01 Nov

center stage

Chris Stratton, the former Mississippi State ace, is slated to start for the East in Saturday’s Fall Stars Game, the Arizona Fall League’s All-Star showcase. Stratton, 2-1 with a 3.94 ERA in four starts for Scottsdale, reached the big leagues in 2016 with San Francisco. The right-hander is joined on the East squad by 2016 Biloxi Shuckers stars Brett Phillips and Jacob Nottingham, Mississippi Braves alum Evan Phillips and former Petal High standout Anthony Alford. (Richton’s JaCoby Jones, a .341 hitter, was not selected.) The game is set for 7 p.m. (Central Time) in Surprise, Ariz., and will be televised by MLB Network. … Alford is slipping. A little. According to Baseball America. The 2017 prospect rankings are trickling out on the magazine’s web site, and Alford, the former Mr. Baseball, is ranked No. 2 in the Toronto system after being No. 1 last year. Alford had injury issues in 2016 playing at the high Class A level (.233, nine homers, 18 steals) but has seemingly regained his form in the AFL. He is hitting .295 with two homers and eight RBIs for Mesa. … M-Braves alum Dustin Peterson had three hits, Brett Phillips three, Jones two and 2017 M-Braves candidate Travis Demeritte two (including a homer) as Salt River banged out 20 hits and 17 runs in a game on Monday.

17 Oct

top of class

In its annual MLB draft assessment issue, Baseball America picked a pair of precocious pitchers from Mississippi colleges to highlight for having had the best debut in their respective organizations. Wyatt Short, the ex-Ole Miss star from Southaven, and Zac Houston, a Mississippi State product, were among a number of Mississippians hailed in BA’s Oct. 21-Nov. 4 issue. Short, drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 13th round in June, did not allow an earned run in 15 innings and notched seven saves in short-season A-ball. Houston, an 11th-rounder by Detroit, had an 0.30 ERA and four saves over 20 games at two levels, finishing in the Class A Midwest League. Also earning props from BA was ex-State standout Jacob Robson, an eighth-round pick by the Tigers who batted .267 in rookie ball and .316 in low Class A. Robson was labeled the Best Pure Hitter in Detroit’s class and was ranked among the five fastest runners drafted this year. Ole Miss alum J.B. Woodman, a second-rounder by Toronto, shared Best Defensive Player honors in the Blue Jays’ class. BA praised outfielder Woodman’s arm in particular. Woodman hit .272 with three homers, 24 RBIs and 10 steals in short-season A-ball and earned a promotion to low-A, where he batted .441 in 34 at-bats. The first Mississippian picked in June, State’s Dakota Hudson, who went to St. Louis in the first round, was recognized for his fastball: He tallied 19 strikeouts in 13 innings between the rookie level and high-A. Others to be singled out: State’s Nathaniel Lowe (Best Power, Tampa Bay), Bulldogs product Jack Kruger (Best Late-Round Pick, Los Angeles Angels), Itawamba Community College alum Delvin Zinn (Best Athlete, Cubs) and Starkville’s A.J. Brown (Best Athlete, San Diego). Brown, now playing football at Ole Miss, won’t make his pro debut before next summer. MSU fans lamenting what they lost in the draft can take some solace in the arrival of Graham Ashcraft, an Alabama prep star labeled The One Who Got Away in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ draft class, and Ole Miss fans can do the same concerning Grae Kessinger, the Oxford High product who passed on an offer from the Padres. Kessinger is part of a recruiting class ranked No. 1 by BA, which had seven of the new Rebels in its top 500 in the pre-draft rankings. … Atlanta and Milwaukee were ranked 2-3 in the Best Draft category, which bodes well for what we might see in Pearl and Biloxi a few years down the road.

