Tag Archives: American Association

12 Sep

golden touch

Several Southern Miss alumni enjoyed attention-grabbing performances in the minor leagues on Thursday night. Matthew Etzel, at Triple-A Jacksonville in the Miami system, went 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs in the Jumbo Shrimp’s 4-3 win over Memphis. Etzel, who has played in 84 games for four teams at three levels in 2025, is batting .256 with seven homers, 47 RBIs and 26 stolen bases. He is in his third pro season. Reed Trimble, who has also bounced around quite a bit, went 2-for-5 with an RBI, a run, a bag and an outfield assist for Triple-A Norfolk (Baltimore) in a 7-4 win vs. Durham. The injury-plagued Trimble, who started 2025 on the injured list, is batting .255 with 14 homers, 45 RBIs and 19 steals on the season. The Tupelo native was the 65th overall pick in 2021. Landon Harper, pitching at Double-A Columbus in Atlanta’s chain, worked 6 1/3 innings in relief (two runs) and notched the win against Pensacola. Meridian native Harper, in his fourth pro season, is 5-8 with a 3.59 ERA and two saves for the Clingstones (the former Mississippi Braves), working as both starter and reliever. Hunter Stanley, a 2021 draftee by Cleveland, made his 2025 debut at Double-A Akron and threw a scoreless inning against Harrisburg. Stanley had been on the IL since early August 2024. He has a 4.84 career ERA in 46 games. All the moments weren’t golden for former Golden Eagles on Thursday: In the independent American Association playoffs, J.C. Keys was charged with three runs in 1/3 of an inning and took the loss for Chicago against Kane County. The Hattiesburg native, in pro ball since 2019, had a 3.19 ERA and three saves in 38 games this season for the Dogs, whose pitching coach is ex-Delta State and MLB star Stewart Cliburn. P.S. On Wednesday, USM alum Walker Powell threw five shutout innings for Double-A Knoxville in the Chicago Cubs’ organization; the 6-foot-8 righty, who started the season on the IL, is 1-2 with a 3.45 ERA over 11 starts at three levels in his fifth pro season. … And today, MLB rookie Hurston Waldrep — who started his college career at USM — will start for Atlanta against a Houston team that has been caught by Seattle atop the American League West. Waldrep is 4-0, 1.33, in seven games for the Braves.

19 Aug

whatever happened to …

Vantrel Reed: The Warren Central High and Hinds Community College product is playing in the MLB Draft League, a short-season independent pro loop. He is batting .285 with two homers, 10 RBIs and 12 steals in 30 games with the Williamsport Crosscutters. Reed starred for the 59-0 LSU-Shreveport team that won the NAIA World Series in May. (Also in the MLBDL are ex-Rust and Mississippi Valley State standout Dreylin Holmes and Jackson State alum Chenar Brown.)
Jacob Robson: The former Mississippi State standout, a Canada native, is now with Winnipeg in the indy American Association, where he is hitting .259 with 13 homers, 46 RBIs and 27 steals. Robson was an eighth-round draft pick out of State in 2016 by Detroit and has bounced all over the globe ever since. He got into four MLB games with the Tigers in 2021 and has also played in the Dominican Republic, Australia and the World Baseball Classic.
Will Bednar: The 14th overall pick in the 2021 draft, after helping MSU win the College World Series, the injury-plagued right-hander is at Double-A Richmond in the San Francisco system. Working only in relief this year, his ERA is 5.40 with a win, three holds and 62 strikeouts in 40 innings. He has a 1.17 ERA in six games in August. The 25-year-old has made just 81 appearances (5-11, 5.00 ERA) in his five pro seasons.
Billy Hamilton: The ex-big leaguer from Taylorsville, who’s been playing — or not playing — in the Mexican League, remains on the injured list, where the 34-year-old has resided since mid-May. He has seven steals in 10 games for Jalisco, giving the fleet-footed outfielder 850 bags in his long pro career. He swiped 326 — the record for a native Mississippian — over parts of 11 MLB campaigns, the last in 2023.
Drew Lugbauer: The former Mississippi Braves slugger — who holds the franchise career home run record with 68 over three seasons in Pearl — is now hitting bombs in the Mexican League. Currently with the Algodoneros Union Laguna, his third LMB club this season, he is batting .287 with 16 homers and 62 RBIs. All told, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound first baseman has hit 178 homers going back to his college days at Michigan (2015-17).
P.S. In his first game with Boston (see previous post), MSU alum Nathaniel Lowe drew a walk and scored a run in a 6-3 loss to Baltimore. In that game, former Bulldogs star and current Orioles third baseman Jordan Westburg, batting .375 over his last seven games, suffered an ankle injury that was initially described as “mild.”

