Mike Christensen, Author at All Mississippi Baseball

21 Jul

family affair

On a three Dog night in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday, only Jordan Westburg came away feeling any joy. Ex-Mississippi State star Westburg and the Baltimore Orioles celebrated an 8-4 win against Texas, handing former Bulldogs Nathaniel Lowe and Justin Foscue another hard loss. Westburg, a teammate of Foscue’s in Starkville, went 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs as the Orioles, first in the American League East, won their 60th game. The Rangers, defending World Series champs, dropped their second straight to the O’s out of the All-Star break and fell to 46-52, 6 games back of surging Houston in the AL West. Lowe and rookie Foscue — recalled from the minors on Saturday — each had a hit and scored a run in the Rangers’ second inning, when they cut a 4-0 deficit to 4-2. It got no closer. Foscue was hitting .241 with three homers and 15 RBIs at Triple-A Round Rock; Saturday was his first MLB game since April 7, when he went on the injured list. Westburg, a 2024 All-Star, is batting .273 with 16 homers for a Baltimore club that leads the majors in bombs. For the record, Brent Rooker, another ex-State star, hit his 22nd homer Saturday for Oakland and leads all Mississippians (native or school alum) in homers this season. (Rooker reportedly is a hot trade candidate.) DeSoto Central High product Austin Riley belted his 13th homer for Atlanta. Of note: Former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson went 1-for-3 in his 2024 big league debut for the Chicago White Sox.

20 Jul

twin valleys

The Chicago Cubs, trying to stay relevant in the playoff chase, sent their hottest pitcher to the Wrigley Field mound on Friday. Visiting Arizona sent Justin Steele to the showers in the fifth inning. Not what the Cubs were expecting. The Diamondbacks, also aiming for a second-half push, rolled to a 5-2 win, stopping Lucedale native Steele’s streak of quality starts at seven. The left-hander allowed five runs in his 4 2/3 innings and fell to 2-4, his ERA rising to 3.07. He had allowed just one run in 16 innings in winning his previous two starts. The Diamondbacks got to him for nine hits, two walks and an HBP. “It’s a good lineup over there,” Steele said in an mlb.com piece. “Obviously — they were in the World Series last year.” The Cubs fell to 47-52, last in the National League Central and 3.5 games back of the wild card cut. … Meanwhile, Chicago’s other team, the White Sox, suffered what was not a wholly unexpected result in their first game after the All-Star break. The worst team in baseball lost at Kansas City 7-1. Former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson, called up from Triple-A Charlotte on Friday, watched from the bench as the ChiSox fell to 27-72. Maybe he can help. The 29-year-old catcher was batting .246 with seven homers and 32 RBIs for the Knights. Now in his eighth pro season, Robinson got into 25 games with Cincinnati is 2022, batting .136 with two homers. P.S. Down in the minors, Mississippi State product Preston Johnson threw two innings as part of a four-man no-hitter by Aberdeen, Baltimore’s High-Class A affiliate. A 2022 draftee, Johnson has a 5.64 ERA this season. … David Fletcher, erstwhile MLB infielder and current Mississippi Braves knuckleballer, notched his first win of the season as Atlanta’s Double-A club rallied to beat Pensacola 5-4. Fletcher (1-2, 4.82) allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings. … Ole Miss alum Josh Mallitz, a right-hander, has signed as an undrafted free agent with San Diego, per Baseball America.

