Tag Archives: Marlins

06 Mar

future’s so bright …

Former DeSoto Central High standout Austin Riley got to rub elbows with the Atlanta big leaguers over the weekend and apparently did not look out of place. Riley, 19, a supplemental first-round pick by the Braves in 2015, went 2-for-2 in a Grapefruit League game on Saturday and 0-for-2 with a walk on Sunday. Braves manager Brian Snitker was impressed. “I’ve heard a lot about him, seen him in Instructional League. He’s a man. I mean, that’s real-deal right there,” Snitker, the former Mississippi Braves manager, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Riley, 6 feet 3, 220 pounds, is rated the No. 8 third base prospect in the minors by MLB Pipeline and is a consensus top 15 in the Braves’ stacked system, which is rated No. 1 overall by MLB Pipeline and Baseball America. Riley played at the low Class A level in 2016, batting .271 with 20 homers in his first full year in Atlanta’s system, and he has 32 homers in 189 pro games. He figures to start 2017 with the high-A Florida Fire Frogs in the Florida State League and arrive at Double-A Mississippi next season, though that timetable can certainly change. As highly regarded as he is, Riley isn’t one of the seven Braves players ranked among the top 100 prospects by MLB Pipeline. That list does include 2016 M-Braves Dansby Swanson, Ozzie Albies and Sean Newcomb. “It’s pretty neat what the future’s going to look like here,” Snitker told the AJC. P.S. Tyler Moore is making a strong bid to stick with Miami. The Mississippi State product from Brandon smacked his third homer of the spring on Sunday and is batting .462. Limited by injuries in 2016, the right-handed hitting first baseman hit three homers in 25 games for Triple-A Gwinnett in the Braves’ organization. He signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in the off-season. Moore has 24 MLB homers spread over four seasons, all with Washington.

14 Dec

moving on

After an unproductive year in Atlanta’s system, Tyler Moore has moved on to Miami. The former Northwest Rankin High, Meridian Community College and Mississippi State slugger signed a minor league contract with the Marlins on Tuesday. The initial reports did not indicate whether the right-handed hitting first baseman/outfielder will get an invite to big league spring training. Moore, who hit 24 homers in 277 games over four seasons with Washington, was on the disabled list much of 2016 after the Braves acquired him in a trade. He batted .229 with three homers in 25 games for Triple-A Gwinnett. The Marlins appear set at first base with Justin Bour and have Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna at the corner outfield spots. But Moore could provide power off the bench.

19 Sep

junk and stuff

Joe Gray, the highly touted junior at Hattiesburg High, is featured in a story currently posted on Baseball America’s website. Gray is playing on an elite travel team, the EvoShield Canes, with a group of seniors. Gray, a 6-foot-2, 194-pound outfielder, hit .474 with seven homers, 45 RBIs, 11 steals and 12 assists as a sophomore last year for Hattiesburg, helping the Tigers reach the Class 5A finals. He hit .380 as a freshman. Gray, who has not committed to a college, figures to be a high MLB draft pick in 2018. … Fall ball is in the air in Oxford, where the Rebels scrimmaged last Friday. Ole Miss, 43-19 and an NCAA Regional participant in 2016, returns infielders Tate Blackman, Colby Bortles and Will Golsan and reliever Will Stokes. Among the newcomers are freshmen Grae Kessinger, Jason Barber, Thomas Dillard and Houston Roth from powerhouse Oxford High. … Wyatt Short and Trent Giambrone – 2016 draftees out of Mississippi colleges by the Chicago Cubs – helped short-season Class A Eugene win the Northwest League pennant. Left-hander Short, a 13th-round pick from Ole Miss, where he was a standout closer, had a 0.00 ERA and seven saves in 15 games; he got the save in the final game of the title series. Second baseman Giambrone, a 25th-rounder out of Delta State, batted .292 with four homers and 22 RBIs for the Emeralds. … Blake Anderson, a supplemental first-round pick in 2014 out of West Lauderdale High, is on Miami’s Instructional League roster as a rehabbing player. The catcher played only one game this season, going on the disabled list with a shoulder injury on July 7. He has played only 58 games over three seasons. … Bryant Nelson, at age 42, is having a nice season in the independent Atlantic League. The switch-hitting second baseman/outfielder is batting .279 with 49 RBIs and 13 stolen bases for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. For fans of the old Jackson Generals — the ones who played at Smith-Wills Stadium from 1991-99 — the name might ring a bell. Nelson is the last link to a bygone era — the only former General still playing. (Freddy Garcia pitched briefly for Monterrey in the Mexican League this season but is not currently on the roster.) Nelson’s pro baseball odyssey began when Houston drafted him in the 44th round in 1993. He made the Generals’ roster in the 1996 postseason as an injury replacement and helped the Gens win the Texas League championship. Nelson has played in 2,463 pro games, according to baseball-reference.com, and gotten 2,632 hits. He has played in Mexico, Japan and Italy and even made it to the big leagues for 25 games with Boston in 2002.

