Author Archives: Mike Christensen

10 Sep

weird, wild stuff

Among the several marquee matchups in the majors on Tuesday night, the most eye-popping result came from the Bronx, where a couple of Mississippians were on opposing sides in Detroit’s 12-2 win over the New York Yankees. Right-hander Will Warren, the Jackson Prep product who has been a beast at home all season, delivered a solid six innings for the Yankees. The score was 2-2 when he departed. Then the Tigers scored nine times — nine times — in the seventh. Former Biloxi High star Colt Keith, the Tigers’ leadoff batter, had a quiet night overall but did contribute an RBI HBP and a run in the crazy seventh, which featured blasts and a bloop, walks and a wild pitch. “I don’t know what to say,” Warren, who watched the bullpen meltdown from the dugout, told mlb.com. “I haven’t seen anything like that before.” Probably hasn’t heard anything like the boos that came raining down. Detroit is comfortably ahead in the American League Central. The Yankees are second in the AL East (3 games back of Toronto) but lead the wild card race (by percentage points over Boston). … A bullpen collapse also cost Houston, the AL West leader (by a game over Seattle), against Toronto, which rallied from a three-run deficit to win 4-3 in 10 innings. The Blue Jays scored twice in the bottom of the ninth, then walked it off in the 10th against Craig Kimbrel. After starter Luis Garcia departed with an injury in the second inning, the Astros used six relief pitchers, none of which was J.P. France, the Mississippi State alum who was added to the active roster for the first time since mid-2024. P.S. An Eagle, a Rebel, a Bulldog and a Tiger walked into a ballpark … . No, seriously, in a Triple-A International League game, Matthew Etzel (2-for-3, a run and an RBI) and Kemp Alderman (1-for-4, run) helped the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Miami affiliate) post a 5-2 win against Gavin Collins (1-for-4, run), Blaze Jordan (1-for-4) and the Memphis (St. Louis) Redbirds. … Also down in the minors, ex-Ole Miss star Tim Elko hit his 30th homer of 2025 — 26 with Triple-A Charlotte and four with the Chicago White Sox. … MSU product Justin Foscue, stuck with Texas’ Triple-A Round Rock club most of the season, got a walk-off 10th-inning hit; he is batting .255 with 17 homers and 63 RBIs. … In the Low-Class A Carolina League playoffs, former Ole Miss standout Luke Hill went 1-for-5 with a run and MSU product Cam Schuelke notched the save as Lynchburg (Cleveland) beat Fredricksburg (Washington) 2-1 in Game 1 of their best-of-3 series.

09 Sep

cheers for snit

Brian Snitker, manager of the first Mississippi Braves team 20 years ago, picked up his 800th victory Monday night as manager of the Atlanta Braves, a celebratory moment in what has been a tough season. “I never thought I’d get one (win),” the ever-humble Snitker said in a TV interview following the 4-1 win against the Chicago Cubs at Truist Park. Expected to retire after this season, “Snit” has spent virtually all of his baseball life — back to his pro playing debut in 1977 — in the Braves’ system. “I find him to be the torchbearer of the tradition of the Atlanta Braves,” team GM Alex Anthopoulos told USA Today back in the spring. Snitker’s MLB resume includes a World Series title, three manager of the year honors, six division championships and seven playoff appearances in 10 seasons. He is second only to Hall of Famer Bobby Cox on the list of career victories by Braves managers in the modern era. Snitker’s ’05 M-Braves team was loaded with prospects — McCann, Francoeur, Boyer, Blanco, et al. — at the start, but most of them were promoted during the season and the Double-A team finished 64-68 overall, missing out on the Southern League postseason. P.S. Ocean Springs’ Garrett Crochet had that Cy Young Award look on Monday night, blanking the A’s over seven innings (three hits, no walks) with 10 strikeouts. The Boston ace is 15-5, 2.57 ERA, and leads the majors in K’s with 228. Former Mississippi State star Brent Rooker went 0-for-3 with a punchout vs. Crochet. … Former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson was optioned back to Triple-A by the Los Angeles Dodgers without getting into a game. He has made 51 MLB appearances (in 2022 and ’24) in his long pro career. … Braden Montgomery, the ex-Madison Central star and current Chicago White Sox prospect, was placed on the seven-day injured list at Double-A Montgomery. … On this date in 2000, the Houston Astros set a franchise record with seven homers in a 14-4 win over Chicago at Wrigley Field. Here’s the part that old Smith-Wills Stadium cranks will find more interesting: Houston’s entire starting lineup consisted of players who wore a Jackson uniform during the city’s Texas League era. Seven were former Generals, one was a former Met and the other was Jeff Bagwell, who did a rehab assignment in Jackson in 1995. Ex-Gens Lance Berkman and Richard Hidalgo and former JaxMet Tim Bogar belted two home runs each in that Sept. 9 game and Daryle Ward hit one out. Julio Lugo had three hits that day, and Chris Holt got the win.