11 Aug

like old times (sorta)

In the relative obscurity of an independent league, Demarcus Evans is flashing the form that made him a hot prospect when he reached the majors five years ago. The Petal native threw three scoreless, hitless innings in relief Sunday for Gary SouthShore in an American Association game. The 28-year-old right-hander trimmed his ERA to 1.95 in 20 appearances. In 27 2/3 innings, he has struck out 25 batters but walked 16. Drafted out of Petal High in the 25th round by Texas in 2015, Evans — currently listed at 6 feet 5, 270 pounds — was described as a “hulking fireballer” who needed a lot of polish. He gradually rose through the Texas system — punching out 444 batters in 297 innings — before getting his first MLB call-up in September of 2020. And, yes, Albert Pujols welcomed him with a home run. Evans would make just 29 appearances in ’20 and ’21 for Texas, posting a 4.75 ERA with a high walk total. He became a free agent in 2022, went to spring camp with the New York Yankees in 2023, got hurt and barely pitched the next two seasons. Seemingly healthy now, Evans has settled in as one of the more dependable relievers for the RailCats. He has allowed just one run in his last seven appearances for a team that is 20 games under .500. Getting back to affiliated ball might be unlikely for Evans, but it’s good to see that he is finding some success again. P.S. Isaac Collins, former Biloxi Shuckers standout, hit his first (ever) walk-off home run to give Milwaukee its ninth straight win, a 7-6 shocker over the New York Mets. Collins is batting .462 over his last seven games and .295 with eight homers on the season. … Nathaniel Lowe played a role in a history-making event on Sunday: The ex-Mississippi State standout was the 3,500th career strikeout victim for future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander; only 10 pitchers have hit that total. Lowe’s Washington club did beat Verlander and San Francisco by an 8-0 count. … Down in the minors, former Magee High star Brennon McNair doubled in the eighth inning, went to third on a bunt and scored the game’s lone run on a throwing error as Columbia beat Hickory. McNair, 22, has had an uneven season for the Low-Class A Kansas City affiliate, batting .192 with nine homers, 34 RBIs, 40 runs and 12 steals in 87 games.

17 Jul

meanwhile …

While the major and minor leagues were on hiatus for the All-Star break, there were pro games on Wednesday night in the MLB Partner leagues, aka independent ball. A host of Mississippians took the field in American Association games, with former Ole Miss catcher Hayden Dunhurst enjoying the brightest moment. He went 3-for-4 with a double and a run in Lake Country’s 8-0 win against Gary SouthShore. He also called pitches for Luke Hansel’s five-hitter. (Former big leaguer Cody Reed of Horn Lake pitches out of the bullpen for Gary SouthShore but didn’t work on Wednesday.) Ole Miss product Taylor Broadway, who has a 4.45 ERA in 21 games as a reliever for Cleburne, was in the lineup Wednesday as the DH — for the first time — and went 1-for-5 in the Railroaders’ 13-4 win over Kane County. Former Hattiesburg High star Joe Gray Jr. had a hit for Milwaukee — which only had five — in an 11-1 loss to Chicago; Gray is hitting .238 with three homers and 15 RBIs since the Milkmen picked him up on waivers in late May. (Southern Miss alum J.C. Keys pitches for Chicago but didn’t get in Wednesday’s game.) Ex-Mississippi State standout and onetime big leaguer Jacob Robson was 1-for-4 for Winnipeg in a 3-2 loss to Sioux Falls; he has hit seven homers for the Goldeyes. West Point native Steffon Moore threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in his second appearance for Kansas City, which lost to Fargo-Moorhead 4-2. Jackson State alum Jaylyn Williams, a .298 hitter for the Monarchs, was 0-for-4 on Wednesday. (Ex-Itawamba Community College star Kyle Crigger, 5-4 with 3.05 ERA for F-M, did not pitch.) … In the Frontier League All-Star Game, the Atlantic team beat the Midwest 5-4. Travis Holt of the Mississippi Mud Monsters had a hit for the Midwest. P.S. Three Mississippi high school players are among the 88 invited by USA Baseball to the Under-18 National Team Training Camp in Cary, N.C: Oak Grove outfielder Eric Booth, Magnolia Heights infielder Cole Prosek and Jackson Prep outfielder Kevin Roberts Jr. Phase 1 of the camp starts Friday. Forty players will advance to Phase 2.

