Tag Archives: Mexican Pacific League

05 Dec

to do list

Having chosen a nickname and a logo, released a schedule for 2025 and named a general manager, the Mississippi Mud Monsters’ next — and perhaps most-anticipated — task is putting together a team, starting with the hiring of a field manager. Andrew Seymour, who spent the previous six seasons as GM of the Palm Beach Cardinals, a Class A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, has taken the administrative reins as GM of the Mud Monsters, who’ll begin play in the independent Frontier League next May at Pearl’s Trustmark Park. Frontier League teams, of which there are 18, have been announcing player signees for 2025 since their season ended in mid-September. Banks Tolley, ex-St. Andrew’s High and Appalachian State star, signed with Schaumburg of the FL last month after playing briefly in the league last summer. It’s likely the Mud Monsters will attempt to recruit players with ties to baseball-rich Mississippi. (Incidentally, Tyreque Reed, a Houlka native who played at Itawamba Community College and several years in the minors, led the Frontier League in hitting this past season with a .341 average for Washington. He is not currently listed on the Wild Things’ roster. Ex-Belhaven All-America pitcher Brett Sanchez played for the FL’s Joliet team in 2024.) The Mud Monsters’ first home game is set for May 8 against the Florence Y’alls. P.S. Catching up with: Former William Carey star Patrick Lee, who played in the Detroit system in 2024, is in the Puerto Rican (Roberto Clemente) Winter League, batting .278 in seven games with five runs and four steals for San Juan. … Harrison Central High alum and ex-big leaguer Bobby Bradley has hit four homers in 19 games for Navojoa in the Mexican Pacific League. He has five homers and 20 RBIs all told in the MPL this winter after hitting 13 in the summer Mexican League. … Former Magee High standout Brennon McNair, a Kansas City prospect, is hitting .205 with two homers, five RBIs and three steals for Brisbane in the Australian Baseball League. … The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, now called the HBCU Athletic Conference, will not play its season-ending tournament at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium in 2025, ending a three-year run there. Tougaloo and Rust are members of the NAIA-level league.

23 Nov

here and there

Ethan Small, the former first-round MLB draft pick out of Mississippi State, is looking for a new team after San Francisco did not offer the left-hander a contract for 2025. Originally drafted by Milwaukee in 2019, Small made just four big league appearances with the Brewers in 2022 and ’23 before being traded to the Giants last February. He was shelved with an injury much of the season, posting a 4.85 ERA in 14 appearances in the minors. The 27-year-old Small was among a wave of players cut loose by MLB clubs on Friday. He has worked as both a starter and reliever in the minors with some success in both roles (3.22 career ERA). The former SEC pitcher of the year will land somewhere next season; lefties are always in demand. … Ole Miss product Kemp Alderman was ranked No. 21 in MLB Pipeline’s list of the top 30 prospects in the recently concluded Arizona Fall League. Alderman, a Miami farmhand, hit .306 with six homers in nine games in the AFL — he left the league early to get married — and was pegged as the All-AFL designated hitter. He batted .242 with eight homers in 2024, his first full minor league season. … Former UM slugger Tim Elko has struggled at the plate for Team USA in the World Baseball Premier 12 tournament. Elko is 0-for-9 with seven strikeouts for the American side, which is 4-4 overall in the international competition heading into tonight’s bronze medal game vs. Venezuela in Tokyo. Elko batted .289 with 18 homers and 73 RBIs between Double-A and Triple-A for the Chicago White Sox this season and also played well in the AFL before being recruited to Team USA. … Former big leaguer Billy Hamilton, the ex-Taylorsville High standout, continues to lead the Mexican Pacific League in stolen bases with 21 through 34 games. Hamilton, 34, is batting .257 with 10 extra-base hits and 23 runs for Jalisco. He last played in the majors in 2023. … Brennon McNair, the Magee High alum now in the Kansas City Royals’ system, is 4-for-21 with a homer, three RBIs and three steals in six games for Brisbane in Australia’s winter league. … Banks Tolley, ex-St. Andrew’s High star, has signed with Schaumburg of the independent Frontier League after playing briefly in the league last summer. At Appalachian State last season, Tolley was a third-team All-America pick by d1baseball.com. The Mississippi Mud Monsters, a Frontier League newcomer for 2025, have yet to announce any signees (or a manager) for their inaugural season.

