Tag Archives: allmississippibaseball

11 Jul

down memory lane

There are 12 — count ’em, 12 — players in Seattle for tonight’s MLB All-Star Game who did minor league time with one of Mississippi’s two Double-A clubs. Four will not participate for various reasons, but there are three in the National League starting lineup: Ronald Acuna, Freddie Freeman and Orlando Arcia. On the bench for the NL are Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies and in the bullpen Craig Kimbrel, Josh Hader and Corbin Burnes. Selected for the game but sitting this one out are Spencer Strider, Bryce Elder, Dansby Swanson and Devin Williams. Acuna, Arcia, Riley, Albies, Strider and Elder are among the eight Atlanta players named to the NL team.
Here’s a quick trip down the Mississippi memory lane: Freeman, now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, arrived in Mississippi — along with Jason Heyward — on July 4, 2009. Bugged by some injury issues, he hit .248 with two homers and 24 RBIs in 41 games for the M-Braves. Acuna’s stint in Pearl was a bit more spectacular: He homered on the first pitch he saw at Trustmark Park in 2017 and hit eight more in 57 games, batting .326 and swiping 14 bases. Arcia was Milwaukee’s No. 1 prospect when he played in Biloxi in 2015; he spent the entire year with the Shuckers and hit .307. Riley, the former DeSoto Central High star, played parts of two years (2017 and ’18) with the M-Braves and hit over .300 with 14 homers in 75 games all told. Albies arrived in Pearl in 2016 (as a shortstop) and in 82 games hit .321 with four homers and 33 RBIs. Swanson, now with the Chicago Cubs, came up midway through the 2016 season, took over at shortstop and batted .261 with eight homers in 81 games for the M-Braves before Atlanta called him up that August. Strider and Elder both pitched for the ’21 M-Braves, who won the league championship. Strider went 3-7 with a 4.71 ERA but fanned 94 batters in 63 innings. Elder was 7-1 with a 3.21. Kimbrel, now with Philadelphia, blew through Pearl late in the 2009 season, going 6-for-6 in save opps with an 0.77 ERA in 12 games. Hader, now with San Diego, pitched for Biloxi — as a starter — in 2015 and ’16; in the latter season, he posted an 0.95 ERA in 11 games. Burnes, a Milwaukee starter, went 3-3, 2.10, for the Shuckers in 2017, and Williams, now the Brewers’ closer, toiled in Biloxi in 2019, going 7-2 with four saves and a 2.36 ERA in 31 appearances.
P.S. In addition to Riley, two other Magnolia State school alums are in Seattle. Brent Rooker, who has 16 homers for Oakland, is Mississippi State’s 12th All-Star selection. Lucedale native and George County High product Justin Steele, 9-2, 2.56 ERA, for the Cubs, was strongly considered for the starting job that went to Zac Gallen. The only Mississippi native to start an All-Star Game is Claude Passeau, who did so in 1946 while with the Cubs. He took the loss at Fenway Park. Passeau, born in Waynesboro, is buried in Lucedale.

11 Jul

feeling a draft

Day 2 of the MLB draft saw eight players from Mississippi selected, joining the three picked during Rounds 1-2 on Sunday. Four from Southern Miss were picked: Tanner Hall (fourth round, Minnesota), Justin Storm (seventh, Miami), Dustin Dickerson (eighth, Kansas City) and Matthew Etzel (10th, Baltimore). Calvin Harris (fourth, Chicago White Sox) and Jack Dougherty (ninth, Minnesota) were plucked from Ole Miss, and Cade Smith (sixth, New York Yankees) from Mississippi State. Cooper Pratt, Magnolia Heights Academy grad, is the lone high school player drafted to date (sixth, Milwaukee). Former Germantown High and Pearl River Community College star Bryson Ware was picked in the eighth round out of Auburn by Philadelphia. Rounds 11-20 are today. … On Sunday, Ole Miss’ Jacob Gonzalez was the 15th overall selection by the White Sox. Rebels outfielder Kemp Alderman (second, Miami) and MSU outfielder Colton Ledbetter (second, Tampa Bay) also were picked on Sunday. Hurston Waldrep, who pitched at USM in 2022 and at Florida this past season, went to Atlanta in the first round, 24th overall.

