Tag Archives: Astros

07 Apr

with a bang

Seth Smith did something Monday that no Seattle player had ever done on opening day. And he did it in his Mariners debut. Before a packed house at Safeco Field, the former Hillcrest Christian and Ole Miss star delivered three extra-base hits (two doubles and a triple) to help the Mariners whip the Los Angeles Angels 4-1. “Opening day is special,” Smith, acquired by Seattle from San Diego in the off-season, told the Seattle Post Intelligencer. He has been in a different uniform for each of the last three. … Not to be overlooked, Meridian Community College product Corey Dickerson homered in his first at-bat, added a double and finished with four RBIs as Colorado routed Milwaukee 10-0. “He just swings hard in case he hits it – that’s pretty much his approach,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss told mlb.com about Dickerson, who blasted 24 homers last year. … Also of note from an action-packed opening day in MLB: Mississippi Gulf Coast CC alum Tony Sipp threw a clean eighth inning in Houston’s 2-0 shutout of Cleveland, and ex-Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton had a hit, scored twice and stole a base in a win by Cincinnati.

04 Apr

ups and downs

Louis Coleman, the former Pillow Academy star, cleared waivers on Friday and was outrighted to Triple-A Omaha by Kansas City. The Royals reportedly wanted to keep the right-handed reliever in their system; he posted a 3.55 ERA this spring and has a 3.25 career MLB mark, though he struggled in 2014. … Expectations certainly have changed for Lance Lynn. Entering the 2014 season, the Ole Miss product was considered St. Louis’ No. 4 or 5 starter. He went to the post 33 times, worked over 200 innings, won 15 of his 25 decisions and put up a 2.74 ERA. For 2015, he gets the nod in Game 2 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Tuesday. Lynn capped his spring with six shutout innings against the New York Mets on Thursday. “He was great – everything we needed to see,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told FoxSports.com. … Former UM standout Alex Presley, designated for assignment by the Houston Astros earlier this week, is likely to be traded, according to reports. Presley, an outfielder with five years of big league experience, hit .244 with the Astros in 2014 and has a career .259 average. … Meridian Community College alumnus Corey Dickerson, who had been out of the Colorado lineup with a back problem, returned on Friday. … Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton got a pair of hits Friday for Cincinnati to boost his spring average to .240. The speedster is 2-for-4 on stolen base tries.

17 Jan

out in left field

To borrow a line from the movie “Moneyball,” when someone hits a ball to left field against Atlanta this season, will there be anyone there to pick it up? The trade of Justin Upton opened the door in left for Evan Gattis, the former Mississippi Braves slugger. But now Gattis, too, has been dealt away. Who plays left? Zoilo Almonte? Say it ain’t so. Perhaps, ex-M-Braves standout Joey Terdoslavich will get a long look in spring training. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound switch-hitter doesn’t show up on the prospect charts, but he has power, which Atlanta needs, desperately. Terdoslavich, who hit .315 with five homers for the Double-A M-Braves in 2012, is rated the best power hitter in Atlanta’s minor league system by Baseball America. He hit 33 homers the last two seasons at Triple-A Gwinnett. Todd Cunningham, who also played in Pearl in 2012, could vie for Atlanta’s left-field job, but he’s not a power guy and looks better suited to center field. Also out there are Cedric Hunter, who had a good year for the M-Braves in 2014, and Cuban signee Dian Tascano, though neither is on the 40-man roster. … The Gattis trade did bring into the Atlanta system a candidate for the M-Braves’ third-base job: Rio Ruiz. Ruiz hit .293 with 11 homers at high Class A Lancaster in Houston’s system in 2014. Now entering his fourth pro season, he could be ready for Double-A. A 6-2, 215-pound lefty hitter, Ruiz also becomes the “third baseman of the future,” with Kyle Kubitza also having been traded.

19 Nov

fully loaded

With nine NCAA Division I early signees on the roster, you’ve got to like Hinds Community College’s chances of earning some championship hardware in 2015. The Eagles went 40-21 in 2014, won the NJCAA Region 23 title and reached the NJCAA Division II title game. The group of D-I signees includes five players bound for Louisiana Tech in 2016, among them Cleveland’s Marshall Boggs (.366 in 2014) and Clinton native Chase Lunceford (.328, 10 home runs). Madison’s Austin Sanders, who posted a 2.95 ERA, 10 saves and eight wins as a freshman, is headed to Ole Miss. Brookhaven’s Houston Case, another standout pitcher, will move on to Southern Miss. And Sam Temple’s Eagles likely will have more players sign D-I offers in April. It’ll be interesting to see where HCC ranks in the NJCAA preseason poll. No. 1, perhaps? P.S. Former Ole Miss star Alex Presley reportedly has agreed to a $1 million deal for 2015 with Houston, his 2014 club. Presley batted .244 with six homers and 19 RBIs in an injury-interrupted season. The Astros picked up the veteran outfielder last spring as a waiver claim from Minnesota.

01 Nov

familiar names

While perusing box scores from the various winter circuits, ran across a couple of names of note in the Puerto Rican (a.k.a. Robert Clemente) League: Angel Rosa and Ramon Castro. Rosa, an Alcorn State alumnus and Puerto Rico native, just finished his second season in the Los Angeles Angels’ system and looks to be making progress. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound shortstop hit .246 with seven home runs, 46 RBIs, 23 doubles and 15 steals in the Class A Midwest League, then batted .348 in 28 games in the high-A California League. Rosa doesn’t show up on the prospect charts, but he certainly is worth keeping an eye on. Castro is on the other side of the hill. The former Jackson Generals catcher, a first-round pick by Houston in 1994, is 38 years old and hasn’t been in an MLB game since 2011. But he is playing winter ball in his home country, showing an admirable love for the game. P.S. The Arizona Fall League’s Fall Stars Game will air tonight at 7 on MLB Network. Daniel Castro, a 2014 Mississippi Braves star, is in the starting lineup for the West, and ex-Mississippi State standout Hunter Renfroe (San Diego Padres) will come off the West’s bench.

