Chinese Professional Baseball League Archives

26 Oct

celebrate, celebrate …

There were two wild celebrations in baseball on Friday, the one at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and another at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taiwan, where Kirk McCarty and his CTBC Brothers teammates celebrated a Chinese Professional Baseball League title. McCarty, the former Southern Miss standout from Hattiesburg, won Game 3 for the Brothers, working 5 1/3 shutout innings in a 10-0 win over Uni-President that put the club up 2-1 in the best-of-7 Taiwan Series. CTBC won the clincher 12-6 on Friday for the franchise’s 10th CPBL crown. McCarty went 5-3 with a 2.76 ERA for CTBC in his first season in Taiwan after a year in the Korean Baseball Organization, where the little lefty won nine games in 2023. Drafted by Cleveland out of USM in 2017, McCarty made the big leagues in 2022 and posted a 4-3, 4.54, ledger for the Guardians. He won two C-USA titles with the Golden Eagles. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves pitcher Evan Phillips was a late scratch from Los Angeles’ World Series roster, reportedly because of minor arm soreness. The Dodgers added pitchers Alex Vesia and Brusdar Graterol to the 26-man squad, and both worked effectively in the 6-3 win capped by M-Braves alum Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning. … Brennon McNair, Magee High product, had a disappointing fourth year in pro ball, batting .193 for Low-Class A Columbia in the Kansas City system. The 22-year-old outfielder, who can also play third base and shortstop, will get a chance to redeem himself in the Australian Baseball League, where he’ll play for Brisbane starting next month. McNair did have some highlights in 2024, hitting eight homers, 15 doubles and two triples and swiping nine bases in 87 games. His career average is .207 with 18 bombs.

21 Oct

top performers

Kemp Alderman had a big moment last week in the Arizona Fall League. Fellow former Ole Miss standout Tim Elko had several moments — and was rewarded with a spot on the Week 2 list of top performers compiled by MLB Pipeline. Elko, a 10th-round pick by the Chicago White Sox in 2022, went 5-for-14 (.357) for the week with a double, two home runs and four runs for Glendale. The big first baseman/DH batted .289 with 18 homers between Double-A and Triple-A in 2024. Alderman, a second-rounder by Miami last year, hit a 119.5 mph homer that carried 443 feet for Peoria on Oct. 18. Only two major leaguers have ever hit a ball harder, per MLB Pipeline’s story. Alderman leads the AFL in homers with six and slugging at a ridiculous .906. … Ex-UM closer Brandon Johnson, a Kansas City prospect pitching for Surprise in the AFL, is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in three appearances. He had a 4.23 ERA, three wins, eight holds and three saves at two levels of the minors this season. P.S. Postseason flashback (of a different sort): On this date in 2009, ex-Columbus High star and erstwhile big leaguer Luther Hackman tossed a 153-pitch complete game in an 11-5 win for the Uni-President Lions over the Brother Elephants in Game 4 of the Taiwan Series, the championship of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. Hackman, who pitched in 149 MLB games from 1999-2003, took MVP honors in back-to-back Taiwan Series in 2008 and ’09, according to baseballreference.com.

21 Sep

odds and ends

Garrett Crochet’s 2024 numbers, most of them, are pretty good. The Ocean Springs native, starting for the first time since his college days four years ago, has a 3.68 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP, a .220 batting average against and 203 strikeouts with just 32 walks in 142 innings. The tall left-hander, an All-Star back in July, struck out eight with no walks in a four-inning scoreless outing on Friday. His team, the mournful Chicago White Sox, lost again to fall to 36-118. Crochet’s record is 6-12. How’d he ever win six? … Ex-Southern Miss standout Matt Wallner went 2-for-6 with an RBI knock in the 12th inning as Minnesota beat Boston 4-2 at Fenway Park to climb to within a game of slumping Kansas City for second place in the American League wild card race. Detroit, which lost Friday to wild card leader Baltimore, is a game back of the Twins, and Seattle is a game back of the Tigers. Three wild card teams make the postseason. … Madison Central High alum Spencer Turnbull is slated for a rehab appearance at Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Sunday; the right-hander, on the injured list since late June, is 3-0 with a 2.65 ERA in 17 games for Philadelphia, which clinched a postseason berth on Friday. When he might return to the active roster remains unclear. … J.T. Ginn, the former Mississippi State pitcher from Brandon, worked five innings, allowing one run, for Oakland against the New York Yankees Friday but got a no-decision in a game the A’s would lose 4-2 in 10 innings. Rookie Ginn is 0-1 with a 4.40 ERA in seven games. … Ex-USM star Matthew Etzel went 1-for-3 and scored a run as Montgomery beat Biloxi to claim the Southern League South Division title. Former Magnolia Heights standout Cooper Pratt homered for the Shuckers. Birmingham won the North Division title over Tennessee with Ole Miss product Jacob Gonzalez going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run. The SL Championship Series starts Sunday at Montgomery. … USM alum and erstwhile big leaguer Kirk McCarty is 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 11 starts for CTBC Brothers, which has the best overall record in the Chinese Professional Baseball League.

