All-Star Futures Game Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

13 Jul

draft watch

Four players from Mississippi schools were picked on Day 1 in the 2024 MLB draft, two among the first 15 picks. Impressive, but … if MLB Pipeline’s current rankings mean anything, there are five from state schools who could go today when the 2025 draft begins (5 p.m., MLB Network). Rounds 1-3 cover 105 picks, including supplementals. MLB Pipeline has five state products ranked in the top 98. Purvis High’s JoJo Parker is the No. 9 prospect, Southern Miss’ J.B. Middleton No. 41, East Union High’s Landon Harmon No. 48, Lewisburg High’s Talon Haley No. 91 and Ole Miss’ Luke Hill No. 98. … The most intrigue surrounds Parker and how high he might go. A lefty-hitting shortstop and the state’s Gatorade player of the year, he is a consensus first-round talent, buoyed mainly by his hit tool. Baseball America has him at No. 10. Middleton rode a sinker/slider combo to a 10-1 record, first-team All-America recognition and the state’s Ferriss Trophy. MLB Pipeline notes that Middleton could become the highest-drafted pitcher from USM; Brandon Parker went 55th overall in 1997. Harmon, dominant in high school, goes 6 feet 5 and throws 99. Haley, a lefty and a Vanderbilt commit, has overcome cancer and arm surgeries; he had an 0.55 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 38 innings this season, per MaxPreps. Hill, an infielder and second-team All-SEC pick this season, hit .336 with eight homers and 18 steals. … Four other state players are ranked in the top 122 by MLB Pipeline: USM’s Jake Cook, whose speed turned heads in the MLB Combine; JoJo Parker’s twin Jacob, whose raw power stands out; Ole Miss’ 6-4, 225-pound right-hander Mason Morris; and Mississippi State’s crafty lefty Pico Kohn. (Of note: Former Ole Miss players Liam Doyle, a lefty, and Andrew Fischer, a third baseman, both of whom played at Tennessee this past year, are also regarded as first-round prospects. Doyle is one of the hardest throwers in the draft.) … Last year, Konnor Griffin was the ninth overall pick out of Jackson Prep and Mississippi State’s Jurrangelo Cijntje went 15th. MSU’s Khal Stephen was picked in the second round and Nate Dohm in the third, No. 84 overall. In addition, Braden Montgomery, a Madison Central grad, was picked 12th overall out of Texas A&M. Five players from state schools went in Rounds 4-9 and 21 were drafted overall in 2024. … The Athletic/New York Times singles out Cook and Ole Miss lefty Hunter Elliott as players outside its top 100 who might go higher than expected. P.S. Tens were wild for Mississippians in MLB on Saturday: 10 wins for Garrett Crochet, 10 homers for Matt Wallner and 10 strikeouts for Brandon Woodruff. Crochet, from Ocean Springs, threw a three-hit, nine-strikeout shutout — his first complete game — for his 10th win for surging Boston, which beat Tampa Bay for its ninth straight win. (Props to Mississippi State alum Jake Mangum, who went 0-for-4 but did not punch out for the Rays.) Ex-Southern Miss star Wallner hit his 10th homer — fourth in 14 games — as resurgent Minnesota drilled Pittsburgh 12-4 for its seventh win in nine games. Woodruff, former MSU standout from Wheeler, struck out 10 batters in 4 1/3 innings in just his second start of the year for Milwaukee, which beat Washington 6-5 for its sixth straight victory. … In case you missed it in Saturday’s All-Star Futures game, Griffin went 1-for-2 with an HBP (his right hand reportedly is OK); Montgomery was 0-for-3 with an RBI; and Cijntje, pitching both righty and lefty, struck out two and yielded an infield hit in his one inning.

