Tag Archives: allmississippibaseball

27 May

just stuff

Oak Grove visits Northwest Rankin tonight to decide the MHSAA Class 6A South State title and berth in next week’s finals against Madison Central. All of the other state championship pairings are set for the big event that starts Tuesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. In 5A, it’s Saltillo-Pascagoula, 4A West Lauderdale-Sumrall, 3A Booneville-Magee, 2A East Union-Taylorsville and 1A Tupelo Christian-Resurrection Catholic (Pascagoula). Madison Central is top-ranked in the state by MaxPreps and is No. 6 in the country. NWR is fifth in the state, Oak Grove 12th. Sumrall is No. 4, and Booneville is eight. … Southern Miss beat Western Kentucky in its C-USA Tournament opener, finishing off the 11-1 win at 2:59 a.m. today in Ruston, La. The Golden Eagles play again tonight, throwing C-USA pitcher of the year Walker Powell at Lousiana Tech. Ole Miss and Mississippi State both lost in SEC tourney play on Wednesday and face elimination games today in Hoover, Ala. Delta State starts play in the NCAA Division II South Region today vs. Tampa at Pensacola, Fla. … Braden Shewmake, the Mississippi Braves shortstop and Atlanta’s No. 4 prospect, is in the throes of a woeful slump. After an 0-for-4 on Wednesday against Montgomery at the TeePee, Shewmake is batting .086. He has five hits, one homer. He hit .300 over two levels in 2019. … Jacob Robson, the former Mississippi State standout, is hitting the pause button on his torrid start in the minors this season. But for good reason. Robson, a native of London, Ont., is off to play for Team Canada in the Olympics qualifying event in Florida next week. Robson, 26, a lefty-hitting outfielder, is batting .424 with two homers and 10 RBIs for Double-A Erie in Detroit’s system. He played in Triple-A in 2019, hitting .267, and has a .295 career average. He was an eighth-round pick out of Starkville in 2016. He’s not on the Tigers’ top 30 prospect list but has been in their big league spring camp the last couple of years. … Magnolia State products Hunter Renfroe and Austin Riley played a little tit-for-tat in Wednesday’s MLB game between Boston and Atlanta. Renfroe, from Crystal Springs, hit a 377-foot homer for the Red Sox in the second inning. Riley, from Southaven, retaliated with a 390-foot shot, also over Fenway Park’s Green Monster, three innings later. Boston ultimately won the game. … MLB placed Los Angeles Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway, a former Ole Miss pitcher, on the ineligible list through 2022, the culmination of investigation into numerous sexual harassment allegations. The Angels promptly fired Callaway, who hadn’t been with the team at all this season. … Ex-Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz, now with San Diego, reportedly has suffered a setback in his recovery from a left shoulder impingement and could be out an extended time. He has been on the IL since May 13.

26 May

minor matters

Joe Gray Jr. had a day, perhaps one of his best, for Low-A Carolina in Milwaukee’s system on Tuesday. The ex-Hattiesburg High standout went 3-for-6 with a grand slam, six RBIs, four runs and a stolen base. A second-round pick in 2018, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound outfielder scuffled in his first two pro seasons, batting under .200, but is at .239 with five homers, 18 RBIs and five bags for the Mudcats. Over his last four games, Gray is 7-for-20 with three bombs. Once ranked among the Brewers’ top 10 prospects, he has dropped off the mlb.com chart. Only 21, he is certainly capable of a resurgence. Missing the 2020 season didn’t help. Gray hit .182 with two homers in 24 games in the rookie Arizona League in 2018 and .164 with three homers in 31 games in the advanced rookie Pioneer League in 2019. … Jake Mangum, the former Mississippi State and Jackson Prep star, has made a smooth adjustment to Double-A pitching. Moved up as part of the injury-riddled New York Mets’ roster shuffling, Mangum is batting .385 in three games at Binghamton in the Double-A East. He homered and drove in four runs Tuesday. He was hitting .206 in A-ball. … Delvin Zinn, the Itawamba Community College product from Pontotoc, is batting .275 with eight RBIs, 13 runs and 14 steals, tops in the High-A Central, for South Bend in the Chicago Cubs’ system. Zinn swiped 30 bags in 2019. (He was involved in a rare benches-clearing brawl that led to four ejections on Tuesday in a game against Fort Wayne; Zinn was not ejected.) … Ex-MSU standout Hunter Stovall, back in Colorado’s system after a brief detour with Philadelphia, is hitting .264 with a homer and nine RBIs for High-A Spokane. … Jordan Westburg, the 30th overall pick out of State last summer, is raking at a .373 clip with three homers and 18 RBIs for Baltimore’s Low-A Delmarva team. He might not be long for that level.