19 Jun

birthday treats

Former Vancleave High star Colin Bray, a birthday boy on Saturday, celebrated with a pair of home runs for Class A Visalia in the Arizona organization. Bray, a 23-year-old center fielder, has scuffled a bit this year at the high-A level. He told milb.com it has been a good test and he’ll be better for it. Considered a rising prospect, Bray now has a four-game hit streak that has lifted his average to .241, with three homers, 26 RBIs and 34 runs in 64 games. He is a .283 hitter over his four-year pro career. Arizona picked Bray in the sixth round out of an Alabama junior college in 2013. P.S. St. Louis has signed all three of its picks from Mississippi in this year’s draft. Mississippi State’s Dakota Hudson, drafted 34th overall as the first Magnolia State player to be called, signed for a cool $2 million, it was announced on Saturday. The Cardinals also signed Hudson’s teammate Austin Sexton (18th round) on Saturday and earlier in the week inked Walker Robbins (fifth round) from George County High. All three figure to debut in the rookie Gulf Coast League. … Last year’s top pick from the state, DeSoto Central product Austin Riley, is batting .256 with three homers at 26 RBIs for Rome, Atlanta’s low Class A club. The top pick from 2014, Blake Anderson out of West Lauderdale, made his 2016 debut on Saturday, going 0-for-4 for Batavia, a short-season Class A team in Miami’s system. Anderson batted .220 with two homers at Batavia in 2015.

29 Jan

no place like home?

For a major league hitter, there’s no place like Coors Field. Corey Dickerson certainly seemed to enjoy playing there, batting .355 with 24 home runs in 122 games at Coors for the Colorado Rockies. Traded by the Rockies to the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, the former Brookhaven Academy and Meridian Community College star is now entering a brave new world. His new home, Tropicana Field, is a much more pitcher-friendly park. The left-handed hitting left fielder is a .249 hitter with 15 homers (in 143 games) away from Coors Field. But the Rays, who gave up reliever Jake McGee to get Dickerson, don’t seem overly concerned. As Matt Silverman, Rays president of baseball operations, told mlb.com: “We believe in the skill set that Corey has and that it will translate to our ballpark and will really play to any ballpark in the league.” The trade also gives Tampa Bay a glut of outfielders, including three others that have played primarily in left: ex-Itawamba CC star Desmond Jennings, Brandon Guyer and Steve Pearce. There has been chatter for weeks that Jennings, coming off two injury-plagued seasons, might be moved. He is a career .249 hitter with 48 homers and 93 steals. P.S. Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton, who had surgery on a torn labrum last fall, recently told mlb.com: “I’m not 100 percent yet, but close to it. We had a schedule to be ready right around spring training. As of right now, we’re on track to make that happen.” Hamilton, perhaps the fastest player in the game, stole 57 bases for Cincinnati but hit just .226 and lost his leadoff role last year. Injuries limited him to 114 games. … There have been reports that Miami is interested in 37-year-old left-hander Cliff Lee, the former Meridian CC standout who missed all of last season with an arm problem.

