Tag Archives: allmississippibaseball

27 Jun

that’s a wrap

Now that LSU has pummeled Florida in the College World Series finale to claim the national championship, the college season is officially over. It was not a banner year for Mississippi’s four-year schools, but there were gold medal performances from the two that made the postseason. In NCAA Division I, Southern Miss won a regional on the road and came within one win of a trip to the CWS. In NAIA, William Carey University won a regular season conference title, a regional and two games in the World Series. Bravo. Take a bow coaches Scott Berry and Bobby Halford. Alas, seven state schools had losing seasons, some falling under the category of Major Disappointment (see defending national champ Ole Miss, for example). Here’s a school-by-school look at the records and relevant numbers:
The best
USM — Record: 46-20. Number: 12, the Golden Eagles’ final ranking by Baseball America.
Carey — 49-11. 652 runs.
The rest
Mississippi State — 27-26. 7.01 ERA.
Ole Miss — 25-29. 6 SEC wins.
Jackson State — 28-25. 26 home runs.
Mississippi Valley State — 15-36. 407 strikeouts (by hitters).
Alcorn State — 8-40. 111 errors.
Delta State — 27-26. 12-11 at Ferriss Field.
Mississippi College — 16-33. .256 batting average.
Blue Mountain Christian — 26-25. 10 different starting pitchers.
Rust — 25-25. 14 GCAC wins.
Tougaloo — 11-34. 0-8 start, 1-9 finish.
Millsaps — 22-23. 238 walks (by pitchers).
Belhaven — 21-18. 4 different home-field sites.
MUW — 6-25-1. 27 road games.
P.S. Props to Seth Farni, an outfielder at St. Stanislaus High, for being named a second-team All-America by Baseball America. The Ole Miss commit, who goes 6 feet, 190 pounds, hit .370 with eight homers, 30 RBIs and 45 runs (per MaxPreps) for the MHSAA Class 3A runner-up.

27 Jun

‘like a movie’

Ex-Mississippi State star Jordan Westburg stood in the batter’s box for his first big league at-bat with both raindrops and chants of “Westy, Westy” cascading from above at Camden Yards in Baltimore. “It felt like something out of like a movie, or something that you dream, honestly,” he told mlb.com after Monday’s game, a 10-3 win over Cincinnati. Westburg walked (and later scored) in that first at-bat, picked up an RBI on a fielder’s choice grounder in his second and singled in his third. His debut was the lead story on MLB Network’s Quick Pitch. A first-round draft pick out of MSU in 2020, Westburg is the O’s No. 3-ranked prospect and was having a big year at Triple-A Norfolk before getting the call-up. He started at second base — where he made a slick play — and hit seventh in the order. … Westburg wasn’t the only Mississippi product to get a promotion on Monday. Detroit has moved former Biloxi High standout Colt Keith, its No. 1 prospect and the No. 43 overall (per mlb.com), to Triple-A Toledo. The 21-year-old third baseman is expected to debut on Wednesday at Columbus. Keith hit .325 with 14 homers and 50 RBIs at Double-A Erie and helped the club win a first-half championship. He also has been chosen to play in the All-Star Futures Game in Seattle on July 8. (Other Mississippians who have played in that game include Billy Hamilton, Hunter Renfroe, Nathaniel Lowe, Dakota Hudson, Ethan Small and Matt Wallner.) … Who’ll be next among Mississippians in the minors to move up the ladder? Possibly Blaze Jordan, the slugger from DeSoto Central who is currently at High-Class A Greenville in the Boston system. Jordan, 20, is hitting .328 with 10 homers and 47 RBIs in his first full season at Greenville, where he finished 2022. Red Sox GM Chaim Bloom recently said of the team’s No. 10 prospect, “(H)e’s definitely got our attention.” And then there’s Tim Elko, the Ole Miss product who is batting .297 with 17 homers and 57 RBIs at Low-A Kannapolis in the Chicago White Sox’s chain. Elko, at 24, is a little old for this level and seemingly deserves a bump up.