10 Jul

a derby lament

Disappointing — isn’t it? — that no Mississippians are competing in tonight’s Home Run Derby. Austin Riley (DeSoto Central High) and Brent Rooker (Mississippi State), both in Seattle as All-Stars, are capable of a show of power, not to mention Hunter Renfroe (MSU/Crystal Springs), the active leader in career homers by Mississippi natives. Mississippi’s last representative in the contest was Brian Dozier, the Southern Miss product from Fulton who competed in 2014. The only other natives to participate are Grenada’s Dave Parker (1985 — when he won — and 1986) and Vicksburg’s Ellis Burks (1996). MSU alum Rafael Palmeiro took part in 1998 and 2004. The Magnolia State has produced some legendary sluggers who never got a crack at MLB’s Home Run Derby. It would have been something special to see Luke Easter take his hacks in a home run contest. The Jonestown native hit 93 homers in the 1950s in a short big league stint and another 247 in the minors; he would have been a Statcast hero had he played in the current era. He reportedly hit a 500-foot bomb in Buffalo’s old Offermann Stadium. Another legendary slugger who never got the chance in an MLB derby was Laurel’s Jack Pierce, who had a brief career in The Show. He hit eight big league bombs back in the 1970s but topped 400 overall in pro ball, most of those in the Mexican League. He is in the Hall of Fame there. George Scott, the “Boomer” from Greenville, also had a knack for the long ball, blasting 271 of them in a 14-year MLB career from 1966-79. And then there’s John Lindsey, a renowned masher from Hattiesburg who never got much of a shot in the big leagues. He reportedly belted 377 homers, many of them tape-measure shots, in his long and winding pro career starting in 1995. Maybe someday in the near future we’ll see Southaven’s Blaze Jordan in the Derby; he made a name for himself as a kid winning home run contests at national youth events. Now 20, he is now in the Boston Red Sox’s system, expected to make his Double-A debut this week.

09 Jul

summer shopping season

In MLB’s amateur draft, which begins tonight (6 p.m., MLB Network/ESPN) and runs through Tuesday, major league clubs will find the tool shed in Mississippi is well-stocked. In its incredibly comprehensive Draft Preview issue, Baseball America IDs six Mississippi products among the prospects with top five tools in various scouting categories. Ranked first among high school players in strike zone discipline is Cooper Pratt, the Magnolia Heights Academy star pegged by BA as the No. 63 overall prospect in the draft. Pratt, a 6-foot-4 shortstop committed to Ole Miss, hit .468 this season, won a state title and was named Gatorade player of the year. Ole Miss’ Jacob Gonzalez, expected to go in the first round as the first state product off the board, is rated No. 5 among college hitters in strike zone discipline. Shortstop Gonzalez, BA’s No. 8 overall prospect, hit .327 (.435 OBP) this season and .319 (.427) for his career in Oxford. He played on the national title team in 2022 and on two Collegiate National Teams. Two of the best defensive catchers reside in the Magnolia State: Oxford High’s Campbell Smithwick, an Ole Miss commit, is pegged second among high school prospects and the Rebels’ Calvin Harris No. 4 among college players. (Harris can swing the bat a little, too; he hit four homers in a game back in May.) Southern Miss’ Tanner Hall, a first-team All-America this season, has the fourth-best changeup among college pitchers, per BA’s ratings. Hall went 12-4 with a 2.48 ERA this season, 9-3, 2.81, in 2022 and pitched in the NCAAs both years. Ole Miss’ Kemp Alderman is ranked No. 5 in power; the Ferriss Trophy winner belted 19 homers this year and hit .376. At 6 feet 3, 250 pounds, he can mash. Worth noting: Mississippi State’s Colton Ledbetter is ranked as the 46th-best overall prospect by BA, second-highest to Gonzalez among state players. He is expected to attend today’s televised ceremony for the first two rounds. … Pittsburgh has the No. 1 pick. Milwaukee has the 18th (and the 33rd), and Atlanta goes 24th.