19 Sep

junk and stuff

Joe Gray, the highly touted junior at Hattiesburg High, is featured in a story currently posted on Baseball America’s website. Gray is playing on an elite travel team, the EvoShield Canes, with a group of seniors. Gray, a 6-foot-2, 194-pound outfielder, hit .474 with seven homers, 45 RBIs, 11 steals and 12 assists as a sophomore last year for Hattiesburg, helping the Tigers reach the Class 5A finals. He hit .380 as a freshman. Gray, who has not committed to a college, figures to be a high MLB draft pick in 2018. … Fall ball is in the air in Oxford, where the Rebels scrimmaged last Friday. Ole Miss, 43-19 and an NCAA Regional participant in 2016, returns infielders Tate Blackman, Colby Bortles and Will Golsan and reliever Will Stokes. Among the newcomers are freshmen Grae Kessinger, Jason Barber, Thomas Dillard and Houston Roth from powerhouse Oxford High. … Wyatt Short and Trent Giambrone – 2016 draftees out of Mississippi colleges by the Chicago Cubs – helped short-season Class A Eugene win the Northwest League pennant. Left-hander Short, a 13th-round pick from Ole Miss, where he was a standout closer, had a 0.00 ERA and seven saves in 15 games; he got the save in the final game of the title series. Second baseman Giambrone, a 25th-rounder out of Delta State, batted .292 with four homers and 22 RBIs for the Emeralds. … Blake Anderson, a supplemental first-round pick in 2014 out of West Lauderdale High, is on Miami’s Instructional League roster as a rehabbing player. The catcher played only one game this season, going on the disabled list with a shoulder injury on July 7. He has played only 58 games over three seasons. … Bryant Nelson, at age 42, is having a nice season in the independent Atlantic League. The switch-hitting second baseman/outfielder is batting .279 with 49 RBIs and 13 stolen bases for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. For fans of the old Jackson Generals — the ones who played at Smith-Wills Stadium from 1991-99 — the name might ring a bell. Nelson is the last link to a bygone era — the only former General still playing. (Freddy Garcia pitched briefly for Monterrey in the Mexican League this season but is not currently on the roster.) Nelson’s pro baseball odyssey began when Houston drafted him in the 44th round in 1993. He made the Generals’ roster in the 1996 postseason as an injury replacement and helped the Gens win the Texas League championship. Nelson has played in 2,463 pro games, according to baseball-reference.com, and gotten 2,632 hits. He has played in Mexico, Japan and Italy and even made it to the big leagues for 25 games with Boston in 2002.

15 Sep

one more time

In his short time on the Mississippi Braves’ roster, Patrick Weigel has had a big impact. The 6-foot-6 right-hander pitched into the ninth inning and notched his first Double-A win against Biloxi on Sept. 1, when the M-Braves were still fighting for a playoff berth. In Game 2 of the Southern League South Division series last week, Weigel threw seven shutout innings as the M-Braves beat host Pensacola and evened the series at 1-all. Tonight at Trustmark Park, Weigel takes the hill in a do-or-die Game 3 of the SL Championship Series against the Jackson (Tenn.) Generals. Weigel, a seventh-round pick out of Houston in 2015, won 10 games at low Class A Rome this year before getting the promotion to Mississippi, where he had a 2.18 ERA in his three regular season starts. The M-Braves need a pick-me-up. They were done in by a three-run eighth inning in Monday’s opener at Jackson, losing 6-4. They managed just five hits in Game 2 on Tuesday and lost 2-0. The team’s hottest hitter in the series is another recent arrival, infielder Dylan Moore, acquired from Texas last month. He is 4-for-7 with an RBI and a run. The M-Braves must win three straight – at home — to claim the club’s second pennant. Based on recent results, they should feel confident with Weigel taking the ball. P.S. Former M-Braves and Ole Miss star Chris Ellis was named Baseball America’s pitcher of the day after throwing six hitless innings for Gwinnett on Wednesday night in the International League finals. (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, managed by former Jackson Mets shortstop Al Pedrique, rallied to win the game and even the Triple-A series 1-1.) Ellis, who had a rough go with the G-Braves, has tossed 13 shutout innings in the postseason. … Mississippi State alum Brandon Woodruff from Wheeler made BA’s Minor League All-Star team. The right-hander was 14-9 with a 2.68 ERA and 1.02 WHIP at two levels in the Milwaukee system. He was 10-8, 3.01 at Biloxi.

