Tag Archives: Biloxi Shuckers

11 Aug

like old times (sorta)

In the relative obscurity of an independent league, Demarcus Evans is flashing the form that made him a hot prospect when he reached the majors five years ago. The Petal native threw three scoreless, hitless innings in relief Sunday for Gary SouthShore in an American Association game. The 28-year-old right-hander trimmed his ERA to 1.95 in 20 appearances. In 27 2/3 innings, he has struck out 25 batters but walked 16. Drafted out of Petal High in the 25th round by Texas in 2015, Evans — currently listed at 6 feet 5, 270 pounds — was described as a “hulking fireballer” who needed a lot of polish. He gradually rose through the Texas system — punching out 444 batters in 297 innings — before getting his first MLB call-up in September of 2020. And, yes, Albert Pujols welcomed him with a home run. Evans would make just 29 appearances in ’20 and ’21 for Texas, posting a 4.75 ERA with a high walk total. He became a free agent in 2022, went to spring camp with the New York Yankees in 2023, got hurt and barely pitched the next two seasons. Seemingly healthy now, Evans has settled in as one of the more dependable relievers for the RailCats. He has allowed just one run in his last seven appearances for a team that is 20 games under .500. Getting back to affiliated ball might be unlikely for Evans, but it’s good to see that he is finding some success again. P.S. Isaac Collins, former Biloxi Shuckers standout, hit his first (ever) walk-off home run to give Milwaukee its ninth straight win, a 7-6 shocker over the New York Mets. Collins is batting .462 over his last seven games and .295 with eight homers on the season. … Nathaniel Lowe played a role in a history-making event on Sunday: The ex-Mississippi State standout was the 3,500th career strikeout victim for future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander; only 10 pitchers have hit that total. Lowe’s Washington club did beat Verlander and San Francisco by an 8-0 count. … Down in the minors, former Magee High star Brennon McNair doubled in the eighth inning, went to third on a bunt and scored the game’s lone run on a throwing error as Columbia beat Hickory. McNair, 22, has had an uneven season for the Low-Class A Kansas City affiliate, batting .192 with nine homers, 34 RBIs, 40 runs and 12 steals in 87 games.

10 Aug

worth noting

Hurston Waldrep sure knows how to capture the moment. Last Sunday, the ex-Southern Miss and Mississippi Braves standout was the winning pitcher for Atlanta in the historic Speedway Classic. On Saturday, he threw six strong innings to get his second career MLB win in the first game of a twinbill, which also happened to be the debut for Jen Pawol, the first woman to umpire an MLB regular season game. (She’ll be behind the plate today.) Waldrep is 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA and — probably? — has earned a spot in the Braves’ rotation. … Former M-Braves Michael Harris II and Drake Baldwin combined for eight hits and eight RBIs as the Braves swept Miami on Saturday at Truist Park. … M-Braves alum William Contreras and ex-Biloxi Shuckers star Brice Turang homered — 10th of the season for each — and Milwaukee beat the New York Mets for its eighth straight win. … Jacob Gonzalez, former Ole Miss All-American, homered for the second straight day and went 2-for-3 with two walks and three RBIs to power Triple-A Charlotte (Chicago White Sox system) to a victory. … Chuckie Robinson, Southern Miss product, put up a 2-for-4 — eight hits in his last five games — scored twice and threw out a base-stealer for Triple-A Oklahoma City (Los Angeles Dodgers) in a win against El Paso. … K.C. Hunt, ex-Mississippi State standout, threw six shutout innings for his seventh win as Double-A Biloxi (Milwaukee) beat Knoxville. … Konnor Griffin, the No. 1 prospect out of Jackson Prep, banged out three hits and scored three times as High-Class A Greensboro (Pittsburgh) rang up 27 runs against Asheville. … Emaarion Boyd, the speedster from South Panola, stole his 40th bag, drove in a run and scored one for High-A Beloit (Miami) in a 2-1 victory against Quad Cities. P.S. Kevin Roberts Jr., a Meridian native now playing at Jackson Prep, will play in the MLB-sponsored High School All-American Game on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The game features players, many of them top draft prospects, from the prep class of 2026. A Florida commit, Roberts hit .406 for Prep in 2025.

