Author Archives: Mike Christensen

28 Apr

minor matters

Putting up numbers is typically the key to advancement in the minor leagues. Several Mississippi-connected players are doing precisely that. To wit: At Triple-A Jacksonville in the Miami system, former Mississippi State and Jackson Prep standout Jake Mangum is batting .339 and slugging .500 (six extra-base hits) in 17 games. The switch-hitting outfielder is in his first season with the Marlins after being traded by the New York Mets in December. At High-Class A Beloit in the Marlins’ system, Meridian Community College and McLaurin High product Davis Bradshaw is hitting .368 (with a current six-game hit streak) in 14 games. The lefty-hitting outfielder got a look in Double-A in 2022 and is bidding for another. At Double-A Erie in Detroit’s chain, former Biloxi High star Colt Keith is hitting .300 (despite a recent skid) with three homers and 11 RBIs. The lefty-hitting third baseman is a highly rated Tigers prospect. At Low-A Kannapolis in the Chicago White Sox’s system, ex-Ole Miss star Tim Elko (see previous post) leads the Carolina League in homers (six) and RBIs (24) and is batting .362 through 17 games in his first full pro campaign. At High-A Brooklyn in the Mets’ organization, former Southern Miss standout Tyler Stuart has a 1.98 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings in three starts. The 6-foot-9 right-hander was a 2022 draftee. At Low-A Augusta in the Atlanta system, former Smithville High star Jared Johnson is 1-0 with a 1.29 in three appearances. The 2019 draftee’s progress has been slowed by injuries. P.S. Mississippi State alum Brent Rooker took Shohei Ohtani deep on Thursday and now has seven homers this season, tied with Hunter Renfroe for most in MLB by a Mississippian. Rooker, in his first season with Oakland, has 18 RBIs, tops among state-connected players, and is hitting .305.

27 Apr

take it on the run

Rust College made an impressive run to the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season title. Run is the operative word here. The Bearcats (21-21 overall, 14-4 GCAC) have stolen 200 bases as they charge into the league tournament, slated to begin today at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson. Rust has nine players with 10 or more steals, led by Jesse Burton III with 31 and Malik Berrien with 29. The top hitters are Jalin Thomas, raking at .379 with eight homers, and Khalil Robinson, .357 with 11 bombs. The pitching hasn’t been as sharp (7.31 staff ERA), but Xavier Campbell emerged as a weapon out of the bullpen with four wins and a save in 11 appearances. Second-year coach John Bates has quickly built a competitive team with players from all over the South; last year’s club ended a streak of 17 straight losing seasons. The Bearcats are the top seed in the six-team GCAC tourney and are hopeful of an NAIA Tournament bid. The team already has been invited to the Black College World Series in Montgomery, Ala., in mid-May. Tougaloo (9-32, 6-11), coached be ex-Jackson State star Earl Sanders, is also in the GCAC field and opens today against Philander Smith, with the winner meeting Rust on Friday. P.S. The MACCC regular season concludes on Friday. The top four teams in the standings are ranked in the NJCAA Division II Top 20. First-place and 15th-ranked East Central (22-4 in the league) finishes with East Mississippi; No. 5 Meridian (20-6) hosts Mississippi Delta; No. 3 Pearl River (19-7) is at Northwest; and No. 18 Itawamba (19-7) is at Jones College. The postseason begins next week. … Belhaven University has finished its regular season and is awaiting its assignment in the Collegiate Conference of the South postseason. The Blazers went 20-16, 12-5 (second) in the new NCAA Division III conference. Brett Sanchez and Dawson Albin were named the CCS pitcher and player of the week on Monday.

26 Apr

chart-topper

The current list of National League ERA leaders includes an array of familiar names, from Clayton Kershaw to Marcus Stroman to Atlanta sensation Spencer Strider. But the leader of this pack is a left-hander from Mississippi who is having a breakout season. Justin Steele, former George County High standout, trimmed his ERA to a 1.19 by throwing 5 1/3 shutout innings Tuesday in the Chicago Cubs’ 6-0 win against San Diego at frigid Wrigley Field. Steele is 4-0 — tied for the NL lead in wins — over five starts with victories against the Padres, Oakland, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas. “I’ve just been trying my hardest to be consistent …,” Steele said in an Associated Press article. He has gone at least 5 1/3 in each of his starts and hasn’t allowed more than four hits or two runs in any of them. His WHIP is 0.89. Drafted out of high school in 2014 (fifth round) by the Cubs, Steele battled through injuries before finally reaching the majors in 2021. He moved into the Cubs’ rotation last year and went 4-7, 3.18, in 24 outings. That effort appears to have been just a tease about what was to come.