17 Jul

there and here

Down in Mexico on Tuesday night, Harrison Central High product Bobby Bradley took a star turn, hitting a game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth for Tijuana, which went on to win the Mexican League game 3-2 over Saltillo. Former big leaguer Bradley is batting .281 with 12 homers and 48 RBIs in his first season in Mexico. He hit 17 homers in 97 MLB games with Cleveland between 2019-22 and has 228 in his pro career. … Over in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, Southern Miss alum and ex-big leaguer Kirk McCarty is 2-2 with a 1.37 ERA in four starts for CTBC Brothers. The little left-hander from Hattiesburg took a loss despite allowing just one run in eight innings on Sunday. … Back in the USA, in the MLB All-Star Game, Ocean Springs High product Garrett Crochet threw a scoreless inning (striking out Home Run Derby champ Teoscar Hernandez) and Mississippi State product Jordan Westburg went 0-for-1 as a late sub at second base in the American League’s 5-3 win in Arlington, Texas. … Jurrangelo Cijntje, the (situational) switch-pitcher from Mississippi State, reportedly has signed with Seattle for $4.9 million. He was the 15th overall pick on Sunday. … Ex-MSU star Ethan Small made a rehab appearance — his first of 2024 — with San Francisco’s Arizona Complex League team, allowing a run in his one inning. Lefty Small, a first-round pick in 2019, has four MLB appearances on his resume, all with Milwaukee. … Up in the Cape Cod League, Ole Miss’ Campbell Smithwick went 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs for Chatham in a win vs. Falmouth on Tuesday and is batting .375 in 15 games in the college summer loop. Southern Miss’ Josh Och notched a save on Tuesday, his second in three scoreless appearances for Hyannis. Also in the Cape: USM’s Davis Gillespie, playing for Bourne, is at .283 with a homer in 14 games. Jones College alum Beau Bryans, who signed with Alabama in the fall, is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA over 15 innings for Bourne. Mississippi State alum Cam Schuelke, a 19th-round draft pick by Cleveland on Tuesday, is 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA for Cotuit, and Ole Miss’ Patrick Galle is 2-0 with a save despite a 7.59 ERA for Wareham. … Jacques Pucheu, a Gulfport native and East Mississippi CC product, has been selected to the American Association All-Star Game. The left-hander is 5-3 with a 4.33 ERA for Cleburne in the independent league. Also on the Cleburne club is ex-UM star Thomas Dillard, batting .282 with 10 homers. Delta State product Trent Giambrone, now with Kansas City in the AA, is batting .292 with four homers. … Ex-Pontotoc High and Itawamba CC standout Delvin Zinn, who scuffled in the AA this season, has found a comfort zone in the indy Frontier League, hitting .318 with 10 steals in 19 games for Evansville. … Ex-Ole Miss star Errol Robinson, in his eighth pro season, has been released by Baltimore; he was hitting .208 at Triple-A Norfolk.

12 Jun

going places

Former Mississippi Braves star Drew Waters got back in The Show and former Biloxi Shuckers star Carlos F. Rodriguez got his first MLB shot among a flurry of Tuesday transactions involving players with Mississippi ties. Southern Miss product Matthew Etzel was promoted to Double-A in the Baltimore system; ex-Ole Miss standout Brandon Johnson moved up to Double-A in the Kansas City chain; former Mississippi State bullpen ace Landon Sims jumped to High-Class A in the Arizona system; and USM product Hunter Stanley came off the injured list at Triple-A Columbus in the Cleveland organization. … Waters — Southern League player of the year in 2019 — was recalled by Kansas City to replace Hunter Renfroe, the ex-State star who went on the injured list with a broken toe. Waters, hitting .277 with seven homers and 33 RBIs in Triple-A, went 0-for-4 in his first MLB game of 2024. The Royals also placed Bulldogs alum Adam Frazier on the bereavement list. … Rodriguez, Milwaukee’s No. 6 prospect who went 9-6, 2.77 ERA, for the Shuckers in 2023, allowed two runs in 3 2/3 innings and took a loss against Toronto. … Etzel, a 2023 draftee by the Orioles, was batting .306 with four homers and 31 steals at High-A Aberdeen; he got a knock in his first at-bat for Class AA Bowie. … Johnson was 3-3, two saves, 4.13, in High-A for the Royals. … Sims, a star on MSU’s national title team, had a 4.38 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings at Low-A Visalia. … Stanley, on the IL for about a month, has a 5.85 ERA over six games for Columbus. P.S. Kirk McCarty, former USM standout from Hattiesburg, threw seven shutout innings in his Chinese Professional Baseball League debut last week and allowed two runs in five innings on Tuesday for CTBC Brothers. He is 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA. The well-traveled McCarty has won 18 games the past three seasons: four in Triple-A, four in MLB with Cleveland, nine in the Korean Baseball Organization in 2023 plus the one in the CPBL. He won 22 games for USM from 2015-17.