Tag Archives: minor league baseball

17 Apr

stat sheet watching

As the Chicago White Sox continue to struggle at the plate, their Triple-A first baseman — Tim Elko — is flourishing with a .373 average, three homers and 11 RBIs in 14 games for Charlotte. Former Ole Miss star Elko went 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs in the Knights’ loss to Nashville on Wednesday night. He ranks sixth in the International League in hitting. Elko, 26, has hit at every level since the White Sox drafted him in the 10th round in 2022: .291 career with 54 homers. The folks at MLB Pipeline suggest that Elko, who isn’t on the 40-man roster, could be an impactful call-up for the ChiSox (4-13), who are 29th in MLB in both runs and batting average. … In the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, ex-Mississippi College star Blaine Crim — another off-the-radar slugger — stands sixth in the league in batting at .364 and has three homers and 11 RBIs for Round Rock, a Texas affiliate. Crim, 27, a sixth-year pro, is a .297 career hitter with 104 homers. … Mississippi State product Justin Foscue, also at Round Rock, is hitting .333 with two bombs and eight RBIs. He might rate another shot with the Rangers; he hit .048 in limited at-bats in his MLB debut in 2024. … Kemp Alderman, Ferriss Trophy winner at Ole Miss two years ago, is third in the Double-A Southern League with a .359 average and tied for first with three homers at Pensacola in Miami’s system. … Magnolia Heights product Cooper Pratt has hit two homers for Biloxi in the SL and is batting .266 in his debut for Milwaukee’s Double-A team. … In the Double-A Texas League, Ole Miss alum Cooper Johnson has three homers — tied for the TL lead — in seven games for Frisco, a Texas affiliate, and is batting .304. … Braden Montgomery, an ex-Madison Central High standout and a first-round pick last summer, is tied for first with 13 RBIs in the Low-Class A Carolina League and is batting .353 with two homers for the White Sox’s Kannapolis club. He was traded to Chicago by Boston in the Garrett Crochet deal. … Konnor Griffin, the Jackson Prep product drafted ninth overall by Pittsburgh in 2024, is tied for second in the Low-A Florida State League with six stolen bases. He is batting .231 with two homers, seven RBIs and nine runs through 10 games in his pro debut with Bradenton. … Oddest stat for a Mississippian in the minors: ex-South Panola standout Emaarion Boyd is tied for fourth in the High-A Midwest League with seven steals. He got six of them in one game. The fourth-year pro, who has 98 career bags, is batting just .120 (three hits) for Beloit in the Miami system. P.S. Former Southern Miss star Dustin Dickerson was promoted to Triple-A Omaha by Kansas City and debuted as a defensive replacement on Wednesday. The shortstop was batting .286 in Double-A. … Ex-USM slugger Matt Wallner, now with the Minnesota Twins, went on the injured list with a hamstring strain. He was batting .263 (.373 OBP) with a homer, three RBIs and seven runs, leading off for the Twins much of the time.

