Tag Archives: A’s

02 Dec

totally random

Today’s subject: Buddy Blair. Columbia native Blair, a decorated athlete in college, enjoyed a short but sweet big league career. As a 31-year-old rookie with the Philadelphia A’s in 1942, the lefty-hitting third baseman got a hit in his first game and another in his last game that same season. Blair (given name Louis) hit .279 for Connie Mack’s last-place A’s, with five homers, 66 RBIs, 26 doubles and 48 runs in 137 games. Over the next three years, he served in World War II in the Air Force. He returned to baseball in 1946 — but not to the big leagues. Blair was a player/manager from 1946-50 with Vicksburg in the Class B Southeastern League. In 1949 with the Billies, he won the only pro game he ever pitched. Blair, who died in 1996, was a three-sport star at LSU, lettering in basketball and track as well as baseball. He originally signed with the New York Yankees in 1936 and spent six years in their minor league system.

23 Oct

in the spotlight

Konnor Griffin has been named the minor league player of the year by USA Today/Sports Weekly and is featured in the Oct. 22 publication. The former Jackson Prep star, who also received the 2025 top player award from milb.com and Baseball America, batted .333 with 21 homers, 65 steals and a .941 OPS across three levels of Pittsburgh’s system, peaking at Double-A. As the article notes, Griffin is the first minor leaguer in 20 years to hit .300 with 20 homers, 60 bags and 100 runs. Other winners of this award include former Mississippi Braves Jason Heyward and Ronald Acuna Jr. The Sports Weekly article focuses on Griffin’s family, notably dad Kevin, and his Florence roots. “I’m so proud to be from Florence, Mississippi,” Konnor Griffin says. “And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they’re proud of me.” … The venerable Baseball Digest, one of the few remaining periodicals of its sort, has nice feature stories on Mississippi natives Garrett Crochet and Herb Washington in its September/October issue. Crochet, from Ocean Springs, starred for Boston this year in his first season since a trade with the Chicago White Sox. The Red Sox gave him a 6-year/$170 million contract, and the 6-foot-5 left-hander responded with a Cy Young-caliber season, going 18-5 and leading all pitchers in strikeouts. He also beat the New York Yankees in the Wild Card Series opener. In the article, titled “Money in the Bank,” Crochet talks about how he came to appreciate the intense scrutiny players are under in Boston from fans in addition to media: “At first it was … not off-putting, but kind of awkward. I didn’t really know how to react. But now, you appreciate the fandom in the city.” … Washington, from Belzoni, is best known from his days as the Oakland A’s “designated runner” in 1974-75. An international sprint champion, he was hastily trained as a base-stealer by Maury Wills and, after a horribly slow start, stole 31 bases in 48 tries, scored 33 runs and never batted in 105 games. He was infamously picked off in the 1974 World Series and released early the next season. Per the article, he was offered the chance to bat in the final game of the ’74 season — against Nolan Ryan — and declined. He told the Baseball Digest writers that he just figured, “If you never have an at-bat, not matter how long you’re in baseball, you will have a uniqueness that will make your mark in baseball.” … Brent Rooker is a finalist for a Silver Slugger Award at DH in the American League. The Mississippi State product hit .262 with 30 homers, 92 RBIs and a .479 slugging percentage for the A’s this season. He won the award in 2024. Ex-DeSoto Central High standout Austin Riley is a finalist at third base in the National League but would have to be considered a longshot to win. He was limited by injury to 102 games for Atlanta and hit .260 with 16 homers, 54 RBIs and a .428 slug. He won the award in 2021 and ’23. … One hundred years ago this month, Ellisville native Buddy Myer made his World Series debut with the old Washington Nationals (Senators), helping the club get off to a 3-1 lead against Pittsburgh. Myer, one of Mississippi’s all-time best (.303 career hitter), went 2-for-8 with a walk over those first four games. The rookie infielder didn’t play in the final three, all won by the Pirates. Myer got back to the Series in 1933 with Washington but lost there, too.

