Tag Archives: Diamondbacks

15 Mar

special delivery

There was nothing particularly eye-catching about the pitching line in the box score: 2 innings, 2 hits, 1 unearned run, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts. But on the field in Goodyear, Ariz., on Friday night, it was a captivating outing by Jurrangelo Cijntje, the former Mississippi State standout whose switch-pitching abilities have garnered a lot of attention. Appearing in his first actual pro game — a Spring Breakout contest for Seattle prospects against Cleveland’s — Cijntje pitched lefty against lefty-hitting Travis Bazzana — first overall draft pick last summer — and retired him on a grounder on his first pitch. “There was a lot of adrenaline,” Cijntje said in an mlb.com article. “I couldn’t even control my body, but I fought through it.” He pitched righty the rest of the way, striking out Bazzana on a 97-mph heater to conclude his 40-pitch appearance. “That’s something special,” Bazzana said in the mlb.com story. “I think he’s got a bright future, and it was cool to battle.” Cijntje, a native of The Netherlands who pitched in Florida as a high-schooler, was the 15th overall pick by Seattle last year after going 8-2 with a 3.67 ERA at MSU. According to reports, Seattle plans to develop him as a right-handed starter who’ll go lefty in certain situations. He figures to start the upcoming season in Low-Class A at Modesto (Calif.). P.S. The Chicago Cubs reportedly are considering signing Lance Lynn, the grizzled veteran out of Ole Miss. Lynn, 37, is 143-99 in an MLB career that began in 2011; he went 7-4 with a 3.84 ERA for St. Louis in 2024. … Ex-Ole Miss star Grae Kessinger, batting .294 this spring, has been optioned to Triple-A by Arizona. Kessinger, who has some big league time, was acquired by the Diamondbacks in a trade after Houston designated the infielder for assignment in December. … MLB The Show 25, the popular video game, has added Starkville native Cool Papa Bell and Mississippi prep products Konnor Griffin and Braden Montgomery to the list of available player cards. Hall of Famer Bell is one of the new Legends — along with former Jackson Generals stars Lance Berkman and Bobby Abreu — and rookie pros Griffin (Jackson Prep) and Montgomery (Madison Central) are part of the Spring Breakout Series.

13 Mar

breaking out

The Spring Breakout games, featuring most of the best minor league talent, begin today with Boston’s squad taking on Tampa Bay (MLB Network, 6:05 p.m.). On the Red Sox’s roster is former DeSoto Central High star Blaze Jordan, while the Rays’ roster includes Mississippi State product Colton Ledbetter. The games, 16 all told, will run through Sunday. Among the Mississippians who could be featured are Konnor Griffin (Pittsburgh), Braden Montgomery (Chicago White Sox), Tim Elko (White Sox), Cooper Pratt (Milwaukee), Dakota Jordan (San Francisco), Jurrangelo Cijntje (Seattle) and Tanner Hall (Minnesota). MLB Pipeline has pegged David Mershon, former All-SEC shortstop out of MSU, as a sleeper prospect on the Los Angeles Angels team. Though not ranked among the Angels’ Top 30, the 5-foot-7, 175-pound Mershon’s star appears to be ascending. From mlb.com: “He’s a switch-hitter with on-base skills and speed who can play excellent infield defense.” Drafted in the 18th round last summer after two years at State (.347, 27 steals last year), the South Carolina native went straight to Double-A and hit .254. The Angels then sent him to the Arizona Fall League, another high-talent loop, and Mershon batted .263 there. Invited to big league camp, he is 3-for-14 in A-games. The Angels’ Spring Breakout game is slated for Saturday (MLBN, 8:05 p.m.) against the Cubs. P.S. Justin Foscue, another former MSU infielder, was optioned to Triple-A by Texas on Wednesday. Foscue, batting .235 in big league games this spring, made his MLB debut in 2024 but hit just .048 (2-for-42). The 14th overall pick in the 2020 draft, he has a .278 career average in the minors with 60 homers. … MSU alum Kendall Graveman, recently signed by Arizona as a free agent, has not pitched this spring because of a reported back issue. He missed all of the 2024 season following shoulder surgery.

