Tag Archives: Jackson Mets

02 Aug

troublesome numbers

The Atlanta Braves strike out a lot — 947 times so far, fourth-most in the National League — and their worst offender is Austin Riley. The power-hitting third baseman out of DeSoto Central High has some good numbers — .260, 16 homers, 54 RBIs, 54 runs — but his punch-out number is problematic. He has struck out 127 times, tied for fifth-most in the NL, in 415 at-bats. He struck out four times — a proverbial Golden Sombrero — in the Braves’ 3-2 loss at Cincinnati on Friday night. The team whiffed 14 times. So many of the strikeouts seem to come in clutch situations. Yes, injuries have wreaked havoc with Atlanta’s pitching, but clutch hitting, making contact in key situations, also has been a season-long issue. They’ll sputter into today’s much-hyped Speedway Classic in Bristol, Tenn., with a 46-63 record, third-worst in the NL. They left eight runners on base Friday and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Case in point: In the eighth inning, with runners at second and third, one out and Atlanta down 3-0, Riley struck out for the fourth time. That kind of thing has plagued the Braves all season. Five players have fanned 83 times or more. They simply don’t hit enough home runs — 117 — to overcome that. P.S. Adam Frazier, Mississippi State alum, hit his fourth homer of the year — first with Kansas City — and the feisty Royals belted four bombs all told in a 9-3 win over first-place Toronto. … Former Madison Central star Braden Montgomery hit his first Double-A homer for Birmingham in win against Rocket City. The recently promoted Montgomery, one of the Chicago White Sox’s top prospects, is batting .268 with 12 homers, 58 RBIs and 12 steals across three levels of the minors. … MSU product Dakota Jordan returned from the injured list and went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in a win by Low-Class A San Jose. The San Francisco prospect is hitting .304 with 10 homers, 72 RBIs and 27 steals. … Colton Ledbetter, ex-MSU standout, swiped his 28th bag for Double-A Montgomery. The Tampa Bay prospect is hitting .284 with five homers, 33 RBIs and 52 runs. … Christian MacLeod, a 25-year-old left-hander out of MSU, was promoted to Triple-A St. Paul by thinned-out Minnesota and allowed a lone unearned run in 3 2/3 innings in his debut. He has a 2.26 ERA in 16 games over three levels. … Worth noting: Cal Raleigh, the Seattle slugger, set the record for homers by a switch-hitting catcher with his 42nd on Thursday. The previous record of 41 was set by Jackson Mets alum Todd Hundley with the New York Mets in 1996.

16 Jul

just stuff

Adam Frazier left Kansas City as a free agent last fall. Today, the Royals decided they wanted him back. They sent a Triple-A prospect to Pittsburgh to reacquire the Mississippi State product, a utility player who was batting .255 with three homers and 21 RBIs for the last-place Pirates. The Royals are 47-50 and playing better of late. Frazier, a lefty hitter, had a down year with KC in 2024 but is a .263 career hitter in 10 MLB seasons with five different clubs. He has 63 homers and 62 steals. Earlier this season the Royals released two ex-MSU players: Hunter Renfroe and Chris Stratton. Ex-Ole Miss star James McArthur is on their injured list. … MLB Pipeline hailed Washington as having one of the better drafts this year. The Nationals, who took Oklahoma high schooler Eli Willits first overall, drafted East Union High right-hander Landon Harmon in the third round and in later rounds got Ole Miss righty Riley Maddox and MSU first baseman Hunter Hines. Maddox (11-14, 6.09 ERA in four years in Oxford) and Hines (career-record 70 homers in four years in Starkville) already have signed. … Pearl River Community College had four alums drafted, all pitchers: Jacob Johnson and K.K. Clark off the 2025 team and former Wildcats Conner Ware of LSU and Landen Payne of Southern Miss. All four are Magnolia State natives. The River has had 34 alums drafted since 1983, per the school’s website. … The Frontier League All-Star Game is tonight at Troy, N.Y. Brian Williams, Victor Diaz and Travis Holt of the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters have been invited. … On this date in 1988, the longest game in Texas League history concluded with the San Antonio Missions beating the Jackson Mets 1-0 in the 26th inning. It took 7 hours, 23 minutes over three days to complete. It began on July 14 and was suspended at 2:28 a.m. on July 15, scoreless in the 25th inning. It was resumed on July 16 and finally ended in the 26th inning. Blaine Beatty, a future big leaguer with the New York Mets, gave up the winning run. Current Nationals pitching coach Jim Hickey pitched six scoreless innings for the Missions, a Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate. He would later serve as pitching coach for the Double-A Jackson Generals.

