Tag Archives: home run

19 Jun

glove stories

Forget exit velo and spin rate for a moment and give some love to the glove. Hunter Elliott of Ole Miss and Jacob Keys of Pearl River Community College have been honored as ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove winners for 2025. Elliott, a left-handed pitcher from Tupelo, was named in the NCAA Division I category, and Keys, a catcher from Brandon, was selected in NJCAA Division II. Elliott, a third-team All-America pick by the NCBWA, picked off 13 base runners, a modern-era record at UM, according to a school release, and allowed just seven stolen bases among 14 attempts. He had 20 assists, six putouts and three errors over 17 games and 85 2/3 innings, winning 10 games and fanning 102 batters for a Rebels team that earned a No. 10 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Keys, a second-team NJCAA D-II All-America pick, did not make an error in 63 games behind the plate for PRCC. He registered 29 assists all told, threw out 15 of 25 would-be base stealers and yielded just six passed balls. The Wildcats, MACCC and Region 23 champions, made it all the way to the juco World Series championship game. A reverse transfer from Southern Miss, Keys is bound for Southeastern Louisiana. P.S. Former Mississippi State standout Jake Mangum had a two-run single in the third inning Wednesday as part of Tampa Bay’s amazing comeback win against Baltimore. The Rays won 12-8 after trailing 8-0 in the second inning. … Per an mlb.com poll, former Mississippi Braves catcher Drake Baldwin of Atlanta is the frontrunner to win National League rookie of the year honors. Three other M-Braves alums have won the award: Michael Harris II (2022), Ronald Acuna (2018) and Craig Kimbrel (2011). … On June 19 in baseball history, Vicksburg native Ellis Burks hit three homers in a game for Cleveland in 2001, Louisville native Marcus Thames hit two bombs for Detroit in 2009 and Greenville native George Scott homered for Boston in 1977. Burks, with 352 career homers, is the all-time leader among Mississippi natives, while Scott, with 271, ranks third. Thames, currently the Chicago White Sox’s hitting coach, clubbed 115 in just 640 career games, averaging a homer every 15.9 at-bats, comparable to David Ortiz, Frank Thomas and Willie McCovey.

11 Jun

out of kilter

In his first game off the injured list, Mississippi State product Jordan Westburg hit a home run for Baltimore. Unfortunately for the Orioles, the homer came in the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s 5-3 loss to Detroit. The Orioles, perhaps the most disappointing team in the big leagues, had entered the opener of this series having won seven of nine. Westburg and center fielder Cedric Mullins were activated from the IL. “I think everybody in Baltimore is excited,” O’s interim manager Tony Mansolino said pregame. Detroit, with the best record (44-24) in baseball, didn’t seem to notice, building a 5-1 lead by the fifth inning. Baltimore managed just six hits. And so it goes for the O’s. They are now 26-39, dead last in the American League East. Westburg was an All-Star at third base in 2024, when he hit .264 with 18 homers and 63 RBIs. A big season was expected of him and this team, which went 91-71 in 2024 and made the playoffs. But like many of his teammates, Westburg scuffled out of the gate. When he went down with a hamstring injury on April 28, he was hitting .217. He now has five homers but just seven RBIs. His numbers are bound to improve, but the team is in such a deep hole, and its pitching in such a fix, improvement in the standings could be a tall order. … Home runs were kind of a thing for Mississippians on Tuesday. In MLB, Nathaniel Lowe hit his ninth for Washington, Matt Wallner his fifth for Minnesota and Nick Fortes his second for Miami. In the minors, Reed Trimble (Baltimore system), Braden Montgomery (Chicago White Sox) and Brennon McNair (Kansas City) went yard. And in the independent Frontier League, Travis Holt and Karell Paz homered for the Mississippi Mud Monsters in a road win at Joliet. P.S. He didn’t hit one out, but Konnor Griffin went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run in his High-Class A debut for Greensboro in the Pittsburgh system. Griffin, first-round pick out of Jackson Prep last summer, hit .338 with nine homers in Low-A ball and led the Florida State League in several categories before his promotion.

