Tag Archives: Davis Bradshaw

30 Aug

plan is working

To the long list of Konnor Griffin’s best games as a first-year pro, add this one: On Friday night, the former Jackson Prep star belted two home runs — his first in Double-A — and drove in seven runs while leading Altoona to a 14-3 win against Harrisburg. “Sticking to the plan I’ve had all year,” the minors’ No. 1 prospect told milb.com. His aggressive approach has produced a .353 average and 13 RBIs in nine games for Pittsburgh’s Double-A team. On the year, the 19-year-old Griffin is batting .333 with 18 homers, 85 RBIs and 64 stolen bases across three levels. He has had three four-hit games, a four-RBI game, a three-double game and two three-steal games. Friday was the first two-homer game for the 6-foot-4, 225-pound shortstop. He has yet to go more than two straight games without a hit. … Braden Montgomery, the other Mississippi prep product drafted in the first round in 2024, is also enjoying a big season. The Madison Central alum went 2-for-4 with an RBI for Double-A Birmingham on Friday and is batting .307 with a homer and 10 RBIs in 27 games at that level. The Chicago White Sox’s No. 1 prospect is at .278 with 12 homers, 67 RBIs and 14 bags on the season. Montgomery, a 22-year-old switch-hitting outfielder, was drafted 12th overall out of Texas A&M. … Jurrangelo Cijntje, the switch-pitcher drafted in Round 1 in 2024 out of Mississippi State, is also in Double-A and has a 4.58 ERA for Seattle’s Arkansas club. The Mariners’ No. 8 prospect at 22, he is 4-7 with a 4.58 on the year in 19 appearances over two levels. P.S. Ex-Ole Miss slugger Tim Elko, recalled from Triple-A for the fourth time by the White Sox, went 0-for-4 on Friday. A .292 hitter (with 24 homers) in the minors this year, he is batting .136 in The Show. … Riley Maddox, former Ole Miss and Jackson Prep standout, threw two scoreless innings in his pro debut for Washington’s Low-Class A Fredericksburg team. … Props to the Mississippi Mud Monsters, who played Thursday night in Pearl, made a 10 1/2-hour trip to Chicago and beat Windy City 4-1. The independent Mud Monsters, now 47-47, got seven strong innings from Luis Devers (8-6) and two RBIs each from Travis Holt and Karell Paz. … Mud-sters outfielder Davis Bradshaw announced his retirement on Friday after seven pro seasons, six in affiliated ball with Miami. The former McLaurin High and Meridian Community College star hit .310 for his pro career, .402 this year with Mississippi. “I’ve cherished every step of this journey,” he said in a Facebook post.

12 Aug

down on the field

Mississippi Mud Monsters management is hyping it as Six Nights of Beautiful Nonsense. The upcoming homestand at Trustmark Park — which begins tonight — will have fireworks and bobbleheads, bingo and a jersey auction, $2 beer and sausage on a stick. There are also a few players capable of providing entertainment value. Pitchers Luis Devers, Brian Williams and Brandon Mitchell have strikeout stuff, and Sergio Sanchez is among the Frontier League’s best closers. Brayland Skinner is a .298 hitter who ranks among the league’s top base stealers. Travis Holt (nine homers, 16 doubles, 46 RBIs) and Victor Diaz (six homers, 11 doubles) can go deep in the spacious Pearl ballpark. And then there’s Davis Bradshaw, from just down the road in Florence. An indy ball version of MLB batting champion Luis Arraez, Bradshaw is hitting .429. The lefty hitter — who spent a chunk of time on the injured list — has struck out only nine times in 83 plate appearances over his 23 games. This is no fluke. Bradshaw batted .303 over six seasons in the Miami system, reaching the Double-A level. He hit .756 as a senior at McLaurin High in 2017 and then .442 the next season at Meridian Community College. Bradshaw doesn’t have much power or speed, but he can put bat on ball, a skill that’s never really out of style. Having recruited the likes of Bradshaw, Skinner and Devers, manager Jay Pecci did a very good job building a team from scratch. The Mud Monsters are 39-38 as the season enters the final stretch, still in sight of a playoff berth in their inaugural season. The promos are cool and all, but pay some attention to the guys down on the field.