25 Apr

hot and not

Perhaps the fourth team will be a charm for Brent Rooker. The former Mississippi State star, who has moved from Minnesota to San Diego to Kansas City to Oakland in the last 12 months, has been a bright spot in a very dull start for the A’s. Rooker hit two home runs on Monday — going back-to-back both times with Jesus Aguilar — as Oakland beat the Los Angeles Angels 11-10 in 10 innings, just the fifth win for the A’s in 23 games. Rooker, who struggled in his previous MLB stints, is batting .333 (.441 on-base percentage) with six homers and 14 RBIs in 2023. The 28-year-old outfielder has walked 10 times and struck out 10 times in 59 plate appearances over his 16 games. “I knew I could come in every day and contribute and compete at a very high level. That’s all I’m trying to do right now,” Rooker said in an mlb.com story. After winning the SEC Triple Crown and league player of the year honors at State in 2017, Rooker was drafted 35th overall by the Twins that summer. He has hit well in the minors but not so much in the big leagues — until now. … The Chicago White Sox are in freefall, and Lance Lynn, the veteran right-hander out of Ole Miss, couldn’t do anything to break it on Monday. Lynn fell to 0-3 and saw his ERA rise to 7.52 over five starts as the White Sox (7-16) lost 5-2 at Toronto. Lynn, who has 123 wins on his MLB ledger, yielded five hits, three walks and four runs in five innings against the Blue Jays. Opponents are batting .309 against Lynn, more than 60 points higher than his career average against.

24 Apr

finding a way

Adam Frazier was the recipient of two celebratory Gatorade showers over the weekend, and he didn’t even get a hit. Ex-Mississippi State standout Frazier, now with the Baltimore Orioles, scrambled home with the game-winning run as a pinch runner on Sunday as the red-hot O’s beat Detroit 2-1 in 10 innings at Camden Yards. On Friday, Frazier drove in the winning run with a fielder’s choice grounder in the ninth inning of a 2-1 win against the Tigers. “These kinds of wins, at the end of the season, they add up,” a soaking-wet Frazier told mlb.com after Sunday’s game. The Orioles (14-7) have won six in a row. Playing in the rugged American League East, they certainly need every win they can squeeze out. Frazier, a lefty-hitting second baseman, hasn’t hit much, just .213 through Sunday, in his first year with Baltimore. But in a lineup with Ryan Mountcastle, Adley Rutschman, Austin Hays and Jorge Mateo, he doesn’t have to carry a heavy load. He was brought in as a free agent to add some veteran flavor to a young club. The 31-year-old Frazier has contributed 12 runs, eight RBIs and three steals while playing in every game. Chances are he’ll start to get more knocks. He is a .272 career hitter (since 2016) with an All-Star Game appearance on his resume, though he had a tough year in Seattle in 2022, batting just .238. He did, however, get to celebrate the end of the Mariners’ long postseason drought. P.S. While Frazier mans second base in Baltimore, waiting in the wings at that spot is ex-State star Jordan Westburg, the Orioles’ No. 4 prospect. Westburg is batting .281 with three home runs and 14 RBIs at Triple-A Norfolk. He has hit 45 homers over his three minor league seasons.

