Tag Archives: A’s

01 Jul

clearing the bases

Ex-Mississippi State standout Colton Ledbetter was named the Southern League’s player of the week on Monday and was also honored as a member of MLB Pipeline’s Prospect Team of the Week. He went 12-for-23 last week with a homer, four RBIs and eight runs for Montgomery, Tampa Bay’s Double-A club. He is batting .280 on the year. … Mississippi Mud Monsters right-hander Brian Williams was named the Frontier League pitcher of the week. He threw seven shutout innings (two hits, no walks, seven strikeouts) vs. Down East last week at Trustmark Park. A former Texas Southern star, Williams is 3-2 with a 2.49 ERA this season for the independent club. … MSU’s Ace Reese went 2-for-6 with two walks, an RBI and three runs in the Collegiate National Team’s Stars v. Stripes doubleheader on Monday at Cary, N.C. Reese played for the Stars, who won Game 1 18-4. MSU’s Ryan McPherson threw a scoreless inning for the Stripes in that game. … Ole Miss’ Patrick Galle and Taylorsville native Aiden Moffett participated in Monday’s Cape Cod League vs. MLB Draft League All-Star Game at CitiField in New York. Galle, with Wareham in the Cape, allowed a run in 2/3 innings of work, while Moffett, who pitched at Texas this past season, struck out the only batter he faced. Galle is 1-1, two saves, 1.93 ERA, in the Cape. Moffett is 1-1, one save, 4.26, in the Draft League, a prospect showcase. … Houston Green, an Itawamba Community College alum, is batting .423 with nine RBIs and 10 runs for the Tallahatchie Rascals, who lead the Cotton States League with a 9-1-1 record. The top pitcher in the New Albany-based summer circuit is Delta State’s Eli Akins, 3-0 with a 1.66 for North Delta, which is 5-5. … Andrew Gipson, the former Belhaven University coach recently hired at New Orleans, was named a regional coach of the year in NCAA Division III by ABCA/ATEC. Gipson took the Blazers to the Super Regional round in the NCAAs. East Central Community College’s Neal Holliman and Pearl River CC’s Michael Avalon shared the NJCAA D-II regional award, and Mississippi native Butch Thompson of Auburn won an NCAA D-I regional award. … Incidentally, Gipson will be UNO’s third coach in three seasons. His replacement at BU, ex-Madison Central coach Patrick Robey, will be the Blazers’ third coach in four years. … Bidding for another MLB All-Star Game invite, Ocean Springs native Garrett Crochet struck out nine batters in six innings for Boston on Monday night, running his MLB-leading K total to 144. After beating Cincinnati, Crochet is 8-4 with a 2.26 ERA. … Former MSU star J.T. Ginn, coming off a couple of wobbly outings, retired all 11 batters he faced for the A’s against Tampa Bay. Ginn entered in the fourth inning and shut down a Rays rally, struck out the side in the fifth and retired former Bulldogs teammate Jake Mangum on a grounder in the sixth. The A’s won the game late, 6-4. … The Los Angeles Angels are 5-4 under interim manager Ray Montgomery, the former Jackson Generals star who will be filling in for Ron Washington, sidelined with a medical issue, the rest of the season. The Angels are in Atlanta today to start a three-game set.

24 Jun

noteworthy

Justin Foscue made his 2025 debut with Texas on Monday night, becoming the 26th Mississippian (native or school alum) to play in the big leagues this season. Seventeen are currently on active rosters. Three have been released and are free agents, the others are either on the injured list or back in the minors. Ex-Mississippi State star Foscue, called up from Triple-A on Saturday, played first base and went 0-for-3 in the Rangers’ loss to Baltimore. … Brent Rooker moved up to third and Colt Keith to fourth in the latest All-Star Game balloting for American League DH, and Austin Riley rose to sixth in the National League third base race. Rooker, an MSU alum, is hitting .275 with 15 homers and 41 RBIs for the A’s. Keith, a Biloxi High product, is at .243 with six bombs and 24 RBIs for Detroit, which has the best record in MLB. Former DeSoto Central star Riley is hitting .275 with 12 homers and 40 RBIs for Atlanta; he was 2-for-4 with a triple in the 3-2 win vs. the New York Mets on Monday night. The All-Star Game is July 15 in Atlanta. … Connor Hujsak, former MSU standout, was named the Carolina League player of the week on Monday; he was 10-for-29 with two homers and nine RBIs last week for Low-Class A Charleston in the Tampa Bay chain. Hujsak is the 11th Mississippi product to win a minor league player or pitcher of the week award this season, joining Konnor Griffin, Kemp Alderman, Blaze Jordan, Tyson Hardin, Jurrangelo Cijntje, Niko Mazza, Braden Montgomery, Rowdey Jordan, Blaine Crim and J.T. Ginn.