15 Apr

just stuff

As Major League Baseball celebrates Jackie Robinson Day, here’s a tip of the cap to Luke Easter, the first black Mississippi native to play in an MLB game. The Jonestown native broke in with Cleveland on Aug. 11, 1949, at the age of 34. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound left-handed hitter belted 93 homers for the Indians over parts of six seasons. He also played in the Negro Leagues and in the minors for many years, hitting 351 homers all told, per baseball-reference.com. … The Columbus Clingstones, Atlanta’s Double-A team that previously played in Pearl, will make their home debut tonight at Synovus Park in Columbus, Ga. Quite a few familiar names populate the roster, including former Southern Miss and Mississippi Braves standout Landon Harper and M-Braves alum Craig Kimbrel, the erstwhile big league star who is launching his 2025 season in Double-A. … After a weak start this season, former DeSoto Central High standout Austin Riley is coming on strong for Atlanta. The M-Braves alum hit two homers in Monday’s win at Toronto and is batting .452 with eight RBIs and seven runs over his last seven games. … Jake Mangum, the rookie out of Jackson Prep and Mississippi State, went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs Monday for Tampa Bay, which saw every starter get at least one RBI and score at least one run in a 16-1 win against Boston. Mangum has cooled after his sizzling start but is still batting .311 over 13 games and making great plays in the outfield. … Hunter Renfroe, MSU alum from Crystal Springs, needs to step it up for Kansas City. He is batting .128 with no homers in 39 at-bats and is no longer playing regularly. A .236 career hitter with 192 bombs, the 33-year-old outfielder is coming off a poor year. … Ole Miss product Kemp Alderman, who had a two-homer game last week for Double-A Pensacola (Miami system), and ex-MSU star Khal Stephen, who had a nine-strikeout game for Low-Class A Dunedin (Toronto), were named to MLB Pipeline’s Prospect Team of the Week. … Konnor Griffin got his first pro homer and triple in a game last week and continues to fill out the stat sheet for Low-A Bradenton (Pittsburgh). The ninth overall pick last summer from Jackson Prep, Griffin is batting .258 with six RBIs, seven runs and five steals. … Sad to see Justin Steele, the lefty from Lucedale, lost for the season to elbow surgery; he was 3-1 with a 4.76 ERA in four starts. That’s a blow for the first-place Chicago Cubs. Also going on the IL last week was Ole Miss alum Nick Fortes (oblique), who was batting .300 in 20 at-bats as Miami’s starting catcher. … Kudos to Will Warren, the Jackson Prep grad who notched his first MLB win in his eighth career start for the New York Yankees last week. The 25-year-old right-hander went five innings Saturday to beat red-hot San Francisco. … Ex-MSU star J.T. Ginn got his second MLB win Saturday in his 2025 debut as the A’s beat the Mets; Ginn was recalled from Triple-A that same day. … Former MSU standout Brandon Woodruff threw 3 2/3 innings for Triple-A Nashville on Saturday in his first rehab start as he aims to return to Milwaukee’s rotation. The righty from Wheeler is 46-26 in his MLB career; the Brewers sorely need him. … Ex-Madison Central star Spencer Turnbull, still unsigned for 2025, has been throwing for various teams, per reports. The veteran right-hander put up a 2.65 ERA in 54 1/3 innings for Philadelphia in 2024.

06 Apr

minor matters

A pair of 2024 first-round draftees with Mississippi connections strutted their potential on Saturday. Jurrangelo Cijntje, the switch-pitcher out of Mississippi State, threw four scoreless innings in his pro debut for High-Class A Everett (Seattle system), and Braden Montgomery, the Madison Central High alum drafted out Texas A&M, hit his first pro home run for Low-A Kannapolis (Chicago White Sox). Cijntje, 15th overall pick, faced 14 batters, pitching righty 11 times, lefty three times. He allowed just one hit (to a righty), two walks (both to lefties) and struck out six against Spokane (Colorado affiliate) in the Northwest League contest. Cijntje was 11-7 with a 5.25 ERA in two years at MSU but has much better stuff, from both arms, than those numbers would indicate. Montgomery, the 12th overall pick (by Boston), belted 62 homers in three college seasons, 27 in 2024 at A&M. A broken ankle delayed his pro debut to 2025, and in his second game in the Carolina League, the switch-hitting slugger went yard. A Gatorade player of the year while at Madison Central, he is off to a 2-for-8 start with four RBIs and a stolen base for Kannapolis. … In a High-A Midwest League game of some local interest, former Mississippi State standout Brooks Auger faced ex-Ole Miss star Dylan DeLucia, with Auger and the Great Lakes Loons beating Lake County 6-1. Auger, who famously shut down Ole Miss in that dramatic SEC Tournament game last year, went 5 2/3, allowing one unearned run in his pro debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a sixth-round pick last summer. DeLucia, a hero on UM’s national title team in 2022, yielded four runs in three innings and took the loss. A sixth-rounder by Cleveland in ’22, he has been limited by injuries to 14 pro games. P.S. In MLB on Saturday, Brent Rooker, ex-MSU star, hit his fourth homer of the season, helping the A’s set a franchise record. The team has homered in its first nine games for the first time. The A’s won 7-4 at Colorado to improve to 4-5.

