M-Braves Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

25 Oct

names to know

There are no Magnolia State natives or school alums on the active rosters for this year’s World Series, though there are some significant state connections. Former Mississippi Braves star Freddie Freeman plays first base and Evan Phillips, another M-Braves alum, pitches for Los Angeles. Trent Grisham, who played for the Biloxi Shuckers, is a reserve outfielder for New York. Ex-Mississippi State star Travis Chapman also suits up for the Yankees and enjoys the privilege of slapping hands with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, et al., as they start their home run trek. Chapman, the Yankees’ first-base coach, was an outstanding third baseman who played on two College World Series teams at State before enjoying a nice pro career (.286 average) that included one at-bat in The Show in 2003. He played his last game in 2006 and then became a manager and coach in the Yankees’ minor league chain. He joined the big club in 2022. Grisham belted 20 homers in 79 games for Biloxi in 2017-18 and hit nine this year for the Yankees, but the lefty hitter has yet to appear in this postseason. Freeman, who has pronounced himself a “100 percent go” for tonight’s Game 1 despite an ankle injury, played for the M-Braves in 2009; he hit .248 with two homers and 24 RBIs in 41 games. He made the big leagues in 2010 and is an eight-time All-Star and former MVP. Phillips did two stints in Pearl (2016 and ’17), appearing in 37 games as a reliever. He reached Atlanta in 2018 and was traded to Baltimore during that season. The right-hander has yet to allow a run in 12 postseason appearances over four years with the Dodgers. … Andy Fletcher, an Ole Miss alum and Olive Branch resident, is on the umpiring crew for the Series and will be behind home plate for Game 2 at Dodger Stadium. A 25-year vet in MLB, Fletcher was behind the plate in Korea for Game 2 of the 2024 season when the Dodgers played San Diego. … Brent Rooker, MSU alum now with Oakland, will serve as a correspondent for MLB Network in Game 3 of the Series at Yankee Stadium, doing pre- and postgame interviews. P.S. In the previous 11 World Series matchups featuring the Dodgers and Yankees, the only one in which a Mississippian played any type of role was the 1941 meeting. Morton native Atley Donald, nicknamed Swampy, started Game 4 for the Yankees and stood to get the loss before Mickey Owen’s infamous ninth-inning passed ball allowed the Yankees to mount a winning rally en route to taking the Series 4-1. Right-hander Donald pitched eight years with the Yankees from 1938-45 and compiled a 65-33 record with a 3.52 ERA. He was a three-time world champion with the Bronx Bombers.

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.

25 Sep

bright spots

On a supercharged Tuesday night in the big leagues when highlights were popping all over the place, a trio of former Mississippi Braves stars and an ex-Biloxi Shuckers standout found the limelight. In Atlanta, 2024 M-Braves alum Spencer Schwellenbach threw seven brilliant innings and Michael Harris II went 3-for-4 with a homer (and a great catch) as the Braves beat the New York Mets 5-1 in the opener of a crucial series. In Houston, Jason Heyward (M-Braves 2009) hit a go-ahead two-run homer and Josh Hader (Shuckers ’15-16) notched a clean four-out save as the Astros beat Seattle 4-3 to clinch their fourth straight American League West title. … Elsewhere, San Diego clinched a National League playoff berth, sealing a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers with a triple play; Baltimore clinched an AL berth with a wild win over New York at Yankee Stadium; and Detroit and Kansas City tightened their grip on AL wild card invitations. … But back to the ATL, where the Braves moved to within a half-game of Arizona (11-0 loser to San Francisco) and a game back of the Mets in the NL wild card standings. Schwellenbach started this season in A-ball and threw 13 scoreless innings in two May outings for the Double-A M-Braves before jumping to the big league club. He is 8-7 with a 3.47 ERA and has won three straight starts. A solo homer in the seventh inning was all the damage the Mets could muster against the right-hander. Harris, who jumped from Mississippi to Atlanta in 2022 and won rookie of the year honors, has been on fire since coming off the injured list in mid-August. He is batting .362 with seven homers, 13 RBIs and 17 runs in his last 15 games. … Over to Houston, where Heyward has found a home at age 35 after being released by the Dodgers in late August. He is batting .234 with four homers in 47 at-bats for the Astros and playing his usual stellar defense in the outfield. Hader, who has had some rocky times with Houston, notched his 34th save Tuesday; he has an 0.95 ERA in his last 15 appearances. Houston, which once trailed Seattle by 10 games in the AL West, is now 5 up. P.S. Former Ole Miss star Doug Nikhazy worked 5 2/3 innings (1 run, 10 strikeouts) to lead Columbus to a 3-2 win against Omaha in the opener of the Triple-A International League Championship Series. Lefty Nikhazy, a second-round pick in 2021, went 7-4 with a 2.98 ERA this season at Double-A and Triple-A in the Cleveland system.