08 Sep

closing time

The Beloit Snappers should have posted a Storm warning when they went to the eighth inning Sunday with a two-run lead over Peoria. Justin Storm, former Southern Miss and Madison Central standout, blew through seven Peoria batters for the last six outs and his ninth save in the 7-5 win in the High-Class A Midwest League. Since mid-July, the 6-foot-7 left-hander is 7-for-7 in save chances. He had an 0.82 ERA in August and has yet to allow a run in three September appearances. For the season, the third-year pro has a 3.21 ERA, two wins and four holds in 43 games. Storm was seventh-round pick by Miami after a sensational season at USM in 2023, when the Golden Eagles reached a Super Regional. In the preceding Auburn Regional, in an elimination game against Penn, Storm retired 17 of the 18 batters he faced — 10 via strikeout — after coming on in relief. He had a 2.36 ERA with seven wins and eight saves for the Eagles that season. His first full year in pro ball — 2024 — was a strong one, and he finished it in the Arizona Fall League. Back in High-A for a second year, Storm rode out some turbulence early on and has been a force the last two months.
There are several other Mississippians enjoying varying levels of success this season in short-relief and closing roles: Landon Sims, the closer on Mississippi State’s 2021 national title team, has become a key figure at the back end of the bullpen for Double-A Amarillo. The 34th overall pick by Arizona in 2022, Sims is 11-for-14 in save chances with four wins and a 3.60 ERA in 47 relief appearances. … Landon Tompkins, a Hinds Community College and Northwest Rankin alum in his third pro season, was 6-for-7 in save chances and notched 10 holds and six wins with a 2.47 ERA over 39 games at High-A Greensboro (Pittsburgh system). Promoted to Double-A Altoona in mid-August, he is 2-0 with two holds and a 3.38 in nine games. … Ole Miss alum and Oxford native Houston Roth, working at Triple-A Norfolk in the Baltimore chain, is 4-1 with three saves, four holds and a 2.48 ERA in 25 appearances. The Orioles called him up briefly in late July but didn’t get him in a game before shipping him back out. … Cam Schuelke (MSU) is 3-1 with three saves and a 3.47 ERA in 14 relief appearances for Low-A Lynchburg in the Cleveland system. … Brandon Johnson (Ole Miss) had an 0.79 ERA and seven saves at Double-A Northwest Arkansas before Kansas City bumped him up to Triple-A Omaha. His numbers there are less impressive: four wins, two holds and a save with a 6.65 in 33 games. … Michael Fowler (USM) has put up a 1.08 ERA with a save and a hold in nine games for Low-A Carolina since Milwaukee signed him off the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters’ roster. … Mason Nichols, drafted in the ninth round this summer out of Ole Miss, has not allowed a run in seven appearances for Tampa Bay’s Low-A Charleston team.

07 Sep

three stars

Brandon Wooduff: The ex-Mississippi State star from Wheeler threw six shutout innings (two hits, no walks, eight strikeouts) to pace Milwaukee to a 4-1 victory Saturday at Pittsburgh. Woodruff, coming off a couple of shaky outings, improved to 6-2 with a 3.32 ERA in 11 starts for the Brewers, now 88-55, best record in the big leagues.
Mason Nichols/Connor Hujsak: Former Ole Miss standout Nichols threw two scoreless innings (the eighth and ninth) for his first pro win and ex-MSU star Hujsak belted his seventh homer as co-stars in Low-Class A Charleston’s 2-1 victory at Hickory. Nichols, a 2025 draft pick by Tampa Bay, has a 0.00 ERA in seven games. Hujsak, a 2024 draftee, is batting .229 with 19 doubles, six triples, 51 RBIs and 54 runs in 98 games.
Konnor Griffin: The Jackson Prep product, the No. 1 prospect in the minors, returned from a day off to hit a home run, draw a walk and score twice for Double-A Altoona (Pittsburgh). Griffin has four homers in Double-A and 20 overall (with 90 RBIs) in his first pro season. Note: He was NOT hit by a pitch after getting drilled four times in the three previous games against Richmond.
P.S. Former Southern Miss catcher Chuckie Robinson was called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday and figures to be behind the plate today when the team — and Clayton Kershaw — takes on Baltimore. … Sad to hear of the passing of Davey Johnson, who longtime Jackson-area fans will remember as the manager of the 1981 Jackson Mets. Johnson took a team that wasn’t loaded with future MLB stars — Marvell Wynne, Mike Fitzgerald, Terry Leach, et al. — to the franchise’s first Texas League title in its seventh year at Smith-Wills Stadium. Five years after that ’81 run, Johnson guided the New York Mets — and a bunch of JaxMets alums — to the World Series crown. That Mets club played a memorable exhibition game at Smith-Wills prior to the season. Johnson also won two rings as a player with Baltimore.