26 May

welcome back

Back in the big leagues for the first time since last September, Petal’s Demarcus Evans looked ready for duty on Tuesday night. The 24-year-old right-hander struck out four of the seven batters he faced, including Justin Upton and Anthony Rendon, and walked just one in two innings of scoreless relief for Texas in its 11-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. Punchouts are kind of a thing for Evans, who has averaged 13.9 per nine innings over a minor league career that began in 2015. Evans debuted in the majors in 2020, famously yielded a homer to the first batter he saw — guy named Albert Pujols — but didn’t allow another run over four innings. A lat strain set the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Evans back in spring training. He tuned up at Triple-A Round Rock this month, recording 16 K’s in 7 2/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA. Injuries to a couple of Texas pitchers opened the door for Evans’ return. He might just stick.

25 May

whatever happened to …

LeDarious Clark, the former Southeast Lauderdale High and East Mississippi Community College star, is on the roster of the independent Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League. Clark was released by Texas last spring after five years in the Rangers’ system. A 12th-round pick out of West Florida in 2015, the 5-foot-10, 185-pound outfielder reached Double-A in 2019 but batted just .200 in 38 games for Frisco. Clark, 27, hit .238 with 48 homers and 99 steals in his minor league career. “We have gotten good reports on Clark,” Lancaster manager Russ Peeples said in a release announcing Clark’s signing. “Those reports say that he has a lot of tools but that he has not put it together consistently as of yet. We are hoping he can come here and do just that.” The Barnstormers open their season on Thursday. P.S. Braxton Lee, a onetime big leaguer from Picayune, signed with Southern Maryland of the Atlantic League. The Blue Crabs are managed by Jackson native and ex-big leaguer Stan Cliburn. Lee, drafted by Tampa Bay out of Ole Miss in 2014, appeared in eight games (.176) with Miami in 2018. He was in the New York Mets’ system in 2019. … Former Hattiesburg High star – and onetime big leaguer – Robert Carson is back in the Atlantic League with the Lexington Legends. The 32-year-old left-hander has pitched in the league every season since 2015 and was 15-8 for York in 2018 and ’19. … Elijah MacNamee, the Mississippi State product, is on the roster of the independent Evansville Otters of the Frontier League. MacNamee, an outfielder who played at State from 2017-19, signed with Evansville in 2019 and hit .309 for the club that season. The league did not operate in 2020. MSU product Denver McQuary, from Maben, and Southern Miss/MSU alum Tyler Spring, from Wiggins, are also on the Otters’ roster. The ’21 season starts Thursday. … Former Starkville High and Meridian CC standout Milton Smith, previously in the Miami Marlins’ system, is with the Frontier League’s New York Boulders, who also signed ex-Mississippi Valley State star Zach Penprase, now 36. (Little-known fact: Penprase led the nation in stolen bases with 60 at Valley in 2006.) … Belhaven University product Tanner Cable will pitch for Gateway in the Frontier League.

25 May

trophy tradition

Kudos to Tanner Allen, the Mississippi State standout who was a most-deserving winner of the Ferriss Trophy, awarded to the state’s best player by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Allen, also named the SEC Player of the Year, has filled the stat sheet all season for the highly ranked Bulldogs. The Alabama native has a .387 batting average, .618 slugging average, eight homers, 53 RBIs, 54 runs and eight stolen bases. A lefty-hitting outfielder, Allen likely will be a fairly high pick in this summer’s MLB draft. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the No. 149 prospect. It’s interesting to note that five of the previous nine Ferriss winners have reached the big leagues: Drew Pomeranz, Chris Stratton, Hunter Renfroe, Brent Rooker and Nick Sandlin. All but Rooker, back in Triple-A, are currently in The Show. (Pomeranz is on the injured list.) The most recent Ferriss winner, Jake Mangum, is in Double-A. Mangum won the award in 2019 – it wasn’t given in 2020 – and also in 2016, when he was the first freshman to receive it. P.S. The inaugural HBCU World Series has been cancelled. MEAC champion Norfolk State opted not to play in the event that was scheduled for this weekend at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium. Southern University would have represented the SWAC.

