Tag Archives: allmississippibaseball

21 Dec

waiting in the wings

You won’t find Anthony Alford’s name on the Toronto Blue Jays’ outfield depth chart that appears on mlb.com. But the former Petal High star will certainly get a long look in spring training, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see him make the opening day roster. Alford, 23, has enhanced his credentials with his play in the Mexican Pacific League, a winter assignment he reportedly asked for. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound right-handed hitter is riding a nine-game hit streak that has boosted his average to .344. He has two homers, 15 RBIs, 17 runs and eight steals in 23 games for Jalisco. “Anthony can make your day on and off the field on a regular basis,” Toronto general manager Ross Atkins recently told the Toronto Sun. Alford spent most of 2017 in Double-A, batting .310 with five homers. He played four games in the majors early in the season before being derailed by a hand injury. Expect his next big league stay to be much longer.

15 Dec

touch ’em all

Atlanta would appear to have hit a home run with its new hire for manager of the Mississippi Braves. As baseball resumes go, it’s hard to beat what Chris Maloney brings to the table. The newly named skipper of the Double-A M-Braves is not only a local boy, but he has a wealth of managerial experience highlighted by championships and awards. Maloney, nicknamed “Hammer,” is a Jackson native and former Mississippi State star who played pro ball in the New York Mets and St. Louis systems. His father, local businessman Con Maloney, was a longtime owner of Jackson’s Texas League franchise. Chris Maloney was in his sixth year on the Cardinals’ major league staff when he was suddenly removed as third-base coach and reassigned back in June in a rather odd move. Maloney managed in the St. Louis system for 17 years, winning a Triple-A Pacific Coast League title with Memphis in 2009. He was manager of the year in the Texas League in 1998 while at Arkansas and was Baseball Weekly’s minor league manager of the year in 1993 when he was at Class A Savannah. He also managed in Houston’s system. He’s a great choice to run the M-Braves. Maloney succeeds Luis Salazar as the Southern League club’s seventh manager since it moved to Pearl in 2005. P.S. For the record, there are now seven Mississippi-connected managers in the big leagues: Ex-Mississippi State standout Buck Showalter (Baltimore), Ole Miss product Mickey Callaway (New York Mets), former Jackson Mets players Ned Yost (Kansas City), John Gibbons (Toronto) and Ron Gardenhire (Detroit), former JaxMets skipper Clint Hurdle (Pittsburgh) and former M-Braves manager Brian Snitker (Atlanta).

14 Dec

on the move

’Tis the season for the Rule 5 draft, which went down today without much hoopla. Former Jones County Junior College standout Lane Ratliff and Ole Miss alumnus Will Allen were picked in the minor league phase and will be changing organizations for the 2018 season. Ratliff, a left-hander, was taken by Arizona out of the Seattle system. A 2014 draftee by the Mariners, he spent most of 2017 in the Class A Midwest League. His career ERA is 5.98, but someone saw something they liked. First baseman/catcher Allen, a 2014 draftee by Detroit, was plucked by Miami. He played in the Class A Florida State League last season, batting .245 with nine homers and 40 RBIs at age 25. Allen had a big senior year in Oxford in 2014, hitting .339 with seven homers and 64 RBIs. P.S. Ryan Rolison’s ranking improved a notch in Baseball America’s latest list of the Top 100 college draft prospects for 2018. The Ole Miss left-hander is up to No. 6 after standing seventh in the magazine’s October ranking. Rolison went 6-3 with a 3.06 ERA for the Rebels in 2017 and pitched well in the Cape Cod League over the summer. Mississippi State’s ace lefty, Konnor Pilkington, slipped to No. 19 from 17th. Pilkington was 8-5, 3.08 last season. Rebels closer Dallas Woolfolk and State outfielder Jake Mangum are also in the top 100.

11 Dec

so they say

Ex-Ole Miss star Zack Cozart, one of several Mississippians on the free agent market, has a serious suitor in San Diego, according to reports. The Padres are looking for a shortstop, and Cozart is the best one out there looking for a team. Cozart batted .297 with 24 homers and 63 RBIs and made his first All-Star Game with Cincinnati in 2017. … There hasn’t been much news of late on other free agent Mississippians, a list that includes Lance Lynn, Mitch Moreland, Seth Smith, Jarrod Dyson, Tyler Moore and Alex Presley. … David Goforth, the former UM standout from Meridian, has signed a minor league deal with Washington. The onetime big leaguer spent most of last season with Milwaukee’s Triple-A club. He has pitched well in winter ball in the Mexican Pacific League, posting a 2.45 ERA and three saves in 29 games for Culiacan. … Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton reportedly is drawing interest from several clubs wanting to trade with Cincinnati for the center fielder. Interested teams include San Francisco, Texas and Baltimore. Hamilton, a defensive whiz, hit .247 (.299 on-base average) with 59 steals this past season.

07 Dec

seriously?

There’s clearly not much cooking on the Hot Stove when Rafael Palmeiro’s comment on making a comeback gets so much attention. Former Mississippi State star Palmeiro floated the idea in a published report that he can still play at the big league level. It’s hard to take this seriously. He is 53. He last played in an MLB game 12 years ago. True, he did go 2-for-4 in one appearance for the independent Sugar Land Skeeters in 2015. But it’s a long way from the Atlantic League to the major leagues. Palmeiro is in both the 500-homer and 3,000-hit clubs but not the Hall of Fame, mainly because of a failed drug test in 2005 that came not long after he defiantly wagged his finger at Congress during its inquiry into PEDs. Palmeiro fell off the Hall of Fame ballot in short order. “Maybe 12 years later, if I can come back and prove I don’t need anything as an older player with an older body, then people might think, OK, maybe he didn’t do anything intentionally,” Palmeiro told The Athletic. That sounds pretty far-fetched.