03 Feb

buying local

The Mississippi Mud Monsters’ latest signing has a true homecoming feel. Davis Bradshaw, a Florence native who played at McLaurin High just down the road from Trustmark Park, has been added to the new independent team’s roster, per the Frontier League transactions page. Bradshaw, 26, can flat-out hit. He batted .303 over six seasons in the Miami system, reaching the Double-A level in 2022, when he visited Trustmark as a member of the Southern League’s Pensacola club. The left-handed hitting outfielder batted a crazy .756 as a senior at McLaurin High in 2017 and followed that with a .442 season at Meridian Community College. He is primarily a singles hitter — five homers in 1,308 at-bats in pro ball — who swiped 55 bases in the minors. He played just 21 games in the Marlins’ system during an injury-tinged 2024 and was released last summer. … The Mud Monsters added to their on-field staff last Friday when they announced Jamie McOwen as hitting coach. McOwen, a Florida native, is a longtime minor league and indy league player who once had a 45-game hitting streak in A-ball. He joins pitching coach Robert Carson III, a Hattiesburg native, on manager Jay Pecci’s staff. … The team also has signed catcher Victor Diaz. Diaz, 23, from the Dominican Republic, played in the Houston system in 2024, batting .197 with five homers in 41 games at the rookie and Low-Class A levels. The 5-foot-10, 235-pound Diaz has been in pro ball since 2019. Bradshaw and Diaz join ex-DeSoto Central star Kyle Booker, former Mississippi State standout Brayland Skinner and Ryan Cash on the “Mud-sters” roster. The team will begin its inaugural season on May 8 at the Pearl ballpark. P.S. Kudos to Mississippi College. The Choctaws were three outs from going 0-3 in their weekend trip to Houston before rallying for seven runs in the ninth inning on Sunday to pull out a 13-10 win against Arkansas Tech. MC pounded out 15 hits and drew eight walks in the game at Daikin Park. Bryce Capobianco (2-for-5 on the day) led off the ninth with a triple, Bryce LaRocca (3-for-6) hit a two-run single, J.T. Vance (2-for-5) had a go-ahead double and Korey Cooper (3-for-5) capped the rally with a two-run home run. NCAA Division II MC has had four straight losing seasons under coach Jeremy Haworth, now in his 10th campaign. He won a Gulf South Conference title in 2018, his third season.

16 Aug

a homecoming

Davis Bradshaw’s 11th Double-A game may have a little different feel. A homecoming feel. The outfielder, in Pearl with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos to take on the Mississippi Braves, played high school ball just a few miles down the road at McLaurin. Now 24 and in his fourth pro season, Bradshaw isn’t on Miami’s list of Top 30 prospects. But make no mistake, the 6-foot-3, 175-pound lefty hitter can put bat on ball. Bradshaw hit a ridiculous .756 as a senior at McLaurin in 2017. He hit .442 in his one season at Meridian Community College. Drafted in the 11th round by Miami in 2018, he hit .354 in rookie ball that year. He was leading the High-Class A Midwest League in batting at .310 when he was promoted to Pensacola earlier this month. He is off to a modest start with the bat for the Blue Wahoos — .241 (7-for-29) — but has a .405 on-base average and nine runs in his 10 games. What Bradshaw lacks is power: two career homers. He hit eight bombs at MCC in 2018, so maybe that tool is in there somewhere. … The M-Braves and Blue Wahoos both stand 20-19, in a three-way tie for second in the Southern League South, 5 games back of Montgomery. Their six-game series runs tonight through Sunday at Trustmark Park.