25 May

twin peaks

Two former Mississippi college stars, each of whom pitched a gem on Monday night, have risen to the top in ERA in their respective leagues. Mississippi State alumnus Brandon Woodruff, now with Milwaukee, leads the National League with a 1.41, and Ole Miss product Lance Lynn, with the Chicago White Sox, heads the American League with a 1.51. Woodruff stopped San Diego’s nine-game win streak Monday, throwing seven shutout innings (three hits, no walks, eight strikeouts) in a 5-3 win. It was the big right-hander’s ninth straight quality start. “This is brilliance,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. Woodruff’s record is just 3-2; the Brewers haven’t given him much offensive support in his 10 starts. Lynn has had no such problem. He improved to 5-1 over eight starts, tossing seven innings (three hits, one run) in a 5-1 victory against his original team, St. Louis. The burly right-hander called it “probably the most satisfying (win) I’ve ever had.” Note: He has 109 career wins and won a World Series with the Cards. … A pair of former Mississippi high school stars claimed player of the week awards in their respective leagues. Madison Central alum Spencer Turnbull, who threw a no-hitter for Detroit last week, shared the AL award with Corey Kluber, who also tossed a no-no, and DeSoto Central product Austin Riley won the NL award after hitting .462 with six homers and 11 RBIs last week for Atlanta. P.S. No relief pitcher in the big leagues has a better ERA than State product Kendall Graveman, who has not allowed a run in 16 2/3 innings while racking up five saves for Seattle. Unfortunately, Graveman is currently on the COVID-19 injured list with an uncertain return date. … Ex-Richton High star JaCoby Jones was demoted to Triple-A by Detroit, presumably to find his swing. The sixth-year big leaguer is batting .170 with 42 strikeouts in 100 at-bats.

24 May

the unkindest cut

Three outs from the SWAC championship, with the league’s reliever of the year on the mound, Jackson State appeared to have a firm grip on its first league title in seven years, a just reward for a dominant season. It didn’t happen. O’Neill Burgos, a former hero at Brookhaven Academy and Jones College, played that role for Southern University on Sunday, belting a three-run homer to propel the upstart Jaguars to a 7-6 victory and the SWAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. JSU went 24-0 in the league in the regular season and won its first three tournament games at Madison, Ala. But the one that mattered most slipped away. There was some confusion initially about Burgos’ homer as Tigers left fielder Jatavious Melton crashed through the bullpen gate trying to run down the ball. Video review showed the ball cleared the fence. The Tigers went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth. Closer Steven Davila took the loss, his first of the year. JSU finishes with a 34-9 record; an NCAA at-large bid is most unlikely. Southern entered the tournament with a 15-27 record, lost its second game there and then won four straight elimination contests. The Jags, who have a number of Mississippi products on their roster, will head to the NCAAs after a sidetrip to the HBCU World Series in Jackson this week. P.S. After falling in the decisive game of the GSC Championship Series on Saturday, Delta State got new life on Sunday when it received a bid to the NCAA Division II South Region tourney at Pensacola, Fla. DSU will open with Tampa on Thursday in a region filled with GSC teams. … East Central Community College pushed second-ranked LSU-Eunice to a second game in the championship round of the NJCAA D-II Region 23 Tournament but ultimately fell to the Bengals 7-5 on Saturday. LSU-E goes to the juco World Series. … Ole Miss, once ranked No. 1 in the nation, faces a win-or-go-home game vs. Auburn in the SEC Tournament on Tuesday at Hoover, Ala. Mississippi State plays the winner of Florida-Kentucky on Wednesday to begin the double-elimination phase of its bracket. Southern Miss, the 3-seed and the defending champion in the C-USA Tournament, plays Western Kentucky on Wednesday at Ruston, La., in the double-elimination event.

