Tag Archives: Indians

19 Oct

a side of history

There is an inextricable link between Mississippi and the Cleveland Indians, who are back in the World Series for the first time in 19 years and seeking their first title since 1948. The first black Mississippian to play in the major leagues did so for Cleveland. Jonestown native Luke Easter, a long-ball legend in many circles, debuted on Aug. 11, 1949, at age 34. He was a big man with big power, which he had demonstrated in semi-pro and Negro League ball before the Indians signed him in 1948, and he had three big years – 1950-52 — in the big leagues. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Easter hit 86 homers and drove in 307 runs in those three seasons. As age and injuries caught up to him, the Indians shipped Easter out in May of 1954. He never played another MLB game but put in 11 more years in the minors, ending his playing career with 367 homers, many of them tape measure blasts that old-timers still talk about. Easter, murdered in 1979 during a robbery in Ohio, really ought to be in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

14 Oct

tall order

It’s a tough assignment Mickey Callaway has drawn in the American League Championship Series. The former Ole Miss pitcher, now the Cleveland pitching coach, must plot a course through a Toronto lineup loaded with mashers. The Blue Jays’ 2-3-4 hitters, Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista, batted .367 with five homers and 15 RBIs in taking out favored Texas in the ALDS. The Indians’ rotation has been thinned by injuries. The bullpen features the remarkably versatile Andrew Miller and stout closer Cody Allen but its depth will be tested in this best-of-7 series. “We’ve got our hands full,” Callaway told mlb.com. “… We’re going to have to have some guys step up and step up in a big way.” In his four years in Cleveland, Callaway has done a nice job of prompting guys to do just that. His staffs have consistently ranked among the league’s ERA leaders; they were second with a 3.84 in 2016 and posted a 2.33 against Boston, another powerful offensive club, in their ALDS sweep. Callaway’s success as a pitching coach stands in contrast to his experience as an MLB pitcher. He posted a 6.27 ERA and a 4-11 record in 40 games with three different clubs. A seventh-round pick by Tampa Bay out of Ole Miss in 1996, the right-hander did manage to win 71 games in the minors and 32 more in Korea and China. He began his pro coaching career in the Indians’ system in 2010 at Class A Lake County, where his charges had a 3.72 ERA. He moved up the ladder the next couple of years and was hired as the Tribe’s big league coach when Terry Francona became manager prior to the 2013 season. Francona called Callaway a potential “star” when he gave him the job. Cleveland has had winning seasons every year since 2013 and is now taking aim on its first World Series appearance since 1997 and first championship since 1948. P.S. Petal’s Anthony Alford belted a reported 434-foot home run in an Arizona Fall League game on Thursday. Toronto prospect Alford, off to a 2-for-8 start for Mesa, hit .236 with nine homers and 18 steals in an injury-tinged season in high Class A this season.

11 Oct

gotta love october

Time to take stock on the MLB postseason. We’ve seen Baltimore go down in flames as Orioles manager Buck Showalter, the ex-Mississippi State standout, kept the best closer in the league in the bullpen with the American League Wild Card Game on the line. MSU product Mitch Moreland was in the middle of the play that ended the season for Texas, the team that had the best record in the AL. First baseman Moreland knocked down the errant throw by Rougned Odor, then threw home too late to stop the winning run from scoring as Toronto completed a stunning sweep. Moreland went 2-for-8 with two RBIs in what may have been his Texas swansong. Ex-Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz surrendered the pivotal home run (to Coco Crisp) on Monday in the other ALDS as Cleveland ended Boston’s season and David Ortiz’s career with a sweep. UM alum Mickey Callaway, the Indians’ pitching coach, saw his bullpen limit the Red Sox to two runs while fanning 14 in 10 1/3 innings over the three games. Former Rebels standout Chris Coghlan (0-for-2) has had a quiet National League Division Series for the Chicago Cubs, who saw their ace closer, Aroldis Chapman, cough up a lead Monday against San Francisco, which dodged a sweep by winning in 13 innings. Conor Gillaspie – the son of former MSU star Mark Gillaspie and the Giants’ Wild Card Game hero – delivered the big blow against Chapman, a two-run triple in the eighth inning. “He’s been fun to watch,” Giants ace Madison Bumgarner told the Chicago Tribune. It ain’t been fun for everyone, but that’s what makes October baseball so compelling.