23 Apr

around the horn

Names of note from a Saturday chock-full of diamond doings:
Kellum Clark, Luke Hancock, Slate Alford and Amani Larry hit home runs for Mississippi State in a hair-raising 11-10 win at Auburn.
Dustin Dickerson extended his hit streak to 17 games, but Southern Miss took one on the chin for the second straight day at Coastal Carolina, which has scored 35 times in the first two games of this key Sun Belt series.
Hunter Elliott’s much-anticipated return to the mound for Ole Miss was spoiled by LSU, which scored five times vs. Elliott in the first inning and beat the ailing Rebels 8-4 in Oxford.
Jatavis Melton rapped out three hits, including a homer, scored three times and drove in three runs to lead Jackson State to a 14-8 win at Alabama A&M.
A.J. Stinson threw a seven-inning, two-hit shutout to cap William Carey’s doubleheader sweep at Blue Mountain, running the Crusaders’ record to 34-9.
Sam Pitre belted a grand slam to propel Millsaps to a big 8-7 SAA win against Oglethorpe.
Jacob Pearson hit a walk-off grand slam to give the Double-A Mississippi Braves a split against Montgomery in a twinbill that drew an announced 5,689 to Pearl’s Trustmark Park.
Ethan Murray hit a grand slam for the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers in a win at Rocket City.
Blaze Jordan, the former DeSoto Central High slugger, went 4-for-5 with his first homer of the season for Boston’s High-Class A Greenville club.
Hunter Renfroe, former MSU standout, hit two homers and a double in a loss for the Los Angeles Angels and now has six bombs on the year, more than Shohei Ohtani or Mike Trout.
Former Biloxi Shuckers star Mauricio Dubon, filling in for injured Jose Altuve, extended his hit streak to 16 games, best active in MLB, to help Houston beat Atlanta 6-3.
Former M-Braves standout Ozzie Albies hit his fifth homer for the Braves in the loss at Truist Park.
M-Braves alum Joey Meneses put up a four-hit game for Washington.
M-Braves alum Cristian Pache hit his first homer of the year for Philadelphia and is 6-for-20 on the year with his new club.
Ex-Biloxi Shuckers star Josh Hader registered his seventh save in San Diego’s 11th win of the season.

22 Apr

on this date

Tip your cap today to honor the memory of Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell, the Leakesville native who made his major league debut on this date in 1952. The left-hander, 21 at the time, pitched eight innings for St. Louis against Cincinnati and took a loss after allowing five hits, six walks and two first-inning runs. Mizell, who died in 1999, would go on to win 90 games in the big leagues (despite missing two full years with military service), make two All-Star Games and win a World Series ring (with Pittsburgh in 1960). In seven different seasons, he won 10 or more games, and he finished his career with a 3.85 ERA. He pitched his last game for the 1962 New York Mets, one of baseball’s worst teams. Mizell served as a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina from 1973-75. His nickname derived from an Alabama community near Leakesville where Mizell played youth baseball; Vinegar Bend has been erroneously listed in some references as Mizell’s birthplace. P.S. Former Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz, working to get back to active duty with San Diego, threw a second scoreless inning for Low-Class A Lake Elsinore on Friday night. He is rehabbing from 2021 flexor tendon surgery. … East Central Community College product Tim Anderson has been out of the Chicago White Sox’s lineup since April 11 with a knee sprain. The team is 2-6 without their All-Star shortstop/leadoff batter. There appears to be no clear timetable for Anderson’s return.

21 Apr

puttin’ on the hits

In his second stint at Low-Class A Kannapolis, Tim Elko looks like he might be ready for the next step on the minor league ladder. The former Ole Miss slugger went 4-for-4 with two home runs on Thursday and is batting .413 with four homers and 16 RBIs for the Cannon Ballers. He also has a five-hit game during his current six-game hitting streak. A 10th-round pick by the Chicago White Sox last summer, Elko is, at 24, one of the oldest players on the Kannapolis roster. After mashing a school-record 24 homers and leading the Rebels to the national championship last year, Elko enjoyed a solid pro debut, hitting .240 with five homers between rookie ball and Kannapolis. Back with the Cannon Ballers to start this season, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound first baseman/DH is showing better plate discipline (seven walks, 17 strikeouts in 53 plate appearances). The White Sox’s High-A affiliate is in Winston-Salem. … Colt Keith, the former Biloxi High star, put up a 3-for-3 on Thursday for Double-A Erie in Detroit’s system. The 21-year-old Keith, the Tigers’ No. 4 prospect (per mlb.com), is batting .304 with a homer and seven RBIs in his first taste of the Double-A level. He is a lefty hitter who has played third and second base in his three pro seasons. … Southern Miss product Chuckie Robinson extended his hitting streak to 11 games Thursday with a knock for Triple-A Louisville in the Cincinnati system. Robinson, 28, a catcher, is batting .415 with two homers, seven RBIs and four steals in 12 games for the Bats. He got a call-up with the Reds last season, hitting a pair of homers in 25 MLB games. P.S. Ex-Delta State star Trent Giambrone, who got some big league time with the Chicago Cubs in 2021, has signed with York of the independent Atlantic League. Jacques Pucheu, a former West Harrison High and East Mississippi Community College pitcher, has signed with Southern Maryland of the Atlantic League, which starts its season next week.