12 Jul

clearing the bases

Atlanta won a one-run game Friday night — shocking! — but lost in midgame third baseman Austin Riley to “lower abdominal tightness.” The DeSoto Central High alum was listed as day-to-day, per the latest report on mlb.com/braves. He has played in all of the Braves’ 93 games, and they need him in the lineup. Riley was 1-for-2 with an RBI knock in the 6-5 win at St. Louis, continuing his recent surge: .321 with two homers, six RBIs and five runs in his last seven games. He is at .274 with 14 homers and 48 RBIs on the season. … Former Mississippi Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr., who went 3-for-5 on Friday, will not take part in Monday’s Home Run Derby over concerns about his back; Matt Olson takes his spot. … Ex-Ocean Springs High star Garrett Crochet of Boston pulled out of Tuesday’s All-Star Game, replaced on the American roster by Casey Mize. Meanwhile, Biloxi Shuckers alum Jacob Misiorowski, Milwaukee’s 6-foot-7 rookie sensation (4-1, 2.81 ERA) has been named to the National League squad. … Mississippi products Konnor Griffin (Jackson Prep), Braden Montgomery (Madison Central) and Jurrangelo Cijntje (Mississippi State) will get some national exposure today (3 p.m., MLB Network) in the All-Star Futures Game at Truist Park in Atlanta. Griffin is the No. 13 prospect in the minors, per MLB Pipeline rankings, with Montgomery at No. 32 and Cijntje No. 79. Each is currently playing in High-Class A. The Futures Game has become a big deal. Former Magnolia Heights standout Cooper Pratt, now in Double-A, played in the 2024 game. In previous years current big leaguers Colt Keith, Matt Wallner and Nathaniel Lowe particpated, along with the likes of Hunter Renfroe, Billy Hamilton, Dakota Hudson, Desmond Jennings and Ethan Small. … Dakota Jordan, the former MSU and Jackson Academy star, isn’t going to the ATL, but certainly has the credentials. He hit his 10th homer on Friday and is batting .304 with 70 RBIs and 63 runs in 79 games at Low-A San Jose (San Francisco). … Jackson State alum Robert Tate Jr. started at shortstop and went 1-for-4 with an RBI and Tigers teammate Nkosi Didder struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning to get the win as the NL squad beat the AL 7-4 in Friday’s HBCU Swingman Classic. … Arizona activated ex-MSU star Kendall Graveman from the IL; he gave up a run in an inning of work vs. the Los Angeles Angels and now has an 8.68 ERA. … Former Ole Miss slugger Tim Elko was placed on the IL (knee) by the Chicago White Sox; he is batting .145 in 62 MLB at-bats.

10 Jul

here it comes

Strap in, seamheads. An action-packed stretch of star-quality baseball is coming up, and Mississippi connections abound. The rundown:
Friday: The HBCU Swingman Classic at Truist Park in Atlanta features Jackson State’s Robert Tate Jr., Jordan McCladdie, Joseph Eichelberger, Eric Elliott, Nkosi Didder and Erick Gonzalez, Jaylon Burrell of Alcorn State and Kade Wood of Mississippi Valley State. They are among the 50 HBCU players chosen for the third annual all-star game, set for 6 p.m. CDT and televised on MLB Network. Former Alcorn star Corey Wimberly is one of the coaches for the game.
(Also on Friday in Niigata, Japan, are Games 3 (and 4) of the USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series. Mississippi State’s Ace Reese and Ryan McPherson are on the Team USA roster.)
Saturday: The All-Star Futures Game (3 p.m., MLB Network) at Truist Park. Konnor Griffin (Jackson Prep), Braden Montgomery (Madison Central) and Jurrangelo Cijntje (MSU) are among the highly rated minor league prospects invited to this annual showcase. Former Jackson State star Marvin Freeman is a coach on the AL staff.
Sunday: The MLB draft begins with Rounds 1-3 (5 p.m., MLB Network). Mississippians JoJo Parker, J.B. Middleton and Landon Harmon, all ranked in the top 48 of MLB Pipeline’s latest draft prospect chart, are potential first-round picks. Former Ole Miss players Liam Doyle and Andrew Fischer, who played at Tennessee in 2025, could also be first-rounders.
(Game 5 of the USA-Japan collegiate series will played in Tokyo.)
Monday: The Home Run Derby at Truist Park (7 p.m., ESPN). Ex-MSU slugger Brent Rooker is in the field, along with former Mississippi Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr., who’ll be hitting in his home park in the ATL.
(The MLB draft continues — and if past is prologue, a slew of Mississippi products will be picked on Day 2.)
Tuesday: The 95th All-Star Game at Truist Park (7 p.m., Fox). Rooker and Ocean Springs’ Garrett Crochet are on the American League roster. Acuna and fellow former M-Braves alum Freddie Freeman (Los Angeles Dodgers) were voted in as starters for the National League, and former Biloxi Shuckers Josh Hader (now with Houston) and Freddy Peralta (Milwaukee) and M-Braves alum Max Fried (New York Yankees) will also be there.
Wednesday: The Frontier League All-Star Game at Troy, N.Y. Brian Williams, Victor Diaz and Travis Holt of the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters have been invited.