09 Aug

ecstasy and agony

When it ended, on an unforgettable, jaw-dropping play, Brandon Woodruff was just a spectator. The Mississippi State product had done his part for Milwaukee on Friday night, throwing a season-high seven innings and leaving with a lead. In the top of the ninth inning, the New York Mets — who put the Brewers out of the playoffs last fall — got the tying run to second base with two down. On a single to center field by Jeff McNeil, Blake Perkins came up throwing and nailed Starling Marte at the plate, ending the game and sending the 43,000-plus at American Family Field into a frenzy. “I was running up and down the hall after it happened. It was incredible,” Woodruff said in an mlb.com story. The 3-2 victory was the Brewers’ seventh straight. “A perfect representation of the way this team’s playing,” said catcher William Contreras, the former Mississippi Braves standout who made the tag on Marte that ended it. Milwaukee has the best record (71-44) in the majors and a 5-game lead in the National League Central. Woodruff, making his sixth start since coming off the injured list, is 4-0 with a 2.29 ERA. Though his fastball velocity is down a bit, the Wheeler High grad is still racking up strikeouts: eight on Friday and 45 (with only six walks) in 35 2/3 innings all told. “That is what a horse looks like,” Brewers broadcaster Brian Anderson said when Woodruff walked off the mound after a 1-2-3 seventh. … New York’s other team also suffered a crushing defeat on Friday night, and a pair of Biloxi Shuckers alums played key roles. Devin Williams, the Yankees’ embattled reliever, allowed three runs in the 10th inning, two on a Taylor Trammell homer, and the scuffling Yanks fell to Houston 5-3 at raucous Yankee Stadium. One of the best closers in the game with Milwaukee before joining the Yankees this season, Williams saw his ERA rise to 5.73. He has allowed eight runs in his last five appearances, though he did manage to notch a save in that span. “It’s pretty simple. I stink right now,” Williams told mlb.com. Josh Hader, another former Shuckers star and now the Astros’ closer, worked the ninth and 10th for Houston, stranding the tying runs in the final frame. Hader is 6-2, 2.05, with 28 saves. The American League West-leading Astros improved to 65-51. New York, third in the AL East, is 61-55. P.S. Alex Wood, an ace for the M-Braves back in 2013, announced his retirement after 12 MLB seasons. He was not on a team this year. The 34-year-old left-hander went 77-68 with a 3.78 ERA for his career, which included winning a World Series ring with the 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers. … Former MSU standout Preston Johnson was released by Baltimore; he had reached the Triple-A level this season but struggled there (14.73 ERA in seven games).

08 Aug

they also serve …

Dave Clark and Travis Chapman won’t throw a pitch or swing the bat this weekend, but they’ll be on the field at Yankee Stadium and involved in the action. Clark, the former Jackson State star from Shannon, and Chapman, a Mississippi State alum, are first-base coaches for Houston and the New York Yankees, respectively. Those teams, rivals with a history and 2025 playoff contenders, will face off in a three-game series. With the likes of Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa and Jazz Chisholm taking hacks in this series, Clark and Chapman figure to be plenty busy playing traffic cop at first base. They are among a sizable group of former players with Mississippi connections who now work in managerial or coaching roles in the big leagues. At one time in 2018, there were seven major league managers with a Mississippi tie, either a school alum or a player or manager for Jackson’s old Texas League club. Today, Brian Snitker, 2005 Mississippi Braves skipper, and Ray Montgomery, who played for the Jackson Generals in the 1990s, are the only two. Snitker is retiring after this season on the heels of a great run in the ATL, the 2025 season notwithstanding. Montgomery is the interim manager for the Los Angeles Angels, presumably just keeping the seat warm for the return of Ron Washington next year. For the Milwaukee Brewers — MLB’s hottest team — Chris Hook, a former Biloxi Shuckers coach and a Jackson Generals pitcher, serves as pitching coach for an outstanding staff, and Starkville native Julio Borbon is the Brewers’ first-base coach. The Crew is hosting the New York Mets this weekend. John Gibbons, former Jackson Mets catcher, is the Mets’ bench coach, and Antoan Richardson, who starred for the Mississippi Braves, is their first-base coach. Laurel native Bobby Dickerson is the infield coach for Philadelphia. Marcus Thames, the Louisville native and East Central Community College star, is the hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox. Jim Hickey, a former Jackson Generals pitching coach, is the longtime pitching coach of the Washington Nationals. The Colorado staff includes Clint Hurdle, skipper of the last JaxMets team in 1990, as bench coach and ex-JaxMets first baseman Ron Gideon as first-base coach. Chris Truby, who manned third base for the Jackson Generals in the mid-’90s, is now a coach for Pittsburgh. P.S. Former Southern Miss standout Landon Harper came within one out of a seven-inning perfect game Thursday for Double-A Columbus in Atlanta’s system. Harper finished with a one-hitter and improved to 3-6 with a 3.67 ERA after the 2-0 win over Rocket City. … Former Jackson Prep star Konnor Griffin homered — his 15th overall this season — for High-Class A Greensboro (Pittsburgh). The minor leagues’ No. 1 prospect is batting .332 with 64 RBIs, 87 runs and 50 steals in 92 games over two levels of A-ball. … Blaine Crim, Mississippi College alum, hit his 19th homer of the year, his first for Triple-A Albuquerque since Colorado claimed him off waivers from Texas. The bomb came against his former team, Round Rock, and erstwhile big leaguer Craig Kimbrel. … The Los Angeles Dodgers reportedly will call up Justin Dean, who played center field for the 2021 Double-A South champion M-Braves. … The North Delta Dealers, behind the two-hit pitching of Eli Akins, won the Cotton States League championship last Sunday, beating regular season champ Tallahatchie 2-1. Hayden Short and Patrick Mangels drove in runs for North Delta. Akins, a 6-foot-6 righty at Delta State, went 6-1 in the New Albany-based college summer league. Tallahatchie finished 14-5-1 this season and led the loop in hitting and pitching.