06 Sep

minor matters

The Have-a-Day Award, minor league edition, for Friday has to go to Bryson Ware, the Germantown High product now in the Philadelphia system. Ware went 4-for-4 with three doubles, two RBIs and a run in Double-A Reading’s 7-6 loss to Hartford. Just a .226 career hitter in three pro seasons, third baseman Ware is batting .296 with two homers and eight RBIs in 14 games since his move up to Double-A. He has 10 homers all told in 2025. A former Pearl River Community College star, he was drafted out of Auburn in the eighth round in ’23. … Ex-Ole Miss star Kemp Alderman homered for the fifth time in six games with Triple-A Jacksonville. The Miami prospect now has 20 homers on the year and is batting .282 overall, .300 in Triple-A. … Southaven’s Blaze Jordan went deep twice for Triple-A Memphis and now has 17 bombs on the year and 60 in his five years in the minors. Jordan, 22, is batting .184 with five homers and 25 RBIs in 27 games for St. Louis’ top affiliate. … Mississippi State alum and erstwhile big leaguer J.P. France, laboring on the injury comeback trail in Houston’s system, went five innings, yielding just one run, for Triple-A Sugar Land in a 5-2 win vs. Oklahoma City. France is 2-1 with a 6.38 ERA in seven games for the Space Cowboys. … Of note: Konnor Griffin, hit by a pitch four times over a three-day span, did not play Friday for Double-A Altoona. Pittsburgh’s top-rated prospect is hitting .330 with 19 homers and 65 bags on the year. … The Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to call up a catcher today, and it might not be coincidence that ex-Southern Miss star Chuckie Robinson was pulled from Triple-A Oklahoma City’s game early on Friday night. Robinson, who has big league experience, is hitting .259 with four homers and 28 RBIs for the Comets. He is not on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster. P.S. Hailed as “the best team in baseball” by none other than the Wall Street Journal, the West Michigan Whitecaps are the only team in pro ball with 90 wins (current .698 win percentage) and have a ridiculous run differential of plus-284. And, yes, there is a Mississippian on the team. Pascagoula native Patrick Lee, a former William Carey University star, is a role player for the Whitecaps, Detroit’s High-Class A affiliate. The 25-year-old outfielder is batting .207 with a .394 OBP and has four homers, 24 RBIs and 27 steals in 63 games. Lee wasn’t drafted out of NAIA Carey, where he finished in 2023 with a .335 career average. He played in the MLB Draft League that summer, then in the independent Frontier League early in 2024 before Detroit signed him. West Michigan (90-38), not exactly loaded with top Tigers prospects, won both halves in the Midwest League East Division and will go into the playoffs as a heavy favorite for the pennant.

05 Sep

something special

Congrats to former Mississippi State standout Adam Frazier, who got his 1,000th career major league hit on Thursday night. And it wasn’t just a garden variety knock. It was a home run, a solo shot, and it came with his team, the Kansas City Royals, in an early hole and in need of a spark against the Los Angeles Angels. The Royals, a contender in the American League wild card chase, hit three more solo homers and won 4-3 at Kauffman Stadium. Frazier’s second-inning bomb came against Kyle Hendricks, against whom he was batting .412 with two homers (per The Baseball Buffet). A 10-year MLB vet, Frazier has been a catalyst for K.C. ever since the club traded for him in July. The lefty hitter, who can play virtually anywhere, is batting .298 with three homers, 17 RBIs and 15 runs in his second stint with the team. A .264 career hitter — 66 homers — with five MLB clubs, he set an MSU record for hits in a single season in 2013, the year he was drafted by Pittsburgh. He got a hit in his first big league at-bat on June 24, 2016, and was an All-Star in 2021 with the Pirates. He had a down year with the Royals in 2024 and went back to Pittsburgh as a free agent in the off-season. The Royals traded a minor leaguer to the Pirates for Frazier on July 16, an under-the-radar move that has paid dividends. … For the record, the leader in career hits among MSU alums is Rafael Palmeiro with 3,020. Will Clark got 2,176, Buddy Myer 2,131, Hughie Critz 1,591 and Del Unser 1,344. Among active ex-Bulldogs, Nathaniel Lowe trails Frazier with 780 hits, and Brent Rooker is at 471.