30 Jun

future (and current) stars

When the stars come out on July 12 at Truist Park in Atlanta, Konnor Griffin, Braden Montgomery and Jurrangelo Cijntje will be among them. The three Mississippi products were named to the rosters for the All-Star Futures Game, a showcase event for some of the game’s top prospects. Griffin, the ex-Jackson Prep star, is Pittsburgh’s No. 2 prospect and the No. 31 overall, per MLB Pipeline. The 19-year-old shortstop, a first-year pro, is batting .343 (.412 OBP) with 12 homers, 48 RBIs and 37 steals over two levels of Class A ball. Montgomery, a Madison Central High alum who played three years of college ball, is also in his first pro season, batting .274 (.352 OBP) with 10 homers and 49 RBIs over two levels of A-ball. The switch-hitting outfielder is the No. 4 prospect (32 overall) in the Chicago White Sox’s chain. Cijntje, the switch-pitcher out of Mississippi State, is 4-4 with a 4.88 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 51 2/3 innings in his pro debut at High-A in Seattle’s system. He is the Mariners’ No. 8 (84 overall). Former Atlanta Braves players will make up the on-field staff for the two teams. Chipper Jones will manage the National League squad, Marquis Grissom the AL team. Former Jackson State star Marvin Freeman is a coach on the AL staff. The game will be televised by MLB Network at 3 p.m. CDT. P.S. Dakota Jordan, another 2024 draftee from MSU (where he was the Ferriss Trophy winner last year), had a six-RBI game on Sunday for Low-A San Jose in the San Francisco system. Jordan, former Jackson Academy star, is batting .309 with six homers and 50 RBIs, tops in the California League. … Looking ahead to the 2025 MLB draft, set to start July 13, MLB Pipeline recently rated Southern Miss’ Jake Cook as the fastest runner in the 2025 class with an 80 scouting grade. A first-year starter as a redshirt sophomore for USM, the Madison Central alum played a mean center field and batted .350 (with just three steals). He goes 6 feet 3, 185 pounds. Lefty Liam Doyle, who pitched at Ole Miss in 2024 (5.73 ERA, 13.7 strikeouts per nine innings) before transferring to Tennessee, was rated as having the best fastball, a 75 on the 20-80 scale.

14 Jul

launch mode

Eighty-five games into his rookie campaign, Colt Keith may just have had his signature moment of 2024. The ex-Biloxi High standout launched a game-tying, two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday as Detroit pulled off an amazing comeback and beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-9 in 10 innings. “That’s one of the coolest moments yet,” Keith, 22, told mlb.com. He’ll be hard-pressed to top it. Keith’s homer, a yanked 364-footer, came off Dodgers closer Evan Phillips, the former Mississippi Braves hurler. It capped the Tigers’ five-run ninth, and they won it on a Gio Urshela bomb in the 10th. Keith went 3-for-4, raising his average to .253. The homer was his ninth. He has 37 RBIs. He arrived in the regular lineup at second base this spring as Detroit’s top prospect, having hit 38 homers over three minor league seasons since being drafted in the fifth round in 2020. He was given a big contract in January, a six-year, $28.6M deal with options and bonuses that could make it worth much more. But on May 19, he was batting .197. He didn’t have an MLB home run as of May 23. Apparently, he has figured some things out. A powerfully built left-handed hitter, Keith is batting .407 his last seven games, .311 with seven homers his last 15. If there were doubters in Detroit, they’ve been silenced. P.S. Purvis High’s Jacob Parker hit 24 homers in two rounds of Saturday’s high school home run derby at Globe Life Field in Texas and advanced to Monday’s final against Josiah Hartshorn. … Former M-Braves catcher Drake Baldwin — Atlanta’s No. 11 prospect (by MLB Pipeline) — homered in Saturday’s All-Star Futures Game at Globe Life. … And current M-Braves catcher Tyler Tolve slammed a walk-off homer in the ninth inning for a 3-2 victory over Birmingham at Pearl’s Trustmark Park.

12 Jul

star trekkin’