11 Jul

whatever happened to …

Dylan DeLucia, the Most Outstanding Player in the 2022 CWS with Ole Miss, is 3-3 with a 3.41 ERA at Double-A Akron in the Cleveland chain. He took a loss against Richmond on Thursday night, allowing four runs in three innings. The right-hander, drafted in 2022, didn’t make his pro debut until last summer. He began 2025 in A-ball.
Tanner Hall, the 2022 Ferriss Trophy winner at Southern Miss, is 3-3 with a 5.26 in 15 starts for High-Class A Cedar Rapids (Minnesota). A fourth-round pick by the Twins in 2023, Hall has been limited by injuries to 34 games in pro ball.
Dakota Hudson, the erstwhile big leaguer and ex-Mississippi State star, is 4-6 with a 7.87 ERA at Triple-A Salt Lake (Los Angeles Angels). ERAs tend to be a little inflated in the Pacific Coast League, but Hudson was banged around for nine runs in five innings on Wednesday. He went 2-12, 6.17, for Colorado in 2024 but has a career ERA of 4.21 (with 40 wins) in the big leagues.
Taylor Broadway, the closer for the 2021 Ole Miss team, has 4.30 ERA and a 3-1 mark over 20 games for Cleburne in the independent American Association. He pitched three seasons in affiliated ball (Chicago White Sox and Boston systems) but sat out 2024.
Ethan Small, the former first-rounder out of MSU, has been on the injured list (oblique) all season at Triple-A Sacramento (San Francisco). The left-hander, who has four MLB appearances on his ledger, made just 14 minor league appearances in 2024. He has a career 3.22 ERA in the minors.
James McArthur, the former Ole Miss standout, has been on the IL all season (elbow) with Kansas City. The seven-year pro, 28, was the Royals’ closer late in 2023 and early last season before losing that role. He has a 4.84 ERA and 22 saves in 75 career MLB games.
P.S. MSU alum Jordan Westburg reached double-digits in home runs on Thursday with his 10th for Baltimore. He has three homers in his last five games. … Ex-Bulldogs star Brent Rooker, announced Thursday as a participant in next week’s Home Run Derby, banged out two doubles (Nos. 20 and 21) and scored twice, including the game-winner as the A’s beat Atlanta 5-4 in 11 innings.

22 Jun

flashback

On this date in 1985, Jackson native Curtis Ford made his big league debut for St. Louis — and it was one for the scrapbook. Pinch-hitting in the ninth inning at Busch Stadium, he got a game-winning hit off Lee Smith — future Hall of Famer — of the Chicago Cubs. Ford went 6-for-12 that season and hit .245 with 36 steals in 406 games over parts of six MLB campaigns. He played in the 1987 postseason with St. Louis and batted .318, going 4-for-13 with two RBIs in the World Series loss to Minnesota. He played in Mexico and independent leagues until 1997. A Murrah High grad, Ford played college ball for Bob Braddy at Jackson State and is one of nine JSU alums to make The Show. Also on the list: Oil Can Boyd, Dave Clark, Marvin Freeman and Wes Chamberlain. Ford played for Double-A Arkansas in the Texas League and was on base in the 1984 TL All-Star Game at Smith-Wills Stadium when Jackson’s Billy Beane hit a game-winning homer. Ford’s son Curtis played at Mississippi Valley State under Doug Shanks. P.S. Nathaniel Lowe hit his 100th career homer on Saturday, then added No. 101. The Mississippi State alum contributed two solo shots to Washington’s 7-3 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With four homers in June, Lowe has 12 for the year and is batting .228 with 47 RBIs. … Ex-MSU star Justin Foscue was recalled from the minors by Texas but did not play Saturday. He was batting .269 with 10 homers at Triple-A Round Rock; he went 2-for-42 in his MLB debut last season. … Jordan Westburg, another former Bulldogs standout, left Saturday’s game with a jammed finger and is considered day-to-day by Baltimore. A 2024 All-Star, he is hitting .229 in 34 games, having recently come off the injured list. … Petal native and erstwhile big leaguer Demarcus Evans is pitching again, now in the independent American Association. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound right-hander has a 2.08 ERA in four games for Gary SouthShore. He last pitched in MLB in 2021 with Texas and has made just nine appearances, all in indy leagues, since 2022.