06 Oct

fresh start

As a rookie in 2010, Mitch Moreland was dynamite in the postseason. He batted .348 (16-for-46) with a home run and seven RBIs as Texas made it all the way to the World Series before losing to San Francisco. Since then, the Mississippi State alum’s postseason production has been minimal: 3-for-43. In 30 career games, he is batting .213 with three homers. In last year’s American League Division Series against Toronto, the lefty-hitting first baseman was 0-for-13. “That’s in the past,” Moreland told sportsday.dallasnews.com. “All I’m thinking about is Thursday. Right now, I’m 0-for-0.” The Rangers hook up with the (hated?) Blue Jays again in the ALDS – Game 1 is today in Arlington — and Moreland is not exactly swinging a hot bat. He hit .167 with one homer in September and October, finishing the year at .233 with 22 bombs and 60 RBIs. He is 0-for-3 with two walks this season against Marco Estrada, Toronto’s Game 1 starter, 0-for-3 against J.A. Happ and 2-for-6 against Aaron Sanchez. A strong postseason, like the one Moreland enjoyed as a rookie, would certainly be welcomed by the Rangers — and would also look nice on the resume for Moreland, who is a pending free agent. P.S. Former Ole Miss standout Drew Pomeranz apparently will be on Boston’s roster for its ALDS against Cleveland. The left-hander, who made 13 starts for the Red Sox after being acquired from San Diego, was moved to the bullpen and threw a sharp 1 1/3 innings in the final game of the year. Pomeranz, who had a 3.32 ERA this season (4.59 with Boston), has pitched in relief often in his pro career. … The Indians’ pitching coach is UM product Mickey Callaway, now in his fourth year in that position.

26 Sep

how’s the view?

Former Ole Miss pitcher Mickey Callaway and ex-Jackson State slugger Dave Clark will have a great view of what could be great series at Comerica Park over the next four days. Callaway is the pitching coach for Cleveland, which needs one win to clinch the American League Central title. Clark is the third-base coach for Detroit, which probably needs to sweep the series – and get some help down the road – to earn a playoff berth. The Tigers, 2-13 against the Indians, trail the Tribe by 7 games in the division and are 1.5 games out in a wild card race that has five teams still in contention for two spots. Callaway’s pitching staff has the sixth-best ERA, the fourth-best batting average against and the fourth-most strikeouts in the majors. Detroit has an impressive array of hitters – Miguel Cabrera, Justin Upton, Victor Martinez, J.D. Martinez, Ian Kinsler, etc. – but the Indians actually have outscored the Tigers 751-719. On the Tigers’ bench is former Richton High star JaCoby Jones, batting .222 in his 12 big league games. Maybe he’ll be an unexpected star. That kind of thing does happen, ya know.

21 Sep

in focus

Adam Frazier was a catalyst for Pittsburgh in a 6-3 win at Milwaukee on Tuesday night that kept the Pirates’ faint playoff hopes alive. The Mississippi State alum, batting leadoff and playing left field, went 3-for-5 and scored twice. He led off the game with a single off Matt Garza and scored the first run as the Pirates took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Frazier doubled and scored in the fifth, when Pittsburgh again scored twice to go up 5-2. Frazier, a versatile rookie who doesn’t play regularly, is batting .351 with two homers, nine RBIs and 17 runs in 55 games. Pittsburgh, managed by former Jackson Mets skipper Clint Hurdle, is 75-75, 4.5 games out in the National League wild card chase with four teams ahead of it. P.S. Ex-State star Hunter Renfroe, the Pacific Coast League MVP, reportedly has been called up by the San Diego Padres and could make his MLB debut tonight against Arizona at Petco Park. … T.J. House, the Picayune High product, has been designated for assignment by Cleveland, which needed to clear a roster spot for prospect Adam Plutko. Left-hander House spent most of 2016 in Triple-A, appearing in just four big league games. House, who’ll be 27 later this month, was 5-3 with a 3.98 ERA for Columbus and pitched even better after he moved to the bullpen in July. He is 5-7, 4.44 over parts of three MLB seasons. He’ll pitch again, somewhere.

19 Aug

patience, patience

Bobby Bradley homered again on Thursday, for the fourth time in his last seven games. The Harrison Central High product now has 26 homers and 94 RBIs, both totals leading the Class A Carolina League. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound lefty-hitting first baseman won the rookie Arizona League Triple Crown in 2014 and led the low-A Midwest League in homers in 2015 with 27. He is rated the No. 3 prospect in Cleveland’s system and No. 82 in all of the minors by mlb.com and has been anointed the Best Player in the Indians’ system this season by Baseball America. No doubt a lot of people are eagerly anticipating Bradley’s big league debut – and they might have to wait a while. His ETA is 2018, according to mlb.com. It might be later than that. Bradley is only 20. He still has things to work on. He is batting .249 against A-ball pitchers. He has struck out 152 times, which ranks third in the CL (Atlanta prospect Braxton Davidson leads with 165), though he is drawing some walks (.359 on-base percentage). Bradley is likely to play in Double-A next year, and that pivotal level will tell a lot more about how close he is to The Show. Patience isn’t so much a virtue in baseball as it is a requirement.