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.

12 Aug

whatever happened to …

Stewart Cliburn, the former Delta State standout and ex-big league reliever, is now in his 13th season — sixth straight — as the pitching coach at New Britain, Minnesota’s Double-A affiliate. He also did a stint in Triple-A. Cliburn, drafted in the fourth round in 1977 by Pittsburgh, toiled in the minors for seven years before getting to the majors with the California Angels in 1984. In ’85, he had a truly great year: 9-3, six saves and a 2.09 ERA in 44 games (99 innings), all out of the bullpen. Arm problems derailed his career thereafter, and he was done as a player by 1990. For his MLB career, Jackson native and Forest Hill High alum Cliburn posted a 3.11 ERA in 85 games. Twin brother Stan, a catcher, also played in the big leagues and was in the Angels’ system for a time. But the two never realized their childhood dream of being battery mates in The Show. P.S. Among his other talents, McComb native Jarrod Dyson (see previous post) also does a pretty nice backflip. Check the highlights of Kansas City’s win on Monday. … Ole Miss product Alex Presley, on the disabled list (oblique) since July 8, is slated to start a rehab assignment today and could be back with Houston soon. Presley, in his first season with the Astros, is batting .252 with five homers and 13 RBIs.

08 Aug

slammed

For most of this season, Tony Sipp has been quietly efficient for a team that doesn’t capture a lot of headlines. Former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College star Sipp, a situational lefty for the lowly Houston Astros, had allowed just one earned run in 12 previous appearances when he was called on Thursday to face Philadelphia. It was the eighth inning, there were two runners on with one out, and the Astros led 5-2. Sipp allowed a single that loaded the bases but then got the second out. Up came Ryan Howard, Philly’s massive left-handed slugger. Sipp had held lefties to a .120 batting average and just one homer to that point of this season. Then Howard, on a 3-2 pitch, hit one out of Citizens Bank Park – a stadium-shaking grand slam that propelled the Phillies to a 6-5 win. Sipp jumped and punched the air in frustration as the ball left the yard. He was on all the highlight shows, the center of attention for all the wrong reasons. He was pulled from the game, left to mull that one pitch until his next opportunity comes. Overall, Sipp has a 2.91 ERA in 38 games in his first season with the Astros following stints in Cleveland and Arizona. Still, despite all his good work, that one pitch on Thursday is what got noticed. It’s the nature of the role, a role that’s not easy to play.

08 Jul

number crunching

1 — Major league starts by Phil Irwin, the Ole Miss alumnus who’ll make his second tonight for Texas against Houston. It’ll be his Rangers debut.
4 — Hits by Ole Miss product Chris Coghlan (now batting .252) and RBIs by Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton (34 for the season) in Monday’s Chicago Cubs-Cincinnati game, won by the Reds 9-3.
4 — Runs allowed (in three games) by former UM standout Aaron Barrett since a controversial balk call against him on June 30. Barrett, pitching for Washington, had yielded just five runs in 30 previous appearances.
5 — Number of Mississippi Braves alums slated to play in All-Star games next week: Current M-Brave Jose Peraza (Futures); Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman, Craig Kimbrel and Julio Teheran (MLB); and Gwinnett’s Phil Gosselin (Triple-A).
5 — Home runs in 2014 for ex-Rebels star Alex Presley, who hit his latest Monday to help Houston stop a seven-game losing streak with a 12-7 victory over Texas.
9 — Consecutive seasons of at least 20 saves for former Mississippi State star Jonathan Papelbon, who reached that number Monday in Philadelphia’s 3-2 win against Milwaukee.
10 — Starts by Meridian Community College product Cliff Lee (4-4, 3.18), who won’t make another for the Phillies until after the All-Star break. He has been on the disabled list since May 19.

05 Jul

fireworks

Mississippians do love fireworks. And Mississippians in the majors did their part to contribute to the noise on the Fourth of July, cracking out eight hits on the day, two of them bombs, and getting some sizzle from the mound, as well. Eight Magnolia State-connected position players got into games on Friday and collectively went 8-for-26 (.308) with the two home runs, three RBIs and nine runs. A pretty good day to be sure, and consider that the state’s best hitter, Meridian Community College alum Corey Dickerson (.337), did not play for Colorado, the left-handed slugger sitting against Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw. Itawamba CC’s Desmond Jennings sparkled with a three-hit game, and he also scored three times for Tampa Bay. Ole Miss product Chris Coghlan scored three for the Chicago Cubs and went 2-for-4, raising his average to .219. Ex-Southern Miss star Brian Dozier smoked a home run (No. 16) for Minnesota, and Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton lit off one (No. 5) for Cincinnati. Former Ole Miss standout Seth Smith went 1-for-3 with a run for San Diego. UM alum Zack Cozart of the Reds had the only real dud of a day, going 0-for-4 — though his team did win its game. Former Rebels star Alex Presley was 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter for Houston, and Southwest Mississippi CC product Jarrod Dyson got in late for Kansas City, as he often does, as a defensive replacement. Ex-Ole Miss ace Lance Lynn provided the pitching sparks, throwing 6 2/3 shutout innings for St. Louis in a victory over Miami. Lynn has nine W’s on the year. For the day, this Mississippi nine helped their clubs go 6-2. Now that’s a blast.