11 May

a special day

Not much beats belting a home run for your first major league hit. Unless it’s doing it on Mother’s Day, with your mom in the stadium. Against a former Cy Young Award winner. To win the game. The legend of Tim Elko grew a little larger Sunday when the ex-Ole Miss star, in his second game with the Chicago White Sox, hit a three-run homer off Miami’s Sandy Alcantara. The sixth-inning shot, a 381-footer with the traditional pink bat, put the White Sox ahead and they held on for a 4-2 win at Rate Field. Homers are kind of a thing for Elko, who hit 46 at Ole Miss –including some huge ones during the Rebels’ 2022 run to the national title — and another 61 in the minors before his Saturday call-up. Power is something the lowly ChiSox have been sorely lacking. … Former Mississippi State star Nathaniel Lowe also homered with the pink bat Sunday, his seventh of the season accounting for Washington’s only run in a 6-1 loss to St. Louis. … Mississippi natives Fred Lewis and Bill Hall hit two of MLB’s most famous Mother’s Day homers. Lewis, a Stone County High and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College alum, hit for the cycle on Mother’s Day 2007. He was making just his fourth career start when he went 5-for-6 for San Francisco that day; the homer was the first of his career. Nettleton’s Hall became a Brewers legend on May 14, 2006, when he hit a walk-off homer in the 10th inning to beat the New York Mets at Milwaukee’s Miller Park. With his mother in the stands, Hall swung the special pink bat in the first year that those were used in MLB. Hall’s blast came against Chad Bradford, the former Hinds Community College and Southern Miss standout who allowed only that one homer all season.

06 Jul

change in the wind?

The zero is gone. Maybe the luck has changed, too. Justin Steele, the lefty from Lucedale, winless in 12 starts this season for the Chicago Cubs, got on the board Friday and did it in emphatic fashion. Steele threw a two-hitter at the Los Angeles Angels in a 5-1 victory at Wrigley Field. He walked two, fanned seven. He threw just 95 pitches, only four in locking down the W in the ninth inning. It was Steele’s first career complete game in 76 starts over four seasons. As he jogged to the mound for the ninth, the p.a. played his walk-out song, Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” and the Wrigleyville crowd got loud. “It was a special moment. Something I’ll never forget,” Steele said in an mlb.com piece. Steele won 16 games for the Cubs in 2023 and made the All-Star Game. The George County High product got hurt in the season opener this year, went on the injured list and endured nothing but tough luck after his return — before Friday, that is. He is now 1-3 despite a 2.95 ERA. Today at Wrigley there is a Justin Steele bobblehead giveaway. Talk about good timing. … Steele’s complete game was the first by a Mississippi native in MLB since Brandon Woodruff tossed one on Sept. 11 of last year. There were none in 2022. For the record — and as an indicator of how the game has changed — the career mark for complete games by a Mississippian is 188 by Claude Passeau (1935-47). Guy Bush (1923-45) posted 151. Roy Oswalt (2001-13) had 20. P.S. From all indications, Colt Keith has found his power midway through his rookie season. The former state player of the year from Biloxi High hit two 400-foot home runs Friday for Detroit, fueling a 5-4 win at Cincinnati. Lefty hitter Keith, 6 feet 2, 211 pounds, now has seven bombs on the year, four in his last 15 games. He didn’t hit his first MLB homer until May 24. A fifth-round pick in 2020, Keith hit 38 homers over his three minor league seasons.

