power trippin’
It wouldn’t be a total shock to see Brent Rooker win tonight’s Home Run Derby. Ex-Misssisippi State standout Rooker certainly has power. He’s got 20 homers this season, 89 over the last two-plus seasons with the A’s and 99 (in 461 games) in his MLB career. He has 102 minor league homers (in 402 games) on his resume and hit 36 at MSU, 23 in 2017 when he won the SEC Triple Crown. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound right-handed batter has big power: 11 of his 20 homers this year are 400-foot clouts, and he has a career-best of 463. And he enters the competition at Atlanta’s Truist Park on a bit of power trip with four bombs in his last 14 games. Rooker will be the first Mississippian (native or school alum) to participate in the All-Star Game’s Derby since Brian Dozier in 2014. Dave Parker won the first such event in 1985 and also took part in ’86. Ellis Burks was in the 1996 Derby, and Rafael Palmeiro competed in two: 1998 and 2004. Rooker’s competition tonight includes Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh, the betting favorite, plus fan favorite Matt Olson of the Braves, Byron Buxton, Oneil Cruz, James Wood, Junior Caminero and Jazz Chisholm. (You can get some good odds on Rooker, if you’re so inclined.) The event begins at 7 p.m. on ESPN. P.S. The Mississippi Mud Monsters won again at Trustmark Park on Sunday night, their eighth win in 10 games, and enter the Frontier League All-Star break with a 30-27 record. All-Star Travis Holt hit his ninth homer and enters the break at .300 with 39 RBIs. Brandon Mitchell (4-3) went six innings for the victory. The FL All-Star Game is Wednesday in Troy, N.Y. … Tyler Pitzer, a portal transfer into Mississippi State, has been named to the Cape Cod League All-Star Game on July 19. Right-hander Pitzer, pitching for Yarmouth-Dennis, leads the CCBL in ERA with an 0.57 over 15 2/3 innings with 21 strikeouts. He pitched the last two years at South Carolina.