09 Sep

remember that time …

It wasn’t the kind of finale the Mississippi Braves would have hoped for. In the team’s last game at Trustmark Park, they lost 10-3. The last batter of the last game struck out. A crowd announced at 4,111 on a breezy, sun-splashed Sunday groaned at that last out but then gave the home boys a final round of applause. Just like that, 20 years — 19 seasons — of Double-A baseball in Pearl ended. The Atlanta affiliate sent scores of players to the big leagues. Won two league championships. Produced five no-hitters, a Southern League MVP, a pitcher of the year and a bunch of league All-Stars. There were shutouts and grand slams and walk-offs aplenty. Sunday’s game might not have been one for the scrapbook of memories, but there were plenty of those through the years for the more than 3 million fans who passed through the gates. Here’s one: On April 30, 2005 — the inaugural season — Brian McCann, the 21-year-old catching prospect just weeks from his first big league call-up, stepped to the plate in the bottom of ninth with the M-Braves down 1-0. West Tenn’s Rich Hill — yes, that Rich Hill — and three relievers had no-hit the M-Braves for 8 2/3 innings. Lefty Yorkin Ferraras was on the bump to face the lefty-hitting McCann with a man on first. As West Tenn manager — and Laurel native — Bobby Dickerson said after the game: “McCann is the one guy we didn’t want to face right there.” On a 2-2 pitch, Ferraras left a fastball out over the plate and McCann smacked it high and deep over the right-field wall for a 2-1 victory. “I’ve never had a feeling like that as long as I’ve been playing sports,” McCann said afterward. Nineteen years later, it still resonates. Baseball does that.

08 Sep

aloha from pearl

Good-bye, Mississippi Braves. Hello, Frontier League team to be named later. The M-Braves — Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves — will play their final game at Pearl’s Trustmark Park today (2:05 p.m. vs. Tennessee). On Monday, fan voting will begin to pick a name for a new team that will play there in the independent Frontier League. (Visit ondeck2025.com.) Pearl city officials and the stadium management group have announced that Trustmark Park will have a pro team in 2025. As currently configured, the Frontier League, officially an MLB-supported Partner League, has 16 teams, 13 in the U.S., three in Canada, none in the South. If you’re scoring at home, this team will be the third independent club to come to central Mississippi (Jackson or Pearl) since 2000. (Several other cities in the state hosted indy teams at various times in the 1990s, but all are long gone.) Since 1990, fans in the metro have said good-bye to the Mets and Generals, both MLB affiliated teams, and the DiamondKats and Senators, both independent clubs. All four played at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium, and all four suffered from poor attendance that impacted their bottom line. That’s why the M-Braves are leaving, as well, bound for Columbus, Ga., after a 20-year run at Trustmark Park. The M-Braves — who drew an announced crowd of 5,300-plus for Saturday’s doubleheader — have averaged just over 2,000 fans a game for the past several seasons, ranking near the bottom in all of Double-A baseball. The league average in the Frontier League this season was 2,305. Six teams drew under 2,000, including a Brockton, Mass.-based club that averaged 1,116. The team in Schaumburg, Ill., averaged a reported 4,627 to lead the league. … For the record, a new college summer league — the Legacy League — is scheduled to operate at Smith-Wills next year: eight teams playing a 40-game slate from May into July.

03 Sep

eye on …

David McCabe is rated 13th among Atlanta’s minor league prospects, but through 24 games with the Mississippi Braves he has yet to find his footing. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound McCabe, who missed the first four months of the season after Tommy John surgery, is batting .125 (10-for-80) and slugging .188 with a single home run, seven RBIs and 33 strikeouts. The switch-hitter is in the lineup tonight, batting third at DH, as the Double-A M-Braves begin their final — as in last ever — regular season homestand. Canada native McCabe was drafted in the fourth round in 2022 out of UNC-Charlotte, where he slugged .679 as a junior and hit 30 homers over his last two seasons. Power is his best tool. A corner infielder, he played at two Class A levels in 2023 and hit .276 with 17 homers and 75 RBIs and batted .278 in the Arizona Fall League. Before this season began, MLB Pipeline ranked him No. 6 on Atlanta’s prospect chart. He slipped in the most recent ratings. After all that time on the shelf, it isn’t terribly surprising that McCabe would start slow once he arrived in Pearl. But to have just one homer — on Aug. 9 — in 24 games has to be a little bit of a disappointment. … The M-Braves, riding a three-game win streak, are 30-27 in the second half and 61-64 overall, still in the running for a Southern League postseason berth. And they have a strong set of starters lined up to face Tennessee this week at Trustmark Park. Southern Miss alum Landon Harper (2-1, 1.32 ERA, in 20 appearances, three starts) is scheduled tonight and again in Sunday’s finale. Knuckleballer David Fletcher, the ex-big league infielder, Ernesto Mejia, Lucas Braun and Jhancarlo Lara have Games 2-5.

