Blue Jays Archives - Page 9 of 15 - All Mississippi Baseball

26 Apr

it’s a bird …

Of the 127 runs that were scored in major league games on Tuesday night, Chris Coghlan’s is the one that will live on in highlight-reel perpetuity. The Ole Miss product went airborne — Superman-style — over St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina and landed hands first on home plate in the seventh inning of Toronto’s 6-5, 11-inning victory at Busch Stadium. “He’s (crouched) down, maybe I can jump, so let’s jump,” Coghlan told The Associated Press about his split-second decision to leap over rather than plow into Molina, who was up the third-base line several feet as he caught the throw from the outfield. “You’ve got to win that game because that’s what made it worthwhile,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said. “You probably don’t see that for 100 years.” Coghlan, batting .167 in his limited at-bats with the Blue Jays, drew a walk as a pinch hitter and scored from first on a wall-banging hit by Kevin Pillar. It was Coghlan’s first run as a Blue Jay and gave the team a short-lived 3-2 lead. Perhaps it was the kind of play that will propel them to more victories. At 6-14, the worst record in MLB, they needed a lift.

17 Apr

big league chew

Apparently, Brian Dozier’s bruised knee is just fine. After sitting out Saturday’s game, the former Southern Miss star smacked an inside-the-park home run on Sunday, producing the only run Minnesota would score in a 3-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Target Field. It was Dozier’s 119th career homer but first inside-the-parker. “I put it in a different gear,” he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Dozier’s recent power surge has overshadowed the fact that he can run a little bit. He has five steals already this season and has swiped 12 or more bags in each of the last four seasons. … Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland continues to deliver big hits for Boston, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs on Sunday. He had the go-ahead hit in the seventh inning of the Red Sox’s 7-5 win over Tampa Bay at Fenway Park. Moreland is hitting .356 with a homer, five RBIs and seven runs in his first season with Boston. “It’s been a smooth transition,” he told The Associated Press. … Jarrod Dyson, inserted as a pinch hitter, sparked a ninth-inning rally for Seattle with an infield hit and a stolen base, his fourth of the year. “We are down one (run), and I am on base with no outs? I am looking to go — and go early,” McComb native Dyson told the Bellingham (Wash.) Herald. He scored the tying run in the Mariners’ 8-7 win against Texas at Safeco Field. Dyson is batting just .200 with five runs in 12 games for his new club. … Ex-State star Adam Frazier, Pittsburgh’s super utility man, went 3-for-4 with homer – his first – and three RBIs as the Pirates completed a sweep of the Chicago Cubs with a 6-1 victory at Wrigley Field. Frazier is batting .343. … Ole Miss alum Chris Coghlan, who’s due a World Series ring from the Cubs, got his first hit and first RBI for Toronto, but the scuffling Blue Jays fell to Baltimore 11-4 at Rogers Centre. Coghlan was called up from Triple-A last week as a replacement for injured Josh Donaldson.

11 Apr

making the jump

Splash some water on Anthony Alford. He’s that hot. The former Petal High star is 9-for-12 with four walks through his first four games at the Double-A level. He has scored three runs, driven in two and stolen a base for New Hampshire in the Toronto system. Alford, 22, was drafted in the third round out of Petal in 2012 but this will be only his third full season in the minors since he gave up football at Ole Miss. The outfielder, rated the Blue Jays’ No. 2 prospect by Baseball America, made the 40-man roster in the off-season and drew praise for his progress from Toronto manager John Gibbons in spring training. Alford’s time is coming. … Gulfport native Bobby Bradley’s first taste of Double-A hasn’t been as sweet. The ex-Harrison Central standout is 3-for-16 in five games for Akron, Cleveland’s Eastern League club. On a positive note, the 20-year-old Bradley, the Indians’ No. 5 prospect, slugged his first homer on Monday; he now has 65 in 285 minor league games. P.S. Itawamba Community College alum Desmond Jennings is 3-for-13 through four games for Triple-A Las Vegas in the New York Mets’ system. The 30-year-old MLB veteran was released by Tampa Bay last summer and by Cincinnati this spring. Injuries have plagued Jennings the past couple of years.