Buckle up. Lots of All-Star stuff coming in the next few days. The HBCU Swingman Classic is set for tonight (7 p.m., MLB Network) at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Jackson State had a bunch of offensive standouts this past season, and several are in the game: Joseph Eichelberger (.375 hitter), Robert Tate Jr. (.352, .458 OBP), Lenny Montesano (11 homers, 16 doubles) and Rodney Hibler Jr. (34 steals). Tigers pitchers Christian Womble and Isaiah Williams are also on the rosters, along with Mississippi Valley State’s Dreylin Holmes and Alcorn State’s Garrett Palladino. … On Saturday, there is a high school home run derby competition at Globe Life in which Jacob Parker of Purvis will compete. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound lefty hitter has slugged 24 homers the past three years at Purvis. Later Saturday (3:10 p.m., MLB Network), former Magnolia Heights star Cooper Pratt is slated to play in the All-Star Futures Game. Shortstop Pratt, a second-year pro and the state’s Gatorade player of the year in 2023, is Milwaukee’s No. 4-ranked prospect and is batting .295 with 19 bags at Low-Class A Carolina. … Sunday brings the first day of the MLB draft (4 p.m., ESPN) from Fort Worth, Texas. If Baseball America’s mock draft is accurate, four Mississippi-connected players could be chosen among the first 26 picks. Among them are three of the last four Gatorade state players of the year — Konnor Griffin, Dakota Jordan and Jordan Montgomery — plus Mississippi State switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje. Montgomery and Cijntje reportedly will attend Sunday’s event; Griffin is having a watch party at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Expect several more players from the state to be called on Monday and Tuesday as the 20-round draft continues. … MLB’s Home Run Derby is set for Monday, though, regrettably, there is no Austin Riley, Brent Rooker or Hunter Renfroe in the field. … On Tuesday, it’s the main event, the 94th All-Star Game, with Ocean Springs High product Garrett Crochet (Chicago White Sox) and ex-MSU standout Jordan Westburg (Baltimore) suiting up for the American League squad.

07 Jul

star gazing

Garrett Crochet, the Ocean Springs High product who leads the American League in strikeouts, was justly rewarded with a spot on the American League All-Star team. Crochet is 6-6 with a 3.08 ERA and 146K’s for the Chicago White Sox. The rosters were announced Sunday on ESPN; there will be changes before the game is played on July 16 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Also making the AL team was former Biloxi Shuckers pitcher Corbin Burnes, now with Baltimore. He is 9-3, 2.32. Former Mississippi Braves star Freddie Freeman, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, made the National League roster as a reserve. Ex-M-Braves catcher William Contreras, now with Milwaukee, previously was voted in as a starter by fans. … The full list of Home Run Derby (July 15) participants has yet to be revealed. It would be a treat to see Nathaniel Lowe of the hometown Texas Rangers, Brent Rooker, Hunter Renfroe or Austin Riley in the derby. Each of those Mississippi products has light-tower power. … Magnolia Heights High product Cooper Pratt is slated to participate in the July 13 All-Star Futures Game for minor league prospects at Globe Life. He is No. 4 on Milwaukee’s chart. … The All-Star festivities get started on July 12 with the HBCU Swingman Classic. The Magnolia State will be well-represented with six Jackson State players and one each from Mississippi Valley State and Alcorn State on the rosters. This is the second annual all-star game for players from NCAA Division I historically black schools. JSU’s Joseph Eichelberger, Robert Tate Jr., Lenny Montesano, Rodney Hibler Jr., Christian Womble and Isaiah Williams are joined on the rosters by Valley’s Dreylin Holmes and Alcorn’s Garrett Palladino. Former big leaguers Ken Griffey Sr. and Lloyd McClendon will manage the two teams. … Of note: The only other time the Texas Rangers hosted the All-Star Game was 1995, when former Mississippi State standout Buck Showalter managed the AL team in a 3-2 loss at The Ballpark in Arlington. He was manager of the New York Yankees, who had the best record in the AL when the 1994 season was halted by a players strike.

02 Jul

reach for the stars

Magnolia Heights product Cooper Pratt is going where a number of former Mississippi-connected stars have gone before: the All-Star Futures Game. Pratt, a top Milwaukee prospect, has been named to the National League roster for the July 13 contest at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. He follows the likes of Colt Keith, Billy Hamilton, Hunter Renfroe, Matt Wallner, Nathaniel Lowe, Dakota Hudson and Ethan Small as selectees for this prestigious game. Pratt, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound shortstop, was drafted in the sixth round by the Brewers in 2023 after earning state player of the year honors as a two-way standout at MAIS state champion Magnolia Heights. An Ole Miss commit, he got $1.35M to sign with the Brewers and already is rated the No. 4 prospect in their loaded system. “He’s a cage rat … and one of our more explosive athletes,” Brewers minor league hitting instructor Brenton Del Chiaro recently told Brewers Beat. Pratt, 19, playing at Low-Class A Carolina — for a first-half championship team in the Carolina League — is hitting .313 with two homers, 31 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. He batted .356 in rookie ball last summer. MLB Pipeline projects his big league arrival as 2027 — but that could change. … Former Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland, who spent a chunk of his MLB career with Texas, will serve as first-base coach for the AL team in the Futures Game. Most of the coaches have Rangers connections.