31 Aug

brewing a winner

A gaggle of former Biloxi Shuckers, products of Milwaukee’s rich farm system, had their fingerprints all over the Brewers’ impressive sweep of the Cincinnati Reds on Friday. The All-Shuckers Alumni outfield of Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Jackson Chourio combined for five hits, two RBIs and a run in a 10-inning 5-4 win in Game 1, which ex-Shuckers star Devin Williams closed out. In a 14-0 rout in Game 2, Mitchell homered, tripled, stole a base and scored three times; Frelick went 3-for-5 with two RBIs; and ex-Shuckers Brice Turang and Andruw Monasterio drove in a run each. Shuckers fans know these names. Heading into this season, the Brewers, despite three straight winning seasons, were not pegged as a playoff contender. But after Friday’s sweep, Milwaukee owns a 79-56 record and a 10-game lead in the National League Central. “Let’s face it, there wasn’t enough bratwurst and beer in the world to convince anyone outside Milwaukee that this team would be running away with the division,” Bob Nightengale of USA Today recently wrote. Popular and successful manager Craig Counsell bolted for Chicago after last season, replaced by Pat Murphy. Stalwart pitcher Brandon Woodruff, the former Mississippi State standout, has been on the injured list all year, and fellow ace Corbin Burnes was traded to Baltimore. But the plucky Brewers have found a way, relying mainly on young talent that has risen through the system. Chourio, age 20, is a shining example. Entering this season, he was regarded as one of the top two or three prospects in the minors and got a huge contract before ever playing an MLB game. After belting 22 homers and stealing 43 bases for the Double-A Biloxi club last year, Chourio is batting .273 with 16 homers, 62 RBIs and 19 steals, a rookie of the year-type season. Worth noting: Former Mississippi Braves star William Contreras, an All-Star catcher in 2024, homered in both games for the Shuckers on Friday and has 20 on the season. … Interestingly enough, a former Shuckers standout helped fuel Atlanta’s big win at Philadelphia on Friday. Orlando Arcia — much to the chagrin of Phillies fans — smacked two homers in the Braves’ 7-2 victory, which trimmed Philly’s lead to 5 games in the NL East. Arcia, having a down year with the bat (.228), does have 15 homers and is a very good defensive shortstop.

30 Aug

worth noting

Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark isn’t the place you’d choose for your first major league start, but J.T. Ginn handled Thursday’s appearance at that launching pad relatively well. The ex-Mississippi State star from Brandon went to the bump for Oakland and retired the first eight Reds batters he faced before Will Benson homered. Ginn yielded another home run in the fourth inning and a couple runs in the fifth but left with a lead. The A’s couldn’t hold it and ultimately lost 10-9. Ginn allowed four hits and a walk and struck out four. In three MLB appearances, the 25-year-old righty has a 5.19 ERA and eight K’s in 8 2/3 innings. He was 15-16 with a 4.68 over four minor league campaigns prior to his call to The Show earlier this month. … MSU alum Gavin Collins is enjoying a career revival at Triple-A Memphis in the St. Louis organization. He went 2-for-2 with a three-run homer Thursday in the Redbirds’ 18-2 win against Iowa and is batting .271 with seven homers and 27 RBIs in 50 games. The versatile Collins, 29, who has played primarily catcher this year, was drafted by Cleveland back in 2016. He became a free agent in 2022, signed with Tampa Bay, got released and then batted .314 with 10 bombs in the independent American Association last season before signing with St. Louis. … Mississippi College product Blaine Crim and ex-MSU standout Justin Foscue homered for Triple-A Round Rock, providing all the offense in a 3-1 win over Oklahoma City. Crim has 17 homers, Foscue nine for the Texas farm club. … Ex-Southern Miss and Mississippi Braves star Hurston Waldrep allowed one run over five innings for Triple-A Gwinnett and has a 4.50 ERA in six games for the Stripers. The 2023 first-round pick may yet get another look in Atlanta, where he was shelled (13 runs in seven innings) in two outings earlier this season. … K.C. Hunt, signed as an undrafted free agent out of MSU by Milwaukee last year, will make his fourth start tonight for Double-A Biloxi, where he is 0-2 despite a 3.31 ERA. Hunt, the Brewers’ No. 29 prospect, has pitched at three levels this season and has a 7-3 record, 2.21 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings. … Kudos to Jason Heyward, the former M-Braves star who smacked a two-run double in his second at-bat for resurgent Houston, which beat Kansas City 6-3. Heyward, a 15-year MLB vet, was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers last week.