19 Jul

whatever happened to …

Aiden Moffett, the former Taylorsville High flamethrower, picked up his second win of the Cape Cod League season on Thursday. The 6-foot-3, 221-pound right-hander threw a scoreless, hitless 2 2/3 innings in relief for Yarmouth-Dennis, striking out six and walking four. Moffett is 2-1 with a 5.08 ERA over seven games, 12 2/3 innings. He pitched the last two seasons at LSU, entered the portal and recently announced a transfer to Texas for 2025. An All-State pick at Taylorsville, Moffett went 9-1 with a 0.54 ERA and 128 strikeouts (with 32 walks) in 52 innings as a senior in 2022, according to MaxPreps. He was a highly rated recruit with a 99-mph fastball but pitched in only one game for LSU in 2023, when the Paul Skenes-fueled Tigers won the national title. Moffett worked 17 2/3 relief innings for the Tigers this past season, putting up a 5.60 ERA with 21 K’s and 12 walks. If he can harness his stuff, he’ll be a weapon for the Longhorns. P.S. Mississippi Valley State alum Dreylin Holmes went 2-for-5 in his MLB Draft League debut on Thursday. Holmes, 6-2, 215, was a .300 hitter with 29 homers and 29 steals in three seasons for the Delta Devils. Also in the Draft League, A.J. Stinson, a former William Carey star from Hattiesburg, threw a scoreless inning in his ’24 debut. Stinson won 18 games for Carey in 2022-23. The Draft League is a pro league in the second half of its split season.

18 Jul

post-draft doodles

Ranked among the Top 200 MLB draft prospects by MLB Pipeline, Hunter Hines was not among the 615 players chosen during the three days of draft. That’s good news apparently for Mississippi State. The slugging first baseman will return to Starkville for his senior season, according to various reports. Hines, 6-foot-3, 210-pound lefty hitter, batted .257 with 16 homers and 56 RBIs for the Bulldogs in 2024, good numbers but a little down from his performance in 2023. He batted .297 with 22 bombs and 61 RBIs as an All-SEC pick that season, then was an All-Cape Cod League pick last summer. With 54 career homers at MSU, Hines will have a shot in 2025 at Rafael Palmeiro’s school record of 67. … Slade Wilks, one of Southern Miss’ all-time sluggers, went undrafted for the second straight year and is out of eligibility at USM. Wilks, a lefty-hitting DH, enjoyed a big senior year, batting .336 with 14 homers and 69 RBIs and finishing his career with a 36-game hitting streak. He even got a hit in his final at-bat in the black-and-gold. He was a third-team All-America selection and a first-team Academic All-American. Wilks stands fifth on USM’s career homer list with 46. … Lewisburg High product Samuel Richardson, who appeared on some draft prospect charts before the season, was not drafted and apparently will play for SEC newcomer Texas next season. … Former Lewisburg High standout Brady Tygart, a junior pitcher at Arkansas, was drafted in the 12th round by Boston and was pegged by MLB Pipeline as one of the “most interesting picks” of Day 3. He was a freshman All-America as the team’s closer in 2022 but had injury issues the last two years. All told, he had a 3.75 ERA in 48 appearances for the Razorbacks. … Alabama senior outfielder T.J. McCants, who played three years at Ole Miss, was also on the “most interesting picks” list after going in the 16th round to the Chicago White Sox. He batted .306 with 15 homers and 14 steals for Bama in 2024. P.S. Alcorn State still does not have a head coach for next season. Former major leaguer Reggie Williams was fired in mid-June after going 16-122 in three seasons in Lorman. The Braves were 6-43 (5-25 SWAC) in 2024.

