Tag Archives: East Central Community College

05 Nov

down on the farm

With Alexei Ramirez becoming a free agent, the heir apparent to the Chicago White Sox’s shortstop job in 2016 looks like Tyler Saladino. But lurking on the depth chart, not too far behind, is Tim Anderson, the former East Central Community College star. Anderson, 22, is rated the White Sox’s No. 1 prospect on mlb.com’s list. His defense may still need some work, but Anderson’s offensive skills are impressive. He batted .312 with five homers, 12 triples, 49 steals, 46 RBIs and 79 runs for Double-A Birmingham this past season, just his third in pro ball. The ChiSox, a disappointing team in 2015, declined to pick up an option for Ramirez, 34, who hit a career-worst .249 with 10 home runs and 62 RBIs. Saladino, 26, batted .225 in 68 games as a rookie last season, playing mostly third base. P.S. The Biloxi Shuckers’ walk-off win in their June 6 home debut was named the MiLBY Game of the Year by milb.com. After playing the first two months of the season on the road, the Shuckers beat Mobile in the 14th inning before a standing room only crowd at MGM Park. Nick Shaw got the game-winning knock.

28 Oct

there and here

Though you won’t find his name on the top prospect charts, former Mississippi State standout Adam Frazier would seem to be a player on the rise. Currently playing in the talent-laded Arizona Fall League, the left-handed hitting shortstop is hitting .333 (8-for-24) for Glendale. Batting leading on Tuesday, he went 2-for-3 with an RBI, two runs and a steal. Frazier, 23, hit .324 at Double-A Altoona in Pittsburgh’s system this season, his third pro campaign, and made the Eastern League’s midseason All-Star Game. He is at .291 for his career with a .353 on-base percentage. … Richton High product JaCoby Jones, a shortstop prospect in Detroit’s system, has been playing some third base in the AFL. “I love short,” Jones told the Detroit Free Press. “I played there all my life … . But if third base is where my future’s at, I’ll start getting better at it.” The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Jones is batting .364 to date for Scottsdale. … Of Atlanta’s top 10 prospects on Baseball America’s recently revealed chart, it’s possible none will be in Pearl to start the 2016 season. No. 1 Hector Olivera already has made the big league club, three of the others were in low Class A in 2015 and three more were just drafted in June. (One of those, Austin Riley, the former DeSoto Central High star, checks in at No. 5 after a strong debut season at the lowest levels of the system.) Max Fried pitched in low A in 2014 and missed all of last season with an injury; it seems unlikely the Braves would start him in Double-A. Mallex Smith opened 2015 in Mississippi but finished at Triple-A Gwinnett, and Lucas Sims went 4-2, 3.21 for the M-Braves and is a candidate to be promoted next spring. However, there could be an influx of talent to Mississippi from just outside the BA top 10: Johan Camargo, Connor Lien, Dustin Peterson and Rob Whalen, to name a few. All played at high A Carolina last season. … Former Jackson Generals pitching coach Jim Hickey has signed an extension with Tampa Bay to remain the Rays’ pitching coach through 2018. He has been with the club since 2007. … Ex-Jackson Mets star Dave Magadan, who “parted ways” with Texas after three years as hitting coach, is expected to land another job in the big leagues sometime soon. In a published report, Magadan said he would like to get closer to his Florida home. … East Central Community College product Marcus Thames has been mentioned as a candidate for hitting coach with the New York Yankees. He was the Triple-A hitting coach in their system in 2015. The Yanks are one of four teams Thames played for in his 10-year MLB career.

