Tag Archives: Itawamba Community College

02 Aug

hard knocks

It has been a disappointing season for reigning World Series champion Kansas City, and Desmond Jennings added a little to it on Monday night. Former Itawamba Community College standout Jennings broke up Danny Duffy’s no-hit bid with a leadoff double (on a 1-2 pitch) in the eighth inning. It was the only hit Tampa Bay got against the Royals, who won 3-0 behind Duffy’s 16-strikeout effort. The Royals’ last no-hitter was thrown by Bret Saberhagen in 1991. KC is 50-55, fourth in the American League Central. For the record, it has been a disappointing season for Jennings and the Rays, as well. Jennings, whose 2015 season was wrecked by injuries, was playing his first game since June 30 because of a hamstring issue. A toolsy talent, he is batting .204 with seven homers, 19 RBIs and two steals. Tampa Bay, expected by many to contend for a playoff berth, is an awful 42-62. Meridian CC product Corey Dickerson, acquired from Colorado in the off-season to add some thump to the lineup, has hit 15 homers but is batting just .235. Rotowire.com projected Dickerson as a .286 hitter this season. He hit .304 in 65 games for the Rockies in 2015 and .312 in a full season in 2014. P.S. Orlando Arcia, who led Biloxi to a Southern League division title in 2015, is expected to make his MLB debut tonight as the starting shortstop for Milwaukee. Arcia, rated the No. 13 overall prospect by mlb.com, is batting .268 with eight homers, 53 RBIs and 15 steals for Class AAA Colorado Springs. He hit .307 with eight homers, 69 RBIs and 25 steals for the Double-A Shuckers last season, and he is a top-shelf defensive player.

28 Jun

good times roll

Hunter Renfroe’s good year keeps getting better. The Mississippi State product from Crystal Springs produced a four-hit game that included a grand slam on Monday night, powering Triple-A El Paso to a 13-3 win against Reno. Renfroe, 24, a right fielder, leads all of Triple-A in home runs with 18 and is second in RBIs with 67. Renfroe now has 65 homers in roughly three seasons in the minors. He has hit .351 over his last 10 games to boost his average to .324. “He’s learning with every at-bat now, which is good for him,” El Paso manager Morgan Burkhart told milb.com. San Diego brass must be seriously considering a promotion. Some in the San Diego media have been calling for it for some time. P.S. In the big leagues, Desmond Jennings, the former Itawamba Community College star, is showing some signs of coming around for Tampa Bay. Jennings homered for the second straight day on Monday, helping the Rays snap their 11-game losing streak with a 13-7 victory over Boston. Jennings, getting more playing time of late for the injury-plagued Rays, has hit .261 over his last seven games to move his long-suffering average to .200 with seven homers and 18 RBIs. … Taylorsville High alum Billy Hamilton, slumping since his return from a concussion, had a productive night for Cincinnati in a loss to the Chicago Cubs (and the amazing Kris Bryant). Hamilton had a hit, two walks, a sac bunt, two steals and two runs. He is batting .258 with 19 bags and 32 runs in 62 games. His defense in center field is about as good as it gets.

07 Jun

feel the power

Itawamba Community College alumnus Desmond Jennings, in a slump and under fire in Tampa Bay, broke out with a 3-for-4 game on Monday that included his fourth home run of the year. Jennings, whose playing time has diminished of late, is batting .189 with 13 RBIs for the last-place Rays, who beat Arizona 6-4 for a fourth straight win. … In his first game in Triple-A, former Richton High star JaCoby Jones went deep for Toledo. Jones, one of Detroit’s hottest prospects, batted .312 with four bombs and 20 RBIs at Double-A Erie after starting the year on the suspended list. … Tim Anderson, the East Central CC product, belted his fourth homer of the season for Triple-A Charlotte in the Chicago White Sox’s system. Anderson is hitting .300 with 20 RBIs, 38 runs and 10 steals. … Harrison Central High product Bobby Bradley, who has been scuffling, hit a grand slam, plus a two-run double, for Class A Lynchburg. Cleveland’s No. 3 prospect, who turned 20 on May 29, is hitting .232 with 14 homers and 53 RBIs. P.S. The Indians, somewhat strapped for outfield help, have former Mississippi Gulf Coast CC star Joey Butler at Triple-A Columbus, but he hasn’t been hitting enough (.222 with three homers) to rate a call-up. Butler batted .276 with eight bombs in 88 games for Tampa Bay in 2015, the first year he had gotten extended big league time.