17 Jul

there and here

Down in Mexico on Tuesday night, Harrison Central High product Bobby Bradley took a star turn, hitting a game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth for Tijuana, which went on to win the Mexican League game 3-2 over Saltillo. Former big leaguer Bradley is batting .281 with 12 homers and 48 RBIs in his first season in Mexico. He hit 17 homers in 97 MLB games with Cleveland between 2019-22 and has 228 in his pro career. … Over in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, Southern Miss alum and ex-big leaguer Kirk McCarty is 2-2 with a 1.37 ERA in four starts for CTBC Brothers. The little left-hander from Hattiesburg took a loss despite allowing just one run in eight innings on Sunday. … Back in the USA, in the MLB All-Star Game, Ocean Springs High product Garrett Crochet threw a scoreless inning (striking out Home Run Derby champ Teoscar Hernandez) and Mississippi State product Jordan Westburg went 0-for-1 as a late sub at second base in the American League’s 5-3 win in Arlington, Texas. … Jurrangelo Cijntje, the (situational) switch-pitcher from Mississippi State, reportedly has signed with Seattle for $4.9 million. He was the 15th overall pick on Sunday. … Ex-MSU star Ethan Small made a rehab appearance — his first of 2024 — with San Francisco’s Arizona Complex League team, allowing a run in his one inning. Lefty Small, a first-round pick in 2019, has four MLB appearances on his resume, all with Milwaukee. … Up in the Cape Cod League, Ole Miss’ Campbell Smithwick went 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs for Chatham in a win vs. Falmouth on Tuesday and is batting .375 in 15 games in the college summer loop. Southern Miss’ Josh Och notched a save on Tuesday, his second in three scoreless appearances for Hyannis. Also in the Cape: USM’s Davis Gillespie, playing for Bourne, is at .283 with a homer in 14 games. Jones College alum Beau Bryans, who signed with Alabama in the fall, is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA over 15 innings for Bourne. Mississippi State alum Cam Schuelke, a 19th-round draft pick by Cleveland on Tuesday, is 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA for Cotuit, and Ole Miss’ Patrick Galle is 2-0 with a save despite a 7.59 ERA for Wareham. … Jacques Pucheu, a Gulfport native and East Mississippi CC product, has been selected to the American Association All-Star Game. The left-hander is 5-3 with a 4.33 ERA for Cleburne in the independent league. Also on the Cleburne club is ex-UM star Thomas Dillard, batting .282 with 10 homers. Delta State product Trent Giambrone, now with Kansas City in the AA, is batting .292 with four homers. … Ex-Pontotoc High and Itawamba CC standout Delvin Zinn, who scuffled in the AA this season, has found a comfort zone in the indy Frontier League, hitting .318 with 10 steals in 19 games for Evansville. … Ex-Ole Miss star Errol Robinson, in his eighth pro season, has been released by Baltimore; he was hitting .208 at Triple-A Norfolk.

16 Jul

it’s a wrap

Three more Mississippi State pitchers and five from Ole Miss were picked in rounds 11-20 of the MLB draft. The total number drafted from state schools over the three days was 21, eight of them Bulldogs pitchers. MSU’s Tyson Hardin (Milwaukee), Tyler Davis (Kansas City) and Cam Schuelke (Cleveland) went on Day 3, along with outfielder Connor Hujsak (Tampa Bay) and shortstop David Mershon (Los Angeles Angels). Ole Miss draftees included third baseman Ethan Lege (Pittsburgh) and pitchers Connor Spencer (Oakland), Xavier Rivas (New York Yankees), Cole Tolbert (Boston), Hunter Elliott (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Kyler Carmack (Philadelphia). Southern Miss outfielder Dalton McIntyre went to Atlanta. Only one high school player — Jackson Prep’s Konnor Griffin, the ninth overall pick — was drafted this year, and none were picked from the state’s non-Division I schools or junior colleges.