14 Feb

spring flings

Kendall Graveman’s next comeback will begin with Arizona, which reportedly has agreed to a one-year deal ($1.35 million plus incentives) with the ex-Mississippi State standout. The veteran right-hander, 34, missed all of 2024 following shoulder surgery last off-season. He has a career ERA of 3.95 in 280 games and was an effective middle reliever during Houston’s playoff run in 2023. He was on the Astros’ roster in 2024 before becoming a free agent. He missed the 2019 season following Tommy John surgery and moved from starter to reliever in 2020 after a experiencing a neck problem related to a benign tumor. An eighth-round pick by Toronto in 2013, Graveman has pitched for the Blue Jays, Oakland, Seattle, the Astros and the Chicago White Sox. P.S. Still unsigned are pitchers Lance Lynn, former Ole Miss star, and Spencer Turnbull, a Madison Central High product. Lynn, 37, a starter most of his career, is being courted by some clubs as a closer, per reports. “I definitely have the fire for it,” he said in a recent interview. Turnbull put up a 2.65 ERA in an injury-shortened 2024 season with Philadelphia. … Former Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton is looking for a return to affiliated ball after playing in Mexico last summer and this winter (see previous posts). Hamilton, 34, can still run: He stole a total of 73 bases in the two Mexican loops and has 838 bags all told in pro ball. … Coming off two rather awful seasons, East Central Community College alum Tim Anderson is “grateful” to be in the Los Angeles Angels’ spring training camp as a minor leaguer. “I’m still only 31,” he said in an mlb.com story. “There’s still room to grow, still room to get better, still a window.”

08 Jan

planning ahead

There is no certainty that Brandon Woodruff will be in Milwaukee’s starting rotation by Opening Day, but the ex-Mississippi State standout from Wheeler is planning on it. “(M)y mindset is to get ready for that,” Woodruff said in a recent Brewers Beat article. The big right-hander, 31, who missed all of the 2024 season following shoulder surgery, reportedly is throwing two short bullpen sessions a week at home in Mississippi and will be evaluated by Brewers staff next week in Arizona. He admitted he still has a ways to go in the rehab process before adding, “But gosh, I feel good.” That’s great news for Brewers fans. Woodruff, a former Biloxi Shuckers ace, is 46-26 with a 3.01 ERA and two All-Star Game nods in his Milwaukee career. He appeared in just 11 games in 2023 when the shoulder issue cropped up. He had surgery in October 2023, essentially knocking him out for 2024. He was non-tendered by Milwaukee after the ’23 season, then re-signed on a two-year deal ($17.5 million) last February. Milwaukee won the National League Central last season and, especially with a Woodruff bump, should be in the hunt again in 2025. P.S. Squeezed off Houston’s 40-man roster, Grae Kessinger has been moved to Arizona, which traded Tuesday for the former Ole Miss star. Kessinger, 27, played in 49 games as a reserve infielder with the Astros the past two seasons. He had a good year in Triple-A in 2024.

25 Oct

amazing arizona

Twenty-two years ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks did something amazing. They scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning against Mariano Rivera and beat the mighty New York Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series. On Tuesday night, the D’backs did something amazing again. They beat mighty Philadelphia — at Citizens Bank Park, for the second straight night — to win Game 7 of the National League Championship Series and reach the second Fall Classic in their 26-year history. The franchise was just four years old when the ’01 team, which included former Ole Miss star David Dellucci, won the championship. That club had been largely constructed by Mississippi State alum Buck Showalter, who was fired as manager after the 2000 season reportedly because of a dispute with ownership. Originally drafted by Baltimore, Dellucci was plucked by Arizona (and Showalter) in the expansion draft in the fall of 1997. He hit .260 with a league-best 12 triples in 1998 and was still a reserve outfielder on the 2001 club. He played in two World Series games, including a pinch-running appearance in the fateful ninth inning of Game 7; he was erased on a fielder’s choice for the first out. Interestingly enough, Dellucci also played for Texas, which will face the D’backs in the Fall Classic that begins Friday in Arlington. Showalter was manager of the Rangers when Dellucci was with the team (2004-05).