20 Aug

tagging up

Atlanta’s season of woe continued on Monday when Austin Riley was placed on the injured list with a fractured hand. The former DeSoto Central High star was batting .256 with 19 home runs and playing Gold Glove-level defense — did you see the play he made on Friday? — for a wounded Braves team (66-58) that is still very much in the playoff hunt in the National League. It has been a painful year generally for Mississippians in the majors. Riley joins Jordan Westburg, Dakota Hudson, Kendall Graveman, J.P. France, Brandon Woodruff, Spencer Turnbull, Lance Lynn and Jacob Waguespack on the injured list. In addition, Nathaniel Lowe, Justin Steele, Justin Foscue, Hurston Waldrep, Ethan Small, Hunter Renfroe and Nick Fortes have done time on the IL. … Fortes, an Ole Miss product, came off the IL on Sunday for Miami and recorded the final out in a 8-9-4-2 double play, the first in the big leagues in the modern era. He also homered on Monday — his third — and is batting .388 over his last 15 games. … Foscue, back in the minors, had a four-hit, four-RBI game for Triple-A Round Rock on Saturday. Rated Texas’ No. 7 prospect, the ex-Mississippi State star is batting .277 with five homers for the Express; he is 2-for-19 in his limited MLB time this year. … Biloxi High alum Colt Keith, 23, not that far removed from his youth league days, went 3-for-4 with a game-tying run in Detroit’s 3-2 win over the New York Yankees in Sunday’s Little League Classic at Williamsport, Pa. … Ex-State standout Hunter Renfroe went 0-for-24 over a six-game stretch before going 3-for-9 on Saturday and Sunday for Kansas City in back-to-back wins against Cincinnati. … Belated kudos to former Biloxi Shuckers standout Weston Wilson, who became the first Philadelphia Phillies rookie to hit for the cycle when he did so last Thursday. Wilson, who played in Biloxi in 2018-19, homered in his first big league at-bat for the Phillies last August. … The Mississippi Braves pounded Biloxi 11-1 on Sunday at Keesler Federal Park (formerly MGM Park) as Keshawn Ogans hit his first homer of the season for the M-Braves. The M-Braves won five of six in the series. Atlanta’s Double-A team, which is moving to Columbus, Ga., in 2025, starts its next-to-last homestand Tuesday at Trustmark Park vs. Chattanooga.

05 Aug

patience, patience …

Two months into this season, Kansas City Royals fans had to be wondering if their team had made a mistake in signing Hunter Renfroe as a free agent in the off-season. The ex-Mississippi State star from Crystal Springs was batting .178 with four home runs on May 31. But a little patience on the part of Royals management appears to have paid off. Renfroe hit .333 in June, .297 in July and is currently riding a 10-game hit streak that has raised his average to .246. He has 11 homers, 44 RBIs and 36 runs and has been a good complementary piece in a KC lineup that features Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez. Renfroe is also an excellent right fielder, with six assists and one error in 92 games. On Sunday at Detroit, the nine-year MLB veteran singled to lead off the ninth inning and came around to score on M.J. Melendez’s clutch three-run homer as the Royals won 3-2, their seventh win in 10 games. They are 63-50 and currently hold the third wild card in the American League. Renfroe, who entered this season with 177 career homers, signed with the Royals for $6.5 million; he has played for seven different teams the past seven years. He was a first-round draft pick by San Diego in 2013 after an All-America career at State. P.S. Southern Miss alum Landon Harper extended his streak of scoreless innings to 25 1/3 for the Mississippi Braves, who nonetheless lost — again — to Tennessee on Sunday at Trustmark Park. Harper, a third-year pro from Meridian, has a 0.95 ERA in 14 games for the Double-A M-Braves. He has fanned 25 and walked just two in 28 1/3 innings. … Brody Breithaupt, a former Lafayette High standout, delivered a two-run walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh to give the North Delta Dealers a 10-9 win over the HillCountry Generals in the Cotton States League championship game in New Albany.