06 Aug

numbers to crunch

4 — Hits by Brent Rooker in a 16-7 win Tuesday by the A’s over Washington in a game chock-full of crazy numbers, including 24 hits — nine for extra bases — and five walks by the visitors at Nationals Park. Former Mississippi State star Rooker hit two doubles, drove in three runs and scored three.
3 — Home runs by Shea Langeliers of the A’s in the catcher’s first career game batting leadoff. Langeliers, who powered the Double-A Mississippi Braves to a league title in 2021, went 5-for-6 and scored four times. It was his second career three-homer game, and he now has 22 bombs on the season.
4 — Walks drawn by Nathaniel Lowe in the Nationals’ humbling defeat. The MSU alum, teammates with Rooker back in 2016, went 0-for-1 and is batting .221 with a .294 OBP — far off his career numbers — in his first year with Washington.
13 — Wins this season for Garrett Crochet, who allowed two runs in seven innings as Boston beat Kansas City 6-2 for its seventh straight win. Ocean Springs native Crochet, pitching on nine days rest, is 13-4 with a 2.24 ERA in 23 starts for the surging Red Sox.
13 — Wins this season for Freddy Peralta, who went five innings for Milwaukee to subdue Atlanta 7-2. The former Biloxi Shuckers standout, 13-5 with a 3.03, helped the Brewers win their sixth straight and improve to an MLB-best 69-44.
7 — Hits and RBIs in four August games for Isaac Collins, who had two of each in Milwaukee’s win at Truist Park. The 5-foot-8, 188-pound Shuckers alum, batting .285 this season, was the National League rookie of the month for July.
5 — RBIs by Dakota Jordan in a two-homer game for Low-Class A San Jose in San Francisco’s organization. The ex-MSU star from Canton, a 2024 draftee, has 14 homers and 82 RBIs in 84 games. Coming off the IL, he is 11-for-19 with four bombs and 12 RBIs in four games in August.
1 — Save, in his first opportunity at Triple-A Omaha (Kansas City system), for Brandon Johnson. The Ole Miss product threw a scoreless 10th in a 7-6 win at Indianapolis, trimming his ERA to 6.37 in his 22nd game for the Storm Chasers. He had a 0.79 and seven saves at the Double-A level this year.
P.S. Rooker, former State standout Jake Mangum (Tampa Bay) and Shuckers alum Sal Frelick (Milwaukee) were selected as their team’s Heart and Hustle Award winners for 2025. The award honors a player who best embodies the values, spirit and tradition of the game. An overall winner will be chosen after the season.

29 Jul

trade breeze

A pair of former Mississippi college standouts will trade places today in a deal that will soon be overshadowed when the trade winds pick up in MLB. Tampa Bay, in need of a defensive-minded catcher, is acquiring former Ole Miss star Nick Fortes from Miami, sending ex-Southern Miss star Matthew Etzel, a third-year minor league outfielder, to the Marlins. The Rays are 54-53 after beating the New York Yankees on Monday and are hanging on the fringe of the American League wild card race. Fortes, in his fifth big league season, was batting .240 with two home runs and 10 RBIs in 59 games as a part-timer for Miami. He’ll join a Rays team that includes Mississippi State alum Jake Mangum and share catching duties with Matt Thaiss, a .219 hitter. Etzel is currently on the injured list at Double-A Montgomery. He is batting .230 with five homers, 34 RBIs and 17 steals. Originally drafted by Baltimore in 2023 and traded last summer, the speedy Etzel is a .267 career hitter with 83 steals. He’ll likely go to Double-A Pensacola and join a club that includes Ole Miss product Kemp Alderman. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves star Michael Harris II, in the throes of a tough offensive year, was named the National League player of the week. He batted .478 with six extra-base hits, including two homers and two triples, last week. … A host of former Biloxi Shuckers started for Milwaukee on Monday in an 8-4 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs that moved the Brewers a game up in the NL Central. Shuckers alum Sal Frelick, batting leadoff, went 2-for-4 with a walk, a homer and two runs as the Brewers overcame a ragged start by ex-Shuckers star Jacob Misiorowski. … Former Jackson Prep star Konnor Griffin, currently in High-Class A for Pittsburgh, is now Baseball America’s No. 1 overall prospect; MLB Pipeline previously ranked Griffin No. 1.