24 Oct

running on

Like the mechanical rabbit in those Energizer battery commercials, Billy Hamilton keeps on going and going … . The former Taylorsville High standout, now 33, is playing for Jalisco in the Mexican Pacific League — a winter league — and at last look was batting .342 with six steals and eight runs in 10 games. He now has 806 stolen bases in a pro career that dates to 2013. Hamilton played the last of his 951 MLB games with the Chicago White Sox in 2023, making just three appearances. He did not get an opportunity in the big leagues in 2024 but played in the regular Mexican League, stealing 37 bases while batting .256 in 63 games with Jalisco and Tabasco. With 326 steals (while playing for eight different teams) in MLB, Hamilton is the all-time leader among Mississippi natives. His 155 bags in 2012 remains a minor league record. … Also playing in the MPL are ex-Harrison Central star Bobby Bradley and Petal High product Anthony Alford, both ex-big leaguers who also played in the country’s summer league in 2024. Bradley is batting .167 for Monterrey, Alford .115 (with a homer) for Obregon.

01 Jan

here and there

One month from today, the college season gets under way in the Magnolia State when William Carey University hosts Missouri Baptist and Blue Mountain Christian welcomes Lane College. Carey went 49-11 in 2023 and reached the NAIA World Series. Crusaders coach Bobby Halford will begin his 39th season at the helm with 1,300 career victories. Blue Mountain finished 26-25 last season, qualifying for the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament, where the 6-seed Toppers beat Carey before bowing out in a rematch. … Former big leaguer Bobby Bradley, the former Harrison Central High slugger, finished 2023 with a bang, getting four hits including a home run on Saturday in the Mexican Pacific League. Bradley is batting .281 with three homers and 19 RBIs for Monterrey. He hit 30 bombs for Charleston in the independent Atlantic League last summer. Bradley played in 97 MLB games for Cleveland from 2019-22. … On the topic of slugging, DeSoto Central alum Austin Riley made mlb.com’s list of the 10 longest home runs in 2023. Riley tied for ninth with a 473-footer on April 3 at St. Louis; it was the first of his 37 homers on the year for Atlanta. The longest homer of 2023 was belted by — who else? — Shohei Ohtani, a 493-footer in June. … Ex-Ole Miss standout Chad Smith recently signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets; the right-hander posted a 6.59 ERA in 10 games for Oakland in 2023.

29 Oct

carry on

Different season, different league, same old Thomas Dillard. The former Ole Miss slugger, who led the independent Atlantic League in homers this summer, has hit three bombs in 11 games in the Mexican Pacific League, Mexico’s winter league. Dillard, a switch-hitting first baseman, belted 39 homers for Lexington in his first year of indy ball and batted .258 with 100 RBIs. Now playing for Culiacan, Dillard is hitting .308 with nine RBIs. As a senior at Oxford High in 2016, Dillard led the nation with 16 homers and went on to hit 31 in three years at UM, including 14 as a junior in 2019. He spent three seasons in Milwaukee’s system, belted 12 homers for Double-A Biloxi in 2022 but was released after the season. Playing for Barry Lyons’ Counter Clocks in the Atlantic League — a Triple-A caliber loop — and now in the MPL, Dillard is showing that he still has plenty of thunder in his bat. P.S. Blaine Crim, the ex-Mississippi College star who played in Triple-A for Texas this season, mashed a home run in his first game in the Dominican Winter League but has just one hit since. He is 2-for-20 for Escogido. Crim hit 22 homers for Round Rock this summer and has 83 homers in his four-year minor league career. Southern Miss alum Chuckie Robinson, who had a good year (.290, 13 homers) in Triple-A for Cincinnati, is hitting .278 with three doubles for Cibao in the DWL. Also in the league is Ole Miss product David Parkinson, who got a win with three scoreless innings of work in his only appearance to date for Escogido. Parkinson, on a bit of a roller coaster since being drafted by Philadelphia in 2017, spent most of the 2023 season in Double-A, going 9-5 for Reading.

18 Nov

arm strength

Following up on a fairly dominant 2019 season in Texas’ system, Demarcus Evans has posted seven scoreless outings in nine appearances in the Dominican Winter League. The big right-hander out of Petal High has a 2.60 ERA with nine strikeouts and seven walks in 10 innings for Escogido. In his fifth pro season, the 23-year-old Evans started 2019 in high Class A and finished it with Double-A Frisco, where he had an 0.96 ERA, six saves and 60 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings. He was, according to Baseball America, the only minor league pitcher to record triple-digit strikeouts in 60 or fewer innings. BA named Evans as the relief pitcher on its all-classification Minor League All-Star team, and he also made MLB Pipeline’s Prospect Team of the Year. Oddly enough, Evans, who became a fulltime reliever in 2017, is not currently among the Rangers’ Top 30 in MLB Pipeline’s prospect rankings. He has a career 2.53 ERA and has averaged 13.7 punchouts per nine innings. … Ole Miss alum Chris Ellis has been extremely effective out of the bullpen for Monterrey in the Mexican Pacific League. He has a 0.50 ERA in 18 one-inning appearances. Ellis, 27, made one MLB appearance (for Kansas City) last season and spent the rest of the year with Triple-A Memphis in St. Louis’ system.