24 May

times are tough

In a 3-for-27 skid that has dropped his average to .199, Brian Dozier was given a day off on Monday and might get extended downtime. “We’ve got to fix Brian Dozier,” Minnesota GM Terry Ryan said in a piece on mlb.com. “It’s not working right now, so we’ve got to adjust.” The Southern Miss product was an All-Star in 2015, when he batted .236, belted 28 homers, drove in 77 runs and scored 101. In 39 games this year, he has four homers, 14 RBIs and 18 runs. He hasn’t driven in a run since May 4. Dozier seems at a loss to explain the slump. “To be honest, I feel better than I probably have my whole career,” he told mlb.com after Sunday’s game. It doesn’t help that the Twins have sunk to 11-33, worst record in MLB. … This slump thing is going around among a bunch of Mississippians in the majors. Ole Miss alum Chris Coghlan is in a 1-for-21 funk that has dropped his average to .152 for Oakland. Mississippi juco products Corey Dickerson (Meridian CC) and Desmond Jennings (Itawamba CC) are scuffling for Tampa Bay. Dickerson, 4 for his last 23 heading into today’s play, is at .179; Jennings, 6 for his last 40, is hitting .178. Ex-Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland is batting .191 with one homer in his last 15 games for Texas. He’s at .230 for the year with four homers and 16 RBIs; he put up .278, 23, 85 last season. And a 3-for-17 slump has dropped former Ole Miss standout Seth Smith’s average to .236 for Seattle.

27 Mar

scatter shots

A change of scenery might be what Tyler Moore needs, but a return to Triple-A Syracuse probably isn’t going to help. Moore, the former Mississippi State standout, was outrighted to Syracuse by the Washington Nationals on Friday after clearing waivers. Declaring free agency was not an option for the 29-year-old Moore, who doesn’t have enough service time. As a regular in the minors, Moore hit .271 with 107 homers, including back-to-back 31-bomb seasons, over 612 games. Playing irregularly in the big leagues, he has a .228 average and 24 homers in 277 games over four years. He is hitting .121 as a pinch hitter, and he struggled this spring. Moore, well-liked in Washington, needs an opportunity somewhere else. Maybe the Nationals will try to deal him. … Cleveland optioned Pascagoula’s Joey Butler to Triple-A Buffalo, but manager Terry Francona said he was “thrilled” that the Indians were able to keep the slugging outfielder in the organization. Butler, who flashed his potential with Tampa Bay in 2015, didn’t have a good spring with the Indians, but he’ll get another shot with them. … Delta State is suddenly cooking, with eight straight wins and back-to-back Gulf South Conference series sweeps. The Statesmen, after rolling over North Alabama on the road this weekend, are 20-9, 13-5. They’ll be climbing in the NCAA Division II polls. … This just in: Southern Miss can hit a little bit. The Golden Eagles mashed four home runs on Saturday to finish off a C-USA sweep of Texas-San Antonio and now have 33 homers in 25 games. Taylor Braley leads with eight and Dylan Burdeaux has seven for 19-6 USM. …. Big series. Big crowds. Big letdown in Oxford? After getting swept by South Carolina in a matchup of top 10 teams, Ole Miss finds itself with a 2-4 SEC record. It’ll be interesting to see how the Rebels respond. … Was anybody left at Dudy Noble Field on Saturday when Mississippi State’s game against Georgia ended? Was anybody awake? The home Dogs lost to the road Dogs 11-8 in a nine-inning game that lasted almost five hours and “featured” 22 walks and 10 pitching changes. State did win the first two games and is now 4-2 in the league. … Props to Itawamba Community College’s Rick Collier on becoming the school’s all-time winningest coach with 452 W’s in 14 years. The Indians, with two homers from Timothy Rowe, beat Meridian 10-3 in the second game of a twinbill on Friday to push Collier past Roy Cresap. … Nominee for Game of the Year: In Ellisville on Friday, Jones County Junior College got a game-tying three-run homer from pinch-hitter Marcus Hardy in the bottom of the ninth and a walk-off two-run shot from Erick Hoard in the 10th to beat Northwest 8-6. After completing the doubleheader sweep, Jones is 24-2 and 7-1, leading the MACJC standings.