07 Oct

name dropping

Baseball America’s chart of the top 20 prospects in the Southern League is chock-full of familiar names, with the Mississippi Braves and Biloxi Shuckers placing two players each in the rankings. From the M-Braves, outfielder Mallex Smith was No. 16 and right-hander Tyrell Jenkins was No. 20; both finished the season at Triple-A Gwinnett. For the Shuckers, shortstop Orlando Arcia was No. 3 and RH Jorge Lopez No. 7. Lopez was a September call-up by Milwaukee and won his only start. Also rated among the SL’s best was Tim Anderson, the former East Central Community College star who played for the Chicago White Sox’s Double-A club in Birmingham. A shortstop with speed, Anderson was ranked eighth. Northwest Mississippi CC product Cody Reed (Pensacola/Cincinnati) was No. 10; the left-hander was the No. 6 prospect in the Class A Carolina League. … BA’s Matt Eddy didn’t see much he liked from M-Braves third baseman Rio Ruiz, who didn’t make the top 20 list: “He almost literally never pulls the ball, he doesn’t run well at all and is a fringy defensive third baseman.” P.S. Southern Maryland, managed by Jackson’s Stan Cliburn, fell to the Somerset Patriots in the independent Atlantic League Championship Series. Somerset won Game 4 3-1 on Monday to win the series 3-1. Cliburn’s club, the Blue Crabs, won Game 1 7-3 last Wednesday, a victory highlighted by a three-run home run by former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and MLB star Fred Lewis. Lewis got two hits in Game 3 on Sunday and drove in the Blue Crabs’ lone run with a base hit in Game 4.

08 Sep

worth noting

In three starts against the Chicago Cubs this season, Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn is 0-3 and has yielded 12 runs in 14 1/3 innings. The St. Louis Cardinals right-hander, 11-6 against everybody else, lasted just 1 2/3 innings against the Cubbies on Monday, giving up seven hits, two walks and six runs in a 9-0 loss. Lynn was pitching on nine days rest. … Former Pillow Academy (and LSU) star Louis Coleman was back in the big leagues on Monday, working a clean inning for Kansas City. It was the first MLB appearance of the year for Coleman, who had eight wins, nine saves and a 1.69 ERA at Triple-A Omaha. His career ERA with the Royals is 3.23 over parts of five seasons. … Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton, the big league steals leader with 54, is expected to be activated today by Cincinnati. He has been out since Aug. 19 with a shoulder injury. Hamilton went 3-for-11 with four runs in a three-game rehab assignment with Double-A Pensacola. … Former Mississippi State standout Jacob Lindgren’s season officially ended when the New York Yankees put the lefty reliever on the 60-day disabled list. Lindgren had elbow surgery in mid-June; he had a 5.14 ERA in seven games as a rookie for the Yankees. … The Double-A Mississippi Braves, who missed the Southern League postseason, finished 69-67 overall and 36-32 in the second half, a game back of Pensacola. Emerson Landoni was the top hitter among players on the final roster with a .297 average. Kevin Ahrens had nine homers and 64 RBIs, Matt Lipka 16 steals. Mallex Smith, promoted at midseason, hit .340 with 23 steals in 57 games. Greg Ross led the team in wins with seven and in ERA (among SL qualifiers) with a 3.99. Tyler Jones posted 16 saves. … Biloxi will host Pensacola on Thursday and Friday in the first two games of the SL South Division best-of-5 series. … East Central Community College product Tim Anderson led the SL (and all of Double-A) with 49 stolen bases.

03 Sep

opportune moments

One-run lead in the ninth on the road against the best team in the National League. It was the kind of situation Washington had in mind for Jonathan Papelbon when it traded for the high-priced closer in late July. The former Mississippi State standout came through, despite allowing two hits, and the Nationals notched a 4-3 win Wednesday night against St. Louis. Problem is for the Nats, that kind of situation hasn’t come along often enough. It was just the sixth save opportunity for Papelbon since he joined the club on July 28. Washington went 12-17 in August while the New York Mets went 20-8 and blew past them in the NL East. The Nationals have perked up a bit of late but even after Wednesday’s win are 6.5 games behind the Mets in the division. Papelbon, 23-for-23 in saves for the year, allowed a leadoff single to ex-Mississippi Braves star Jason Heyward, and a one-out hit put runners at the corners. Papelbon got a strikeout and a ground out to end it and was effusive afterward. “(The Cardinals) are the best team in baseball right now. It pretty much shows that we could play with anybody out there,” he told mlb.com. Perhaps, but they’ve got a lot of work to do. Baseball Prospectus puts the Nationals’ current chances of making the postseason at 8.2 percent. … Another ex-Bulldogs star, Mitch Moreland, also came through in a big game. He drove in the go-ahead run with a 10th-inning single as surging Texas won at San Diego 5-4. The Rangers, winners of nine of their last 12, are just 2 games behind Houston in the American League West and lead Minnesota by a game in the battle for the second wild card. Moreland is batting .286 with 18 homers and 68 RBIs. P.S. Tim Anderson, the Chicago White Sox prospect from East Central Community College, was named to the Southern League’s postseason All-Star team as the utility player. Anderson, who hit .312 with 49 steals for Birmingham, also won the hustle award. He was beaten out at shortstop by Biloxi’s Orlando Arcia (.308). Shuckers right-hander Jorge Lopez (12-5, 2.29 ERA) also made the team. No M-Braves were selected.

