston Red Sox ace from Shaw — took the loss. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle both doubled and homered for New York. For the Mississippi stars, Gee Walker, a Gulfport native who hit .353 with Detroit in 1936, went 2-for-5 with an RBI and also scored a run. The Yankees built an early 5-0 lead and held off a rally from the Mississippians as Luis Arroyo got the final six outs. All this took place on a desktop and took about 45 minutes. No replay reviews, no TV commercial breaks, no mound visits. The yucky weather outside was easily forgotten. Making such a seamhead fantasy possible is APBA Baseball, the venerable dice-and-board creation that assures the summer game is never out of season. It’s almost like having a time machine at your fingertips. You can replay games from seasons past, match great teams from different eras against each other — or create an all-time team of players from Mississippi and see how they fare as a unit. The individual player cards almost come to life; there is personality in their numbers. In this particular game, the Bronx Bombers were too good. Ford, a 25-game winner in ’61, scattered nine hits over seven frames and overcame a costly error. Elston Howard and Johnny Blanchard had big knocks in a 10-hit attack. George Scott, the 1975 Milwaukee version of the Boomer from Greenville, drove in Mississippi’s first run with a pinch single in the third inning, scoring Jackson native Chet Lemon (1979 Chicago White Sox), on with a leadoff triple. Byram’s Chad Bradford (2008 Tampa Bay) tossed two scoreless innings in relief for the Magnolia Staters, who pulled within 6-4 in the seventh on an RBI single by Ellisville native Buddy Myer (1926 Washington). Maybe a shakeup in the lineup would produce a better result for Mississippi: Harry Walker, Ellis Burks and Brian Dozier didn’t get off the bench. Put Claude Passeau on the bump and run it back. Maybe a best-of-5?

02 Dec

totally random

Today’s subject: Buddy Blair. Columbia native Blair, a decorated athlete in college, enjoyed a short but sweet big league career. As a 31-year-old rookie with the Philadelphia A’s in 1942, the lefty-hitting third baseman got a hit in his first game and another in his last game that same season. Blair (given name Louis) hit .279 for Connie Mack’s last-place A’s, with five homers, 66 RBIs, 26 doubles and 48 runs in 137 games. Over the next three years, he served in World War II in the Air Force. He returned to baseball in 1946 — but not to the big leagues. Blair was a player/manager from 1946-50 with Vicksburg in the Class B Southeastern League. In 1949 with the Billies, he won the only pro game he ever pitched. Blair, who died in 1996, was a three-sport star at LSU, lettering in basketball and track as well as baseball. He originally signed with the New York Yankees in 1936 and spent six years in their minor league system.