26 Jun

america’s team

A trio of Mississippi high school products are in Cary, N.C., vying for spots on the Collegiate National Team. Dakota Jordan, Braden Montgomery and Mason Nichols are taking part in the Stars vs. Stripes Series that began Sunday at USA Baseball’s National Training Complex. On the coaching staff that will make decisions on which players among the 58 in camp make the 26-man final roster are Jackson State coach Omar Johnson and former Alcorn State star Corey Wimberly. Cal Poly’s Larry Lee is the Team USA manager. Jordan, an outfielder, is a Jackson Academy alum who just completed a decorated freshman season at Mississippi State. Montgomery, an outfielder/pitcher who played at Madison Central, was All-Pac-12 at Stanford this season. Nichols, a pitcher out of Jackson Prep, was a sophomore at Ole Miss in 2023, winning four games and saving four in 23 relief outings. The Collegiate National Team will play series against teams from Chinese Taipei and Japan starting June 30. In Sunday’s game, Montgomery went 1-for-4 with a double and a walk for the Stars, who won the 12-inning contest 15-5. Jordan was 0-for-1 with a walk for the Stripes, and Nichols allowed a run in one inning of work with a strikeout and a walk. The series continues today. P.S. Southern Miss’ Matthew Etzel made his Cape Cod League debut on Sunday, going 1-for-2 for Chatham. MSU’s Hunter Hines belted a pair of homers for Yarmouth-Dennis and now has five on the season; he is batting .315 with 17 RBIs. Also in the Cape: MSU’s Ross Highfill is batting .250 with two homers for Falmouth, and fellow Bulldogs alum K.C. Hunt has a 1.17 ERA in three games for the same club. USM left-hander Kros Sivley has made one appearance for Hyannis, allowing a run in two innings. UM’s Nichols had a 4.50 ERA for Hyannis before he left for the Team USA tryouts. … Props to former Mississippi Braves star Freddie Freeman for getting his 2,000th MLB hit on Sunday with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is second on the hit list among former Jackson area Double-A players; ex-Jackson Generals standout Bobby Abreu finished with 2,470.

26 Jun

watch for it

A lot of Baltimore Orioles fans, upon hearing the news of the latest call-up, are probably wondering, What took so long? Former Mississippi State star Jordan Westburg, having a terrific season at Triple-A Norfolk, reportedly will join the Orioles on Monday and will be in the lineup against Cincinnati at Camden Yards. The O’s No. 3-ranked prospect, Westburg has played second base, shortstop, third and some outfield this season, batting .295 with 18 homers and 54 RBIs in 67 games. Following Sunday’s 3-2 win against Seattle, second baseman Adam Frazier — another MSU alum — was batting .228, shortstop Jorge Mateo .224 and rookie third baseman Gunnar Henderson .244. Baltimore (47-29) is in second place in the American League East. Westburg, 6 feet 2, 210 pounds, was the 30th overall pick out of Starkville in the 2020 draft. He didn’t hit for a lot of power at State but has belted 60 homers in his three minor league seasons and carries a .285 average. … One has to wonder why Cincinnati hasn’t made room on its roster for former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson. The Reds, in first place in the National League Central but coming off back-to-back losses to Atlanta, are carrying three catchers and none of them is hitting. Robinson is batting .335 for Triple-A Louisville and hit his ninth homer in 52 games on Sunday. He is reputed to be a good defensive catcher. The 28-year-old Robinson got some big league time last season (.136, two homers in 59 at-bats for an awful Reds team) but was waived after the season and re-signed with the club.

25 Jun

pouring it on

Making his first start at first base for the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night at Colorado, Hunter Renfroe made a nice play to start a double play and end the first inning. Then the former Mississippi State standout celebrated with a single to lead off the second inning. The party at Coors Field was just getting started. Renfroe went 5-for-5 with a walk as the Angels set franchise records for hits (28) and runs in a 25-1 rout of the Rockies. Mickey Moniak also had five hits and four other Angels had at least three. “(H)itting gets contagious sometimes,” Angels manager Phil Nevin told mlb.com in one of the season’s great you-don’t-say statements. Renfroe hit a three-run double in the club record-tying 13-run third inning. He finished with four RBIs and three runs. His career day raised his average to .261. Normally the team’s right fielder, Renfroe is batting .281 over his last 15 games, though he has been stuck on 12 homers since June 13. The Angels (42-36) have climbed past Houston into second place in the American League West. P.S. Ex-Ole Miss standout James McArthur got his first big league call-up Saturday with Kansas City but did not pitch. McArthur, 26, traded from Philadelphia to the Royals in May, has a 4.87 ERA in 12 appearances at Triple-A Omaha. … Ex-Rebels star Mike Mayers, a big league vet, was assigned by the Royals to Omaha last week after a rough stint in the majors. He got a hold in his return to Triple-A on Friday. … Former MSU ace Ethan Small went on the injured list Saturday at Triple-A Nashville (Milwaukee system). The former first-rounder has a 3.46 ERA in the minors this season and made one wobbly appearance with the Brewers. … Houston Harding, who got into pro ball as an undrafted free agent in 2021, made his Double-A debut Saturday for Rocket City in the Angels’ system. The left-hander, who won seven games for MSU’s 2021 national title team, allowed a three-run homer but fanned five in 2 2/3 innings vs. Montgomery. He had a 1.32 ERA in A-ball before his promotion. A Coldwater native, Harding was a strikeout machine at Itawamba Community College before signing with MSU. … Landon Sims, one of the heroes of State’s ’21 championship team, made his pro debut this month and has pitched in four games, allowing no runs, in rookie ball for Arizona. Sims was the 34th overall pick last summer after missing most of the ’22 season at State with an elbow injury.