20 Apr

over there

Anthony Alford is crushing it in the Korean Baseball Organization. In 49 at-bats over 12 games for KT Wiz, the ex-Petal High standout is batting .449 with six doubles, two homers, eight RBIs and 10 runs. Alford, 28, headed to the KBO last year after being released by Pittsburgh, and he hit .286 with 14 homers for KT Wiz. The former Southern Miss and Ole Miss football player began pursuing baseball full-time in 2014. Alford, who has dealt with a lot of injuries over the years, got into 102 MLB games as an outfielder with Toronto and Pittsburgh but hit just .209 with eight homers. KBO pitchers can’t quite seem to figure him out. Also in the KBO, with the SSG Landers club, is former USM star Kirk McCarty, who has posted a 1-1 record with a 4.41 ERA in three starts. McCarty reached the big leagues in 2022 with Cleveland and put up a 4.45 ERA in 13 games with the Guardians and Baltimore. Ole Miss alum Jacob Waguespack, who helped Orix win the championship in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, has been a bit wobbly through five appearances for Orix this season: 1-2, 8.31 ERA. P.S. Konnor Pilkington, the ex-Mississippi State ace, was called up from Triple-A by Cleveland on Tuesday and sent down to Columbus on Wednesday without making an appearance. The lefty made his big league debut for the Guardians in 2022 (3.88 ERA in 15 games).

20 Apr

where things stand

For what it’s worth in mid-April, Baseball America projects Southern Miss as an NCAA Tournament team and the No. 15 national seed, hosting a regional in Hattiesburg. Still a long way to go until the NCAA Baseball Selection Show on May 29, but the 25th-ranked Golden Eagles are trending in the right direction at 22-13 overall and 10-5 (tied for second) in the Sun Belt Conference. USM takes on first-place Coastal Carolina (11-4) in a three-game series this weekend at Myrtle Beach, S.C. USM swept James Madison last weekend, powered in part by SBC player of the week Slade Wilks, who homered twice, including a grand slam, and tied a school-record with eight RBIs in Sunday’s series finale. Wilks, out of Columbia Academy, is batting .333 with 14 homers and 39 RBIs. … In the mighty SEC, both Mississippi State and Ole Miss have a lot of work to do to impress the NCAA selection committee. State (22-15, 5-10) is tied for fifth with Auburn in the West Division and visits the Tigers this weekend. After last week’s gut-wrenching series loss at Starkville, Ole Miss (21-16, 3-12 and seventh in the West) gets to host No. 1 LSU this weekend. … It has been a tough year for Mississippi’s SWAC schools. Jackson State is 19-16 overall but just 4-11 in the league, fourth in the East and battling for a league tournament berth. Mississippi Valley State is 2-13 and 10-27, Alcorn State 2-12, 5-26. … It has also been a tough year for the state’s Division II schools. Delta State is 21-21 and 11-12 (ninth) in the Gulf South Conference. Mississippi College is 15-27 and 9-15 (11th). The top eight teams make the GSC Tournament. … In NAIA, William Carey University sits atop the Southern States Athletic Conference standings with a 14-4 record after sweeping Mobile last weekend. The nationally ranked Crusaders (32-9 overall) visit scuffling Blue Mountain Christian this weekend. The Toppers are 6-15 in the SSAC, 23-21 overall. … Rust College is tied for first in the NAIA Gulf Coast Athletic Conference with an 11-4 mark. Tougaloo is fifth in the six-team loop at 5-9. The league tournament is set for Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium April 27-30. … NCAA Division III Belhaven is second in the Collegiate Conference of the South standings at 10-4. The Blazers (18-15 overall) have one conference series remaining before the league tournament that starts May 3. … D-III Millsaps, on a six-game losing streak, is sixth in the Southern Athletic Association at 7-11 (16-21 overall) with one league series remaining. The postseason starts April 28 with four best-of-3 series, followed by a double-elimination tournament. The Majors reached the SAA championship series last year as the No. 6 seed under a different format. … MUW, a D-III independent, is 4-22. No record is available for Southeastern Baptist, an NCCAA school in Laurel.