17 Oct

it happened one october, take 5

On this date in 1989, Game 3 of the World Series between Oakland and San Francisco was postponed because of the horrific earthquake that struck the Bay Area. Former Mississippi State stars Will Clark and Jeff Brantley were on that Giants club. When the Series resumed 10 days later, Oakland won 13-7 at Candlestick Park to go up 3-0 en route to a sweep. Clark went 1-for-4 with two punchouts in the rescheduled Game 3, and Brantley yielded one of Oakland’s five homers. Neither made it back to the Fall Classic in their outstanding MLB careers. Grenada native Dave Parker, nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career, was on that A’s team; he went 2-for-9 with a homer (in Game 1 at Oakland) and collected his second World Series ring.

26 Sep

a crowning achievement

Enjoying an eventful third pro season, Matthew Etzel drove in three runs in the first two innings Thursday to propel Jacksonville to the championship of the Triple-A International League. Miami’s top affiliate beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7-4 in Game 3 of the title series. Etzel, 2-for-4 with a double on Thursday, hit .385 in the series with four RBIs. “He’s such a professional hitter,” Jumbo Shrimp manager David Carpenter told milb.com. “He was a huge part of us getting here.” Etzel, 23, Miami’s No. 29 prospect, batted .275 with two homers, 13 RBIs, 13 runs and nine steals in 31 games with Jacksonville. The Marlins got him in a July trade with Tampa Bay for ex-Ole Miss star Nick Fortes. Overall this season — which included two stints on the injured list — Etzel hit .248 with seven homers and 27 steals, playing at three different levels. He was originally drafted by Baltimore in 2023 and traded in July of ’24 to Tampa Bay. Ole Miss alum Kemp Alderman — the Marlins’ minor league player of the year — also got to celebrate with the Jumbo Shrimp, who’ll play Pacific Coast League champ Las Vegas on Saturday for the Triple-A National Championship. … Calvin Harris, another UM product, celebrated a Southern League title on Thursday after helping Birmingham (Chicago White Sox) win that Double-A crown 6-3 against Montgomery. Harris caught all three games of the series. P.S. J.T. Ginn, ex-Mississippi State star from Brandon, bore the brunt of the damage as Houston ended the frustration of a five-game losing streak with an 11-5 blowout of the A’s on Thursday. The Astros stayed in the chase for an American League wild card berth. Ginn, who had pitched well in his three previous September starts, was roughed up for five runs in the first two innings and seven all told in 3 2/3. Now 4-7 with a 5.08 ERA, Ginn yielded six hits, three walks and an HBP against the charged-up Astros. … Detroit and Toronto, two other AL teams needing a big win, also got one Thursday. The Tigers snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating Cleveland 4-2, tying the Guardians atop the AL Central. Houston is a game back of both, sitting at fourth in the wild card standings. Toronto beat Boston 6-1 and stayed even with the New York Yankees atop the AL East. The Red Sox, second in the wild card standings with a one-game cushion, managed just four hits on Thursday, MSU product Nathaniel Lowe going 1-for-3. Much remains unsettled — in both leagues — heading into the final weekend of the regular season. It’s gonna be fun.

25 Sep

playing pepper

Concerns about Garrett Crochet’s durability seem kinda silly now. The ex-Ocean Springs High star delivered one of his best performances of the season Wednesday night: eight innings, three hits, no walks, no runs, six strikeouts in Boston’s impactful 7-1 win at Toronto. The left-hander’s last pitch — No. 100 — hit 97 mph, a called third strike. “At this point of the year, it’s unbelievable,” Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez said in an mlb.com story. “He’s still throwing gas, everything has shape.” Crochet (18-5) reached 205 1/3 innings for the season, just his second since converting from reliever. He threw 146 innings for the Chicago White Sox last year, working very conservatively down the stretch of that team’s woeful season. Wednesday’s win reduced the Red Sox’s magic number to one for clinching an American League playoff berth. The proud franchise hasn’t been to the postseason since 2021. The bold off-season trade for Crochet has gotten them over that hump. … Following Toronto’s loss, the New York Yankees beat the White Sox 8-1 and moved into a tie with the Blue Jays atop the AL East. Former Mississippi Braves star Max Fried, in his first year in pinstripes, won his 19th game, boosted by Aaron Judge’s 50th and 51st home runs. … Former Mississippi College standout Blaine Crim hit his fifth homer in 11 games with Colorado — but who noticed? Seattle, powered by Cal Raleigh’s 59th and 60th homers, beat the visiting Rockies 9-2 to clinch the AL West crown. … Mississippi State product Brent Rooker drove in two runs — he has 89 RBIs on the year — and M-Braves alum Shea Langeliers homered in a four-hit game to power the A’s past Houston 6-0. Stumbling toward the finish line with five straight losses, the Astros are a game behind Detroit for the final AL wild card spot. Houston will face ex-MSU standout J.T. Ginn (4-6, 4.57 ERA) today in West Sacramento, Calif. … The fading Tigers, meanwhile, lost their eighth straight, 5-1 to Cleveland, which moved into first place alone in the AL Central. (Colt Keith, the ex-Biloxi High star, has been on the injured list since Sept. 19; he is typically Detroit’s leadoff batter.) … On a night when Cincinnati honored the late Dave Parker — the recently inducted Hall of Famer from Mississippi — the Reds fell to Pittsburgh 4-3 in 11 innings. The Reds remain tied with Arizona, a game back of the Mets for the final National League wild card berth. All three lost on a wild Wednesday. P.S. In the minors, both ex-Ole Miss star Kemp Alderman and ex-Southern Miss standout Matthew Etzel hit home runs to help Jacksonville beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6-4 in Game 2 of the Triple-A International League Championship Series. The deciding game is tonight.