17 Jun

temperature reading

Maybe there should be a CAUTION sign hanging above Jake Mangum’s locker. The Mississippi State product from Flowood is that hot, and so is his Tampa Bay team. With Mangum banging out three hits and driving in three runs, the Rays beat visiting Baltimore 7-1 on Monday. That’s four straight wins, 10 out of 13 and 19 out of 25 for the Rays, now 40-32 and just 2.5 games back of slumping New York atop the American League East. “We have a lot of faith in each other,” Mangum told mlb.com. “If I don’t get the job done, the guy behind me is gonna get it done, the guy in front of me is gonna get it done.” Lately, Mangum has been getting it done. The rookie switch-hitter is 12-for-27 (.444) over his last seven games with eight RBIs, five runs and five stolen bases. He is hitting .315 on the season with 21 RBIs, 13 runs and 10 bags in 37 games; he missed almost a month after a groin injury in late April. … And then there is the coldest team in the big leagues: Washington, which blew a ninth-inning lead Monday and lost to lowly Colorado 6-4 at Nationals Park. That’s nine straight losses for the Nats, now 30-42 and sinking in the National League East. Former Mississippi State standout Nathaniel Lowe, the regular first baseman, is also in a cold snap, with just four hits and eight strikeouts in his last 22 at-bats. Brought in this season to provide some power for a young team, he has just one home run since May 16. On the year, Lowe — a Silver Slugger winner in 2022 and a World Series champ in ’23 with Texas — is batting .227 with nine homers and 44 RBIs. He has been the subject of trade rumors, but you wonder if interest might be waning. P.S. Ex-State star J.T. Ginn came off the injured list for the A’s Monday and threw three scoreless innings in relief in a 3-1 win vs. Houston. He has a 4.79 ERA in five appearances this season.

14 Jun

hard luck

Garrett Crochet, the former Ocean Springs High star, was two outs away from a shutout against the New York Yankees. Boston’s big left-hander was one strike away from punching out Aaron Judge for the fourth time on Friday night at Fenway Park. Then the Yankees slugger did his thing, pulverizing a 3-2 fastball 443 feet over the left-field wall, out of the park, tying the score. Exit Crochet. The Red Sox won the game 2-1 in 10 innings, but Crochet was denied his first career shutout. “Crochet deserved this win, but the team needed it more,” said Boston broadcaster Lou Merloni. The Red Sox are 35-36, in fourth place and 8.5 games back of the first-place Yankees in the American League East. Crochet, in his first year with Boston, has six wins, a 2.24 ERA and a league-leading 117 K’s, seven on Friday. … It was a hard luck day also for former Ole Miss standout Drew Pomeranz. Pitching the 10th inning for the Chicago Cubs, he was on the bump when Pittsburgh’s “ghost runner” — Mississippi State alum Adam Frazier — scored the go-ahead run on a double-play ball. The Pirates held on for a 2-1 win at Wrigley Field. Pomeranz, who had not allowed a run in 18 appearances overall before Friday, gets charged with an unearned run, per the extra-inning rules, as well as the loss. … More hard luck: Gunnar Hoglund, another Ole Miss alum, is done for the season after hip surgery; the right-hander, who made his MLB debut in May after four years in the minors, had a 6.40 ERA in six starts for the A’s. … Luck didn’t smile on ex-Ole Miss ace Ryan Rolison either. Colorado’s rookie lefty gave up four hits, a walk and five runs in the eighth inning at Atlanta during the Braves’ 12-4 win. It didn’t help that the woeful Rockies committed four errors in that frame. P.S. There’s a bundle of state products on the preliminary rosters in the Cape Cod League, which launches its season today. (Note: The rosters can and will change during the summer.) Mississippi State’s Ace Reese, Charlie Foster, Dane Burns and Duke Stone are on the Chatham roster, along with ex-Jackson Prep (and current South Alabama) star Duncan Mathews. Bourne lists Ole Miss’ Campbell Smithwick and Owen Paino and Southern Miss’ Grayden Harris. USM’s Josh Och is on Hyannis’ roster and UM’s Patrick Galle on Wareham’s. Former Mississippi Braves and MLB catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia will manage Falmouth, which lists Grayson Saunier, an ex-Ole Miss pitcher, on its roster.

