Tag Archives: Anthony Alford

19 May

debut alert

Ex-Petal High star Anthony Alford, promoted to the big leagues today by Toronto, is in the starting lineup for tonight’s game at Baltimore, according to mlb.com. He’s batting eighth and playing left field. It might be a one-day visit, but still, it’s The Show. The former Mr. Baseball (and Mr. Football) at Petal is batting .325 with three homers and nine steals at Double-A New Hampshire. He has hit .382 over his last 10 games. Alford, 6 feet 1, 215 pounds, was a third-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2012. After playing football at Southern Miss and then Ole Miss, he turned to baseball full-time in 2015. In 257 minor league games, Alford is batting .273 with 19 homers, 98 RBIs and 65 steals.

11 Apr

making the jump

Splash some water on Anthony Alford. He’s that hot. The former Petal High star is 9-for-12 with four walks through his first four games at the Double-A level. He has scored three runs, driven in two and stolen a base for New Hampshire in the Toronto system. Alford, 22, was drafted in the third round out of Petal in 2012 but this will be only his third full season in the minors since he gave up football at Ole Miss. The outfielder, rated the Blue Jays’ No. 2 prospect by Baseball America, made the 40-man roster in the off-season and drew praise for his progress from Toronto manager John Gibbons in spring training. Alford’s time is coming. … Gulfport native Bobby Bradley’s first taste of Double-A hasn’t been as sweet. The ex-Harrison Central standout is 3-for-16 in five games for Akron, Cleveland’s Eastern League club. On a positive note, the 20-year-old Bradley, the Indians’ No. 5 prospect, slugged his first homer on Monday; he now has 65 in 285 minor league games. P.S. Itawamba Community College alum Desmond Jennings is 3-for-13 through four games for Triple-A Las Vegas in the New York Mets’ system. The 30-year-old MLB veteran was released by Tampa Bay last summer and by Cincinnati this spring. Injuries have plagued Jennings the past couple of years.

11 Jun

stuff

Former Petal High star Anthony Alford is in a Florida hospital after suffering an apparent neck injury in an on-field collision during a minor league game Friday night. Alford, taken off on a stretcher, was talking and able to move his limbs, according to various reports, with more tests due today. Alford, a top Toronto prospect playing for Class A Dunedin, suffered a knee injury in the first game of the season and is batting .205 in 32 games. … Now that Tim Anderson has made his MLB debut, joining Chad Girodo and Chris Stratton as Mississippi-connected players reaching The Show this season, one wonders who’ll be next: Cody Reed, Hunter Renfroe, JaCoby Jones … ? … On this date 13 years ago, Holmes Community College alum Roy Oswalt and ex-Jackson Generals star Billy Wagner started and closed a six-man combo no-hitter for Houston against the New York Yankees. It was the first time the Yanks had been no-hit in 45 years. … The Cape Cod Baseball League, the best of the college summer loops, launched its season on Friday. There are 11 Mississippi State players listed on the various rosters, but, of course, they have some other matters to attend to at present. Ole Miss’ Will Golsan and Will Stokes and Southern Miss’ Kirk McCarty are on the Orleans roster, but none of the three played in the Firebirds’ opener. … Former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College coach Cooper Farris, who had been at the helm of the Cape’s Wareham Gatemen since 2001, is not coaching the team this year. During his tenure, Wareham won three CCBL titles (2001, 2002 and 2012). … In case anyone was wondering, Jones County Junior College’s national championship in NJCAA Division II is the first by a Mississippi juco. It is the third by a college-level team from the state: William Carey won an NAIA title in 1969 and Delta State an NCAA Division II crown in 2004.