12 Aug

crazy good

Chris Coghlan, the former Ole Miss standout, has a grand total of 10 hits for the Chicago Cubs this season. The one he got on Thursday night at Wrigley Field may stick in the memory for a while. Batting in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and the Cubs down 2-0 to St. Louis, Coghlan looked back at the umpire and tried to call time before a pitch by Carlos Martinez. Time wasn’t granted. Coghlan swiveled back toward Martinez, re-gripped the bat as the pitch — a changeup – was en route and smacked a two-run single into right field. “Crazy,” he called it after the Cubs had secured a 4-3 win in extra innings. The first-place Cubs have been on a crazy roll with 10 straight wins, though Coghlan’s contributions have been limited. The 31-year-old veteran has just seven at-bats in August. In 24 games since he was reacquired from Oakland, he is batting .208 with four RBIs. But … it takes a bench to win a championship, and the Cubs have a deep one. For his part, Coghlan can play almost anywhere — a quality Cubs manager Joe Maddon seems to really like — and he is a .259 career hitter with some pop from the left side. (He hit five homers for the A’s but none since rejoining the Cubs.) He’ll have more moments, though it’s unlikely any will be quite as crazy as Thursday’s. P.S. Picayune High product T.J. House was sent back to Triple-A by Cleveland, a first-place club in the American League. House made three appearances during his call-up, allowing one run in one inning of work.

01 Aug

meanwhile, down on farm

Cleveland’s trade for New York Yankees relief ace Andrew Miller had a trickle-down effect in the Indians’ organization. Joey Butler, the former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College star from Pascagoula, was removed from the 40-man roster to clear a spot for Miller and designated for assignment on Sunday. Butler, 30, an outfielder, has been playing at Triple-A Columbus all season, hitting .238 with eight homers and 40 RBIs. The Indians claimed Butler on waivers in the off-season from Tampa Bay, where he played well in 2015 (.276, eight bombs in 88 games) in his first real opportunity in the big leagues. The Indians reportedly liked what they saw from Butler in spring training, so he might stay in the organization. He is a .288 hitter with 90 homers over his minor league career, which dates to 2008, when he was drafted by Texas out of UNO. P.S. The all-Mississippi home run race heated up on Sunday. Surging Mitch Moreland, the former Mississippi State standout, clubbed his 18th for Texas, but Southern Miss product Brian Dozier belted a pair for Minnesota to end the day with 19. (Dozier, not a noted slugger at USM, has 94 homers in four-plus MLB seasons.) Ex-Ole Miss star Zack Cozart (Cincinnati) has 15 homers this year, as does Meridian CC alum Corey Dickerson (Tampa Bay). … Continuing on a home run theme, former Mississippi Braves star Jose Peraza hit his first big league homer for the Reds and Jeff Francoeur crushed his 160th for Atlanta. It was Francoeur’s first homer at Turner Field as a Brave since 2009.

28 Jul

charting the stars

Dansby Swanson and Ozzie Albies, the keystone combo of the Mississippi Braves, check in at No. 5 and No. 19 in MLBPipeline’s refreshed ranking of the game’s Top 100 prospects. (Baseball America had them at seven and 17 in its midseason Top 100 released earlier this month.) Swanson, the shortstop and 2015 No. 1 overall draft pick (by Arizona), is batting .260 with seven home runs and 38 RBIs in his first Double-A Tour. Albies, who has shifted from short to second base, is batting a sweet .364. Both might be in line for a September appearance in Atlanta. Left-hander Sean Newcomb, 5-7 with a 4.57 ERA for the M-Braves, is ranked 60th in the chart published on mlb.com. Former Biloxi Shuckers Orlando Arcia (13) and Josh Hader (45) are also on the list, as is current Shuckers outfielder Brett Phillips (78). Mississippi State alum Hunter Renfroe, having a huge year at Triple-A El Paso (San Diego system), is ranked No. 52. Ex-Northwest Mississippi Community College star Cody Reed, currently pitching in the big leagues – and scuffling — with Cincinnati, is No. 59, and Harrison Central High product Bobby Bradley (in A-ball with Cleveland) is 82nd. P.S. Ex-Petal High standout Anthony Alford, one of Toronto’s top prospects, isn’t in the mlb.com Top 100; he’s 86th in the BA ranking. He has had a rough year that has included two stints on the disabled list. But, the 22-year-old outfielder is heating up, batting .371 over his last 10 games. He had three hits (two triples and a double) for Class A Dunedin on Wednesday and is at .217 with four homers, 26 RBIs and 12 steals for the year. He batted .298 in 2015, his first full pro season. “This season has been a good learning season for me because I’ve never had to deal with failure,” the former Mr. Baseball told milb.com.