23 May

on the flip side …

Bobby Bradley, the former Harrison Central High slugger, hit two home runs for Triple-A Columbus on Saturday, giving him six for the season. That’s tied for second-most in the Triple-A East. He drove in three runs and now has 15 RBIs, fourth-most in the league. That’s the good part. On the flip side: The 24-year-old first baseman, now in his eighth year of pro ball, has only 12 hits all told in 60 at-bats. He has struck out 22 times and drawn just six walks. While the Cleveland Indians are looking for production at first base, they may still not feel Bradley is ready to provide it. Bradley has been dialing up homers at a great rate over his seven minor league seasons. He has 153. He also hit one for the Indians during a brief call-up in 2019. It’ll be interesting to see when his next MLB opportunity comes. Clearly, just hitting bombs isn’t enough. … Bradley’s homers helped ex-Southern Miss star Kirk McCarty improve to 3-0, with a 2.66 ERA. He worked seven strong innings in the Clippers’ 5-3 win over Toledo. The 25-year-old left-hander might be closer to a call-up than Bradley.

22 May

life of riley

Ya know, Austin Riley just might have a future in this game. (Sarcasm intended.) The former DeSoto Central High standout, whose poor start this season had some questioning Atlanta’s faith in the young third baseman, put up his first career two-homer game and also smacked a double on Friday night during the Braves’ record-setting 20-1 win against Pittsburgh. Riley is batting .417 with four homers over his last seven games. Over his last 30 games, he is hitting .366. “(W)hen he’s going, that’s a guy that can carry us,” pitcher Ian Anderson said in an mlb.com piece. With that hope in mind, Braves manager Brian Snitker has moved Riley up to the fifth spot in the lineup for a Braves team searching for consistent punch. Riley is batting .316 with seven homers and 15 RBIs this season. His recent tear is reminiscent of the one he enjoyed as a rookie in 2019, when he clubbed seven homers and hit .375 in his first 14 games. Since that time, he has endured some slumps and even a trip back to the minors. But he appears to have locked in on something of late. He has been much more selective, drawing more walks and not chasing sliders. His OBP of .410 is 100 points higher than where he finished 2020. Chipper Jones has raved about Riley’s new approach at the plate. Plus, he’s an outstanding defensive third baseman. So, yeah, this Riley guy might be around a while.

21 May

setting the table

The Mississippi Braves have scratched out a 6-9 record despite being last in the Double-A South in runs, batting and on-base percentage. As fans of “Bull Durham” might ask, How’d they ever win six? One reason would be the play of Justin Dean, the diminutive leadoff batter. Dean has reached base in each of the 14 games he has played; his OBP of .426 ranks fifth in the league. He is batting .262 and has scored nine runs, driven in four and stolen five bases. Speed is the prime tool for the 24-year-old center fielder, who goes 5 feet 6, 185 pounds. He swiped 47 bases (with nine triples) at Class A Rome in 2019 and earned league All-Star honors and a trip to the Arizona Fall League. A 17th-round pick out of NCAA Division II Lenoir-Rhyne in 2018, he is batting .283 over his three pro seasons. MLB Pipeline ranks Dean 26th among Atlanta’s prospects, noting that “he has the chance to be a table-setter type, perhaps with a career as a fourth outfielder the most likely.” Dean will look to set the table tonight when the M-Braves play Chattanooga in the fourth game of a six-game set at Trustmark Park. P.S. On Chattanooga’s roster is a pair of former Southern Miss stars: Pitcher J.C. Keys, drafted by Cincinnati in 2019, and Chuckie Robinson, a catcher who was plucked by the Reds from Houston in the Rule 5 draft in December. Keys took the loss in relief on Wednesday but has a 1.69 ERA in four games. Robinson is 4-for-16 in five games this season and is a .249 career hitter over five pro seasons. Notably, he has caught two of Nick Lodolo’s starts and Hunter Greene’s last one, a 10-strikeout gem. Those are two top prospects in Cincy’s system. … There are several other Mississippi products scattered around the Double-A South. Ex-Columbia High standout Ti’Quan Forbes and Mississippi State alum Konnor Pilkington are with Birmingham, former State star Ethan Small is at Biloxi, ex-Ole Miss standout Wyatt Short is with Tennessee, UM product Nick Fortes plays for Pensacola and former Delta State star Dalton Moats is at Montgomery.