11 Jun

whatever happened to …

Cody Reed, 32-year-old left-hander from Horn Lake, is pitching in the independent American Association, four years after he last worked in the big leagues. He has been an effective reliever for the Gary SouthShore RailCats, putting up a 2.38 ERA in 11 2/3 innings over 12 games. Is this a path back to MLB? Teams are always looking for lefty relievers, it seems. Reed was drafted out of Northwest Mississippi Community College in the second round in 2013 by Kansas City. A highly rated prospect, he was traded to Cincinnati in 2015, reached the big leagues in 2016 and made 65 appearances (5.22 ERA) over the next six seasons. Reed was a solid reliever for Tampa Bay in 2021 before an injury (and surgery) halted his season in May. He re-signed with the Rays in 2022, then got hurt again in the spring. He pitched briefly in the minors that season, not at all in 2023 and in Mexico last year. … Scanning the pitching leaders in the AA, there is also Kyle Crigger, an Itawamba CC alum from Corinth who is 4-1 with a 2.16 for Fargo-Moorhead; J.C. Keys, a Hattiesburg native and ex-Southern Miss star who has a 3.86 and one save for Chicago; and Taylor Broadway, a former Ole Miss standout who has a 3.45 for Cleburne. All three pitched in the affiliated minors with some success. P.S. On the subject of pitching, Mississippi State product Khal Stephen made MLB Pipeline’s list of top performers from Tuesday’s games. Currently at High-Class A Vancouver in Toronto’s organization, he threw six shutout innings with nine strikeouts on Tuesday. In his first pro season, the second-round pick from 2024 is 5-0 with a 2.25 ERA, an 0.98 WHIP and 73 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings over 12 games in A-ball.

26 Mar

play ball!

A pair of Mississippi high school products will be on the mound as starting pitchers on Thursday, opening day for most of the major league clubs. Garrett Crochet, out of Ocean Springs, will go for Boston — in his Red Sox debut — at Texas and Justin Steele, ex-George County standout, gets the ball for the Chicago Cubs at Arizona. Steele is 0-1, having lost in the Cubs’ second game in Japan last week. There are state connections in just about every game. Austin Riley is back at third base for Atlanta, which opens at San Diego. Hunter Renfroe likely will be in the lineup for Kansas City against visiting Cleveland. Baltimore, with Jordan Westburg at third base, visits Toronto, where Nick Sandlin now works out of the bullpen. There’s Chris Stratton with the Royals, Brent Rooker with the A’s, Matt Wallner with Minnesota, Colt Keith with Detroit, Will Warren with the New York Yankees, Nick Fortes with Miami. Adam Frazier is back with Pittsburgh after side trips to San Diego, Seattle, Baltimore and Kansas City. Thursday will bring the Washington debut of Nathaniel Lowe when the Nationals host Philadelphia. Tim Anderson, who made the Los Angeles Angels’ club as a non-roster invitee, returns to Chicago, where he was once a batting champ for the White Sox. Marcus Thames is the hitting coach for the White Sox and Bobby Dickerson the infield coach for the Phillies. Brandon Woodruff (Milwaukee), James McArthur (Kansas City) and J.P. France (Houston) will start the season on the injured list. … Of note: Four former Biloxi Shuckers, including the starting pitcher, and a former Mississippi Braves star are expected to be in Milwaukee’s Day 1 lineup, and four former M-Braves and one ex-Shuckers star are projected as starters for Atlanta. (And Ronald Acuna could return to Atlanta’s active roster by late April.) P.S. Ole Miss alum and MLB veteran Drew Pomeranz, 36, was released by Seattle. He was in camp as a non-roster invitee and posted a 4.70 ERA in eight games. … Ex-Rebels star Hayden Dunhurst, a 24-year-old catcher from Carriere, has re-signed with Kane County of the independent American Association.