04 Jan

the road ahead

In the 2014 MLB draft, major league clubs plucked the likes of Jacob Lindgren, Chris Ellis, Bobby Bradley, Justin Steele, Auston Bousfield and Jonathan Holder out of the Magnolia State. Lindgren has already made it to The Show, and the others have shown nice progress. Blake Anderson, drafted ahead of all of them at 36th overall by Miami out of West Lauderdale High, has lagged. Anderson, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound catcher, spent his second pro summer in short-season A-ball and batted .220 with two homers and 16 RBIs in 31 games. The Marlins are very high on Anderson’s defense, especially his arm, and he is rated their No. 23 prospect by mlb.com. But he still has some things to figure out at the plate. To wit: He struck out 42 times and drew three walks in 118 at-bats. “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.” Anderson tweeted that last summer. He turns 20 in January, still very young, but the 2016 season could be a pivotal one for him. P.S. Wonder how the New York Yankees’ acquisition of Aroldis Chapman will impact Lindgren’s future with the club. Lindgren, a lefty reliever out of Mississippi State, had a 5.14 ERA in seven games for the Yanks last year before having elbow surgery in June. He is healthy now, but there may not be a spot for him in a stacked bullpen. … Donnie Veal, the well-traveled Jackson native and big league veteran, has signed a minor league deal with Texas. Lefty Veal pitched for Atlanta briefly in 2015 and has been wintering in the Dominican Winter League (1.69 ERA in 17 appearances).

27 Jun

rough seas ahead

Ned Yost’s Royals are in first place, and Buck Showalter’s Orioles, John Gibbons’ Blue Jays and Clint Hurdle’s Pirates have winning records and are contending in their respective divisions. The fifth Mississippi-connected manager in the big leagues, Dan Jennings, is running a club much closer to the cellar than first place. And things just took a turn for the worse for his Marlins. Already hindered by injuries, Miami has now lost star slugger Giancarlo Stanton for 4-6 weeks with a hand injury. Jennings, a Southern Miss and William Carey alum, was mocked when he was hired and still is drawing criticism from Miami fans. The team was 16-22 when the “shocking” decision was made to replace Mike Redmond with Jennings, a longtime scout and front office exec whose only experience running a team came at the high school level. The Marlins started 0-5 under Jennings, then went 14-13 over a stretch but have now lost five straight. At 30-45, Miami is 11.5 games out in the National League East. With pitcher Jose Fernandez and some others due back from the DL soon, there was cause for optimism for a team that was expected to contend for a playoff berth. “We’re not jumping off the ship, no doubt about that,” Jennings told a writer for CBS Sports last week. But with the loss of Stanton, the waters have become very choppy.

14 Jun

fun times

Chris Coghlan is not exactly tearing up the league, but you have to think he’s having fun. The Ole Miss product is part of a Chicago Cubs team that has been one of this season’s most riveting stories. The Cubs have a roster of blossoming young stars and a colorful, well-respected manager. And they are winning, which is something they were not doing when Coghlan joined the club in May of 2014. Those Cubs were stuck in the basement of the National League Central, where they had practically taken up residence. Coghlan, cut loose by Miami after the ’13 season, had signed with Chicago as a minor league free agent. He didn’t make the club out of spring training and was shipped to Triple-A. He got the call to Chicago to take the place of an injured player. Expectations were, uh, muted. But then the young players began to arrive … and to produce. Coghlan got hot, too. He wound up at .283 with nine homers, 41 RBIs and 50 runs in 125 games. The Cubs finished 73-89, their best record since 2010. Excitement grew in the off-season as they signed lefty Jon Lester, then hired Joe Maddon as skipper. Coghlan also was re-signed. The team has ridden the wave to a 33-27 record; they got their MLB-best seventh walk-off win on Saturday, beating Cincinnati 4-3 at Wrigley Field. They’re third in the NL Central, 7 games back of leader St. Louis. Coghlan, a lefty hitter, plays regularly in left field. He is batting just .243 but has hit at a .326 clip over his last 15 games. Eight of his 43 hits are home runs. He has driven in 18 runs, scored 21. Coghlan isn’t old — he’ll turn 30 on June 18 — but in the Cubs’ clubhouse, he may feel that way, surrounded by so many young players: Rizzo, Bryant, Russell, Hendricks, Castro, Alcantara, Soler, et al. Coghlan, drafted out of Ole Miss in 2006, has been in the big leagues, off and on, since 2009, when he was the NL’s rookie of the year for the Marlins. Five years and many injuries later, he was without an MLB job until the Cubs gave him that shot last May. “In six years, I’ve had a full realm,” Coghlan told the Chicago Sun-Times. Part of his role now is to spread that perspective to a young team that appears full of energy and hope. It has to be fun. P.S. Also having a jolly old time: Mitch Moreland and the Texas Rangers, who’ve won 10 of 14 to get to 33-29, nipping at the heels of Houston in the American League West. Former Mississippi State star Moreland, who has been raking since coming off a stint on the disabled list, is batting .310 with eight homers and 30 RBIs. His latest bomb came Saturday, a three-run shot that helped beat Minnesota 11-7 at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