09 Jul

whatever happened to …

Trent Giambrone, the former Delta State standout, is having a standout season as the shortstop and leadoff batter for the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League. Giambrone, 29, is batting .280 with 13 homers and 48 RBIs in what is his eighth professional season. He put up a 2-for-4 on Saturday, driving in a pair of runs for the Revolution in a 10-7 win against Lexington. Giambrone, listed at 5 feet 8, 175 pounds, defied the odds as a 25th-round draft pick by reaching the big leagues with the Chicago Cubs in 2021. He is one of nine DSU alums to play in the majors. He got a pinch single in his first at-bat and was 2-for-13 overall as a September call-up. He went back to the minors in 2022 and became a free agent at season’s end, signing with York this spring. Giambrone batted .351 over two years at DSU but didn’t replicate that success in the minors (.231 career). However, he appears to have found a happy place in the Atlantic League, a good quality loop where several Mississippians are currently playing. P.S. Ole Miss product Thomas Dillard, playing for Lexington on Saturday, went 3-for-4 with two doubles and his league-best 22nd home run (see previous post). … Tim Elko, another ex-Rebels star, put up a 3-for-4 with a triple and four RBIs for High-Class A Winston-Salem in the White Sox’s organization. In 10 games at this level, Elko — a ’22 draftee — is batting .308 with a homer and eight RBIs. Half of his 12 hits are extra-base knocks. … Former Biloxi High standout Colt Keith, Detroit’s No. 1 prospect (per mlb.com), went 1-for-1 with a walk in Saturday’s All-Star Futures Game in Seattle. Keith is batting .335 with 16 homers and 57 RBIs between Double-A and Triple-A this season. … The Tigers’ previous no-hitter before Saturday’s combo job was thrown by Madison Central High product Spencer Turnbull on May 18, 2021, at Seattle. Turnbull, who missed all of the 2022 season following Tommy John surgery, is back on the injured list now (neck injury) but is throwing off a mound. He is 1-4 with a 7.26 ERA in seven starts this year.

07 Jul

northwestern exposure

Jackson State hasn’t had a player picked in the MLB draft since 2017. For Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State, it’s been eight years since they had a player drafted. Seven players from those schools will get a little more exposure in the inaugural HBCU Swingman Classic, scheduled for tonight at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, where scouts and team execs will be gathered for the major league All-Star Game next week. Jackson State’s Ty Hill — a Ferriss Trophy finalist this year — and teammates Jatavis Melton, Jesse Caver and Erik Gonzalez, Valley’s Narvin Booker and Victor Figueroa and Alcorn’s Kewan Braziel are among the 50 players from historically black NCAA Division I schools invited to Seattle. In addition to workouts, two squads will play a game tonight (9:30 on MLB Network). No player from Mississippi’s three HBCUs is ranked among the top 200 draft prospects by mlb.com or Baseball America. More exposure might be just what one of them needs. “Not everyone goes to a Power 5 conference,” Ken Griffey Jr., who created this event, recently told MLB Network. Hill is a particularly interesting case. He hit .399 with a .507 on-base average for his three years at JSU. He walked 96 times, fanned 74. This past season, Hill — noticeably smaller than his listed 6 feet 1, 210 pounds — batted .387 with six homers, 16 doubles, four triples and 53 RBIs. He can handle third base, second or the outfield. Obviously, the Saltillo High product can play the game. Whether his abilities transfer to pro ball, who really knows? He might just need a chance. … Prior to the HBCU game is the MLB/USA Baseball High School All-American Game for 2024 draft prospects. Jackson Prep star Konnor Griffin, rated the No. 1 prospect by some services, is expected to play. He is an LSU commit. Also on the rosters are Noah Sheffield, son of Gary, and Adrian Beltre Jr. A replay of the game will air at 10 a.m. Saturday on MLBN. … The All-Star Futures Game is set for Saturday in Seattle at 6 p.m. (live on Peacock). Former Biloxi High star and 2019 Gatorade player of the year Colt Keith, a top Detroit prospect, is on the American League roster. The lefty-swinging third baseman is batting .335 with 16 homers and 57 RBIs between Double-A and Triple-A in 2023. Also watch for Biloxi Shuckers outfielder Jackson Chourio, a highly regarded Milwaukee prospect. Atlanta’s representative is right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach, who is at Low-A Augusta. The Futures Game will re-air on MLBN Sunday at 8 a.m.