14 Oct

wintering

After a rough season in Triple-A, Chris Ellis is trying to iron some things out in the Mexican Pacific League. The former Ole Miss (and Mississippi Braves) right-hander has made two appearances for Monterrey, yielding a run on two hits in two innings. Ellis made his big league debut in March with Kansas City as a Rule 5 pick but was promptly returned to the St. Louis organization and spent the season at Triple-A Memphis. He was 5-5 with a 7.18 ERA. … Also playing winter ball are Mississippi State product Jacob Robson and Southwest Mississippi Community College alum Kade Scivicque, both Detroit farmhands. Robson, who batted .267 with nine homers and 25 steals at Triple-A Toledo, is off to a 3-for-9 start with a homer for Aguilas Cibaenas in the Dominican Winter League. Scivicque, a onetime M-Braves catcher, is 2-for-7 in two games for Gigantes del Cibao of the DWL. He hit .295 with nine homers this year between Triple-A and Double-A. P.S. Neither of the Mississippi college products on the National League Championship Series teams has had an impact heading into Game 3 tonight in Washington. Former Southern Miss standout Brian Dozier played two innings at second base for the Nationals as part of a double-switch in Game 2. He didn’t bat. Ex-MSU star Dakota Hudson is slated to start Game 4 for St. Louis on Tuesday; he did not work in the first two games.

17 Nov

so what’s next?

Having left his original MLB organization in 2017, David Goforth got a second chance with Washington last season. The former Ole Miss star from Meridian is now looking for a third shot. Goforth, who spent all of the past season in Triple-A, became a minor league free agent earlier this month while playing winter ball. The 30-year-old right-hander went 2-2 with a 2.40 ERA and a save in 14 games for Culiacan in the Mexican Pacific League; he is currently on the team’s reserve list. Goforth spent seven years in the Milwaukee system – he was a seventh-round pick out of UM in 2011 – and appeared in 31 big league games (with a 3.91 ERA) over three different seasons. He was designated for assignment by the Brewers in April of 2017 and was sent to the minors for the rest of that season. He signed with Washington as a free agent last fall. P.S. Also on the minor league market is former Rebels star and erstwhile big leaguer Chris Coghlan, who spent most of 2018 in Triple-A with the Chicago Cubs. Coghlan, 33, last played in the majors in 2017 with Toronto. … Another ex-UM standout, J.B. Woodman, is also a free agent, having been released out of A-ball by St. Louis in August. Woodman was a second-round pick by Toronto in 2016 and was traded last year for major league infielder Aledmys Diaz.

28 Feb

coming soon

The time is near for Anthony Alford’s breakthrough. Has to be. The former Mr. Baseball from Petal isn’t penciled in as a regular outfielder for Toronto just yet, but he is in the competition for a spot on the 25-man roster. And he’s off to a good start this spring. Alford had a hit, a sacrifice fly and three RBIs in the Blue Jays’ 7-1 Grapefruit League win against Philadelphia today. He is 5-for-12 overall with a home run, a triple and six RBIs. This comes on the heels of a strong performance in the Mexican Pacific League over the winter. He batted .352 with a pair of homers, 15 RBIs and eight steals. Alford, 23, made his big league debut last season, but his stay was curtailed after eight at-bats by a hand injury. He had good numbers in Double-A before and after the injury. Alford’s career started slowly while he played football at Southern Miss and Ole Miss. He has played only 391 games over six seasons. But he has impressed. MLB Pipeline rates him the No. 3 prospect in the Jays’ system and No. 47 overall. He goes 6 feet 1, 215 pounds and is considered the fastest player in Toronto’s organization. His time is near.

21 Dec

waiting in the wings

You won’t find Anthony Alford’s name on the Toronto Blue Jays’ outfield depth chart that appears on mlb.com. But the former Petal High star will certainly get a long look in spring training, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see him make the opening day roster. Alford, 23, has enhanced his credentials with his play in the Mexican Pacific League, a winter assignment he reportedly asked for. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound right-handed hitter is riding a nine-game hit streak that has boosted his average to .344. He has two homers, 15 RBIs, 17 runs and eight steals in 23 games for Jalisco. “Anthony can make your day on and off the field on a regular basis,” Toronto general manager Ross Atkins recently told the Toronto Sun. Alford spent most of 2017 in Double-A, batting .310 with five homers. He played four games in the majors early in the season before being derailed by a hand injury. Expect his next big league stay to be much longer.