30 Mar

worth noting

Mississippi State is in a lot of pain. The Bulldogs lost 17-8 Saturday night at LSU, which scored eight times in the first inning. State fell to 1-8 in the SEC and 16-12 overall. Six Bulldogs pitchers allowed 19 hits and seven walks. … Southern Miss is in a little pain. Closer Colby Allen blew a save, allowing four runs in three innings as South Alabama took a 6-3 victory at Taylor Park in Hattiesburg. Allen (3-2), who has six saves, saw his ERA jump to 2.73. USM is 19-8, 6-2 Sun Belt, heading into today’s rubber game vs. USA. … Former MSU star Jordan Westburg went 4-for-5 Saturday with two homers — one off Max Scherzer — two RBIs and three runs in Baltimore’s 9-5 win against Toronto. Westburg, batting .462 in three games, also homered on opening day. … Ex-MSU standout Nathaniel Lowe hit his first homer as a member of the Washington Nationals — the 90th of his MLB career. … USM alum Matt Wallner is 0-for-8 with a walk in his first two games as Minnesota’s leadoff batter; the Twins are 0-2. … Former Mississippi Braves star Drake Baldwin, now Atlanta’s starting catcher, got his first major league hit Saturday in the winless Braves’ loss at San Diego. … M-Braves alum Spencer Strider threw three innings (one run, six strikeouts) in a rehab start for Triple-A Gwinnett. … Mississippi Valley State’s Jace Jones put up an eight-RBI game in a win over Alcorn State on Friday. There were 80 runs scored in that three-game SWAC series, swept by the Delta Devils (8-10, 4-5) at Magnolia Field in Itta Bena. Alcorn fell to 4-19, 0-8. … In a matchup of top 10 NAIA teams, No. 3 Georgia-Gwinnett swept No. 8 William Carey 9-7 and 10-9 in a couple of wild affairs Friday at Hattiesburg. The Crusaders’ power-hitting lineup did not manage a home run in either game. … Here’s a name to know: Cannon Hensarling. The Ocean Springs senior went 7-for-11 with four RBIs and seven runs and threw a four-hitter with 12 strikeouts in three games last week, per an si.com piece. P.S. In the current issue of Sports Weekly, USA Today writers rank a top 100 Names to Know of rising stars based on their “anticipated impact” in MLB in 2025. Among the group are three Mississippi college products now in Triple-A: Ole Miss alum Doug Nikhazy (Cleveland), USM’s Hurston Waldrep (Atlanta) and UM’s Gunnar Hoglund (A’s).