07 Jul

arrivals and departures

July 7 is a red-letter date for a large number of players with Mississippi ties. On this date in 2011, former Ole Miss standout Zack Cozart made his MLB debut with Cincinnati. He went 1-for-3 against Milwaukee, launching a nine-year big league career that saw him bat .247 with 85 homers and make the 2017 All-Star Game. Three former Jackson Generals debuted on July 7 (per Baseball Almanac): Todd Jones in 1993, Trent (Trenidad) Hubbard in ’94 and Wade Miller in ’99. Jones and Miller debuted with the Double-A Gens’ parent Houston Astros, Hubbard with Colorado. On July 7, 2005, former Mississippi Braves star Jeff Francoeur crashed The Show with Atlanta, homering in his first game. Two years later, M-Braves alum Jo-Jo Reyes got the call from the big Braves. Also on July 7, in 1990, former Jackson Mets ace Jay Tibbs threw the final pitch of his seven-year MLB career, and in 1996, Jeff Ware — a player/coach for the 2002 Jackson Senators — threw his last MLB pitch, capping an 18-game career. Most notably, July 7, 2012, marked the final game of Tim Dillard’s major league career — but not his pro career. The former Itawamba Community College standout posted a 4.70 ERA over four seasons with Milwaukee. The colorful right-hander, now a Brewers TV analyst, would continue pitching in various leagues until 2020, working 18 pro seasons overall. P.S. Konnor Griffin, the former Jackson Prep star, swiped three bases for High-Class A Greensboro on Sunday, running his season total to 40 over two levels in the Pittsburgh system. He is batting .333 overall with a .532 slugging percentage and 13 homers, but speed might be his best tool. He swiped a jaw-dropping 85 bases at Prep last year, when he won Gatorade national player of the year honors. … Former Southern Miss and Meridian CC star Dalton McIntyre was recently promoted by Atlanta from rookie ball to High-A Rome, where he joins forces with ex-ICC standout Will Verdung. McIntyre hit .388 at USM in 2024 and is batting .259 with 18 steals in his first pro season. Verdung, a 2023 Braves draftee after earning MACCC player of the year honors, is hitting .285 for the Emperors.

28 May

a significant debut

On this date in 1976, Bobby Myrick made his big league debut for the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. The Hattiesburg native and Blair High grad retired the only batter he faced — St. Louis’ Hector Cruz — for the final out of the fifth inning. Myrick was the 13,755th player to play in MLB, but his debut was an historic one: The left-hander, a member of the original Jackson Mets in 1975, became the first JaxMets player to advance from the Double-A team to the majors. A flood of players would follow that trail, several others off the ’75 team. Drafted in the 20th round out of Mississippi State in 1974, Myrick’s rise was rapid. He played parts of three seasons (’76-78) with the Mets, going 3-6 with two saves and a 3.48 ERA in 82 games. He pitched in the minors until 1981. He died in 2012. … The Mets left Jackson and Smith-Wills Stadium after the 1990 season and were followed by the Generals, a Houston affiliate. Tony Eusebio was the first Gens player to get a call-up in 1991. The first Mississippi Braves player to go up was Brian McCann in 2005, during the Atlanta Double-A affiliate’s first season at Trustmark Park in Pearl.