19 Sep

tapping into power

Brent Rooker hit his 30th homer of the season on Thursday, a first-inning two-run shot that helped the A’s deal playoff-chasing Boston a hard loss at Fenway Park. Rooker, the former All-America from Mississippi State, now has 99 homers in three years with the A’s. It’s weird to think that in his first three MLB campaigns (2020-22) he hit a grand total of 10 homers while barely playing with three other clubs. The A’s got the former 35th overall pick as a waiver claim from Kansas City in November 2022. Of note: Fellow MSU product J.T. Ginn pitched six effective innings Thursday to get the win; the second-year right-hander is 4-6 with a 4.57 ERA in 22 appearances this year. With the defeat, Boston fell to third in the American League wild card standings. … Former Mississippi College star Blaine Crim belted two 400-foot homers for Colorado and now has three in seven games with the Rockies. Crim, getting his first real opportunity in the big leagues in his sixth pro season, has 124 minor league homers on his ledger. … Down in the minors, Kemp Alderman, third-year pro from Ole Miss, slugged his seventh homer in 17 games since being promoted to Triple-A Jacksonville in the Miami chain. Alderman hit 15 bombs in Double-A this season. P.S. Biloxi was eliminated by Montgomery in the Southern League division playoffs. Ex-Magnolia Heights star Cooper Pratt, Milwaukee’s No. 3 prospect, hit .237 with eight homers, 62 RBIs, 71 runs and 31 steals in his first Double-A season.

11 Sep

touching the bases

Blaine Crim, the former Mississippi College slugger, had a hand in a very rare feat on Wednesday night, hitting his 21st homer and driving in three runs as Triple-A Albuquerque scored in every inning in a 21-10 romp over El Paso in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. (Only 20 times in major league history has a team scored in every inning.) Crim now has 21 Triple-A homers in 2025, split between Albuquerque (Colorado system) and Round Rock (Texas). He got up briefly with the Rangers. … Former Mississippi State ace Dakota Hudson notched his seventh win for Triple-A Salt Lake in the PCL, yielding three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings for the Los Angeles Angels affiliate. Hudson is 7-7 with a 6.98 ERA. The former first-round draftee (2016) has 80 career wins, 40 in both the minors and the majors. He pitched for Colorado in 2024. … Konnor Griffin, the phenom from Jackson Prep, smacked his fifth homer for Double-A Altoona just as dad Kevin — the Belhaven University softball coach — was stepping into the broadcast booth in the fifth inning at Erie, Pa., per an milb.com story. “I might stay up here the whole game,” Kevin Griffin said. Konnor, No. 1 prospect in the minors, has 21 homers at three levels in the Pittsburgh chain this season. … Ex-MSU star Brent Rooker, having another big year for the A’s, crushed his 39th and 40th doubles of 2025 — ranking third in MLB — and now has 70 extra-base hits, 27 of them homers. The resurgent A’s beat Boston — and Aroldis Chapman — 5-4 on Wednesday in West Sacramento, Calif. … In the Frontier League playoffs, Ole Miss alums Anthony Calarco (3-for-5, three RBIs) and Banks Tolley (2-for-5, run) sparked Schaumburg to a 9-0 win over Gateway and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 conference series. Calarco, the indy league’s MVP for 2025, has eight RBIs in the postseason after plating 116 runs in the regular season. Former St. Andrew’s star Tolley hit a three-run bomb in the Boomers’ 11-6 win on Tuesday. Dallas Woolfolk, former UM pitcher, also plays for the Boomers. … The Arizona Fall League rosters for 2025 include several Mississippi connections: Former Madison Central High star Braden Montgomery, the Chicago White Sox’s No. 1 prospect, with Glendale; MSU alums Cade Smith (New York Yankees) with Mesa and David Mershon (Angels) with Salt River; Ole Miss product Derek Diamond (Pirates) with Salt River; and ex-Southern Miss pitcher Michael Fowler (Milwaukee) with Surprise. Luke Adams, current Biloxi Shuckers infielder and a top Brewers prospect, is also on the Surprise roster. Former Mississippi Braves star Nacho Alvarez, currently filling in for Austin Riley as Atlanta’s third baseman, is on the Glendale roster; he missed much of the minor league season with injury. The AFL season runs Oct. 6-Nov. 15.