25 Jan

going camping

Mississippi will be well-represented in the Chicago White Sox’s spring training camp in Arizona next month. Three minor leaguers — Tim Elko, Jacob Gonzalez and Braden Montgomery — with state ties and strong credentials have been invited as non-roster players to Glendale, where they’ll hook up with Louisville native and ex-big leaguer Marcus Thames, the White Sox’s hitting coach. Elko, 26, a 10th-round pick off Ole Miss’ 2022 national title team, has batted .288 with 51 homers as a pro, reaching the Triple-A level last summer. The big first baseman also played well in the Arizona Fall League — four bombs in 11 games — and was selected by USA Baseball for the Premier 12 team that played in an international tournament last fall. Gonzalez, national freshman of the year at Ole Miss in 2021, was a first-round pick by the ChiSox in 2023 and is currently rated their No. 15 prospect by MLB Pipeline. A middle infielder, Gonzalez reached Double-A in 2024 and hit .225 with five homers, 42 RBIs and 10 steals for Birmingham in the Southern League. Montgomery was Mississippi’s Gatorade player of the year at Madison Central High in 2021 and starred at Stanford and Texas A&M before Boston picked him 12th overall in the 2024 draft. The switch-hitting outfielder, who has yet to make his pro debut, was one of the prospects Chicago acquired from Boston in the recent Garrett Crochet trade. Montgomery, 21, is the ChiSox’s No. 5 prospect. The ChiSox need all the help they can get. The team went 41-121 last season, worst record in modern MLB history. Thames, who starred at East Central Community College before launching a 10-year major league career, is entering his second season as Chicago’s hitting coach, having been retained by new manager Will Venable. P.S. Montgomery checked in at No. 55 on MLB Pipeline’s new list of the Top 100 minor league prospects entering the 2025 season. Konnor Griffin, the mega-star out of Jackson Prep, is No. 43; the shortstop/outfielder was the ninth overall pick last July by Pittsburgh and has yet to make his pro debut. Cooper Pratt, the ex-Magnolia Heights standout, is No. 57 on the list; the 2023 draftee is in Milwaukee’s system.

22 Oct

minor matters

Though Jake Mangum’s numbers weren’t — for whatever reason — enough to rate a call to the big leagues, they were certainly good enough to rate a spot on the all-Mississippi minor league All-Star team for 2024. The Mississippi State product led the Triple-A International League in batting at .317 with six homers, 56 RBIs and 20 steals in the Tampa Bay system. Pencil Mangum in as one of the outfielders, joined by two other Tampa Bay farmhands: ex-MSU standout Colton Ledbetter (.273, 16 homers, 34 bags at the High-Class A level) and Southern Miss alum Matthew Etzel (.272, 11 homers, 66 RBIs and 45 steals at two levels, finishing in Double-A in the Rays’ chain after a trade from Baltimore). Behind the plate, former MSU standout Gavin Collins had a resurgent season at Triple-A Memphis (.264, nine homers, 35 RBIs) in the St. Louis organization. Former Ole Miss star Tim Elko is the pick at first base; he batted .289 with 18 homers and 73 RBIs between Double-A and Triple-A for the Chicago White Sox. At second base, it’s minor league vet Hunter Stovall, an MSU alum who hit .271 with seven homers and 41 RBIs for Colorado’s Triple-A club. The shortstop is rising star Cooper Pratt, the former Gatorade player of the year from Magnolia Heights who batted .277 with eight homers, 45 RBIs and 27 bags at two Class A levels in Milwaukee’s organization. (Pratt is likely to start 2025 at Double-A Biloxi.) R.J. Yeager, another former State standout, gets the nod at third base after batting .254 with 15 homers and 65 RBIs in Double-A in St. Louis’ system. Put ex-Mississippi College star Blaine Crim (.277, 20 homers, 86 RBIs for Texas’ Triple-A team) at DH. Justin Foscue, a former MSU standout who made the majors in 2024, would make a fine utility player; he hit .276 with nine homers in Triple-A for Texas in an injury-curtailed season. On the mound, Ole Miss alums Doug Nikhazy (7-4, 2.98 ERA, at Double-A and Triple-A for Cleveland) and Gunnar Hoglund (9-7, 3.44, in Double-A and Triple-A for Oakland) make for a fine lefty-righty combo. The closer: former MSU closer Landon Sims, who went 4-0 with nine holds, two saves, a 3.07 ERA and a bunch of punchouts at two A-ball levels in Arizona’s system. P.S. On the news front: Elko has been selected to the U.S. roster for the World Baseball Premier 12 tournament. Team USA begins play on Nov. 9 in Mexico. Also on the roster are former Mississippi Braves Drake Baldwin and Touki Toussaint, the latter an MLB veteran. … Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product Brandon Parker, who played for the M-Braves in 2024, has been released by Atlanta, and ex-USM standout Ben Ethridge (3.38 ERA in two A-ball seasons) was released by Minnesota. … Happy 45th birthday to Eli Whiteside, the New Albany native and Delta State alum who won a World Series ring as the backup catcher (to Buster Posey) with the 2010 San Francisco Giants.