18 Aug

crunch time at teepee

Birmingham is one of the Southern League’s best hitting teams. The Mississippi Braves are running out a rotation filled with prospects, young guns that could be in Atlanta in the near future. The compelling clash of Barons bats and M-Braves arms begins tonight at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Right-hander John Gant is slated to start Game 1 for Mississippi. He is followed in the rotation by Lucas Sims, Greg Ross, Zack Bird and Andrew Thurman. Birmingham, hitting .261 (second in SL) as a team with 482 runs (fifth), features a dynamic 1-2 punch at the top of its order. Former East Central Community College star Tim Anderson, one of the Chicago White Sox’s highest rated prospects, is batting .316 and tops the league in runs (69) and steals (45). Two-hole hitter Jacob May is batting .296 with 31 bags, second in the league. For power, the Barons have Christian Marrero (12 homers), Danny Hayes (seven) and Brian Fletcher (six). They’ll test the young guns. Gant, recently acquired from the New York Mets, has been slotted in as the Braves’ No. 23 prospect by mlb.com. Since joining the M-Braves, he is 2-0 with a 1.56 ERA in three outings. Sims, Atlanta’s first-round pick in 2012 and the seventh-best prospect, is 1-2, 5.87 in five Double-A starts. Jackson native Bird, acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers and ranked No. 12 on the prospect chart, is 1-1, 4.26 over three starts. No. 18 prospect Thurman, picked up from Houston late in the spring, took a loss in his M-Braves debut on Aug. 14, allowing four earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. Ross doesn’t have a top 30 rating, but the Double-A veteran is 7-9, 3.98 in 23 games. P.S. Former M-Braves star Brian McCann did something Monday night that no catcher in the New York Yankees’ long history has done, according to the Elias Sports Bureau: He drove in five runs and threw out three runners attempting to steal. McCann’s efforts, which included his 21st homer, led the Yankees to an 8-7, 10-inning win over Minnesota. One of the runners he cut down was Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier, who had three hits for the Twins.

10 Aug

numbers game

Hunter Renfroe, the former Mississippi State slugger from Crystal Springs, took a curious tumble in mlb.com’s latest Top 100 Prospects chart. Though he is batting .262 with 14 home runs and 51 RBIs in his first full season in Double-A, Renfroe slid to No. 84 from a preseason rank of 48. The concern seems to be his strikeout tendencies: 104 K’s this season with just 33 walks. Still, it’s not hard to imagine the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Renfroe playing right field for the San Diego Padres on opening day 2016. Justin Upton likely will leave San Diego as a free agent, opening up an outfield spot. Renfroe’s power – 41 homers in 2-plus seasons — might even play at spacious Petco Park, and his defense is a major asset; he has 33 career assists. … Other names of note on the prospect chart – the top 50 were revealed on MLB Network on Sunday – include No. 45 Tim Anderson, No. 37 Ozhaino Albies, No. 30 Jose Peraza and No. 14 Orlando Arcia. East Central Community College product Anderson, tearing up the Double-A Southern League (.308, 45 steals, 10 triples, 67 runs) as a shortstop in the Chicago White Sox’s system, jumped from No. 76 in preseason. Albies is an 18-year-old shortstop (now injured) who hit .310 with 29 steals at low Class A Rome in Atlanta’s system. Former Mississippi Braves second baseman Peraza, now in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ organization, moved up from 38 in preseason. One of the biggest jumps was made by Arcia, the slick shortstop at Double-A Biloxi in the Milwaukee system who started the year ranked No. 88. He had a walk-off hit in the Shuckers’ victory over the M-Braves in their second of two games on Sunday.