25 May

digging the long ball

Brian Dozier, last year’s runner-up in the all-Mississippi home run race, is leading the pack at the Memorial Day mark. With nine home runs this season — including two on Sunday — the former Southern Miss star is tops among the 11 Mississippians who’ve appeared in the majors. He leads Ole Miss alumni Chris Coghlan by two and Zack Cozart by three. Collectively, Mississippi-connected players have hit 43 homers in 2015. Ex-Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland belted the 40th — his fourth of the season — on Friday at Yankee Stadium. Last year’s champion (with 24 bombs) was Meridian Community College product Corey Dickerson, currently on the disabled list with five. UM alum Seth Smith has hit four. Dozier erupted with a career-high 23 homers last season, when he was picked for the Home Run Derby at his home field in Minnesota. He is on a current power trip with five homers in his last eight games. P.S. Southern Miss/William Carey alum Dan Jennings, after starting 0-5 as Miami manager, has won two in a row, both at the expense of ex-MSU star Buck Showalter’s Baltimore club. Showalter was an ardent supporter of the Marlins’ much-debated decision to move Jennings from GM to skipper. Former Mississippi Braves star Martin Prado got the game-winning hit (in the 13th inning) for the Marlins on Saturday and delivered a key home run Sunday. … The New York Yankees have brought up lefty reliever Jacob Lindgren, the ex-State standout who had such a terrific pro debut in 2014 and almost made the big club this spring.

18 May

worth noting

Dan Jennings, who played at Southern Miss and William Carey, will move from general manager to field manager of the Miami Marlins today, according to numerous reports. Jennings has worked in the Marlins’ front office since 2002. He’ll replace the fired Mike Redmond. Jennings played three years at USM (1979-81) and one year at Carey, graduating from the latter in 1984. He was inducted into WCU’s athletics Hall of Fame earlier this year. Jennings had a brief fling in pro ball as a player and coached high school ball in Alabama before becoming a big league scout. … Former Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland hit his second homer for Texas on Sunday. He is 5-for-20 since returning from the disabled list and is at .288 with 12 RBIs for the season. … Pascagoula’s Joey Butler, who had another hit on Sunday, is batting .300 with two homers and seven RBIs in 13 games for Tampa Bay. He was called up when Itawamba Community College alumnus Desmond Jennings (knee) went on the DL. Jennings reportedly is close to returning to duty. … Billy Hamilton got a day off Saturday and hit in the 8-hole on Sunday for Cincinnati. “You’ve got to roll with it,” the ex-Taylorsville High standout told mlb.com about being dropped from the leadoff spot. He went 1-for-3 and is now at .214 for the year. Ole Miss product Zack Cozart, hitting .300, has moved to the top of the order for Cincy. … Ex-UM star Lance Lynn threw 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run, as St. Louis beat heavy-hitting Detroit 2-1. Lynn (3-3, 2.96 ERA) has won two straight starts. “Lance was great, no question about it,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told mlb.com. … Meridian CC alum Corey Dickerson is playing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot and might be headed for the DL. The Colorado outfielder is batting .309 with five homers and 16 RBIs.