21 Oct

sudden change

Grae Kessinger, rookie infielder for Houston, watched the first eight games of the Astros’ postseason run from the dugout. The ex-Ole Miss star got quite a different view of the proceedings in the ninth inning Friday night, watching from first base as a pinch runner when Jose Altuve launched a momentum-shifting three-run homer that carried the Astros to a 5-4 win over Texas in a wild, wild Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. Kessinger went in at shortstop in the bottom of the ninth and, with two runners on, made a leaping snag of a line drive for the first out. Two outs later Houston had swept the three games at Globe Life Field to go up 3-2 in the best-of-7. The defending champs can earn yet another trip to the World Series with a win in Game 6 at home on Sunday. The grandson of longtime big leaguer Don Kessinger — who never made a postseason appearance in 16 years in The Show — Grae was a midseason call-up by the Astros this year and played sparingly, batting .200 with one homer in 40 at-bats. Houston kept the versatile Kessinger on the postseason roster but didn’t get him into a game before Friday. It was one that won’t soon be forgotten, by Kessinger or anybody else who watched. Before Adolis Garcia’s dramatic three-run homer for Texas in the sixth inning and the benches-clearing kerfuffle he instigated in the eighth, former Mississippi State standout Nathaniel Lowe put the Rangers on the board with an opposite-field homer off Justin Verlander in the fifth. It was Lowe’s second homer this postseason, and he is now 5-for-19 in the ALCS. … Meanwhile, in Arizona, things got a little wild also in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. The Diamondbacks, summoning a rally for the second straight day, scored three times in the eighth inning, handing ex-Mississippi Braves star Craig Kimbrel the first blown save of his postseason career and beating Philadelphia 6-5. The series is square at 2-2. The big blow against Kimbrel (now 10-for-11 in saves) was a two-run, game-tying bomb by pinch-hitter Alek Thomas. A subsequent single and walk knocked Kimbrel out of the game, and the go-ahead hit came from Gabriel Moreno against Jose Alvarado. The Phillies struck out three times in the ninth. Of note: Brookhaven native and veteran MLB umpire Lance Barksdale is slated to be behind the plate for Game 5 tonight at Chase Field, which will feature aces Zack Wheeler and Zac Gallen.

12 Oct

leaving a mark

Home runs were the dominant theme in the MLB playoffs on Wednesday night. There were 14 in the three games, and a couple of postseason homer records were set. Unfortunately for former Ole Miss star Lance Lynn, he was on the bad end of one of those records. The 36-year-old right-hander, starting for Los Angeles, allowed four solo homers in the third inning, accounting for all of Arizona’s scoring in a 4-2 win that clinched a National League Division Series sweep for the upstart Diamondbacks. No team had ever hit four homers in one inning of a postseason game. “The way (Lynn) was throwing the baseball, I didn’t expect that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told the Los Angeles Times. Maybe it shouldn’t have been a total shock. Lynn led all of MLB with 44 homers allowed this season, which he split between the Chicago White Sox and the Dodgers. And the ball flies at Arizona’s Chase Field. Lynn — described by TBS’s Ron Darling as “stubborn, angry and mule-ish” on the mound — got through the first two innings, allowing just two singles. Then … boom: 1,626 feet of home runs in the third. Lynn was gone after 2 2/3 and the Dodgers, the No. 2 seed in the NL, were gone from the postseason a little while later. Lynn has had a great career. He won an SEC title at Ole Miss and a World Series title with St. Louis. He has made two All-Star Games. He has won 136 major league games, five more in the postseason, and he won a World Baseball Classic game earlier this year. But that four-homer inning is no doubt gonna sting for a while. … Elsewhere, Philadelphia hit a club-record six homers, two by Bryce Harper, in a 10-2 win over Atlanta at another homer haven, Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies lead that NLDS 2-1 heading into Game 4 tonight. Former Mississippi Braves standout Spencer Strider, a 20-game winner this year, will start for the Braves. … Houston clinched its seventh straight American League Championship Series appearance by beating host Minnesota 3-2 in Game 4. All the runs in that game came via the long ball, with Jose Abreu hitting the go-ahead shot — his third in the two games at Target Field — in the fourth inning.