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.

08 Jul

around the horn

Kudos to Alcorn State pitcher Kewan Braziel. The left-hander from North Carolina threw a scoreless inning in Friday’s inaugural HBCU Swingman Classic in Seattle, but more significantly, he received the T-Mobile Impact Award, recognizing his leadership skills on and off the field in his community. The award was presented in-game by Ken Griffey Jr. Jackson State’s Ty Hill had an RBI walk and an infield single in the game at T-Mobile Park, and teammates Erik Gonzalez, Jesse Caver and Jatavis Melton along with Mississippi Valley State’s Narvin Booker and Victor Figueroa also participated. … Jackson Prep’s Konnor Griffin went 1-for-3 in the high school All-Star game that preceded the HBCU contest at T-Mobile. Griffin and Lewisburg High star Samuel Richardson are slated to participate in a home run derby prior to today’s All-Star Futures Game (6 p.m., Peacock). Biloxi High alum Colt Keith, a Detroit prospect, is Mississippi’s lone rep in the prestigious Futures Game. … In a matchup of two of MLB’s most disappointing teams, the Chicago White Sox beat St. Louis 8-7 in a wonky game at Guaranteed Rate Field. Former Mississippi State ace Chris Stratton came on for the Cardinals with the bases loaded in the seventh inning and walked in the go-ahead run on four pitches. Ex-MSU star Kendall Graveman got the save for Chicago — his seventh — but not before yielding a hit and a walk in the ninth inning. … Around the minors: David Parkinson, former Ole Miss standout who has had a turbulent pro career, allowed one run in five innings (despite four hits and five walks) to get the win for Double-A Reading. The left-hander is 3-4 with a 5.32 ERA. He was Philadelphia’s minor league pitcher of the year in 2018, went 1-11, 7.64, in 2021, elected to not play in 2022 and has been on and off the development list this season. … For Triple-A Round Rock, former State standout Justin Foscue hit a pair of homers and now has 10 on the season. The Texas Rangers prospect is batting .281 with 39 RBIs. … For Triple-A Charlotte (White Sox affiliate), erstwhile big leaguer Billy Hamilton of Taylorsville homered — his first in 75 at-bats this season. … In the High-Class A Midwest League, Beloit beat Wisconsin 6-3 as a bunch of Mississippi products played roles. Davis Bradshaw (McLaurin High/Meridian Community College) had two hits and two RBIs, Tanner Allen (MSU) had a hit and a stolen base and Kyle Crigger (Corinth High/Itawamba CC) got a four-out save for Beloit (Miami system). Joe Gray Jr. (Hattiesburg High) had a hit, a run and an RBI for Wisconsin (Milwaukee). … At Low-A Clearwater, former South Panola star Emaarion Boyd led off the ninth with a walk, went to second on a wild pitch, took third on a fly ball and scored the game-winning run on a grounder to third. The fleet-footed Boyd is batting .285 with 50 runs (and 41 steals) in 57 games for the Phillies’ farm club.

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.

07 Jul

golden touch

Jarod Wright, Southern Miss alumnus, did the lion’s share of the work Thursday night as part of a four-man combo no-hitter for the South Bend Cubs. Wright pitched innings 4-7, allowing only a walk, and notched the win in High-Class A South Bend’s 4-0 victory against Peoria. He followed starter Michael Arias, and Eduarniel Nunez and Frankie Scalzo Jr. pitched an inning each to close. Wright is 3-1 with a 3.27 ERA in 21 games as a reliever for South Bend. The 6-foot-3 right-hander, now 26, went undrafted out of USM in 2019, pitched in a pop-up independent league in 2020 and signed with the Chicago Cubs in May ’21. He reached Double-A briefly last year. He is part of a large flock of Golden Eagles pitchers currently in pro ball, including Nick Sandlin, now with Cleveland, and erstwhile big leaguer Kirk McCarty, now shining in the Korean Baseball Organization. P.S. Ex-Mississippi State standout Houston Harding was on the wrong side of history Thursday. He was one of the Rocket City pitchers who yielded 18 hits and 19 walks in a 29-3 loss to Chattanooga. The runs by the Lookouts set a Double-A Southern League record. Harding came on in the first inning after the starter failed to get an out and yielded nine runs before being pulled in the second inning. Harding, recently promoted to Rocket City in the Los Angeles Angels’ system (see previous post), has a 24.65 ERA in five games.