11 Feb

small world

Home cooking was just what Delta State seemed to need. After a 1-3 start on the road, the NCAA Division II Statesmen returned to Ferriss Field in Cleveland and outscored Spring Hill 37-17 in a three-game sweep last weekend. Preseason All-Gulf South Conference pick Dylan Coleman has lived up to that billing, batting .467 with a homer, 10 RBIs and nine runs as DSU’s offensive leader. Jacob Hill is at .409 and Dylan Bundy at .346. More good news for the Statesmen: They start GSC play at home this weekend against Lee University. Lee is 5-2, having played only home games. … Mississippi College climbed over .500 on Monday with a 13-1 rout of Blue Mountain Christian in a small-college matchup at Frierson Field in Clinton. Jordan Evans went 3-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs for the Choctaws (4-3). Six MC pitchers combined on an eight-hitter and hung an 0-for-4 collar on BMC’s Hayden Redding, who came in batting .444 with three homers, eight RBIs and 10 runs for the now 5-4 Toppers. MC starts GSC play at home this weekend against West Georgia. … In a D-III matchup, Millsaps College beat MUW 14-1 on Monday in Jackson as E.J. Ousley drove in five runs for the Majors (1-0). … Bridley Thomas of William Carey University is 12-for-12 on steal attempts and is batting .381 with 13 runs. Carey (5-2) is ranked ninth in NAIA. … In the junior college ranks, Copiah-Lincoln Community College is 8-1 with eight straight wins, including a walk-off (on a Trey Davidson knock) on Sunday against St. Charles CC. Caleb Brooks is hitting .483 for the Wolves. … Hunter Azemar has belted four homers and driven in 13 runs to pace Holmes CC to a 7-1 start. … Meridian, ranked 20th in the NJCAA D-II preseason poll, is also 7-1. Brayden Martin is batting .360 with nine steals for the Eagles, and Connor Gehr is 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA and 11 strikeouts in nine innings. P.S. Joe Gray Jr.’s long and winding road in pro ball has led the former Hattiesburg High star to Lake Country (Wisc.) in the independent American Association. Drafted in the second round by Milwaukee in 2018, Gray reached Double-A in the Brewers’ system in 2023 and again with Kansas City last year before being released. He played for three different Atlantic League teams after that, batting a combined .211.

23 Jan

a door opens

After many months on the shelf, Tim Anderson has landed a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Angels. The former East Central Community College standout, released by Miami in July, reportedly will get an invite to the Angels’ big league spring camp as a non-roster player. The 31-year-old Anderson, a former American League batting champ and two-time All-Star shortstop, fell on tough times the last couple years. After the Chicago White Sox cut him loose following the 2023 season, he batted just .214 with no homers in 65 games for the Marlins last year. Anderson has a .278 career average. Former Mississippi State star Dakota Hudson is also going to Angels camp on a minor league deal. … Other Mississippi products to receive non-roster invites in recent days include State alums Gavin Collins and R.J. Yeager with St. Louis and former Magnolia Heights star Cooper Pratt with Milwaukee. Pratt, ticketed for Double-A Biloxi this season, is the Brewers’ No. 2 prospect. P.S. Kyle Crigger, a Corinth native and Itawamba Community College product, signed with Fargo-Moorhead of the independent American Association. Right-hander Crigger posted a 4.35 ERA over three seasons in the Miami organization, reaching the Double-A level in 2024. … Ex-Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton has helped Jalisco reach the championship round of the Mexican Pacific League playoffs. Hamilton led the league with 38 stolen bases while batting .246 during the regular season. He is 2-for 11 with two RBIs through two games of the best-of-7 title series, tied 1-1 vs. Tomateros de Culiacan. A free agent, Hamilton last played in the majors in 2023. … Former Magee High standout Brennon McNair, a Kansas City minor leaguer, finished his tour of the Australian Baseball League with a .248 average, 11 homers (tied for the league lead), 26 RBIs and 11 steals.