14 Sep

stretch run

At the moment, Mitch Moreland is probably the only Mississippian who knows he’ll be playing in the MLB postseason. The Mississippi State product from Amory, who has 22 home runs, has helped Texas take a commanding lead in the American League West. Ex-Ole Miss star Chris Coghlan and Greenwood native Louis Coleman are also on first-place clubs with secure leads, but neither can be certain he’ll be on the postseason roster. Coghlan is a versatile reserve for the Chicago Cubs, Coleman a middle reliever for the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the three battles still being furiously waged – AL East, AL wild card and NL wild card – there are a bunch of Magnolia State products clinging to hope. The hottest team in the big leagues is Seattle, which has won seven straight to stay in the AL wild card hunt. Former Ole Miss standout Seth Smith is swinging it well – a .381 average with three homers, including a grand slam on Tuesday, over his last seven games. Boston currently leads, by a slim margin, the AL East, and UM alum Drew Pomeranz has been a good addition to the Red Sox’s rotation even though his numbers (2-5, 4.60 ERA) aren’t great. MSU product Jonathan Holder is now in the bullpen of the resurgent New York Yankees – the Baby Bombers – who are very much alive in the AL East and wild card races. Jarrod Dyson, the ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College standout, has helped keep Kansas City in the playoff chase, batting .290 with 12 runs, nine steals and solid defense in the outfield in his last 15 games. Rookie JaCoby Jones, the former Richton High star, doesn’t play a lot for Detroit – he is 4-for-18 – but has value as a late-inning sub at several positions. Houston, also still lurking in AL playoff race, would love to see Mississippi Gulf Coast CC alum Tony Sipp (5.45 ERA) regain his career form (3.68) down the stretch. In the National League, former State standout Adam Frazier has been a bright spot (.333, two homers, nine RBIs, 14 runs in 99 at-bats) on a Pittsburgh team that seems to be fading away. UM alum Mike Mayers is on St. Louis’ expanded roster but, having allowed 15 runs in three appearances, doesn’t figure to get a lot of significant work. P.S. Mississippi is well-represented on Baseball America’s Classification All-Star teams. Hunter Renfroe (Mississippi State) made the Triple-A team, Bobby Bradley (Harrison Central High) the high Class A team and Austin Riley (DeSoto Central) the low-A team. Ozzie Albies of the Mississippi Braves is on the Double-A team. … Ex-MSU star Dakota Hudson, the first Mississippian chosen in this year’s draft (in the first round by St. Louis), only pitched 14 2/3 innings as a pro but fared rather well. The right-hander allowed only one earned run and struck out 19 over three different levels. He started with four games in the rookie Gulf Coast League, moved to Palm Beach in the Class A Florida State League (0.96 ERA in eight games) and finished with two scoreless appearances and a save for Springfield in the Texas League playoffs.

19 Aug

patience, patience

Bobby Bradley homered again on Thursday, for the fourth time in his last seven games. The Harrison Central High product now has 26 homers and 94 RBIs, both totals leading the Class A Carolina League. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound lefty-hitting first baseman won the rookie Arizona League Triple Crown in 2014 and led the low-A Midwest League in homers in 2015 with 27. He is rated the No. 3 prospect in Cleveland’s system and No. 82 in all of the minors by mlb.com and has been anointed the Best Player in the Indians’ system this season by Baseball America. No doubt a lot of people are eagerly anticipating Bradley’s big league debut – and they might have to wait a while. His ETA is 2018, according to mlb.com. It might be later than that. Bradley is only 20. He still has things to work on. He is batting .249 against A-ball pitchers. He has struck out 152 times, which ranks third in the CL (Atlanta prospect Braxton Davidson leads with 165), though he is drawing some walks (.359 on-base percentage). Bradley is likely to play in Double-A next year, and that pivotal level will tell a lot more about how close he is to The Show. Patience isn’t so much a virtue in baseball as it is a requirement.

11 Aug

crash davis

D.J. Davis’ stock, which appeared to be on the rise again after the 2015 season, has plunged this summer. The former first-round pick from Stone County High is batting .199 (up from a recent low of .193) with one home run, 13 RBIs and 26 runs in 69 games at Class A Dunedin. Baseball America once had the left-handed hitting outfielder rated the No. 3 prospect in Toronto’s system. After a rough year at low-A Lansing in 2014, he dropped to No. 21. Back in Lansing for the 2015 season, Davis seemed to find his stride. He cut down on strikeouts and batted .282 with seven homers, seven triples and 21 steals. He entered 2016 rated by BA as the Blue Jays’ 10th-best prospect. He won’t be that high entering 2017. (MLB.com currently has him at No. 23.) Davis has struck out 82 times this season, and walked just 26, in 236 at-bats. Scouting reports rave about his speed, and he has stolen 19 bases in 23 attempts this season. But speed doesn’t play if you can’t get on base. Davis, who turned 22 on July 25, is in his fifth pro season. Double-A is the game’s real proving ground, and Davis hasn’t shown this year that he’s even ready to try that level.