25 Jul

reshuffling the deck

The jump to No. 1 overall prospect by Konnor Griffin was the lead story Thursday out of MLB Pipeline’s updated rankings. For the Mississippi baseball aficionado, one of the more interesting sidebars was the return of Blaze Jordan to Boston’s Top 30 list. The former DeSoto Central High star and state Gatorade player of the year is ranked No. 17 on the Red Sox’s chart. Once ranked as high as No. 6 in the system, Jordan, still only 22, had dropped from the Top 30 in the off-season. His return is testament to the big year he has having. Currently at Triple-A Worcester, he is batting .288 with five homers and 22 RBIs. The corner infielder — 6 feet, 220 pounds — has hit safely in 12 of his last 15 games. Overall in 2025, including time in Double-A, Jordan is at .304 with 11 homers and 59 RBIs. He may be rediscovering the power tool that made him a third-round draft pick in 2020. From the MLB Pipeline scouting report: “He’s making a higher quality of contact this year by being more judicious about what pitches he offers at, giving hope that he could turn into a .250 hitter with 20 homers annually at the big league level.” P.S. Milwaukee’s potent Top 30 list includes three Mississippi products: No. 4 Cooper Pratt, No. 20 Tyson Hardin and No. 26 K.C. Hunt. All are currently at Double-A Biloxi. … Griffin, the former Jackson Prep standout, put up a four-hit game and stole two bases for High-Class A Greensboro on Thursday; he is batting .331 overall with 13 homers and 44 bags in Pittsburgh’s system. … Southern Miss alum Chuckie Robinson had a four-hit game for Triple-A Oklahoma City (Los Angeles Dodgers); the veteran catcher, who has nine hits in his last three games, raised his average to .266. … Adam Chamblee has been named the new coach at Holmes Community College. The Winona native, who played at West Alabama, previously was head coach at Copiah-Lincoln CC.

21 Jul

fit to be tied

The Cubs went down in Chicago, Milwaukee rose up in Los Angeles and suddenly there’s a tie at the top of the National League Central. Not long after former Ocean Springs High star Garrett Crochet and the Boston Red Sox beat the Cubs 6-1 Sunday at Wrigley Field, ex-Biloxi Shuckers standout Isaac Collins knocked in the go-ahead runs for the Brewers in a 6-5 win at Dodger Stadium. With its 10th straight win, Milwaukee (59-40) has caught the Cubs, who have gone 6-4 during the Brewers’ impressive run. The pitching-rich Brewers will send former Wheeler High and Mississippi State star Brandon Woodruff to the bump today at Seattle. In two games since his return from shoulder surgery — and a season-plus on the shelf — Woodruff is 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings. He’s 47-26, 3.09, for his MLB career, all with the Brewers. In Sunday’s win, the Brewers overcame an early 3-0 deficit against Clayton Kershaw and ultimately took the lead in a three-run sixth, fueled by a two-out knock by Collins, who’s among a bundle of former Shuckers on the Brewers’ roster. The rookie outfielder, who played in Biloxi in 2023, is batting .268 with six homers and 26 RBIs. Earlier Sunday, Red Sox ace Crochet threw six innings of one-run ball against the Cubs and got the win — he is 11-4, 2.19 — as Boston scored a combined six times in the seventh and eighth. Ole Miss product Drew Pomeranz, who has been so good for the Cubs, surrendered a three-run bomb to Alex Bregman in the Red Sox’s pivotal four-run eighth. P.S. Matt Wallner, Southern Miss alum, crushed his 40th career homer — 11th of 2025 — for Minnesota in a win on Sunday. Wallner is batting just .205 but slugging .454 (with nine doubles and two triples). … Ex-USM standout Chuckie Robinson doesn’t always play for Triple-A Oklahoma City, but when he does … . The veteran catcher and ex-big leaguer is 5-for-8 with four RBIs in the last two games, both wins for the Dodgers affiliate. Robinson, a waiver claim from the Angels back in May, is hitting .251 with three homers and 33 RBIs on the year. He has played in just 22 games for the Comets, 59-37 overall in 2025.