04 Sep

rays on rise

Suddenly, the Tampa Bay Rays are the hottest team in the big leagues. And one of their hottest hitters is Jake Mangum, the rookie outfielder out of Mississippi State. The Rays take a six-game win streak into tonight’s home game vs. Cleveland. They’ve climbed over .500 (70-69), past the Guardians, and are tied for fifth in the American League wild card standings, just 2.5 games out of a postseason berth. “Vibes are up,” right-hander Adrian Houser, former Biloxi Shuckers ace who won his eighth game on Wednesday against Seattle, told mlb.com. Mangum’s vibe is seemingly always up. “He’s always on go,” Rays manager Kevin Cash recently told the Tampa Bay Times. “The effort is never questioned.” The Jackson Prep grad — the Rays’ Heart and Hustle Award winner for 2025 — had three hits and an RBI in Wednesday’s 9-4 win vs. the Mariners. He is hitting .483 over his last seven games, .356 over his last 15. On the season, he is at .293 with 21 stolen bases. An excellent defensive outfielder, Mangum has yet to make an error, has chalked up five assists and routinely shows up on the highlight reels with diving catches. Also making contributions for Tampa Bay is Nick Fortes, the veteran catcher out of Ole Miss. The Rays, looking to upgrade their defense, traded for him in July. He has two homers, seven RBIs and six runs in 20 games with the club. Keeping the vibes up will be a challenge for the Rays, whose remaining schedule is tough. It includes four games with Cleveland, three with the Chicago Cubs, seven with Toronto and three with Boston. All, like Tampa Bay, are chasing playoff spots.

04 Sep

around the horn

Four games. Four hits. Four home runs. That about sums it up for Kemp Alderman’s time with Triple-A Jacksonville. Promoted from Double-A by Miami on Sunday, the Ole Miss product has gone deep in each game with the Jumbo Shrimp. He homered in both ends of a doubleheader on Wednesday. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound outfielder now has 19 homers on the season and 28 in his three-year pro career. He is hitting .282 overall. … Jurrangelo Cijntje, the switch-pitcher drafted out of Mississippi State in 2024, picked up his first Double-A win on Tuesday, throwing six innings for Arkansas against Amarillo. Cijntje allowed one run on five hits and four walks, punching out seven. The 15th overall pick by Seattle last summer and now the team’s No. 8 prospect, Cijntje has a 3.80 ERA in five starts for Arkansas and is 4-7 with a 4.38 at two levels. He has 110 strikeouts over 98 1/3 innings. … Konnor Griffin, the phenom from Jackson Prep, has shown no ill effects from being beaned (by former MSU pitcher Will Bednar) on Tuesday night. Griffin, playing at Double-A Altoona in Pittsburgh’s system, stayed in the Tuesday game and started at shortstop Wednesday, going 1-for-3 with two runs and a steal. He is batting .320 in 13 Double-A games. … MSU product Jackson Fristoe retired all eight batters he faced Wednesday and notched a win for Low-Class A Tampa (New York Yankees). The third-year pro is 7-2 with two saves, four holds and a 4.37 ERA for the Tarpons. … Billy Hamilton, former big leaguer from Taylorsville, has signed a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs and reportedly would be eligible for the postseason. The 34-year-old outfielder played briefly this season in Mexico before getting hurt. Over 11 MLB seasons with eight teams (including the Cubs), Hamilton batted .239 with 326 steals. He last played in the majors in 2023. … Former Mississippi Braves star Shea Langeliers, who hit 11 homers for the A’s in August, was named the American League player of the month. Ex-Biloxi Shuckers standouts Brice Turang and Freddy Peralta, now with Milwaukee, were the National League’s player and pitcher of the month. Turang batted .343 with 10 bombs, Peralta went 4-0 with an 0.32.

