Tag Archives: M-Braves

18 Jul

sneak preview

Austin Riley is projected by Baseball America to be Atlanta’s third baseman by 2020. The former DeSoto Central High star has climbed the minor-league ladder at a good pace, reaching the Double-A level midway through his third pro season at age 20. He’ll make his much-anticipated Trustmark Park debut on Wednesday as the Mississippi Braves open a 10-game homestand during which Riley will have a chance to display the power bat and rifle arm that enticed the Braves to draft him 41st overall in 2015. Riley, 6 feet 3, 220 pounds, is 4-for-18 for the M-Braves to date; he hit his first Double-A homer on Monday at Pensacola. He doesn’t arrive in Pearl with quite the same pizzazz that accompanied Ronald Acuna, but Riley is rated among the top 18 prospects in Atlanta’s loaded system by three different publications. He has already had a decorated minor league career, making Baseball America’s rookie-level All-Star team in 2015 and low Class A team in 2016. He was a midseason All-Star pick in the high-A Florida State League last month and was batting .252 with 12 homers for Florida at the time of his promotion. MLB Pipeline’s scouting report notes that Riley, like many young sluggers, needs to be more selective at the plate, cut down on strikeouts and draw more walks. But his raw power excites, and how that tool plays at Trustmark Park will be something to watch for. … Riley, who was born in Memphis but grew up in Southaven, joins the list of Mississippians to play for the M-Braves that includes Zack Bird, Jay Powell, Michael Rosamond, John Thomson, Van Pope and Brent Leach.

18 Jul

here and there

Seth Smith’s 10th home run of the season helped Baltimore beat Texas 3-1 on Monday. The former Ole Miss standout has reached double digits in home runs in all but one of his last nine MLB seasons, which he has spent with five different clubs. … UM alum Alex Presley had two hits for Detroit and is now 20-for-67 (.299) in 25 games as a bench player for the Tigers. … All-Star Corey Dickerson, the ex-Meridian Community College star, has gone homerless in 18 straight games for Tampa Bay. He has 17 bombs on the year. His recent slump has dropped his average to .311. … Mississippi Gulf Coast CC product Tony Sipp gave up two homers in the 10th inning and took the loss for Houston against Seattle. Sipp, whose ERA rose to 4.45, has yielded five homers in 28 1/3 innings. He allowed 12 in 43 2/3 in 2016. … There are reports that Atlanta is considering sending Dansby Swanson to the minors. The ex-Mississippi Braves star is batting .220 and losing playing time at shortstop to Johan Camargo, who is batting .322. … Mississippi State alum Dakota Hudson improved to 8-4 with a 2.69 ERA for Double-A Springfield in the St. Louis system. The 2016 first-round draftee allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings of work on Monday. … Also on that Springfield team is Ole Miss product Chris Ellis, who has trimmed his ERA to 3.82 with a couple of good outings. Ellis began the season in Triple-A but was demoted with a 7.88 ERA. … Former DeSoto Central High star Austin Riley belted his first Double-A homer on Monday for the M-Braves, who lost at Pensacola to fall to 6-18 in the second half of the Southern League campaign. The M-Braves, 0-10 at Trustmark Park this half, host Biloxi (11-14) for a five-game series starting Wednesday. … Ole Miss’ Ryan Rolison and State’s Jake Mangum have been chosen for the Cape Cod League All-Star Game, set for Saturday in Wareham, Mass. Rolison is 4-0, 1.86 ERA for Orleans (East), and Mangum is batting .337 with 12 runs and 10 steals for Harwich (West).

14 Jul

going places

New level, no problem for Atlanta prospects Austin Riley and Ronald Acuna. Former DeSoto Central High star Riley went 2-for-4 in his Double-A debut with the Mississippi Braves on Thursday night, while Acuna, promoted from the M-Braves to Triple-A Gwinnett, homered and added two more hits for the G-Braves. Riley, a first-round supplemental pick in 2015, is rated the No. 11 prospect in Atlanta’s system by Baseball America and No. 12 by MLB Pipeline. The 20-year-old played third base and batted third for the M-Braves in a 2-0 win at Pensacola. He was batting .252 with 12 homers at high Class A Florida after belting 20 bombs at low-A Rome in 2016. Travis Demeritte, also regarded as a prospect, moved back to second base from third in Thursday’s game for the M-Braves; Demeritte has 11 homers but is hitting just .211. (The M-Braves’ next home game is July 19.) In Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday, the 19-year-old Acuna, BA’s No. 10 overall prospect, played right field and batted leadoff in the G-Braves’ 13-4 victory. After fanning in his first at-bat, he went yard in his second. He scored three times and drove in two runs. Acuna, who began this season with the high-A Florida club, hit .326 with nine homers – including a shot over the Trustmark Park batter’s eye on Tuesday – 30 RBIs and 19 steals in 57 games for the M-Braves. He played in the All-Star Futures Game on Sunday. The Braves may be considering adding Acuna to the big league roster if they are still in the playoff hunt in the season’s final weeks. He could be a difference-maker.