01 Sep

upward mobility

Miami brass decided to give Kemp Alderman a look at the Triple-A level, and they surely liked what they saw in his Sunday debut. After striking out in his first two at-bats, the Ole Miss product from Decatur hit a two-run homer in his third, helping Jacksonville beat Rochester 6-5. The radio broadcaster for the Jumbo Shrimp described Alderman’s homer as “a 414-foot missile to center field” at Vystar Ballpark in Jacksonville. Alderman, 23, hit .282 with 15 homers, 53 RBIs and 20 steals at Double-A Pensacola this season, his second full year in pro ball. He hit 31 homers in his three years in Oxford and won the Ferriss Trophy in 2023 on the heels of a huge offensive season. Miami drafted him in the second round that summer. Power is his top tool — scouting reports compare him to Hunter Renfroe — but oddly enough he went 28 games into his pro career in 2023 before going deep. Challenged at the Double-A level last summer, Alderman homered in his second game. He is Miami’s No. 11 prospect by MLB Pipeline. … Colton Ledbetter, also a second-round pick — out of Mississippi State — in 2023, might be in line for a promotion at Double-A Montgomery in the Tampa Bay system. The lefty-hitting leadoff batter, 23, went 2-for-6 with two RBIs, two runs and his 34th steal for the Biscuits on Sunday in a win against Biloxi. A sluggish August has dropped his average to .264, but he has a .342 OBP with six homers, 40 RBIs and 63 runs in 113 games as a firestarter for the Biscuits. He is ranked as Tampa Bay’s No. 18 prospect. P.S. Three pitchers with Mississippi ties went to the bump as starters in the big leagues on Sunday. Collectively, they went 0-2, allowing 19 hits, eight walks and 14 runs (11 earned) with 19 strikeouts in 16 innings. To be fair, Atlanta’s Hurston Waldrep — who played two seasons at Southern Miss before transferring to Florida — pitched well, allowing a lone run to Philadelphia over 5 2/3 innings. He got a no-decision in a game the Braves ultimately won. MSU alums Brandon Woodruff (5-2) and J.T. Ginn (2-6) got battered around for Milwaukee and the A’s, respectively. … Toronto moved former USM star Nick Sandlin (elbow injury) to the 60-day injured list, possibly ending his season. … MLB rosters can expand today — by two — possibly opening spots for some Mississippians in the minors.