16 Jul

of local interest

One player who cut his teeth in the minors in Mississippi will throw the first pitch in tonight’s MLB All-Star Game and another will catch the much-anticipated first offering from Paul Skenes in the bottom of the first inning. There’s a former Mississippi prep standout and another who starred in college in the Magnolia State on the American League squad. Corbin Burnes, who pitched for Double-A Biloxi in 2017, will start for the AL at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. William Contreras, who caught for the Mississippi Braves in 2019, is the NL’s starting catcher. Former M-Braves star Freddie Freeman (class of 2009) is a reserve on the NL roster. Ocean Springs High alum Garrett Crochet likely will pitch for the AL at some point, and ex-Mississippi State star Jordan Westburg — who finished second in the fan voting at third base — is a reserve infielder for the AL. Those two are among the 39 first-time All-Stars. “It means just as much to (my family) as it does to me because they’re the ones who sacrificed so much through my youth and amateur baseball career,” Westburg, a Texas native, told masnsports.com. There are other reasons to watch the 94th Midsummer Classic (7 p.m., Fox), of course: rookie sensation Skenes, Aaron Judge, Home Run Derby champ Teoscar Hernandez, Gunnar Henderson, Elly De La Cruz, Mason Miller, Jose Ramirez … to name a few. For the Mississippi baseball aficionado, there are several All-Star anniversaries of note. In 1934, in the second All-Star Game 90 years ago, adopted Mississippian Dizzy Dean made the first of his four appearances, pitching three innings (one run) in the NL’s loss at the Polo Grounds. In 1974, Don Kessinger, former Ole Miss player and coach, made the last of his six All-Star appearances, going 1-for-1 with an RBI for the NL squad. (Kessinger turns 82 on Wednesday.) In 1984, Jackson native Chet Lemon played in his third and final All-Star Game, going 1-for-2 (and getting picked off) for the AL. In 1994, ex-MSU standout Will Clark played in his sixth and last Midsummer Classic, going 2-for-2 for the NL team. Clark was 5-for-13 in his All-Star career. In 1999 — 25 years ago — MSU product Rafael Palmeiro went 1-for-2 with an RBI for the AL stars at Fenway Park, where the All-Century Team (with Ted Williams) was honored pregame. In 2004, Gulfport native Matt Lawton went 1-for-2 for the AL in the second of his two All-Star Games. The only other time the Texas Rangers hosted the All-Star Game was in 1995, when former State standout Buck Showalter, then with the New York Yankees, managed the AL team in a 3-2 loss. P.S. Purvis High’s Jacob Parker hit a literal last-second blast to earn a tie for the title in the high school home run derby final held at Globe Life on Monday night. The State commit hit 24 homers (with a metal bat) in the preliminary round on Saturday.

15 Jul

caught in a draft

Dakota Jordan, widely expected to go in the first round of the MLB draft, slipped to the fourth, picked by San Francisco at No. 116 overall. The Mississippi State product from Canton, a draft-eligible sophomore at age 21, batted .354 with 20 homers and 72 RBIs this season and won the Ferriss Trophy as the state’s top college player. Scouting reports rave about Jordan’s bat speed but note concerns over his strikeout rate (35 percent in 2024) and defense (not his arm strength). And despite possessing good speed, he stole just three bases for the Bulldogs in 63 games. … All told, nine players from state schools have been drafted through 10 rounds, five of them MSU pitchers. Going in the second round on Sunday night was State pitcher Khal Stephen, 59th overall to Toronto. Today, in addition to Jordan, the Bulldogs’ Nate Dohm went in the third round to the New York Mets; MSU’s Brooks Auger in the sixth to the Los Angeles Dodgers; Southern Miss’ Niko Mazza in the eighth to the Giants; Ole Miss’ Jackson Ross in the ninth to Washington; and MSU’s Colby Holcombe in the ninth to Toronto. … There were 14 players picked from state colleges or high schools in 2023, led by Ole Miss’ Jacob Gonzalez at 15th overall. Gonzalez already has reached Double-A in the Chicago White Sox’s system. … Konnor Griffin of Jackson Prep, picked ninth overall Sunday by Pittsburgh, is the only high school player drafted from the state so far. Rounds 11-20 are today. The track record for high school players from Mississippi going straight to pro ball isn’t particularly good. … With switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijnjte going 15th overall on Sunday to Seattle, MSU has now had 13 players drafted in the true first round (not counting supplemental picks) since 1965, according to an mlb.com article. Will Clark went No. 2 in 1985, the highest any player from Mississippi has been drafted.