21 Mar

watch for it

Cody Reed, the former Horn Lake High and Northwest Mississippi Community College standout, will get the start tonight for Cincinnati against San Diego in a Cactus League game to be televised live (9:10 p.m.) on MLB Network. Left-hander Reed, one of the Reds’ top prospects, has a 1.13 ERA in eight innings this spring as he bids to crack their rotation. Even if he doesn’t make the club out of spring training, it’s expected the 22-year-old will make his big league debut sometime this season. The bespectacled Reed – he has worn the black-rimmed glasses on the mound since high school – went 6-2 with a 2.17 ERA in eight starts for Double-A Pensacola in 2015 after the Reds got him from Kansas City in the Johnny Cueto trade. P.S. Corey Dickerson, from McComb and Meridian CC, and ex-Itawamba CC star Desmond Jennings are with the Tampa Bay Rays on their historic trip to Cuba. The Rays will play the Cuban national team on Tuesday at 1 p.m. on ESPN, the first time since the Baltimore Orioles played an exhibition vs. Cuba in 1999 that an MLB team is taking the field there.

07 Mar

more spring things

It would appear that Seth Smith is ready for the season to start. The Ole Miss alumnus from Jackson went 2-for-3 on Sunday and is now 6-for-7 this spring for Seattle. The veteran Smith, likely the Mariners’ regular right fielder, didn’t have a great 2015 (.248, 12 homers) in his first year in Seattle. … Pascagoula native Joey Butler, battling for a starting job in Cleveland’s outfield, hit his first homer on Sunday and threw out a baserunner from left field. He is 2-for-8 this spring. … Ex-Itawamba Community College star Desmond Jennings, battling for a spot in Tampa Bay’s outfield, is 3-for-5 with three doubles. Jennings is coming off an injury-wrecked 2015. “We only saw him briefly, but when we did, he can really impact our club in a lot of positive ways,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said in a recent mlb.com article. … Meridian CC product Corey Dickerson, who homered in his first game with the Rays last week, has just one hit since. … Former Meridian CC and Mississippi State standout Tyler Moore may need a good spring to stay with Washington. He went 0-for-2 Sunday and is just 1-for-8 in four games. … Ex-State star Adam Frazier, in Pittsburgh’s camp as a non-roster invitee, is 3-for-8 in five games, playing some infield and outfield. His future may be as a utility type. … Ole Miss alum Cody Satterwhite, signed as a minor leaguer by the Los Angeles Angels a few weeks back, made his first spring appearance Sunday and worked a scoreless inning. Satterwhite had a 4.38 ERA at Triple-A Las Vegas in the New York Mets’ system last year. … Ex-Rebels standout Auston Bousfield, called over from the minor league camp, got into a San Diego split-squad game on Sunday and went 0-for-1. … Hunter Renfroe, the State product and a top-rated Padres prospect, is 3-for-8 while getting a long look as a non-roster outfielder. “Hunter’s going to get at-bats, he’s going to get an opportunity to show who he is,” Padres manager Andy Green told mlb.com. … In Cincinnati’s camp, Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton, coming off shoulder surgery, has played in just one game (as a DH) and is reported to be day-to-day. The Reds are also holding back UM product Zack Cozart, coming off knee surgery. “There’s no rush. I’m going to get my at-bats,” Cozart told mlb.com. … In Milwaukee’s camp, ex-Rebels standout Alex Presley, on a minor league contract, is 1-for-5 with a homer in three games. Fellow UM alum David Goforth, trying to stick in the bullpen, has a 3.00 ERA in three innings. Worth watching there, too, is the progress of former Biloxi Shuckers star Orlando Arcia, considered the Brewers’ shortstop of the near future. He is 2-for-8 in four games. He hit .307 with eight homers and 25 steals for the Shuckers in 2015.