29 Mar

departures and arrivals

Chris Coghlan will get a World Series ring next month. He’s looking for a uniform to wear. The Ole Miss alum was released by Philadelphia in a bit of a surprise move on Tuesday. Trying to make the lowly Phillies as a non-roster invitee, Coghlan, 32, didn’t have a great spring (.231, five RBIs) but did offer a left-handed bat and the versatility to play several positions. Coghlan batted .250 with six homers last year, which he split between Oakland and the champion Chicago Cubs. Over an eight-year career interrupted by injuries, Coghlan batted .260 with 52 homers. He hit .321 with Florida in 2009 when he won rookie of the year honors but never came close to that figure again. … Catching up on other roster news: Former Rebels star Stuart Turner apparently will make Cincinnati’s big club as a backup catcher, and lefty Cody Reed out of Northwest Mississippi Community College is going to stick in the Reds’ bullpen. However, Greenwood native Louis Coleman, a relief pitcher, was sent to the minor league camp, as was ex-Itawamba CC star Desmond Jennings, who reportedly can choose to be a free agent. … JaCoby Jones – who, it should be noted, did play a little football at Richton High – appears to have won Detroit’s center field job after batting .333 this spring. He debuted with the Tigers last summer. Former Ole Miss standout Alex Presley, despite batting .452 in a bid to win an outfield spot, was sent down by the Tigers. … Ex-Mississippi State star Jonathan Holder, who made his MLB debut last summer, appears to have claimed a job in the New York Yankees’ bullpen. He has had a strong spring (3.00 ERA). … MSU product Chad Girodo was sent out by Toronto. The lefty had a 2.08 ERA this spring after posting a 4.35 as a rookie last season.

23 Mar

movin’ on up

Kendall Graveman has risen to the top in Oakland. With Sonny Gray, the team’s presumptive ace, on the shelf with an injury, former Mississippi State star Graveman has been named the opening day starter. Graveman, 26, went 10-11 with a 4.11 ERA for the 69-win A’s last season, his second full year in the big leagues. He led the team in WHIP. Graveman was an eighth-round pick out of State by Toronto in 2013 and zipped through the minors to arrive in The Show in mid-2014. Oakland acquired him as part of the Josh Donaldson trade prior to the 2015 campaign, and Graveman went 11-10, 4.04 for the A’s that season.

11 Mar

keeping up with jones

The Detroit Tigers page on mlb.com lists Richton’s JaCoby Jones third on the depth chart of center fielders, behind Mikie Mahtook and Tyler Collins. Of the three, all competing for the starting job, Jones has clearly had the better spring. He is 7-for-18 with three doubles and a homer, which he hit on Thursday. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus has said he is impressed with Jones’ defensive abilities. Yet there remains much debate about whether Jones will make the big league team to start 2017. “He’s got the potential to be a very talented major league player, but even the best major league players usually require some honing of their skills prior to the big leagues,” Ausmus told mlb.com. In the Sporting News’ preseason yearbook, a rival scout questioned Jones’ maturity. Jones, 24, batted .214 in 13 games for the Tigers in 2016. In 364 minor league games, the 2013 third-round pick has hit .269 with 47 homers and 58 steals. He was a middle infielder at Richton and LSU and played mostly shortstop in the low minors before transitioning to third base and then the outfield. Bottom line: Jones, who goes 6 feet 2, 205 pounds, might start 2017 in Triple-A, but it would be surprising if he’s stuck in Toledo for very long. P.S. Former Picayune High standout T.J. House apparently is OK after being struck in the back of the head by a line drive while pitching for Toronto on Friday. A bloodied House was taken off the field on a stretcher and spent the night in a Florida hospital. He tweeted shortly after the incident that “things are looking good.” The left-hander, who has big league time with Cleveland, is in the Blue Jays’ camp as a non-roster invitee.

03 Mar

yard work

Home runs always get attention, especially in spring training games. Mississippi connections Adam Frazier, Tim Anderson and Anthony Alford made the highlight shows on Thursday, each going yard for the first time. Frazier, the versatile left-handed hitter out of Mississippi State, is having a fine spring for Pittsburgh as he tries to secure a role as a utility player. He is 3-for-8 with two RBIs and two runs in Grapefruit League games; he hit .301 as a rookie for the Pirates last season. East Central Community College alum Anderson, who hit .283 with nine homers and 10 steals as the Chicago White Sox’s rookie shortstop in 2016, is 7-for-12 in Cactus League play. A switch-hitter, he has three RBIs and three runs. Former Petal High star Alford, a top-rated prospect likely bound for Double-A this season, is in Toronto’s camp as a first-time 40-man roster member and has showed out well. He is 3-for-12 with a couple of RBIs. Alford, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound outfielder, is projected to make the big leagues in 2018. He has tremendously exciting potential.