03 Sep

random numbers

11 — Holds for Drew Pomeranz, the veteran lefty out of Ole Miss who threw a scoreless seventh inning Tuesday night for the Chicago Cubs in a 4-3 win against Atlanta. Pomeranz has a 2.04 ERA in 46 appearances for the Cubs, who won their 80th game and pulled within 5 games of first-place Milwaukee in the National League Central.
3 — Batters faced and retired by Hayden Harris, former Mississippi Braves reliever who made his MLB debut for Atlanta against the Cubs. Harris, a lefty, had an 0.56 ERA in the minors this season and a 1.74 in 19 games with the M-Braves in 2024.
3 — Grand slams this season, two in the last five days, by former Biloxi Shuckers star Trent Grisham, whose bases-loaded bomb off Framber Valdez helped the surging New York Yankees rout Houston 7-1. Grisham has 29 homers on the season, 12 more than his previous career-best.
4 — Home runs allowed by Garrett Crochet, the Ocean Springs High product who suffered a rare clunker for Boston against Cleveland at Fenway Park. The left-hander (14-5, 2.67 ERA) yielded three homers and six runs in the sixth inning alone, blowing a four-run lead, but the Red Sox rallied to win 11-7.
12 — Hits in 36 at-bats for Nathaniel Lowe since the ex-Mississippi State slugger signed with the Red Sox on Aug. 18. Lowe hit his 18th homer of the season and drove in three runs in Tuesday’s victory.
101 — Strikeouts this season by Matt Wallner, the former Southern Miss star who fanned three times in Minnesota’s loss to the White Sox. Wallner has 61 hits — 20 homers — in 295 at-bats.
1 — Scoreless inning thrown in his 2025 debut by Ethan Small, the former first-round pick out of Mississippi State now with Triple-A Sacramento in San Francisco’s system. Small, in his sixth pro season, had not pitched since August 2024 because of injury. The 28-year-old lefty made four MLB appearances with Milwaukee in 2022-23.
80 — RBIs on the year for Blaine Crim, the ex-Mississippi College standout now with Triple-A Albuquerque in the Colorado organization. He is batting .281 with 20 homers at two stops in the minors in 2025 and got 11 MLB at-bats with Texas.
2 — Home runs in as many Triple-A games for Ole Miss alum Kemp Alderman, who went deep for Jacksonville in a win against Charlotte. For the season, the Decatur native has 17 bombs and is batting .281 between Double-A and Triple-A in the Miami chain.
5 — Shutout innings tossed by Dalton Rogers, the former Southern Miss star now with Double-A Portland in the Boston system. The left-hander from Brandon is 4-4 with a 3.63 ERA for Portland and 6-5, 3.15, overall in his fourth pro season.
16 — Hits in 42 at-bats for Luke Hill, a 2025 draftee out of Ole Miss by Cleveland. Hill had three hits and three RBIs for Low-Class A Lynchburg in a 14-2 win over Delmarva and is batting .381 with a homer, seven RBIs and seven steals in 13 pro games.

02 Sep

dynamic duo

A tag team of former Magnolia State rivals played leading roles in Tampa Bay’s beatdown of playoff-contender Seattle on Monday night. Ex-Ole Miss star Nick Fortes and former Mississippi State standout Jake Mangum combined for five hits, four runs, three RBIs and a stolen base as the Rays claimed a 10-2 victory against the visiting Mariners. Fortes, who has not been much of an offensive contributor since the Rays acquired him in July, delivered a jarring blow early, a three-run homer in the second inning. A .218 hitter, catcher Fortes has four homers, two with Tampa Bay. Best known for his defense, he threw out a Seattle runner trying to steal. Mangum, the rookie outfielder, banged out three hits to raise his average to .291, scored a run (on Fortes’ homer) and stole a base, his 21st. The fall left the Mariners with a 73-65 record, second in the American League West and third in the wild card standings. The Rays haven’t yet tapped out — they’ve won four straight — but at 68-69, their playoff hopes have faded. P.S. Ole Miss alum Ryan Rolison, back with Colorado as a September call-up, worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings Monday in an 8-2 loss to San Francisco. The lefty — a rookie at 28 — trimmed his ERA to 7.15. … Boston’s Aroldis Chapman registered his 28th save on Monday with a 1-2-3 ninth and ran his remarkable streak of consecutive batters faced without yielding a hit to 46. MLB Network displayed a list of the longest such streaks since 2019 and ex-Ole Miss star Mike Mayers was No. 2 with 48 back in 2020. Mayers, who had an ERA of 5.21 in eight seasons, had a career year in 2020 for the Los Angeles Angels, putting up a 2.10 ERA in 30 relief appearances. … Today is Garrett Crochet day in Boston, where the Ocean Springs native and Red Sox ace will go for his 15th win against Cleveland. Crochet is 14-5 with a 2.40 ERA and is 10-1 in his last 15 starts. With the 6-4 win on Labor Day, Boston (77-62) is just 2.5 games behind Toronto in the AL East.