06 Dec

quality at-bats

Limited to 81 games – four in the majors — in 2017 because of injury, Anthony Alford is making up for the lost at-bats in the Mexican Pacific League. The ex-Petal High star, a highly rated Toronto prospect, debuted for Jalisco on Nov. 22 and is batting .367 over his first 12 games. He has two three-hit games with a homer, six RBIs and eight runs. Alford, 23, jumped from Double-A to the big leagues last May but got hurt and spent the rest of the season in the minors. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound outfielder batted .310 with five homers in 68 games at New Hampshire. P.S. Detroit has signed veteran Leonys Martin, ostensibly to compete with Richton High product JaCoby Jones for the center field job. Jones batted .170 with three homers, 13 RBIs and six steals in 56 games with the Tigers. He was hit in the face by a pitch early in the season and spent time on the disabled list.

02 Dec

trade winds

Any player news is big news right now, so here we go: Former Ole Miss star J.B. Woodman, who just finished his second pro season, is changing teams, going from Toronto to St. Louis in a Friday trade for major league infielder Aledmys Diaz. Woodman, a lefty-hitting outfielder, batted .240 with seven home runs in the Class A Midwest League in 2017. He was rated the No. 15 prospect in the Blue Jays’ system in The Sporting News’ 2017 preseason magazine after hitting .297 in his debut season. Toronto drafted him in the second round in 2016 following a big year at Ole Miss. Woodman hit .322 with an SEC-leading 14 homers plus 55 RBIs. He is also considered a good defensive outfielder.

29 Nov

ugly number

When last we saw Mike Mayers in a big league game — for St. Louis on Aug. 18 — he was giving up four earned runs in 2/3 of an inning against Pittsburgh. That moved the Ole Miss product’s career ERA in seven appearances to 19.80, not what you wanna see on the back of your baseball card. That ugly number is due mostly to a couple of bad outings. But it is what it is. The Cardinals still have Mayers on their 40-man roster, and he has pitched well in winter ball. Through six starts for Escogido in the Dominican Winter League, Mayers is 2-1 with a 2.43 ERA. After a 12-day layoff, he threw five innings of one-hit, one-run ball on Tuesday. A third-round pick out of UM in 2013, Mayers, 25, has a career minor league ERA of 3.54. Only once in his five minor league seasons has he finished with an ERA above 3.39. He went 5-6 with a 3.28 in 2017 at Triple-A Memphis, splitting time between starting and relieving. He was up for three big league appearances, including that ERA wrecker on Aug. 18. He has to be champing at the bit for his next shot. P.S. Picayune native and Ole Miss alum Braxton Lee, the Southern League batting champ last season, recently was added to Miami’s 40-man roster, and ex-Madison Central High standout Spencer Turnbull made Detroit’s protected roster. Former UM star Bobby Wahl, who made his MLB debut with Oakland in 2017, has been removed from the A’s 40-man. Right-hander Wahl was injured (shoulder) in midseason and didn’t pitch after July 31.

27 Nov

the envelope please …

This was a close call. Drew Pomeranz went 17-6 with a 3.32 ERA last season and was a key player in Boston’s drive to a division title. But Brian Dozier, who also had sparkling numbers, was arguably THE key player in unheralded Minnesota’s drive to a wild card berth. On that basis, the former Southern Miss star is a repeat winner of the Cool Papa Bell Award, given here for the best performance by a Mississippian in the majors. Dozier, who also won the 2016 award, batted a career-high .271 (.359 on-base) with 34 homers, 93 RBIs, 106 runs and 16 steals in his fifth full season with the Twins. He was a regular on the highlight shows for his defense at second base. What’s more, he led off the American League wild card game against New York with a home run, though the Twins couldn’t hold the lead. No disrespect to Pomeranz — or for that matter Zack Cozart, Corey Dickerson, Jarrod Dyson, Lance Lynn and Adam Frazier, each of whom had a very good season – but Dozier was simply a cut above. … The award honors Negro Leagues legend Cool Papa Bell, the first Mississippi native to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Previous honorees include Mitch Moreland, Corey Dickerson, Desmond Jennings, Lance Lynn, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Chris Coghlan.

20 Nov

totally random

Today’s subject: Frank W. Baker. Not to be confused with Frank “Home Run” Baker, an early 1900s star, or Frank Baker Jr., who played for Cleveland in 1969 and ’71, this Baker was a second-round draft pick out of Southern Miss by the New York Yankees in 1967. Baker, a lanky, left-handed hitting middle infielder, is one of a large contingent of players from the Meridian area to make the majors. He played three years at USM, where he is in the Hall of Fame, and parts of four years in the big leagues. After batting .259 at Triple-A Syracuse in 1970, Baker debuted with the Yankees on Aug. 9, going 0-for-3 against Baltimore’s Jim Palmer. In 146 MLB games with New York and then Baltimore, Baker batted just .191. He hit his one big league homer in 1973. He was out of the game by 1975.