24 Jun

across the pond

In the familiar confines of Wrigley Field and other major league parks, Justin Steele has been good, perhaps All-Star good. Today, the former George County High star enters a great unknown, London Stadium, when he takes the mound for the Chicago Cubs against St. Louis in the opener of the London Series. He’ll be opposed by the savvy veteran Adam Wainwright, but don’t expect a pitchers’ duel. The stadium dimensions have been increased by a few feet since 2019, when the New York Yankees and Boston hit 10 home runs and scored 50 runs in a pair of games in the inaugural London Series. But it’s still likely to play as a hitter’s park. Steele is 7-2 with a 2.71 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP this season; he is 5-1, 2.57, at Wrigley, which tends to favor hitters. The left-hander from Lucedale went five innings (yielding two runs on a late homer) against Baltimore on June 17 in his first start off the 15-day injured list. Several Cardinals batters have good numbers against Steele: Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and Tommy Edman are a combined 10-for-25 with a homer (by Goldschmidt). … Also in London is Chris Stratton, the ex-Mississippi State standout who works out of the St. Louis bullpen. He has a 4.30 ERA in 27 games for the scuffling Cardinals, who are last (31-44) in the National League Central. The Cubs are third at 36-38.

23 Jun

there’s a sizzle in cincy

The Atlanta Braves are coming to town this weekend, and Cincinnati — if not all of baseball — is abuzz with anticipation. “You can’t get a ticket, I’ll tell you that,” Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley, the former Mississippi State star, said in a phone interview. “That’s how maddening it is.”
The fresh-faced Reds, picked to finish at the bottom of the National League’s Central Division, enter the weekend series at Great American Ballpark in first place. They’ve won 11 games in a row, one win shy of a record set in 1957. Atlanta, which has the best record in the league, has won eight straight.
“The Braves are the ultimate test,” said Brantley, who brings a keen perspective to what is happening in the Queen City, one of baseball’s great towns, home of a venerable franchise that has won five World Series and featured the legendary Big Red Machine in the early 1970s.
Brantley pitched for the Reds in the mid-1990s and was on the ’95 club that reached the NL Championship Series, losing to the Braves. He has been on the broadcast team since 2007, covering a club that reached the postseason in 2010, ’12 and ’13. He has also seen the team — and the city — endure seven losing seasons in the past nine, including a 62-100 pratfall last year that followed a roster purge.
“I’ve been here a long time,” Brantley said. “I’ve seen the ups followed by the downs, and it gets old. Fans get frustrated.”
But the ’23 Reds have rekindled their enthusiasm — and not just by winning but by how they are winning. “We’ve got a bunch of young kids playing like bandits, playing with their hair on fire,” Brantley said. “That’s attractive to this city. Cincinnati is the birthplace of Pete Rose. Fans see guys playing like he did, they’ll come out in droves.”
Brantley said the feeling around the team in spring training was that they’d be improved from last year’s disaster, but the lead would come from young starting pitchers Graham Ashcraft, Nick Lodolo and Hunter Greene. “That hasn’t happened,” Brantley said. “They’re all on the injured list. And yet, all these kids, position players, have taken off.”
The influx of young talent includes T.J. Friedl and Spencer Steer and Elly De La Cruz, who was just called up at age 21 and has generated a lot of chatter around the game with his jaw-dropping power and speed. “But the kid that’s been the firestarter lately is Matt McLain, the No. 1 pick from UCLA a couple years ago,” Brantley said. “He’s about my size, five-eight. The way he plays the game is incredible to watch. He flies around like he has nothing to lose.”
The team’s chemistry is evident in the clubhouse, Brantley said, with many of the young players taking their cue from second baseman Jonathan India, NL rookie of the year in 2021. “He hasn’t been here long, but longer than most of them. They look to him,” Brantley said.
He believes this run is sustainable, though the true tell will come in late August. “The young guys haven’t played that duration of baseball,” he said. Solidifying the starting rotation, sort of a patchwork of late, also will be key.
For now, the Reds are just riding the wave, and it’s a massive one.
Brantley said the atmosphere reminds him a little of the mid-’90s, when the team of Larkin and Gant and Sanders was creating roars at Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field. “We had a bunch of veterans on that team, and we were pretty good,” he said. “But we didn’t win 11 in a row.”