26 Aug

head-to-head

Detroit vs. the A’s in West Sacramento, Calif., an interdivisional game between a first-place club and a last-place one. Not a matchup that generated much excitement on the major league schedule for Monday night. Ah, but there was a matchup within the matchup that Mississippi baseball aficionados would find compelling. It wasn’t the pivotal head-to-head confrontation in the A’s stunning 7-3 win, but it was entertaining. Batting leadoff for Detroit was Colt Keith, the ex-Biloxi High star, the state’s Gatorade player of the year in 2019. Starting on the mound for the A’s was J.T. Ginn, former Brandon High star, the state’s Gatorade player of the year in 2018. Both were drafted in 2020, Keith out of high school, Ginn out of Mississippi State. Both are second-year big leaguers, but they hadn’t faced off before. The lefty-hitting Keith came in batting .261 with 11 homers and 39 RBIs, having a fine year for the Tigers (78-54), who have been in command of the American League Central most of the season. Right-hander Ginn was 2-5 with a 4.95 ERA for an A’s team that was 60-72, in the AL West cellar, 10.5 games back of the third wild card spot. Keith was a .278 hitter against right-handers, with all 11 of his homers coming against righties. Lefties were batting .339 with eight bombs against Ginn, who had yielded 10 runs in 11 2/3 innings in his previous three outings. But this matchup, on this night, belonged to Ginn. He struck out Keith on three pitches to start the game, the first of his eight K’s. In the third inning, Keith crushed a line drive foul down the right-field line on the first pitch, then popped up to left two pitches later. In the fifth — in what was still a scoreless game — the count went to 3-1 before Ginn induced a grounder to short that ended the inning. Ginn departed in the sixth; he would be charged with seven hits, a walk and three runs in 5 1/3, in line for a loss before the game suddenly turned. The crucial clash came in the seventh, when former Mississippi Braves star Shea Langeliers hit a two-out grand slam off Tigers ace Tarik Skubal that put the A’s up 6-3. The 450-foot bomb at Sutter Health Park was the 29th of the season for “Bang-eliers” and the first slam ever allowed by Skubal, the 2024 AL Cy Young winner. Skubal took the L, falling to 11-4. Ginn may have gotten a no-decision on this night, but he won the battle with Keith and his team ultimately won the war.

21 Aug

roller coaster

Ups and downs will happen; that’s a fact of life for a pitcher. Making adjustments and minimizing the downs are the keys to sustained success. … It was a year ago today that J.T. Ginn, in his fourth pro season, made his big league debut for Oakland and showed out, striking out the side in his first inning and working two hitless frames all told. There have been flashes of brilliance ever since from the ex-Mississippi State star but also bursts of turbulence. On Wednesday night, the 26-year-old right-hander threw four scoreless innings at the Minnesota Twins, then coughed up three hits, a walk and the lead in the fifth. He was pulled with two outs, two on and the score tied. (The A’s would go on to win 4-2 in 10 innings.) Ginn is 2-5 with a 4.95 ERA in 17 appearances (10 starts) this season. He has a 1.37 WHIP and a .264 batting average against. Since throwing six shutout innings in a win against Houston on July 27, he is 0-3 with a 7.88 ERA. The A’s, long out of playoff contention, likely will keep sending Ginn out there, hoping he can capture the promise he showed at Brandon High and MSU. He was a first-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018 but didn’t sign, opting to go to State. The New York Mets took him in the second round in 2020 even after he had suffered an arm injury that required Tommy John surgery. He was moved to the A’s in a 2022 trade. … In mid-June, Hurston Waldrep was in the minors and on a real downer, saddled with a 5.84 ERA and a 5-5 record for Triple-A Gwinnett. A 2023 first-round pick by Atlanta, he had some early success in the low minors but floundered in a brief big league trial in 2024. Flash forward to Wednesday: The onetime Southern Miss standout threw seven shutout innings for Atlanta and got the win in a 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox. He is 4-0 with an 0.73 ERA and a 0.77 WHIP in four games for the Braves since his late July call-up. Somewhere back there at Gwinnett, he figured some things out and changed the arc of his season. … Michael Fowler, another USM alum, has been on quite the odyssey. The Alabama native bounced from LSU to Tulane to USM, battling injuries and doing little to distinguish himself over five college seasons. After posting a 9.39 ERA in 10 games for the Golden Eagles in 2025, the right-hander went undrafted. He signed with the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters — and apparently something clicked into place. He went 2-1 with a 1.92 ERA in seven games, striking out 15 in 9 1/3 innings, and rode that wave to a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. In four games at Low-Class A Carolina, Fowler has not allowed a run over 3 1/3 innings, including a two-out appearance on Wednesday. He even got a brief look at Triple-A Nashville last week.