18 Dec

comin’ on strong

No surprise here: Anthony Alford, the former Petal High standout, has been ranked the No. 1 prospect in the Toronto organization by Baseball America. The magazine had previously named Alford the “best player” in the Blue Jays’ system in 2015. The 21-year-old outfielder is rated the Jays’ No. 2 prospect by mlb.com. Alford may wind up among the Top 50 prospects overall for 2016, according to BA’s John Manuel, who wrote in an online chat on the magazine’s web site: “If he’s not a big league regular in 2-3 years, I’ll be very surprised.” Alford played at two levels of Class A ball in 2015, his first full season in pro ball after giving up football. He batted .293 in low A and .302 in high A over 107 games, with four homers and 27 steals combined. He is a player to be excited about. … Stone County High alum D.J. Davis, also 21 and an outfielder, is rated Toronto’s No. 10 prospect by BA. Davis batted .282 with seven homers and 21 steals at low Class A Lansing last season.

17 Sep

news flashes

Moving past Chris Coghlan’s “dirty” slide (no, it wasn’t) and Rafael Palmeiro’s “comeback” (don’t get it), here’s some baseball news we can sink our teeth into: Former Petal High standout Anthony Alford has been named the best player in Toronto’s minor league system by Baseball America. “He’s truly made progress across the board; every day he finds a way to get better in an aspect of the game,” Tony LaCava, the Blue Jays farm director, told BA. Alford, an erstwhile football star, batted .298 with four homers, 35 RBIs and 27 steals over two levels of A-ball in his first full pro season. He was a third-round pick in 2012. And here’s some more news: Former Southern Miss star B.A. Vollmuth has returned to the Golden Eagles as a volunteer assistant. From 2009-11, the Biloxi native batted .326 with 40 home runs and 153 RBIs. He was an infielder on the 2009 team, with Brian Dozier, that went to the College World Series. Taken in the third round of the 2011 major league draft by Oakland, Vollmuth played four pro seasons, batting .231 with 45 homers, before his release in 2014.

10 Aug

well-stocked toolbox

In his relatively brief time in the minors, Anthony Alford has hit and run and showed enough arm to play right field. The power hasn’t been there, but you have to think that tool will come out soon. Ex-Petal High star Alford, now Toronto’s No. 3 prospect, is batting .304 with 13 RBIs, 26 runs and nine steals in 40 games at Class A Dunedin in the Florida State League. Batting leadoff and playing center field on Sunday, he had a four-hit game, including a triple and a walk-off double. He hit .293 with 16 RBIs, 49 runs and 12 steals in 50 games at Lansing in the low-A Midwest League before earning a promotion. Alford, 21, has just one home run at each level this season, his first full year in pro ball since the Blue Jays drafted the erstwhile football player in 2012. He has five bombs in 115 career games. Alford lists at 6 feet 1, 205 pounds and looks bigger. At Petal, where he was Mr. Baseball and Mr. Football, drawing Bo Jackson comparisons, Alford hit four homers and slugged .805 in 30 games as a senior. The power will come. And just wait till he gets a chance to hit at Toronto’s Rogers Centre in a couple of years. P.S. Versatility is keeping Ole Miss alum Chris Coghlan in the sizzling Chicago Cubs’ lineup. Coghlan, a lefty hitter, has been playing second base, his primary minor league position, of late (since Starlin Castro’s benching). Coghlan has played mostly left field for manager Joe Maddon but also has seen time at third, first and right field. He is batting only .248 but has a .334 on-base percentage, 11 homers, 25 RBIs and 10 steals.

30 Jul

off the table

Anthony Alford has played so well this season in the low minors, his name surfaced with some big ones today in trade talks. Early reports of the David Price deal had former Petal High star Alford included in the package Toronto was sending Detroit for the ace left-hander. But the Blue Jays held onto Alford, who is now rated their No. 4 prospect by mlb.com. The 21-year-old outfielder, 6 feet 1, 205 pounds, is batting .300 with a pair of homers, 25 RBIs and 19 steals at two levels of A-ball. He has hit .311 in 30 games at high Class A Dunedin. Drafted in the third round by Toronto in 2012, when he was Mr. Baseball, Alford had played only 25 minor league games before 2015 as he focused on football, first at Southern Miss, then at Ole Miss. He quit football last fall and played in the Australian Baseball League before getting an invite to the Blue Jays’ major league spring camp. His stock seems to be rising.