07 Jul

movers and shakers

Ronald Acuna, who has been raking for the Mississippi Braves, jumped 52 spots to No. 10 on Baseball America’s new Midseason Top 100 Prospects chart. Acuna, a 19-year-old outfielder, is batting .314 with seven homers, 26 RBIs and 18 steals through 53 Double-A games. The M-Braves return to Trustmark on Sunday, but Acuna will be in Miami for the All-Star Futures Game. Also going to Miami is Mike Soroka, one of the three M-Braves starting pitchers in the new Top 100 released today on BA’s website. Soroka is No. 33, just behind Kolby Allard (23) and ahead of Luiz Gohara (76). Former Mississippi State star Brandon Woodruff of Wheeler jumped from 74 to 43. Slated to make his big league debut for Milwaukee on June 13, Woodruff injured a hamstring in warmups and went on the disabled list. He’ll be back with the Brewers soon. Petal High alum Anthony Alford is No. 38 on the list, down from 34 in the previous chart. He is also on the DL, having suffered a wrist injury in May, a day after getting his first MLB hit for Toronto. He was batting .325 in Double-A. Bobby Bradley, the ex-Harrison Central High standout, moved into the Top 100 at 93. The lefty-hitting first baseman is batting .270 with 15 homers and 58 RBIs for Cleveland’s Double-A club. P.S. Former Pillow Academy star and veteran big leaguer Louis Coleman has posted a 2.57 ERA in six games for Triple-A Reno in the Arizona organization. Coleman reportedly opted out of his minor league contract with Cincinnati last month and then signed with the Diamondbacks. He had a 2.21 ERA in 25 games at Triple-A Louisville.

06 Jul

fine wood-work

Atlanta fans cringed again on Wednesday night when Alex Wood, the Mississippi Braves alumnus who was once a hot young commodity in the ATL, won for the 10th time without a loss this season in sparking the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 1-0 win over Arizona. Wood, likely to be picked as an All-Star Game replacement, is the first Dodgers starter to hit 10-0 since Don Newcombe in 1955. “It’ll be cool to even be mentioned with him, so it’s pretty neat,” the 26-year-old left-hander told The Associated Press. Wood’s seven scoreless innings on Wednesday cut his ERA to 1.67. A second-round pick by Atlanta out of Georgia in 2012, Wood went 4-2, 1.26 ERA in 10 games for the M-Braves in 2013 and made his big league debut that same season. In July 2015, the Braves sent Wood to the Dodgers as part of the regrettable deal for Hector Olivera and two other players no longer in Atlanta’s system. (Former M-Braves Luis Avilan and Jose Peraza also went to LA in that three-team trade.) … A scan of MLB box scores on any given morning shows a remarkable number of ex-M-Braves making contributions on clubs other than Atlanta, where only a handful are playing. To wit: Gregor Blanco went 1-for-4 for the Diamondbacks in the loss to LA; Peraza had a hit for Cincinnati; Mallex Smith was 4-for-4 with three runs for Tampa Bay; Gorkys Hernandez had three hits and Cory Gearrin a hold for San Francisco; Andrelton Simmons had a couple of hits for the Angels; Evan Gattis went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run in Houston’s 10-4 win against the Braves; Tommy LaStella reached on an HBP and scored a run for the Chicago Cubs; Chasen Shreve threw two scoreless innings for the New York Yankees; Mike Minor improved to 5-1 with a relief win for Kansas City; Ryan Buchter notched a hold for San Diego. Not mentioned: Craig Kimbrel, Martin Prado, Brian McCann, Jason Heyward, Yunel Escobar … . Some of those guys are sorely missed.