08 May

for openers

Opening day for the Mississippi Mud Monsters, the new independent team, is Thursday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Opening day is always special. When it is punctuated with a win by the home team, it is even moreso. Over the last 50 years, there have been a lot of opening days for pro teams in central Mississippi, every year since 1975, in fact, save for 2001 (no team) and 2020 (COVID shutdown). There are some around who might recall the very first opening day, 50 years ago, at Smith-Wills Stadium, where the Double-A Jackson Mets beat Arkansas 6-4 in a Texas League game. A crowd of 2,800 turned out on a rainy day — and a love affair between city and team began. If you were there in 1984, when Lenny Dykstra put on a show for the JaxMets in a 6-0 win over Tulsa, you remember it. In 1985, Biloxi’s own Barry Lyons belted a walk-off homer for the JaxMets. Both the ’84 and ’85 Mets teams, stocked with future big leaguers, would win league titles. The Jackson Generals, the Houston affiliate that followed the Mets into Smith-Wills in 1991, won their inaugural game at Smith-Wills, 3-2 over Shreveport on a Rusty Harris pinch-hit single in the eighth inning. The 1993 Generals won their first five home games, all against Tulsa, managed by Jackson native Stan Cliburn. The ’93 Gens, featuring Roberto Petagine, Brian Hunter and Jackson’s own Fletcher Thompson, would go on to win the TL pennant. On opening day in 1995, Hattiesburg’s Kary Bridges hit a memorable walk-off bomb for the Gens. The independent Jackson DiamondKats won their first and only home opener in 2000, getting a game-winning hit in the eighth inning from Tupelo’s Willie Gardner. In 2003, the indy Jackson Senators won their opening day game, behind the pitching of Purvis native and staff ace Kenny Rayborn, and would go on to win the Central League championship. Trustmark Park formally opened 20 years ago in April, when the Double-A Mississippi Braves played their much-anticipated home opener. The game drew a crowd of 6,000-plus. That 2005 opening day lineup featured future big leaguers Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, Gregor Blanco, Scott Thorman, Anthony Lerew and Luis Hernandez. The manager was Brian Snitker. Alas, the M-Braves lost to Montgomery 11-6. But it was opening day, and it was still special. Thursday will be, too.

18 Apr

answering the bell

Southern Miss, Ole Miss and Jackson State each dealt with a sense of urgency on Thursday. Two of them — USM and JSU — got the result they needed. In Hattiesburg, the Golden Eagles faced Georgia State on Hill Denson Bobblehead Night with an announced 5,408, including the former coach, on hand at Taylor Park. If ever there was a must-win game … . USM made the Hall of Fame coach proud with an 8-1 win, belting five homers to back the brilliant pitching of J.B. Middleton. Nick Monistere hit his 13th homer — fifth in three games — and Middleton (7-1) tossed eight innings (three hits, one run, 12 strikeouts) as USM moved to 26-12, 11-5 Sun Belt. At Braddy Field in Jackson, JSU, which had lost seven of eight, rode a dominant outing from Erick Gonzalez to a 2-0 victory against Alabama A&M. Gonzalez (4-3) worked 8 2/3, allowing six hits and punching out 10. The Tigers (18-17, 6-10 SWAC) cobbled together two runs in the second inning on a sac bunt, an error and a sac fly. Alas, Ole Miss, coming off a clunky home loss to Arkansas-Little Rock, went to Columbia, S.C., and dropped a 3-2 decision to South Carolina, one of the worst teams in the SEC at 3-13. Hunter Elliott (5-2) allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings to take a hard-luck loss for the nationally ranked Rebels (27-11, 9-7 SEC). UM has lost three in a row and four of five. … Incidentally, d1baseball.com projects Ole Miss to host a regional that will include USM. The website also put Mississippi State in the 64-team field. The Bulldogs (23-14, 5-10) open a big SEC series today against Florida (25-14, 4-11) at Starkville. … Also on tap this weekend: William Carey University visits Blue Mountain Christian in an SCAC series. Ranked No. 9 in NAIA, Carey (31-9, 20-4) leads 34-8 in the all-time series with BMC. But the Toppers (21-22, 10-14) won the regular season series in 2024 before losing a league tournament game to the Crusaders. P.S. In MLB: Cool moment at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa on Thursday when Tampa Bay’s Jake Mangum faced former Jackson Prep teammate Will Warren, the New York Yankees’ starting pitcher, in the second inning. Mangum hit a high hopper that Warren fielded, but with no one covering first base for some reason, Mangum got an infield hit. That was the rookies’ only clash. Mangum had two hits to raise his average to .345; Warren (5.17 ERA) lasted just 1 2/3 innings, yielding one run. The Yanks won 6-3. … Former Jackson Mets and big league manager Clint Hurdle is the new hitting coach for Colorado, which dismissed Hensley Meulens on Thursday.