24 Jul

catching up

Delta State, the 2,700-student school up in Cleveland with its proud baseball tradition, has produced, remarkably enough, three major league catchers. Carlos Leal has designs on being the fourth. Leal, in just his second pro season, is playing in the Class A Midwest League and batting .314 with two homers and 26 RBIs for Wisconsin in the Milwaukee system. Leal, from Puerto Rico, was a two-time All-Gulf South Conference catcher at DSU and an All-Stater at East Central Community College before that. But he was drafted as a pitcher (34th round) last year by the Brewers, who were impressed by his strong arm in a workout. He did not make a smooth transition last summer, putting up an 8.53 ERA in six rookie-league appearances. Milwaukee brass decided in the off-season to give Leal a shot at making one of the minor league clubs this spring as a catcher. He not only made the Wisconsin roster, he became the Timber Rattlers’ No. 1 catcher and made the MWL All-Star Game last month. “You could tell he has a passion for catching,” Charlie Greene, a Brewers minor league instructor, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. At 24, the left-handed hitting Leal could and probably needs to move up quickly. It’s a long way from A-ball to the big leagues, but Leal certainly appears to have a shot at joining Barry Lyons, Scooter Tucker and Eli Whiteside as Statesmen who’ve caught in The Show.

23 Jul

upwardly mobile

Gloom has gathered over the Chicago White Sox’s season. Fans of the last-place club needing something to brighten their day can look to Double-A Birmingham, where shortstop Tim Anderson is having a star-quality season. Rated by some as the organization’s top prospect entering 2015, the East Central Community College product appears close to being big league-ready. Anderson, 22, the Southern League All-Star Game MVP, is batting .311 with seven triples, 35 RBIs, 53 runs and 35 steals for the Barons. An athletic 6 feet 1, 185 pounds, he is hitting .298 with 69 steals over his three pro seasons. If there is a negative in his offensive numbers, it’s that he doesn’t walk much (15 times this season while serving primarily as a leadoff batter). Reports indicate that Anderson’s defense is steadily improving; in fact, some of the reports are glowing. Anderson made his Double-A debut, with a bang, at Pearl’s Trustmark Park last August. The Barons come to the TeePee again this August (18-22). Of course, by then Anderson might be in Triple-A. P.S. Thirty games into his pro career, LaDarious (aka LeDarious) Clark, the East Mississippi CC alum from Meridian, paces the short-season Class A Northwest League in homers (8, including two on Wednesday), average (.377), hits (49), slugging percentage (.685), runs (32), triples (5) and total bases (89). He also has 20 RBIs and 14 stolen bases for Texas’ Spokane club. Promote him, already. … After roughly a month in the high Class A Florida State League, former Petal High star Anthony Alford is batting .333 with a homer, nine RBIs and 18 runs at Dunedin. Toronto promoted the 21-year-old outfielder, playing his first full pro season, after he hit .293 with 49 runs and 12 steals in 50 games at low-A Lansing.

24 Jun

it’s a first

Drew Pomeranz, the former Ole Miss standout, achieved a career first on Tuesday night. The left-hander earned career save No. 1 by getting the last five outs in Oakland’s 8-6 win at Texas. He induced ex-Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland to hit into a double play in the ninth and then ended the game with a strikeout. Pomeranz might be best suited for a bullpen role. He began this season in the A’s rotation and was 2-3 with a 4.40 ERA when he went on the disabled list in mid-May. In only two of his eight starts did he go more than 5 1/3 innings. He has worked exclusively in relief since returning and has yielded just two runs in 10 appearances, picking up four holds. Used mostly as a starter in pro ball since Cleveland drafted him fifth overall in 2010, Pomeranz is 11-21 with a 4.20 ERA for his MLB career. P.S. East Central Community College alum Tim Anderson was named MVP of Tuesday’s Southern League All-Star Game. On his 22nd birthday, the Chicago White Sox prospect went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run to pace the North stars to a 9-0 victory at Montgomery, Ala.