30 Jun

stuff

Ole Miss product Zack Cozart, eligible to come off the disabled list (thigh strain) on Wednesday for Cincinnati, could be activated today, according to reports. The Reds host the Chicago Cubs this weekend at Great American Ballpark. Cozart is batting .320 with nine homers and 33 RBIs and led the voting for National League All-Star shortstop at last look. The rosters will be announced on Sunday on ESPN. … McComb native and Meridian Community College product Corey Dickerson was leading the vote for American League DH in the most recently released results. He is batting .330 with 17 homers and 39 RBIs for Tampa Bay. … Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton, the ex-Taylorsville High standout, was passed by Trea Turner for the MLB stolen base lead on Thursday, but with Turner now on the disabled list (broken wrist), Hamilton is the leading active thief with 33 bags. Turner has 35, Miami’s Dee Gordon 29. … Former Mississippi State star Hunter Renfroe hit his first home run in 13 days on Thursday, helping San Diego beat Atlanta. Renfroe has 16 homers – a record for a Padres rookie before the All-Star break – though he is batting just .225. … Former Mississippi Braves standout Freddie Freeman is expected to make a rehab start for Triple-A Gwinnett on Saturday. He could return to the Braves – at third base – next week. It’ll be interesting to see how that works out. M-Braves alum Johan Camargo has played fairly well at third for Atlanta and is batting .293 with 12 RBIs and 10 runs in 31 games all told. … Current M-Braves Mike Soroka and Ronald Acuna have been chosen for the World team in the All-Star Futures Game, set for July 9 in Miami. Former Biloxi Shuckers shortstop Mauricio Dubon, now in Triple-A, is also on the World roster. … Jake Mangum is off to a sizzling start in the Cape Cod League. The MSU star out of Jackson Prep is batting .359 with hits in nine of the 10 games he has played for Hyannis. Mangum had two hits in each of his first five games in the summer league. He was drafted in the 30th round by the New York Yankees as an eligible sophomore but is expected to return to Starkville for the 2018 season. … Brandon’s John “J.T.” Ginn and Hattiesburg’s Joe Gray have been participating in the Tournament of Stars this week in Cary, N.C. They are among the 80 prep players invited to the USA Baseball complex to compete for spots on the Under-18 National Team.

19 Jun

numbers to crunch

29 – Stolen bases, a total which leads the majors, by ex-Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton, who got one Sunday to end a 13-game drought. Hamilton also had three hits, two runs and an RBI in fading Cincinnati’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
4 – Home runs allowed, a career-high, by Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn in 4 2/3 innings in St. Louis’ 8-5 loss to Baltimore. Lynn (5-4) yielded seven runs all told.
7 – Homers on the year for ex-UM star Seth Smith, who hit a leadoff bomb for Baltimore, the first of the four Lance Lynn allowed for St. Louis. Smith, batting .271, had two other hits and scored three times.
91 – Hits, most in the American League, by Meridian Community College product Corey Dickerson, who tallied three on Sunday. He is batting .330.
7 – Runs allowed in four games at Target Field by Cleveland in a sweep of Minnesota that moved the Indians into first place in the AL Central. Former Ole Miss star Mickey Callaway, the Indians’ pitching coach, saw his staff’s ERA drop to 3.93, tied for third-best in the AL.
3 – Hits in 13 at-bats in the Cleveland series by ex-Southern Miss standout Brian Dozier, who had a homer and two RBIs for Minnesota, which had a 2-game division lead before the Tribe arrived in town.
34 – Wins in 70 games for the Mississippi Braves, who completed the first half of the Southern League season with a 6-3 win against Montgomery at Trustmark Park. The M-Braves will send seven players to the SL All-Star Game in Pensacola on Tuesday.
6 – Strikeouts in five scoreless innings by USM’s Nick Sandlin in his Cape Cod League debut for Hyannis.