15 Jul

sweet finishing kick

Brent Rooker, who isn’t going to the MLB All-Star Game, put an exclamation point on his all-star caliber first half on Sunday. The ex-Mississippi State standout crushed a pair of 450-foot home runs — two of a club-record eight hit by the Oakland A’s in an 18-3 win at Philadelphia — and heads into the break with a .291 average, 21 homers and 62 RBIs. Those are better numbers than he had last year when he made the American League All-Star squad as the A’s lone representative. Rooker did admit some disappointment at not getting another invite — he also would have been a great Home Run Derby participant — but said he wasn’t going to dwell on it. “I’m just looking to finish the first half strong,” he told mlb.com. Mission accomplished. He hit .458 over his last seven games, and the two homers on Sunday were jaw-droppers. Teams looking to add power for the stretch drive surely have noticed. … Like Rooker, Austin Riley was a 2023 All-Star who isn’t going to Arlington, Texas, this week. Also like Rooker, the DeSoto Central High product finished the first half strong for a resurgent Atlanta team. Riley went 1-for-4 in the Braves’ 6-3 win at San Diego on Sunday and has reached base safely in 12 of 13 July games, batting .307 over the last seven. He is at .257 with 12 homers and 39 RBIs for the year. … In last year’s Midsummer Classic, Riley made two great defensive plays at third base and went 1-for-2 at the plate in the National League’s 3-2 win. One of his highlight plays came on a screaming line drive by Rooker, which Riley converted into a double play. Rooker had a double in two ABs.

15 Jul

the road ahead

There have been a handful of highly touted Mississippi high school players picked in the first round of the MLB draft over the years. Jackson Prep alum Konnor Griffin — named the national player of the year by both Baseball America and Gatorade — is the latest, the ninth overall pick by Pittsburgh, the first high school player off the board in 2024. MLB Pipeline hails Griffin’s five-tool potential and notes that “his makeup is as impressive as his physical ability.” Baseball America rates Griffin as the best athlete among the prep draft class. Still, projecting pro success for high school kids is difficult. There are no sure things. Of all the high school players ever picked out of Mississippi in the first round, only three reached the big leagues, and only one of those enjoyed any real success. Yes, pro baseball is hard.

Way back in 1969, Ted Nicholson (pictured) of Oak Park in Laurel was drafted third overall — behind Jeff Burroughs and J.R. Richard — by the Chicago White Sox. He didn’t get out of A-ball in a brief pro career interrupted by military duty. In 1993, Kirk Presley, a dominant pitcher at Tupelo High, went eighth overall to the New York Mets. Injuries ended his career in A-ball. It happens. Quite often. Three high schoolers who did make the majors are Donny Castle, the eighth pick out of Coldwater in 1968 by Washington; Steve Pegues, drafted 21st out of Pontotoc in 1987 by Detroit; and Austin Riley, technically a supplemental first-rounder at No. 41 in 2015 out of DeSoto Central by Atlanta. Riley is a success story, an example that it can be done. He has been an All-Star and an All-MLB pick, claimed two Silver Sluggers and won a World Series. Castle reached the majors in 1973, getting 13 at-bats for Texas. It took Pegues seven years to reach the big leagues, and he lasted just 100 games, batting .266 over two MLB seasons. Again, pro baseball is hard. Blake Anderson, Ryan Bolden, Donnie Bridges, D.J. Davis, Wendell Fairley and Sam Hence — all terrific high school players — were first-round (or supplemental first-round) picks from the ‘Sip in recent years. None completed the journey to the majors. J.T. Ginn was the 30th overall pick from Brandon High in 2018 but didn’t sign. He went to Mississippi State for two years, got hurt, got drafted again (second round) and is now in Triple-A with Oakland, no longer a top prospect. Griffin, assuming he takes the pro money over his commitment to LSU, will likely start his journey in rookie ball, the first of the five minor league levels. It’s a long, hard road to The Show, even for special talents like Griffin. P.S. Braden Montgomery, a Madison Central High alum who played at Texas A&M this season, was chosen 12th overall by Boston, and Mississippi State product Jurrangelo Cijntje went 15th to Seattle. MSU’s Dakota Jordan, a Jackson Academy alum, was projected as a first-rounder but was not among the 39 Round 1 draftees.