25 May

more to come

The wait is over for Colt Keith. After 141 big league at-bats, the ex-Biloxi High standout connected Friday night on his first home run, a 400-foot drive to right-center at Comerica Park that helped Detroit beat Toronto 6-2. “I feel like I’ve been dreaming of that for a while,” Keith told The Associated Press. “It was kind of a blur when it happened.” The Tigers’ patience with the left-handed hitting second baseman has begun to pay off. He was batting .152 as recently as May 5 but has raked at a .404 clip over his last 15 games, boosting his average to .236. He has 16 RBIs. The power was bound to come. Keith, a 2020 fifth-round pick, hit 38 homers in 126 minor league games, including 27 last year between Double-A and Triple-A. Before he ever played an MLB game, Detroit signed him to a six-year, $28.6 million contract, which, with options and bonuses, could be worth some $80M. He looks like a foundation piece for the Tigers, who have pooled some young talent on their roster. P.S. Today in Cooperstown, N.Y., MLB will hold the Hall of Fame East-West Classic: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues All-Star Game as part of a weekend celebration. Among the ex-big leaguers scheduled to play in the exhibition game are Pascagoula native Tony Sipp, former Jackson Generals standout Melvin Mora and Jerry and Scott Hairston, whose grandfather Sam was a Crawford native and Negro Leagues star in the late 1940s. A bunch of Mississippians played in the old East-West Game (1933-53), including Hall of Famers Cool Papa Bell and Bill Foster as well as Luke Easter, Howard Easterling, Sam Jethroe, Bob Boyd, Rufus Lewis and Buddy Armour. … Former Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz, released from the minors by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, signed with San Francisco and was in uniform for the Giants on Friday. The big left-hander last pitched in a big league game in 2021. … Mississippi State bowed out of the SEC Tournament in an emotionally charged 6-5 loss to Tennessee. Jaw-dropping stat for the Bulldogs: Dakota Jordan and Hunter Hines were a combined 1-for-34 in four games. … Kudos to George County High, which claimed the MHSAA Class 6A state title Friday with a win over Warren Central.

24 Sep

select company

On his way to 700 home runs, Albert Pujols victimized seven different Mississippians for a total of 14 round-trippers during his 22-year career. He took Roy Oswalt and Kendall Graveman deep four times each, got Paul Maholm twice and belted one apiece against Louis Coleman, Drew Pomeranz, Dakota Hudson (his current teammate with St. Louis) and Demarcus Evans. Pujols got Weir’s Oswalt for No. 23 in 2001, when both were rookies. He got ex-Mississippi State star Graveman twice in one game in 2017, Nos. 611 and 612. Evans, the former Petal High standout, made his big league debut on Sept. 18, 2020, for Texas, and, as luck would have it, the first hitter he faced was future Hall of Famer Pujols, then with the Los Angeles Angels. Pujols sent Evans’ second pitch — a 93-mph fastball — over the wall in Anaheim for his 662nd career home run. Pujols, one of four members of the 700 home run club, has gone deep off a record 455 different pitchers. So far. P.S. Friday night was also a somewhat special occasion for Pujols’ teammate Corey Dickerson. The outfielder from McComb made his first MLB pitching appearance, working a scoreless ninth inning in the Cardinals’ 11-0 win against the Dodgers.

17 Sep

sounds about right

It didn’t take long into his big league career for Matt Wallner to do what Matt Wallner does: go yard. The former Southern Miss slugger, called up from the minors by Minnesota today, hit a 414-foot home run against Cleveland’s Shane Bieber in his third at-bat. Wallner is USM’s career home run leader and has 50 minor league bombs on his three-year pro ledger, including 27 this year split between Double-A and Triple-A. He also crushed a homer in the All-Star Futures Game in July. Wallner becomes the 25th Mississippian to play in the majors in 2022 and the fifth to make his debut, the third from USM. (The other rookies are Ethan Small, Konnor Pilkington, Kirk McCarty and Chuckie Robinson.) … St. Louis recalled ex-Mississippi State star Dakota Hudson from a brief hiatus in the minors to start against Cincinnati today, and the right-hander threw eight innings, allowing one unearned run, and departed with a comfortable lead. Hudson had a 7-7 record entering today’s game.