12 Jun

hey now …

Brent Rooker was an All-Star for the Oakland A’s in 2023 and might be on that path again this season. The former Mississippi State standout had a star-spangled day at the plate on Wednesday, going 4-for-5 with two home runs, a double, three RBIs and three runs. In his final at-bat, he hit a drive that was caught at the warning track. (Not surprisingly, the lowly A’s lost the game to the Los Angeles Angels 6-5.) Rooker is hitting .276 with 15 bombs and 41 RBIs on the year; he ranks in the top 10 in the American League in homers, RBIs and slugging percentage. Over his last 20 games, he is at .380 with five homers and 17 runs knocked in. But it hasn’t been a streaky kind of season. “I’ve been able to maintain a level of consistency that maybe I haven’t in the past,” Rooker said in an mlb.com article. He batted .293 with 39 homers and 112 RBIs in 2024, winning a Silver Slugger but not making the All-Star Game. He hit .246 with 30 homers in 2023, his first season with the A’s. All-Star Game voting is under way on mlb.com; the game is July 15 in Atlanta. … Elsewhere in The Show, in his season debut with Toronto, Madison Central High alum Spencer Turnbull pitched two scoreless innings in middle relief and picked up the win as the surging Blue Jays beat St. Louis 5-2. It was his first MLB game since June of last year (see previous posts). P.S. Kudos to six players from Mississippi schools who made the NCBWA Division I All-America teams. Southern Miss’ Nick Monistere and J.B. Middleton (the state’s Ferriss Trophy winner) and MSU’s Ace Reese and Noah Sullivan were named to the first team, USM’s Colby Allen and Ole Miss’ Hunter Elliott to the third team.

21 May

together again

MACCC powerhouses Pearl River Community College and East Central CC, who just met last week in a three-game showdown for the Region 23 crown, could collide again in the NJCAA Division II World Series in Enid, Okla. PRCC is the No. 2 seed, while ECCC is seeded sixth on the same side of the bracket in the 12-team, double-elimination event. PRCC (50-8) earned the automatic bid by winning the region title in a winner-take-all game Saturday. ECCC (42-14) got one of the two at-large bids and is in the field for the third straight year. PRCC won the national in 2022. ECCC will play Catawba Valley on Saturday. PRCC gets a first-round bye before taking on the winner of the Southeastern Iowa-Kellogg contest on Sunday. Pearl River leads the nation in staff ERA and ranks among the leaders in home runs, a pretty sweet combo. The big mashers for the Wildcats include Caston Thompson (13 homers, .372 average), Jackson Hood (12 homers, .344) and Topher Jones (10 homers, .377). The twin aces are Jacob Johnson (12-1, 1.62 ERA) and K.K. Clark (10-2, 1.75). Johnson shut out ECCC in the deciding game of the region title series. East Central’s top hitters are Barret Rodgers (.359) and Pablo Roque (.352, seven homers), and the Warriors’ ace is Bryson Goff (9-1, 2.81). P.S. In MLB, former Jackson Prep standout Will Warren, now with the New York Yankees, struck out 10 batters in 5 2/3 shutout innings to beat the Rangers and run his record to 3-2. … Ole Miss alum Nick Fortes hit his first homer of 2025, accounting for Miami’s only run in a 14-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. … Mississippi State product J.T. Ginn has gone back on the injured list for the A’s after making one rocky start in his first game off the IL.

11 May

three stars

Ryan McPherson: The Mississippi State freshman right-hander entered Saturday’s game in the ninth inning with the tying and go-ahead runs on base, got a double-play ball and another ground-ball out to preserve the Bulldogs’ 6-5 win over Ole Miss in the rubber game of the series in Starkville. It was the second save of the season for McPherson. State (31-20, 12-15 SEC) improved to 6-1 under interim coach Justin Parker. Nationally ranked Ole Miss is 34-17, 14-13.
Drey Barrett: The Southern Miss freshman third baseman doubled, tripled and drove in four runs as the Golden Eagles won their 11th straight game, whipping Louisiana-Lafayette 15-5 in Hattiesburg. Barrett is hitting .261 with 27 RBIs on the season for USM (37-13, 20-6 Sun Belt)
Jacob Keys: The Pearl River Community College sophomore catcher, from Brandon via USM, hit a grand slam and knocked in five runs all told as the Wildcats (48-7) routed Northeast 17-2 in the Poplarville bracket and advanced to the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Championship Series against East Central.
Worth noting: Ole Miss product Tim Elko became the fifth Mississippian (native or school alum) to debut in the big leagues this season. The Chicago White Sox broadcasting crew sung the praises of Elko’s storybook career in Oxford, interviewed his parents in the Rate Field seats and played a video clip of his Triple-A manager, a very emotional Sergio Santos, informing Elko of his call-up. He played first base and went 0-for-3 in a 3-1 loss to Miami. … Ex-State standout Brent Rooker hit his 10th homer of the year — 89th career — as the A’s took down the New York Yankees 11-7. … Jurrangelo Cijntje, the switch-pitcher out of MSU, won his second straight start for High-Class A Everett (Seattle system), allowing one run in five innings vs. Tri-City. … Former Mississippi Braves star C.J. Alexander hit for the cycle, including his eighth homer, for Triple-A Las Vegas (A’s system). … Rhodes was declared the Southern Athletic Association Tournament champion as rain washed out Saturday’s schedule at Millsaps’ Twenty Field. Rhodes went 2-0 with wins over Millsaps and Centre, who were set to play a losers bracket game. Millsaps, SAA regular season champion, is hopeful of an NCAA Division III regional bid.