05 Aug

the venezuelan connection

You might not have known Andres Reiner, but if you watched the Jackson Generals back in the ’90s, you know his work. Reiner was a Houston Astros scout in Venezuela in those days and signed most of the Venezuelan players who starred for the Double-A Gens – and there were a bunch of them. Sadly, Reiner died on Wednesday at the age of 81. Baseball America has an obit (that includes a 2001 feature story) on its web site. Reiner was a native of Hungary who grew up in Venezuela and started funneling players to the Astros in 1989 after opening a baseball academy. Among the Generals stars he signed were Bobby Abreu, Richard Hidalgo, Freddy Garcia, Melvin Mora, Roberto Petagine and Raul Chavez, all future big leaguers. Reiner occasionally visited Smith-Wills Stadium during the Generals era, which ran from 1991-99 and included two Texas League pennants.

28 Jul

charting the stars

Dansby Swanson and Ozzie Albies, the keystone combo of the Mississippi Braves, check in at No. 5 and No. 19 in MLBPipeline’s refreshed ranking of the game’s Top 100 prospects. (Baseball America had them at seven and 17 in its midseason Top 100 released earlier this month.) Swanson, the shortstop and 2015 No. 1 overall draft pick (by Arizona), is batting .260 with seven home runs and 38 RBIs in his first Double-A Tour. Albies, who has shifted from short to second base, is batting a sweet .364. Both might be in line for a September appearance in Atlanta. Left-hander Sean Newcomb, 5-7 with a 4.57 ERA for the M-Braves, is ranked 60th in the chart published on mlb.com. Former Biloxi Shuckers Orlando Arcia (13) and Josh Hader (45) are also on the list, as is current Shuckers outfielder Brett Phillips (78). Mississippi State alum Hunter Renfroe, having a huge year at Triple-A El Paso (San Diego system), is ranked No. 52. Ex-Northwest Mississippi Community College star Cody Reed, currently pitching in the big leagues – and scuffling — with Cincinnati, is No. 59, and Harrison Central High product Bobby Bradley (in A-ball with Cleveland) is 82nd. P.S. Ex-Petal High standout Anthony Alford, one of Toronto’s top prospects, isn’t in the mlb.com Top 100; he’s 86th in the BA ranking. He has had a rough year that has included two stints on the disabled list. But, the 22-year-old outfielder is heating up, batting .371 over his last 10 games. He had three hits (two triples and a double) for Class A Dunedin on Wednesday and is at .217 with four homers, 26 RBIs and 12 steals for the year. He batted .298 in 2015, his first full pro season. “This season has been a good learning season for me because I’ve never had to deal with failure,” the former Mr. Baseball told milb.com.

10 Jul

highs and lows

The names of Mississippians popped up many times in Baseball America’s Midseason Organization Reports, some in good places, some in less-desirable spots. Hunter Renfroe, the former Mississippi State standout set to play in tonight’s All-Star Futures Game, and Bobby Bradley, the ex-Harrison Central High star, were named the “Best Player” in their organization, San Diego and Cleveland, respectively. JaCoby Jones, the former Mr. Baseball from Richton, was touted as making the “Biggest Leap Forward” this season in the Detroit organization, and MSU product Brandon Woodruff received the same designation in the Milwaukee system. He is currently pitching for the Biloxi Shuckers. There is also a category for “Biggest Disappointment.” Former Murrah High star Zack Bird (Atlanta), State product Jacob Lindgren (New York Yankees) and Anthony Alford (Toronto), another former Mr. Baseball from Petal, fell into that category. Injuries have played a part in the decline of each of those players, most notably Alford. Rated by some the best prospect in the Blue Jays’ system entering 2016, he suffered a knee injury on opening day at Class A Dunedin and a concussion in mid-June. Alford, a right-handed hitting outfielder, is in a 5-for-37 skid that has dropped his average to .183, with two homers, 18 RBIs and 22 runs in 48 games. It’s a good bet Alford will have found his stride by season’s end. … The best player in the Braves’ system is no surprise: Dansby Swanson, who is also slated for the All-Star Futures Game in San Diego. He is one of three current Mississippi Braves rated among the top 32 prospects in BA’s midseason update. Swanson is No. 7, Ozzie Albies No. 17 and Sean Newcomb No. 32. Milwaukee’s best player is left-hander Josh Hader, who started this season in Biloxi. He is also in San Diego for the Futures game. P.S. Line of the day for a Mississippian in the majors on Saturday belongs to Kendall Graveman: 8IP, 5H, 2R, 0BB, 3Ks. The ex-State star won his fourth straight game for Oakland, 3-2 vs. Houston, and is now 5-6 with a 4.37 ERA.