30 Aug

a homer to savor

Hear about the special home run hit Monday night at Great American Ballpark? No, not the Albert Pujols bomb. The St. Louis star’s 694th career homer off a record 450th different pitcher was certainly noteworthy. But Chuckie Robinson’s homer was the special one. It was the first for the former Southern Miss star in his fourth MLB game with Cincinnati. It came with his mother, Dionne, and younger brother in the park. “I think when I hit it, I kind of blacked out a little bit like, ‘Dang, I got it.’ I was super excited,” Robinson told mlb.com. You can bet that his grandfather and father were also super excited. Robinson is a third-generation pro player. Both his grandfather — “Big Chuck” — and father — “Little Chuck” — played in the minors. They were in Philadelphia last week when “Baby Chuck” made his debut and got his first knock. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this day,” he said at the time. Robinson, a catcher drafted out of USM in 2016 by Houston, is 27 years old and put in six years in the minors before the Reds gave him this shot in the big leagues. Cincy manager David Bell has raved about him: “He’s absolutely earned the opportunity.” As fate would have it, someone from Robinson’s hometown of Danville, Ill., caught the home run ball and got it to his mother. Now that’s special. P.S. Mississippi State alumnus Nathaniel Lowe was named the American League’s player of the week on Monday. He batted .385 with four homers and 11 RBIs for Texas last week. For the year, Lowe is batting .300 with a career-high 22 homers and 65 RBIs.

06 Aug

southern style

Two of the most prominent sluggers in Mississippi college baseball history played a little version of home run derby in the eighth inning of an International League game Friday night at Omaha’s Werner Field. Matt Wallner, Southern Miss’ career homer leader, went deep for St. Paul, a two-run shot in the top half, and Brent Rooker, who led the SEC in homers in 2017 while winning the Triple Crown at Mississippi State, belted a three-run bomb for the host Storm Chasers in the bottom half. (St. Paul won the slugfest 15-6.) For Wallner, Minnesota’s No. 7 prospect, it was his first Triple-A home run in his 14th game at that level. He hit 21 in Double-A before his promotion. The left-handed hitting outfielder went 2-for-5 on Friday to lift his average to .179. He hit .299 in Double-A. Rooker’s homer was his second in his second game for Omaha following his trade to Kansas City from San Diego. He belted 19 at Triple-A El Paso, where he batted .272 for the Padres affiliate. The right-handed hitting outfielder, a former top prospect, has 95 minor league homers and 10 MLB bombs (all with Minnesota) in 67 big league games. He was the 35th overall pick by the Twins in the 2017 draft and was traded to the Padres just before this season began. P.S. Former George County High standout Justin Steele matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts for the Chicago Cubs on Friday. The lefty was pulled with two outs in the fifth inning after throwing 93 pitches against Miami. The Cubs won 2-1. … MSU product Dakota Hudson, in his second start for St. Louis since coming off the injured list, threw four-plus innings (78 pitches) against the New York Yankees, allowing three runs in a game the Cardinals would win 4-3.

19 Sep

it’s your big debut

He didn’t join the exclusive club of major leaguers who have homered in their first career at-bat, but Nick Fortes did do something special on Saturday. The former Ole Miss standout hit a home run in his second career AB — he singled in his first — for Miami in a 6-3 loss to Pittsburgh. Fortes, a catcher called up on Friday, took former Mississippi Braves right-hander Bryse Wilson deep in the fifth inning, a 413-foot shot. “I had goosebumps and chills down my spine,” said Fortes, who had a gaggle of family and friends watching at loanDepot park. Fortes began this season, his third in pro ball, at Pensacola in the Double-A South before moving to Triple-A Jacksonville. He had seven homers in 330 at-bats for those two clubs. He became one of eight Marlins to homer in his first game. Ex-Mississippi State star Will Clark and Louisville native Marcus Thames are the only Mississippians to homer in their first career at-bat. P.S. Milwaukee, with Biloxi Shuckers alums Devin Williams and Josh Hader getting the win and the save, clinched a playoff berth on Saturday by beating the Chicago Cubs. For the record, George County High product Justin Steele, the Cubs’ starter, got his first career hit (in nine ABs). Steele allowed two runs in four innings and wasn’t part of the decision. The rookie left-hander is 1-3 with a 5.12 ERA in his seven starts this season.