12 Feb

an anniversary to celebrate

In recognition of Black History Month, here’s a tip of the cap to the 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes, who won the Negro League World Series with three Mississippi natives on the roster. Reference works differ on the Buckeyes’ overall record, but according to baseball-reference.com, the team went 63-17-1. The Buckeyes won both halves of the split season in the Negro American League and then swept the National League champion Homestead Grays 4-0 in the Series. Lowndes County/Columbus native Sam Jethroe and Jackson’s Buddy Armour played center and left field, respectively, for the ’45 Buckeyes, and Lauderdale native Lovell Harden pitched out of the bullpen. A seven-time All-Star in the Negro Leagues, Jethroe, nicknamed “The Jet,” would go on to win rookie of the year honors in the majors in 1950 with the Boston Braves. According to the available stats from Baseball Reference, he batted .333 with 20 RBIs and five steals in 21 official games for the ’45 Buckeyes. Armour — a four-time All-Star and .285 career hitter — hit .254 with six RBIs and nine runs in 17 games that season. Harden made just two appearances. In the World Series against Homestead — which suited up Mississippians Cool Papa Bell and Dave Hoskins — Armour was 4-for-13 with two runs and three RBIs and Jethroe 4-for-15 with two RBIs and a run. Other members of that championship team celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2025 included player/manager Quincy “Big Train” Trouppe, pitching brothers George and Willie Jefferson, Cuban shortstop Avelino Canizares and third baseman Parnell Woods. P.S. Other anniversaries of note in 2025: It was 50 years ago — 50 years! — that the Jackson Mets made their debut at brand new Smith-Wills Stadium with a team that included Craig Cacek, Angel Cantres and Hattiesburg native Bobby Myrick. In 2000, the independent Jackson DiamondKats played their lone season at Smith-Wills, and 20 years ago, the Mississippi Braves — with Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur and Blaine Boyer — debuted at Pearl’s Trustmark Park, while the indy Senators — managed by Hill Denson — began their final season at Smith-Wills. The Kansas City Royals will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their 2015 World Series winner, a team managed by former JaxMets catcher Ned Yost and featuring McComb native Jarrod Dyson as a reserve outfielder.

10 Oct

postseason potpourri

A former Mississippi Braves player enjoyed a star turn for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Wednesday night. It wasn’t Freddie Freeman, who sat out the Dodgers’ stunning 8-0 win vs. San Diego with an ankle injury. It was Evan Phillips, who got four outs — against the biggest bats in the Padres’ lineup — and earned the win at Petco Park. The series is 2-2 heading back to Dodger Stadium on Friday. One of the eight pitchers LA deployed in Game 4, Phillips entered in the fifth inning of a 5-0 game with two on and two out and got Fernando Tatis Jr. to fly out. The 30-year-old right-hander then mowed down Jurickson Profar, Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill in the sixth. Now in his fourth year with the Dodgers, Phillips has not allowed an earned run in nine postseason appearances. A former Atlanta draftee, Phillips pitched in Pearl in 2016 and ’17, posting modest numbers over 37 games in Double-A. The Braves traded him to Baltimore at the deadline in 2018. He signed with Tampa Bay in 2021 and was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers that summer. He has a 3.43 ERA and 45 saves in 243 MLB games. … The New York Mets, who eliminated Philadelphia in a Game 4 on Wednesday, might have a good luck charm in their dugout: first-year bench coach John Gibbons. Gibbons, a former big league manager, was a catcher for the Jackson Mets in 1982 — the Darryl Strawberry year — and ’83 and also played for the 1986 big league Mets. Of course, that was the last time New York won a World Series. (Gibbons didn’t play in the ’86 Series.) … Biloxi High product Colt Keith got his first postseason knock and scored a run in Detroit’s 3-0 win against Cleveland on Wednesday. The Tigers take a 2-1 lead into Game 4 tonight at Comerica Park. Rookie Keith is back in the lineup at second base, hitting fifth. … Ex-Mississippi State standout Adam Frazier made his first appearance of the ’24 postseason, got a hit and scored a run for Kansas City in a 3-2 loss to the New York Yankees at Kauffman Stadium. Frazier has been in the postseason each of the last three years with a different team each time; he is 6-for-31 in eight games.