08 Jun

rise and shine

The stars came out – a couple of them, at least – in the Mississippi Braves’ 5-4, 12-inning win against Biloxi on Wednesday night at Trustmark Park. Two of the M-Braves’ seven Southern League All-Star selections – announced on Wednesday — played key roles in the victory, which moved the team to 30-29. The M-Braves are 3 games back of first-place Pensacola in the SL South with 11 games left in the first half. The amazing Ronald Acuna went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and fellow All-Star Joey Meneses put up a 2-for-4, including a single to open the 12th and start the winning rally. Acuna, 19, is batting .367 with four homers, 20 RBIs and 14 steals in 28 Double-A games. Of the other star picks, Travis Demeritte – the team’s home run leader — had an off-night (0-for-6), and Luis Valenzuela, who’s been sidelined for several days, walked as a pinch hitter. Catcher Kade Scivicque, the Southwest Mississippi Community College product, got a night off, and 19-year-old aces Kolby Allard and Mike Soroka had already worked in the series. After tonight’s game against the Shuckers, the M-Braves travel to Pensacola for five. … Atlanta had 19 players picked for minor league All-Star Games, including DeSoto Central High product Austin Riley in the Florida State League. The third baseman is batting .248 with eight homers and 35 RBIs for the Florida Fire Frogs.

04 Jun

the list grows

Quite a few must-see players have passed through Trustmark Park over the 13 seasons the Mississippi Braves have called it home. Francoeur, McCann, Saltalamacchia, Schafer, Heyward, Freeman, Simmons, Gattis, Peraza, Swanson — to name a few of the position players who’ve come along on their way to the big leagues. Ronald Acuna belongs on the must-see list. The 19-year-old Venezuelan-born outfielder, promoted from A-ball on May 9, homered in his first at-bat – first pitch, actually – for the M-Braves and has been wearing it out ever since. He is batting .389 with four homers, 18 RBIs and 12 steals through 24 Double-A games. He is already a two-time Southern League player of the week selection and was named Atlanta’s Double-A player of the month for May. The M-Braves are back home today for the start of a five-game homestand against the Biloxi Shuckers, second in the SL South with a 30-25 record. The M-Braves (27-28) are 4 games back in third with 15 left in the first half. P.S. While eyeing Acuna, don’t overlook Joey Meneses, a 25-year-old outfielder/first baseman from Mexico who is batting .349 with six homers and 23 RBIs. He isn’t on the Braves’ prospect charts, but perhaps he should be. … Erstwhile big leaguer Kris Medlen is slated to start tonight for the M-Braves as he attempts to work his way back to Atlanta. Medlen, a member of the 2008 M-Braves title team, allowed one run in 4 1/3 innings in his first appearance with the current team. He is 41-25, 3.25 ERA in his big league career. … Props to former M-Braves star Alex Wood, now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who was named the National League pitcher of the month for May. He went 5-0, 1.27 ERA and has a streak of 23 1/3 scoreless innings he’ll take into his next start, which is expected to be next weekend. The left-hander with the funky delivery is currently on the disabled list with a minor injury.

26 May

around the horn

Former Mississippi State star Adam Frazier, a Georgia boy, homered at Atlanta’s new launching pad, SunTrust Park, on Thursday to help Pittsburgh beat the Braves 9-4. Frazier also homered on Wednesday in another Pirates victory. All told, he was 4-for-13 in the four-game series with seven walks, five runs and six RBIs. Frazier is batting .361 in 28 games. … Hunter Renfroe, a Mississippi boy who also played at State, continues to swing a big bat for San Diego. Including a 2-for-4 effort on Thursday in a win against the New York Mets, the Crystal Springs native is batting .316 with three homers, seven RBIs and nine runs in his last 10 games. He’s at .232 with nine bombs. … Ex-Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz delivered a much-needed quality start for Boston, which beat Texas 6-2 at Fenway Park. After three straight wobbly efforts, Pomeranz went six innings, allowing two runs on four hits and fanning 11. “Felt lost for a couple of starts,” Pomeranz told The Associated Press. A Red Sox broadcaster called Thursday’s outing a “clinic of curveballs.” It was also a clinic of punchouts, as the Rangers whiffed 20 times against five Boston pitchers. Former Mississippi Braves standout Craig Kimbrel struck out four – yes, four – in the ninth inning. He has retired 53 of the last 56 batters he has faced and now has 40 K’s in 20 2/3 innings with a 0.87 ERA. … Gregor Blanco, one of the three original M-Braves (2005) still playing, has filled in nicely as the center fielder and leadoff batter for Arizona with A.J. Pollock out. Blanco went 3-for-4 with a home run on Thursday in a win over Milwaukee. He is batting .293 with three steals in 16 games. … With Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki expected to be activated from the disabled list today by Toronto, Ole Miss alum Chris Coghlan’s roster spot might be in jeopardy.