12 Jul

clearing the bases

Atlanta won a one-run game Friday night — shocking! — but lost in midgame third baseman Austin Riley to “lower abdominal tightness.” The DeSoto Central High alum was listed as day-to-day, per the latest report on mlb.com/braves. He has played in all of the Braves’ 93 games, and they need him in the lineup. Riley was 1-for-2 with an RBI knock in the 6-5 win at St. Louis, continuing his recent surge: .321 with two homers, six RBIs and five runs in his last seven games. He is at .274 with 14 homers and 48 RBIs on the season. … Former Mississippi Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr., who went 3-for-5 on Friday, will not take part in Monday’s Home Run Derby over concerns about his back; Matt Olson takes his spot. … Ex-Ocean Springs High star Garrett Crochet of Boston pulled out of Tuesday’s All-Star Game, replaced on the American roster by Casey Mize. Meanwhile, Biloxi Shuckers alum Jacob Misiorowski, Milwaukee’s 6-foot-7 rookie sensation (4-1, 2.81 ERA) has been named to the National League squad. … Mississippi products Konnor Griffin (Jackson Prep), Braden Montgomery (Madison Central) and Jurrangelo Cijntje (Mississippi State) will get some national exposure today (3 p.m., MLB Network) in the All-Star Futures Game at Truist Park in Atlanta. Griffin is the No. 13 prospect in the minors, per MLB Pipeline rankings, with Montgomery at No. 32 and Cijntje No. 79. Each is currently playing in High-Class A. The Futures Game has become a big deal. Former Magnolia Heights standout Cooper Pratt, now in Double-A, played in the 2024 game. In previous years current big leaguers Colt Keith, Matt Wallner and Nathaniel Lowe particpated, along with the likes of Hunter Renfroe, Billy Hamilton, Dakota Hudson, Desmond Jennings and Ethan Small. … Dakota Jordan, the former MSU and Jackson Academy star, isn’t going to the ATL, but certainly has the credentials. He hit his 10th homer on Friday and is batting .304 with 70 RBIs and 63 runs in 79 games at Low-A San Jose (San Francisco). … Jackson State alum Robert Tate Jr. started at shortstop and went 1-for-4 with an RBI and Tigers teammate Nkosi Didder struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning to get the win as the NL squad beat the AL 7-4 in Friday’s HBCU Swingman Classic. … Arizona activated ex-MSU star Kendall Graveman from the IL; he gave up a run in an inning of work vs. the Los Angeles Angels and now has an 8.68 ERA. … Former Ole Miss slugger Tim Elko was placed on the IL (knee) by the Chicago White Sox; he is batting .145 in 62 MLB at-bats.

09 Jul

mission(s) accomplished

Small matter first: Will Warren kept Cal Raleigh in the yard on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. Big picture: Jackson Prep product Warren bounced back from a rough start last week to throw 5 2/3 shutout innings for New York in a 10-3 win against Seattle. It was the Yankees’ second straight win after six straight losses, including four in Toronto last week. Warren, rookie right-hander, gave up eight runs in four innings in one of those losses. “I would like to say that I flushed it right away, but I think you take every outing and learn from it — good or bad,” he said in an mlb.com story. “He was filling up the strike zone, which was good to see,” manager Aaron Boone said. Warren is now 6-4 with a 4.70 ERA in 19 starts (and 3-1 over his last seven appearances). He allowed just four hits and two walks against Seattle, which came in with a 48-42 record, led by the All-Star masher Raleigh. “The Big Dumper” bounced out twice and walked against Warren before hitting his 36th homer later in the game when the Yanks were comfortably ahead. New York (50-41) remains 3.5 games behind the Blue Jays — who won their 10th straight on Tuesday — in the American League East. P.S. Milwaukee rookie Jacob Misiorowski, former Biloxi Shuckers ace, beat the Los Angeles Dodgers (and Clayton Kershaw), fanning 12 in six innings in the 3-1 victory. “The Miz” is 4-1, 2.81, in five starts. … Ex-Biloxi High standout Colt Keith homered for the second straight day for Detroit, a go-ahead shot that helped the Tigers beat Tampa Bay 4-2 for their fifth straight win. Keith has eight homers on the year. … Arizona has sent Mississippi State alum Kendall Graveman on a rehab assignment in rookie ball. … Toronto put former Southern Miss star Nick Sandlin on the injured list with an elbow issue.