15 Dec

there and here

While wondering if Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier will soon be a Los Angeles Dodger, here’s more stuff to chew on: D.J. Davis, seemingly in need of some positive reinforcement, hit his first home run of the Australian Baseball League season today. The former Stone County High standout launched a three-run bomb – boosting his RBI total to seven – for Canberra in a 5-2 win against Perth. Davis, a first-round pick in 2012 by Toronto, is coming off a rough year in A-ball and is batting just .125 (6-for-48) in the ABL. … East Mississippi Community College product LeDarious Clark (a Texas farmhand) has eight hits – including his first ABL homer – over his last five games to boost his average to .250 for Adelaide. He is second in the league (to Atlanta prospect Ronald Acuna) with nine steals. … Ex-Picayune High star T.J. House has signed a minor league contract with Toronto. House, a left-hander, posted a 4.44 ERA over parts of three seasons with Cleveland, which drafted him in 2008. He spent most of 2016 at Triple-A Columbus, where he had a 3.98 ERA. A starter for most of his career, House worked out of the bullpen the latter half of last season. … Mitch Moreland played on some good teams during his seven seasons in Texas but none could compare with what Boston will trot out in 2017. “I’m super excited,” Amory native Moreland said in a recent mlb.com story. “I’ve always been a fan of Boston, the fans, the background, history of the team.” The lefty-hitting first baseman hit .233 with 22 homers and won a Gold Glove for the Rangers in 2016. He should be a good fit on a Red Sox club that shapes up as a real threat to steal the Chicago Cubs’ crown.

10 Dec

g’day mate

Friday was a good day for baseball in Perth, where the temperature at game time between the Adelaide Bite and the host Heat was 73 degrees, according to the Australian Baseball League box score. It was a good day for LeDarious Clark, too, according to the same box score. The former Southeast Lauderdale High and East Mississippi Community College standout, batting leadoff and playing left field for Adelaide, went 2-for-6 with a couple of RBIs and a run in the Bite’s 8-2 win. Clark, a Texas Rangers prospect, is batting .214 with eight RBIs, seven runs and seven steals in 13 games in the ABL. A 12th-round pick in 2015 out of West Florida, Clark hit .276 with eight homers, 24 RBIs, seven triples and 29 runs at the short season level that summer. He smacked 11 homers and stole 24 bases in low Class A this past season but batted only .242 and fanned 99 times in 314 at-bats. … The other Mississippi native playing Down Under, former Stone County star D.J. Davis, is struggling. Davis, a former first-round pick by Toronto, is batting .095 in 11 games for Canberra.

18 Nov

searching …

Way out in Australia, D.J. Davis is searching for his game. The Wiggins native, a first-round draft pick by Toronto in 2012, endured a lost season in 2016, batting just .197 with 13 extra base hits in 83 games at the high-A level. He is wintering in the Australian Baseball League, where he is 1-for-8 with a stolen base in two games for Canberra. Scouting reports indicate that Davis, 22, remains a raw talent even in his fifth pro year. A lefty-hitting outfielder, he showed promise in low-A ball in 2015, hitting .282 with seven homers, seven triples, 59 RBIs and 21 steals. But 2016, which included a month-long stint on the disabled list, was a big step back. Once a top 10 prospect in the Blue Jays’ system, Davis is getting a chance to reestablish himself in the ABL. Stay tuned. P.S. The Arizona Fall League season ended for the Mississippi contingent on Thursday. Ole Miss alum Chris Ellis, an Atlanta prospect, threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings in Salt River’s finale; he finished 1-1 with a 5.03 ERA. Future Mississippi Braves infielder Travis Demeritte went 2-for-4 with a homer, his fourth, in that game. Richton’s JaCoby Jones (Detroit) finished at .329 with a homer and 13 RBIs; 2016 M-Braves star Dustin Peterson (Atlanta) batted .324; and Southwest Mississippi Community College product Kade Scivicque (Atlanta) hit .378. Ex-Petal High standout Anthony Alford (Toronto) didn’t play Thursday for Mesa and ended his AFL tour at .253 with three homers and 15 RBIs. He is expected to be added to the Blue Jays’ 40-man roster today. Mississippi State alum Chris Stratton (San Francisco) threw five shutout innings for Scottsdale, finishing 2-2, 3.12.