23 Jun

seattle star power

The Major League All-Star Game in Seattle may have an old home week feel for Atlanta Braves players. The amazing Ronald Acuna already has made the National League squad — the fourth selection for the former Mississippi Braves star — as the top vote-getter in Phase One of the balloting. Six other Braves, including three more former M-Braves and one Biloxi Shuckers alum, made the cut for Phase 2 of the voting, which opens Monday. Plus, former Atlanta and M-Braves standout Freddie Freeman, now playing first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers, is also a finalist. Austin Riley, ex-DeSoto Central High star and a 2022 All-Star, is a finalist at third base. Ozzie Albies — who leads the NL in RBIs — is among the last two candidates at second base; Michael Harris II, reigning rookie of the year and currently swinging a torrid bat, is among the four outfield finalists; and ex-Shucker Orlando Arcia, having a breakout season, is in the running at shortstop. Atlanta pitchers, most notably former M-Braves Spencer Strider and Bryce Elder, could also be picked for the NL team. Atlanta has the best record in the league and is routinely packing Truist Park. … Phase 2 of the voting will be available exclusively online at mlb.com and on team sites. The voting process ends June 29. The game is July 11 at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park.

22 Jun

gimme some glovin’

In one of the many great scenes in the movie “Moneyball,” the Scott Hatteberg character tells Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s GM, he’s never played first base. “It’s not that hard, Scott,” says Beane. “Tell him, Wash.” To which Ron Washington, the A’s infield coach, replies: “It’s incredibly hard.” Mississippi can proudly boast of two college players who mastered that underrated position this past season, both of whom anchored the infield for championship clubs: William Carey University’s Jake Lycette and East Central Community College’s Ramie Harrison. They are among the six state college products who received ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove honors on Wednesday. Southern Miss pitcher Tanner Hall, who was error-free in 2023 while also winning 12 games, was named to the NCAA Division I Gold Glove team. He is the first Golden Eagles player to earn this award. Lycette, a former Northwest Rankin High star, made the NAIA team; he handled 412 chances without a boot for the SSAC regular season champions who reached the NAIA World Series. Harrison, a Neshoba Central product, made one error in 308 chances, a .997 fielding percentage, for state champion and NJCAA Division II World Series participant ECCC. Pearl River CC pitcher Luke Lyon, an Oak Grove alum, and second baseman Blaise Breerwood, out of Poplarville High, also made the juco D-II team, as did Southwest CC outfielder Jerod Williams, a Gulfport High product who did not commit an error in 2023. P.S. Tonight is Southern Miss Night at Pearl’s Trustmark Park, where the Mississippi Braves will host Birmingham at 6:35. Scheduled to appear in pregame ceremonies are retired coach Scott Berry and players Dustin Dickerson and Nick Monistere, who prepped at Northwest Rankin. Basketball coach Jay Ladner is also on the guest list. Fans in USM gear can get a $5 ticket. … The M-Braves, winding down the first half of the Southern League season, are 32-32 after a 7-2 win Wednesday in which Scott Blewett threw six shutout innings and Justin Dean celebrated his return from Triple-A with an inside-the-park home run.

21 Jun

tag team

A couple of old college rivals teamed up Tuesday to spark Memphis to a win over Iowa in the Triple-A International League. Ex-Mississippi State star Dakota Hudson, a first-round pick by St. Louis in 2016, threw five strong innings and ex-Ole Miss star Errol Robinson, a sixth-rounder by the Los Angeles Dodgers in ’16, went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run as the Cardinals’ top farm club won 8-5 over the Chicago Cubs’ top affiliate. Hudson, recently back from the injured list, improved to 4-4 with his third win this month. He allowed seven hits, two walks and two runs while fanning eight. The 28-year-old right-hander has had some rocky outings among his 10 starts and his 5.57 ERA reflects as much. Hudson is 32-17 with a 3.61 in major league work for St. Louis, but he was sent to the minors during spring training, reportedly because his velocity was down. Robinson, playing mostly third base for the Redbirds, is riding a five-game hit streak during which he is 8-for-15 with five RBIs and five runs. On the year, he is batting .233 in 36 games. He has bounced around during his seven pro seasons, including a stint in independent ball, but has yet to make an MLB appearance. He signed with St. Louis last July and put up some decent numbers in Double-A. P.S. Blaze Jordan, the DeSoto Central High product, leads the High-Class A South Atlantic League in batting at .322 and has a 10-game hitting streak. The Boston Red Sox prospect is batting .355 in June. He has 10 homers and 47 RBIs for Greenville. … Former Ole Miss standout Tim Elko leads the Low-A Carolina League in homers with 15 for Kannapolis (Chicago White Sox). He has a .298 average and 52 RBIs. (Why is he still in this league?) … South Panola High alum Emaarion Boyd continues to pace the Low-A Florida State League in steals with 36 in 45 games at Clearwater (Philadelphia). The 2022 draftee is batting .270.