10 May

not to be overlooked

The three-homer game by Jasson Dominguez — the rookie outfielder they call “The Martian” — deserved the spotlight, but don’t overlook what the rookie right-hander out of Jackson Prep did for the New York Yankees on Friday. Will Warren had a career night in his 14th MLB game, throwing 7 1/3 innings in a 10-2 win over the A’s at West Sacramento, Calif. Warren, now 2-2 with a 4.75 ERA in eight starts this season, retired the first 10 batters before yielding a walk and a hit — by Mississippi State alum Brent Rooker — in the fourth inning. He allowed just three more hits and a lone run while striking out seven. “It’s just executing every pitch, and tonight we did that,” the 25-year-old Warren said in a postgame TV interview. Warren, drafted out of Southeastern Louisiana in 2021, wasn’t even assured of a role on the Yankees’ staff back in spring training. But injuries opened up spots in the rotation, and Warren grabbed one. It hasn’t been smooth sailing: In four of his eight starts he has lasted less than five innings. But Friday’s outing against a tough lineup was certainly encouraging. “I thought he had a lot of weapons,” Yanks manager Aaron Boone said in a TV interview. “He was really good, man. … I feel like the last few times I’ve really seen the electricity with his stuff.” P.S. Down on the farm, former Jackson Prep star Konnor Griffin went 4-for-4 with a home run for Low-Class A Bradenton. Pittsburgh’s No. 2-rated prospect — the ninth overall pick in the 2024 draft — is batting .283 with six homers, 17 RBIs and 12 steals in 27 games.

03 May

home cookin’

In his major league debut Friday night, Gunnar Hoglund wore the colors of the visiting team, but he sure looked right at home on the mound at loanDepot Park in Miami. In a sense, he was. A native of Dunedin, Fla., the former Ole Miss standout had a cheering section of family and friends behind the A’s dugout, and he treated them to a brilliant performance. Hoglund shut out the Marlins for five innings before yielding a solo homer in the sixth. He finished six innings, allowing six hits and no walks with seven strikeouts in a 6-1 victory. “All those people that came and watched me tonight, they’ve all played a part in me getting to this point now. … Without them, I wouldn’t be here,” Hoglund told mlb.com. Hoglund, 25, was the 19th overall pick out of Ole Miss by Toronto in 2021 after going 10-5 with a 3.68 ERA in three college seasons. He was traded to Oakland the next spring. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound right-hander was 1-2, 2.43, in six starts in his first full season in Triple-A when he got the call to the big leagues. … Former Mississippi College star Blaine Crim also made his MLB debut on Friday, and it didn’t go as well. Batting eighth and playing first base for Texas, Crim went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts as the slumping Rangers lost to visiting Seattle 13-1. He struck out in his first at-bat against Bryan Woo. A .296 career hitter in six minor league seasons, Crim is the first former MC player to appear in a big league game since Harry Craft in 1942. P.S. Ole Miss product Doug Nikhazy, knocked around in his big league debut last Saturday, got knocked around again in his first Triple-A start since returning to the minors. The left-hander yielded eight hits (three homers), three walks and five runs in four innings, taking the loss Friday for Columbus against St. Paul. His Triple-A ERA rose to 4.84. Debuting for Cleveland on April 26, Nikhazy gave up six runs in three innings against Boston.

01 May

debut alert

Gunnar Hoglund, a 2021 first-round pick out of Ole Miss, is getting the call to the big leagues by the A’s, according to various reports. The 25-year-old right-hander could be in line to start Friday’s game at Miami. Hoglund threw five scoreless innings for Triple-A Las Vegas on Sunday; he is 1-2 with a 2.43 ERA over six starts in the Pacific Coast League. Between Double-A and Triple-A in 2024, Hoglund posted a 9-7 record, 3.44 ERA. Drafted 19th overall by Toronto four years ago, and coming off Tommy John surgery, Hoglund was traded in the spring of 2022 to Oakland in the Matt Chapman deal. … When he plays, Hoglund will be the third Mississippi product to make his MLB debut in 2025, following Jake Mangum and Doug Nikhazy, and the 20th overall to get in an MLB game this season.