23 Sep

on center stage

The spotlight is a little brighter in the postseason, and Jacob Gonzalez is showing out in the Southern League playoffs. The ex-Ole Miss standout went 3-for-5 Sunday, including a three-run double that broke the game open in the seventh inning, as Birmingham beat Montgomery 7-2 in the opener of the SL Championship Series. Gonzalez, a lefty-swinging shortstop, is batting .538 with a homer, five RBIs and two steals in four postseason games for the Chicago White Sox’s Double-A club. The 15th overall pick ($3.9 million signing bonus) in the 2023 draft, Gonzalez was promoted from High-Class A Winston-Salem in late May and started hot for Birmingham before cooling down to a .225 average. On the year, he batted .238 with eight homers, 57 RBIs and 17 steals. He’s considered a good glove, but speculation is he’ll eventually move off shortstop. The California native had a stellar career at Ole Miss, helping the Rebels win the 2022 College World Series. Game 2 of the best-of-3 title series is Tuesday in Birmingham. … In the Double-A Eastern League Championship Series, Erie beat Somerset 9-5 in Game 1. Former Mississippi State product Colby White is a bullpen piece for Somerset (New York Yankees affiliate) and ex-William Carey star Patrick Lee a reserve infielder for Erie (Detroit). Neither played in the opener. … The Triple-A postseason begins on Tuesday. Ole Miss alum Doug Nikhazy pitches for Columbus (Cleveland) and MSU product Eric Cerantola for Omaha (Kansas City), who meet in the International League title series. Former State standout Konnor Pilkington pitches for Reno (Arizona), which takes on Sugar Land for the Pacific Coast League crown. P.S. In MLB, All-Star infielder Jordan Westburg returned to Baltimore’s lineup on Sunday, the ex-MSU star going 1-for-4 with an RBI in a loss to surging Detroit. … Emblematic of Kansas City’s struggles, MSU product Hunter Renfroe went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts as the Royals lost for the seventh straight time, 2-0 to San Francisco. The Royals managed three hits and fanned 13 times as they fell into a tie for the second American League wild card with Detroit. Renfroe, who has 13 homers, is in a 1-for-21 slump in his last seven games. … Southern Miss alum Matt Wallner had a hit in each game but couldn’t prevent Minnesota from being swept in a twinbill by Boston (8-1 and 9-3) and tumbling out of a wild card berth in the AL. … On Sept. 23, 2009, former Shannon High and Jackson State standout Dave Clark notched his first win as interim manager for Houston, which beat St. Louis 3-0. A longtime big league slugger and current first-base coach for the Astros, Clark went 4-9 in his lone managerial stint.

