Mallex Smith Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

25 Jun

starting over

Minus their sparkplug, the Mississippi Braves start the second half of the Southern League season tonight against Pensacola at Trustmark Park. Mallex Smith, the All-Star center fielder who was batting .340 with a team-best 35 runs, has been promoted – and deservedly so — to Triple-A Gwinnett. Even with Smith at the top of the lineup, the M-Braves faded from contention late in the first half and wound up with a 33-35 record, a distant 10 games behind South Division champion Biloxi. It would certainly help the M-Braves’ cause if Rio Ruiz could get it going. The highly rated prospect, acquired in the trade that sent Evan Gattis to Houston, hit .211 in the first half with no homers and 12 RBIs. A lefty-hitting third baseman, Ruiz batted .293 with 11 homers and 77 RBIs in the high Class A California League in 2014 and hit .260 with 12 homers in low A ball in 2013. The M-Braves rank ninth in the 10-team league in runs and last in homers. Smith had 23 of their 38 steals. First baseman Seth Loman, the club’s home run leader with four, was released today. Where is the offense going to come from? Somebody needs to step up. P.S. The M-Braves have added an outfielder: Sean Godfrey, who was batting .304 with five homers, 22 RBIs and 10 steals at Class A Carolina. He was a 22nd-round pick last year out of Ball State, where he was the Mid-American Conference player of the year.

13 May

building blocks

The Atlanta Braves’ flurry of off-season player moves was made with the idea of creating a foundation for 2017, when the team will move into a new stadium in the suburbs. Two of the building blocks in this process produced some solid results for the Mississippi Braves on Tuesday night at Trustmark Park. Outfielder Mallex Smith (acquired from San Diego) went 3-for-7 with a two-run home run and two runs scored and pitcher Tyrell Jenkins (acquired from St. Louis) threw a seven-inning complete game as the M-Braves swept Mobile, winning both games 2-1. The 5-foot-9 Smith, who stole 88 bases in A-ball in 2014, currently has a nine-game hitting streak (14-for-36) and has boosted his average to .333. He has two homers, 12 RBIs, 18 runs and eight steals. Smith, who turned 22 on May 6, could well be Atlanta’s center fielder in 2017. Jenkins could be in the ATL by then, as well. The 6-4 right-hander checked the BayBears on seven hits and no walks in Tuesday’s opener, his best overall outing of 2015. Jenkins, who tossed six shutout innings in his previous start, is 2-2 with a 3.55 ERA in seven games. He fanned four on Tuesday, giving him 23 K’s (with 14 walks) in 38 innings. The former four-sport Texas prep star is in his sixth pro season but is only 22. P.S. Might be a neat footnote in history someday: Chris Coghlan, the former Ole Miss star, hit the first MLB homer off Noah Syndergaard on Tuesday. Coghlan’s Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets and their latest star call-up 6-1. … Ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College standout Jarrod Dyson hasn’t capitalized on the playing time he has gotten with Kansas City of late. He is hitting .222 with three runs and two steals in his last 10 games and is at .204 with eight and five for the year. … UM products Lance Lynn (St. Louis) and Drew Pomeranz (Oakland) picked up long-awaited second wins on Tuesday.

19 Dec

coming soon?

Mallex Smith, one of the minor leaguers acquired by Atlanta in the Justin Upton deal, is an intriguing player. And he could start the 2015 season in the Mississippi Braves outfield. Mallex is a left-handed hitter with speed, a good skill to have at Trustmark Park. A fifth-round pick by San Diego in 2012, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Mallex has 169 stolen bases in 265 minor league games. He also has a .290 career average. He played at two levels of A-ball in 2014, batting .327 with five homers, 16 RBIs, 43 runs and 40 bags in 55 games in the high Class A California League. If Smith doesn’t start next season at the TeePee, it shouldn’t be long before he gets there.