03 Mar

spring things

Jarrod Dyson, the former Southwest Mississippi Community College star from McComb, experienced some disappointment on Wednesday, suffering an injury in his first at-bat of the spring with Kansas City. Dyson, 31, is expected to be a regular — in right field — for the first time in his seven big league seasons. Speculation is the strained right oblique will keep him out about two weeks, maybe more. Dyson is a career .255 hitter with 146 steals and is a plus-defender. … There were some notable bright spots on Wednesday for Mississippians in spring camps. Former Richton High standout JaCoby Jones homered for Detroit. In that same game, Mississippi State product Adam Frazier picked up a hit and an RBI for Pittsburgh, and fellow State alum Ed Easley had a walk and a run. In another Detroit split-squad game, ex-Ole Miss standout Will Allen, summoned from the minor league camp, got a base hit. Itawamba CC product Desmond Jennings went 1-for-2 with a couple of RBIs for Tampa Bay. Northwest CC’s Cody Reed worked two innings for Cincinnati, yielding one earned run and fanning two. Ole Miss alum Seth Smith was 2-for-2 with a run for Seattle, and in that same game former State star Hunter Renfroe got two hits for San Diego. Ex-UM standout Chris Ellis, in his first appearance for Atlanta, threw two scoreless innings. Also worth noting from that Braves game: Mississippi Braves alum Mallex Smith swatted two triples and a home run.

09 Feb

downtime

Having chosen baseball over football as a career, ex-Itawamba Community College star Desmond Jennings has found that injuries can be a problem in the summer game, too. The Tampa Bay outfielder spent chunks of time on the disabled list in 2012 and ’13 and missed most of 2015 with knee ailments and a tooth infection. “I don’t know how much lower you can go from here. It is what it is,” Jennings, who played in just 28 games last year, told mlb.com. Jennings, an Alabama football recruit years ago, was once the heir apparent to B.J. Upton in center field for the Rays, but he was displaced there by Kevin Kiermaier. New acquisition Corey Dickerson, the Meridian CC product, is expected to start in left field, which likely puts Jennings – who recently signed a $3.3M contract for 2016 — on the bench. A trade is possible for the 29-year-old Jennings, who has a .249 career average with 48 homers and 93 steals over parts of six MLB seasons.

17 Jan

your name here

Now that he has his name on a street — Dyson Drive — in his native McComb, Jarrod Dyson will seek to get his name penciled in as the Kansas City Royals’ regular right fielder this season. Dyson, who has never had more than 292 at-bats in any of his six MLB seasons, apparently will go into spring training vying for playing time with Paulo Orlando. Dyson signed a one-year deal on Friday for $1.725M, avoiding arbitration. A lefty hitter and a strong defensive outfielder, he batted .250 with 31 runs and 26 steals in 90 games in 2015. Orlando, a right-handed hitter, batted .249 with seven homers and 27 RBIs in 86 games. Speed, of course, is Dyson’s key tool, and pinch-running has been his primary role. He has 146 bags (and 165 runs) in 443 games with the Royals. The Southwest Mississippi Community College product stole three bases and scored one run in the 2015 postseason; the one run proved to be the game-winning run in the decisive fifth game of the World Series. P.S. Former Pillow Academy star Louis Coleman signed a one-year contract with Kansas City for $725,000. The right-handed reliever pitched in just four MLB games last year but has a 3.20 career ERA. … Itawamba CC product Desmond Jennings, who played just 28 games for Tampa Bay in 2015 because of various ailments, signed a one-year, $3.3M contract and avoided arbitration. Jennings, the Rays’ likely left fielder, is a .249 career hitter with 48 homers and 93 steals over five seasons. … Richton native JaCoby Jones and Southwest Mississippi CC alum Kade Scivicque have gotten non-roster invites to the Detroit Tigers’ spring camp.