06 Jul

it’s a thing

Mississippi certainly seems to have a knack for producing power hitters. It’s a thing, as they say. Check the Atlantic League batting leaders today and you’ll find ex-Ole Miss star Thomas Dillard on top in the home run category. Playing for Barry Lyons’ Lexington Counter Clocks in the independent league, Dillard mashed his 21st homer on Wednesday in a 9-4 win against Staten Island. The lefty-hitting first baseman has moved two homers ahead of former Harrison Central High star Bobby Bradley, who led the league about a month ago. Power has been Dillard’s calling card for much of his career. He led the nation in homers as a senior catcher at Oxford High with 16, earning All-America honors and state player of the year recognition from USA Today. At Ole Miss, he belted 14 homers and hit .310 as a junior and was drafted in the fifth round by Milwaukee in 2019. He played three seasons in the Brewers’ system, hitting .241 with 37 homers — 12 at Double-A Biloxi in 2022 — but striking out 356 times in 986 at-bats. Milwaukee released him last December. Lyons was happy to add him to the roster this spring for his first Lexington team. Dillard, only 25, still strikes out a fair bit but has posted a .269 average (.412 on-base percentage) and 53 RBIs for the 30-31 Counter Clocks. P.S. Madison Central product Braden Montgomery did his Shohei Ohtani act on Wednesday for Team USA, hitting a two-run homer and striking out the side in an inning of work against Chinese Taipei. Montgomery is 3-for-15 with two homers and four RBIs for the Collegiate National Team, which begins a five-game series against Japan on Friday.

06 Jul

show of arms

Mississippi State alum J.P. France was at it again on Wednesday, producing a sixth straight quality start for Houston and picking up the win in the surging Astros’ 6-4 victory over Colorado. The rookie right-hander (4-3, 3.26 ERA in 11 starts) yielded three runs in six innings as Houston moved within 2 games of first-place Texas in the American League West. France led a parade of Magnolia State products who delivered outstanding pitching performances on Wednesday. All-Star Justin Steele, the former George County High star, gave up three runs in six innings but got a no-decision in a game the Chicago Cubs would win 4-3 at Milwaukee; Columbus native Michael Rucker got the win in relief. At Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, ex-Jackson Prep standout Will Warren tossed 5 2/3 shutout innings for the New Yankees’ top farm club and improved to 4-3, 4.37, in eight starts there. The Southeastern Louisiana alum — the Yankees’ No. 7 prospect — was 3-0 in Double-A this season. In Double-A, former Southern Miss standout Walker Powell surrendered three runs (three solo homers) in six innings and got a no-decision in a game Tennessee (Cubs) would win 4-3 in 10 over Birmingham. The 6-foot-8 Powell is 4-4, 4.16, in 14 games for the Smokies. Topping that performance in High-A was Tyler Stuart, another USM product, who allowed two runs over six innings for Brooklyn (New York Mets) in a 4-3 win against Wilmington. Stuart, a 2022 draftee, is 4-0 with a 1.55 in 14 starts for the Cyclones. P.S. Houston’s rookie catcher Yainer Diaz hit two homers on Wednesday. The last two rookie catchers with a multi-homer game for the Astros were former Jackson Generals Mitch Meluskey (2000) and Tony Eusebio (1994). … St. Louis recalled ex-MSU star Dakota Hudson from the minors, but his second MLB appearance this season did not go as well as his first (two runs, two hits, three walks in 2 2/3 early relief). .. Oakland has designated Ole Miss alum Chad Smith for assignment; he had a 6.75 ERA in nine games.