04 Oct

off to a wild start

There were crushing defeats in the MLB Wild Card Series. And then there was what happened to Milwaukee and former Biloxi Shuckers star Devin Williams in a Game 3 on Thursday night. Williams – 14-of-15 in save opportunities with a 1.25 ERA in 22 games this season — surrendered the game-changing three-run homer to Pete Alonso in the ninth inning of the division-champ Brewers’ 4-2 loss to the wild-card New York Mets. The frenzied crowd at American Family Field, fired up by two Milwaukee bombs in the seventh, was crestfallen. Williams, a 2019 Biloxi alum whose “Airbender” changeup helped him win rookie of the year honors in 2020, and fellow former Shuckers Jackson Chourio (.455, two homers in the series), Sal Frelick (.364, Game 3 homer) and Garrett Mitchell (big Game 2 homer) are done. Among those celebrating for the Mets were former Mississippi Braves outfielder Antoan Richardson, the first-base coach, and former Jackson Mets catcher John Gibbons, the longtime MLB manager who is now the team’s bench coach. … Atlanta’s tumultuous and injury-plagued season ended Wednesday in San Diego, where M-Braves alum Max Fried, in perhaps his last Atlanta appearance, got whacked for six straight hits and five runs in the second inning of Game 2. Despite the efforts of ex-M-Braves star Michael Harris II (3-for-4 with a double and homer), the Braves could not recover and went down and out, 5-4. … Houston, another division champ playing at home, went out in two games to the surging Detroit Tigers. Former Shuckers ace Josh Hader faltered at a crucial time in Game 2 for the Astros, giving up a game-deciding three-run double in the eighth inning of the 5-2 defeat. Colt Keith, the rookie out of Biloxi High, and the amazing Tigers move on to face Cleveland (and ex-Southern Miss standout Nick Sandlin) in the American League Division Series. … Baltimore, playing at home as the No. 3 seed in the AL, was swept by Kansas City. Former Mississippi State standout Jordan Westburg, an All-Star for the Orioles this season, is done, while the upstart Royals, with former Bulldogs Hunter Renfroe and Adam Frazier in tow, move on to play the New York Yankees in the ALDS. … Awaiting the Mets in the NLDS is Philadelphia and the raucous fans at Citizens Bank Park. Philly’s current roster includes ex-Shuckers standout Weston Wilson and M-Braves alum Kolby Allard, and Laurel native Bobby Dickerson is the team’s infield coach. The other NL semifinal matches two teams that have some history: San Diego and the Los Angeles Dodgers. On LA’s roster are former M-Braves Freddie Freeman and Evan Phillips. … All the division series openers are Saturday.

26 Sep

just stuff

The good news for the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday: They beat Miami 8-3 to keep pace in the American League wild card chase, 2 games back of sizzling-hot Detroit and Kansas City. The bad news: Former Southern Miss standout Matt Wallner, one of the Twins’ top power threats, went on the injured list with an oblique injury. “It sucks. Definitely not something I foresaw happening, so not ideal,” Wallner said in a Sports Illustrated story. Wallner has 13 homers and a .523 slugging percentage in 75 games. … Kansas City, which has won two straight after a seven-game skid, is missing ex-Mississippi State star Chris Stratton and Ole Miss alum James McArthur, both on the IL, from its bullpen. McArthur won’t pitch again in 2024. … J.T. Ginn, rookie righty out of MSU, will get the dubious honor of starting today in the A’s final game at Oakland Coliseum, their home since 1968. They’ll play in Sacramento next season. Ginn is 0-1 with a 4.40 ERA in seven MLB games. He’ll face a Texas club that suits up ex-MSU stars Nathaniel Lowe and Justin Foscue. … MSU alum Eric Cerantola, a Kansas City prospect, pitched the last two innings, allowing one unearned run, as Omaha beat Columbus 5-4 in 11 innings to even the International League Championship Series at 1-all. The deciding game is tonight in Omaha. … Former State and Jackson Prep star Jake Mangum won the IL batting title with a .317 average. The fifth-year pro, 28, finished with six homers, 56 RBIs and 20 steals for Durham in the Tampa Bay organization. … On the occasion of Arkansas winning the 2024 Texas League crown on Wednesday night, here’s a tip of the cap to the 1984 TL champion Jackson Mets and the 1994 Jackson Generals, who reached the finals in dramatic fashion. The ’84 JaxMets, featuring the likes of Lenny Dykstra, Billy Beane and Randy Myers, dominated the TL East in the regular season and beat Beaumont for the pennant in six games. The ’94 Generals, the defending league champs, won the TL East playoffs in one of Smith-Wills Stadium’s most memorable games. Down 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth of the decisive Game 5, the Generals got back-to-back home runs from Tom Nevers and Jeff Ball to stun rival Shreveport 2-1. The Gens, whose best player was Bobby Abreu, lost in the TL Championship Series.