25 Jun

pouring it on

Making his first start at first base for the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night at Colorado, Hunter Renfroe made a nice play to start a double play and end the first inning. Then the former Mississippi State standout celebrated with a single to lead off the second inning. The party at Coors Field was just getting started. Renfroe went 5-for-5 with a walk as the Angels set franchise records for hits (28) and runs in a 25-1 rout of the Rockies. Mickey Moniak also had five hits and four other Angels had at least three. “(H)itting gets contagious sometimes,” Angels manager Phil Nevin told mlb.com in one of the season’s great you-don’t-say statements. Renfroe hit a three-run double in the club record-tying 13-run third inning. He finished with four RBIs and three runs. His career day raised his average to .261. Normally the team’s right fielder, Renfroe is batting .281 over his last 15 games, though he has been stuck on 12 homers since June 13. The Angels (42-36) have climbed past Houston into second place in the American League West. P.S. Ex-Ole Miss standout James McArthur got his first big league call-up Saturday with Kansas City but did not pitch. McArthur, 26, traded from Philadelphia to the Royals in May, has a 4.87 ERA in 12 appearances at Triple-A Omaha. … Ex-Rebels star Mike Mayers, a big league vet, was assigned by the Royals to Omaha last week after a rough stint in the majors. He got a hold in his return to Triple-A on Friday. … Former MSU ace Ethan Small went on the injured list Saturday at Triple-A Nashville (Milwaukee system). The former first-rounder has a 3.46 ERA in the minors this season and made one wobbly appearance with the Brewers. … Houston Harding, who got into pro ball as an undrafted free agent in 2021, made his Double-A debut Saturday for Rocket City in the Angels’ system. The left-hander, who won seven games for MSU’s 2021 national title team, allowed a three-run homer but fanned five in 2 2/3 innings vs. Montgomery. He had a 1.32 ERA in A-ball before his promotion. A Coldwater native, Harding was a strikeout machine at Itawamba Community College before signing with MSU. … Landon Sims, one of the heroes of State’s ’21 championship team, made his pro debut this month and has pitched in four games, allowing no runs, in rookie ball for Arizona. Sims was the 34th overall pick last summer after missing most of the ’22 season at State with an elbow injury.

03 Sep

buckle up

Seat belts should have been required Friday night for the Amarillo fans in Hodgetown ballpark. They were subjected to a rough ride by a visiting Frisco RoughRiders team that bashed eight home runs, three by a pair of Mississippi products. Former Mississippi College standout Blaine Crim went 5-for-6 with his 20th homer and ex-Mississippi State star Justin Foscue added two bombs, his 13th and 14th, as Frisco steamrolled Amarillo 21-2 in a Texas League game. Crim set a Frisco record for hits in a game, boosting his average to .290, and scored four times. Both he and Foscue, the Texas Rangers’ No. 5 prospect, homered in the Riders’ record-setting 11-run fifth inning. The 21 total runs was also a franchise record. Foscue, batting .289 after a 3-for-6, drove in four runs and scored three. The host Sod Poodles, an Arizona affiliate, put third baseman Ti’Quan Forbes on the mound in the ninth. The former Mr. Baseball from Columbia High yielded two hits, including a homer, in his professional pitching debut. Forbes, in his eighth minor league season, did have two of Amarillo’s 10 hits. P.S. Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton made his Minnesota debut on Friday and was caught stealing as a pinch runner in the eighth inning of a 4-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox. He is 321-of-393 (81.7 percent) in his MLB career that started in 2013.

31 Jul

officially famous

The baseball branch of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame is quite impressive, featuring major league Hall of Famers Cool Papa Bell, William Foster and Dizzy Dean plus an array of other stars who could form a juggernaut of a dream team. That roster added a pair of luminaries on Saturday, when Barry Lyons and David Dellucci were formally inducted into the state shrine. Lyons, a catcher, was a standout at Biloxi High and Delta State (under the legendary Boo Ferriss) and with the Double-A Jackson Mets on his path to the big leagues. He was the proverbial aircraft carrier for the 1985 Texas League champion JaxMets. He debuted with the New York Mets in 1986, when they won their second World Series, and played parts of six more years in the big leagues. What’s more, he is one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet. Dellucci, an outfielder and also a very personable fellow, played four years at Ole Miss, earning All-America recognition and winning an SEC batting crown in 1995. He would go on to play 13 years in the big leagues, batting .256 and winning a World Series ring with the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, the team built (though not managed) by Buck Showalter. Dellucci now works for the SEC Network. Lyons and Dellucci join a Hall of Fame team that includes Guy Bush and Buddy Myer, Will Clark and Jeff Brantley, Don Kessinger and Joe Gibbon, Jim Davenport and Roy Oswalt, plus many more. Those are names to know. And if you don’t know them, perhaps you should visit the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in Jackson. You’d be impressed. P.S. On Saturday in San Francisco, Will Clark’s No. 22 was retired by the Giants in a big pregame ceremony. The former Mississippi State star was drafted No. 2 overall by the Giants in 1985 at a time when the club was struggling. Two years later, they won the National League West. Two years after that, they went to the World Series. Clark “made it cool to be a Giants fan again,” a teammate said. No. 22 jerseys and T-shirts were all over Oracle Park on Saturday. Clark was a five-time All-Star during his eight seasons with the Giants and still ranks among the franchise leaders in numerous hitting categories.