19 May

tag team

If it was a contest, D.J. Davis won. But just barely. The former Stone County High star had four hits for the Lansing Lugnuts on Monday. Fellow Mississippian Anthony Alford, Davis’ teammate, had to settle for three hits. Both picked up a run, an RBI and a stolen base as the Lugnuts beat South Bend 7-5 in a Midwest League game. Both Magnolia State products are picking up momentum in their pro career. Davis, Toronto’s first-round pick in 2012, is batting .265 in the low Class A MWL. Hailed for his sprinter’s speed, the lefty-hitting outfielder, 20, has seven stolen bases (in 12 tries), a homer, 12 RBIs and 18 runs. Alford, the former Mr. Baseball (and Mr. Football) from Petal, has been on a tear in his first full season since leaving the Ole Miss football program last fall. Alford, also 20, a right-handed hitting outfielder, is batting .322 with seven RBIs, 19 runs and six steals. Davis is currently rated the No. 18 prospect in the Blue Jays’ system by mlb.com, a notch ahead of Alford, though Alford may have the greater potential. “It’s limitless what Anthony can do,” Kenny Graham, the hitting coach at Lansing, told milb.com. Both Davis and Alford are projected to make The Show in 2018, though that might be a conservative forecast.

08 Jan

down under achieving

Big day today at the plate for Anthony Alford, the former Mr. Baseball from Petal who is tuning up his game in Australia this winter. Alford, batting leadoff for Canberra, went 3-for-4 with a homer, two RBIs and three runs in the Cavalry’s 10-3 win. In 30 games Down Under, Alford, a center fielder, is batting .216 (with a .346 on-base percentage) and has three homers, eight RBIs, 29 runs and nine steals in 11 attempts. The former Southern Miss and Ole Miss football player will head to spring training next month with Toronto and likely start the 2015 campaign in A-ball. Alford, a third-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2012, hasn’t played a lot of baseball since leaving Petal, but he’s only 20. He’s got time to develop. … Toronto also has former Stone County High star D.J. Davis in its system. Davis, also 20 and an outfielder, was the Jays’ top pick in 2012 and spent last season at Class A Lansing, where Alford played five games last summer. Davis is listed as the No. 9 prospect in the organization.

02 Oct

the road ahead

Anthony Alford, once rated the 36th-best MLB draft prospect in the country, has some catching up to do. The former Mr. Baseball from Petal High, who recently left the Ole Miss football team to return to pro baseball, has played just 25 minor league games, none since 2013. Alford, an outfielder, will spend a couple of weeks in Toronto’s Instructional League camp in Florida and then head off to the Australian Baseball League, according to the National Post of Toronto. Because of his commitment to football — he originally signed with Southern Miss — he slipped to the third round in the 2012 draft. Toronto signed Alford with the intention of letting him continue to play college football while spending the summers in pro baseball. In two limited stints in the low minors, Alford has a career .200 average with a homer and six steals. Alford, who was also the state’s Mr. Football in 2011, has tremendous potential on the diamond. This is a guy who hit .483 with four homers, 31 RBIs and 14 steals as a senior at Petal. It’ll be interesting to see if he can get back on the prospect track. P.S. In addition to Bobby Abreu (see previous post), there was one other ex-Jackson Generals star still playing in 2014, though not in the major leagues. Daryle Ward, now 39, began the 2014 season in Mexico and finished in the independent Atlantic League. The lefty-hitting first baseman batted .239 with eight homers for Somerset, which recently was eliminated from the APBL playoffs. Ward, who hit 90 homers over his 11 MLB seasons, last played in the majors in 2008. He had a huge year for the 1997 Gens, batting .329 with 19 homers and 90 RBIs in 114 games before moving to Triple-A. And, of course, he famously hit a foul ball that blasted a hole in the outfield fence at Smith-Wills Stadium.