11 Sep

puttin’ on the hits

You probably could have made some nice bank if you had bet that Brent Rooker would lead all Mississippians in the majors in hits in 2024. The former Mississippi State star, who entered this season with a .230 career average, is batting .298 for Oakland with 142 hits (35 of them home runs). One preseason magazine projected Rooker to bat .223 this year. He has more hits than Rafael Devers, Freddie Freeman and Alex Bregman. Go figure. Of course, few would have guessed that Biloxi High alum Colt Keith would be No. 2 on the all-Mississippi hits chart with just a couple weeks left in the season. A rookie with Detroit, Keith has 123 hits, 12 more than Nathaniel Lowe, an MLB vet out of MSU who has 111 in an off-year for Texas. Austin Riley, the DeSoto Central High product with Atlanta, has 109 hits but is currently on the injured list and may not return. Jordan Westburg, another MSU alum playing for Baltimore, has 105 knocks; he is also on the IL but may be close to coming back. … The hits leader among Mississippi products in the minors is ex-Ole Miss star Tim Elko, who has 139 between Double-A and Triple-A in the Chicago White Sox system. Former Mississippi College standout Blaine Crim, at Triple-A Round Rock in the Rangers’ organization, has 131 knocks. MSU alum Jake Mangum, the International League’s leading hitter at .328, got three more hits on Tuesday — including his sixth homer — and now has 118 in only 94 games for Triple-A Durham (Tampa Bay). … On the subject of hits, Kemp Alderman, the 2023 Ferriss Trophy winner out of Ole Miss, went 1-for-4 in his Double-A debut on Tuesday for Pensacola. The Miami Marlins’ No. 13 prospect hit .248 with seven homers and 43 RBIs over 105 games in the lower minors this season. P.S. Down in Mexico, where the Mexico City Red Devils claimed the King’s Series title on Monday, former big leaguer Bobby Bradley enjoyed a good year with Tijuana, batting .271 with 13 homers and 53 RBIs in 81 games. The former Harrison Central High star, 28, has 229 homers over 10 professional seasons, including 17 homers in MLB. Erstwhile big leaguer Anthony Alford, the ex-Petal High standout, batted .271 with eight homers and 25 RBIs in 39 games for Campeche in the LMB, and Columbia High product Ti’Quan Forbes hit .206 (in only 63 at-bats) for Queretaro.

09 Sep

let’s get it started

Nothing like a first-inning home run to energize your team. Jake Mangum, the former Mississippi State standout from Flowood, led off Sunday’s game with a bomb for Durham, sparking Tampa Bay’s Triple-A club to a 15-5 rout of Columbus. It was the fifth homer of the season for minor league veteran Mangum, who went 3-for-6 to lift his average to .323, easily the best in the International League. He has 49 RBIs, 54 runs and 16 steals in 93 games for the Bulls. In the big leagues, Nathaniel Lowe, another MSU alum, went yard in the first frame for Texas, which went on to beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-4. The defending World Series champion Rangers have faded from playoff contention, but Lowe has picked up his game of late: .333 (.431 OBP) over his last 15 games. He is batting .263 (.358 OBP) with 12 homers and 53 RBIs on the year. Down in the Midwest League, ex-Magnolia Heights star Cooper Pratt smacked a first-inning homer — against former Southern Miss ace Tanner Hall — as High-Class A Wisconsin beat Cedar Rapids 10-3. Shortstop Pratt, Milwaukee’s No. 2 prospect, has five homers for the Timber Rattlers and is hitting .221 in 23 games with the team. The second-year pro hit .295 in Low-A before his promotion. P.S. The postseason starts Tuesday for teams in the Class A levels. Pratt’s Wisconsin club will play Quad Cities in the first round of the MWL postseason. Ex-USM star Dustin Dickerson plays shortstop for Quad Cities, a Kansas City affiliate. … Bowling Green, a Tampa Bay affiliate featuring MSU products Colton Ledbetter and Kamren James, faces Rome in the High-A South Atlantic League playoffs. Former Smithville High standout Jared Johnson pitches for Rome, an Atlanta affiliate. … Connor Hujsak, another 2024 draft pick out of State, is an outfielder for Charleston, a Tampa Bay affiliate in the Low-A Carolina League postseason. Southaven native and Northwest Mississippi Community College product Dalton Fowler pitches for the RiverDogs, who’ll face Kannapolis in the first round. Ole Miss alum T.J. McCants plays for the Cannon Ballers (Chicago White Sox). … Tyson Hardin, a 2024 draftee out of MSU, pitches for Carolina, a Milwaukee affiliate that’s also in the Carolina League postseason. … Dakota Jordan, the ex-MSU star from Canton, is on the roster but on the injured list at Low-A San Jose (San Francisco Giants), which is in the California League playoffs. Jordan, a 2024 draftee, was 0-for-7 in two games this season.

03 Sep

ready, set, go …

Everybody in the Cincinnati ballpark knew what was coming. On Sept. 3, 2013, Billy Hamilton was inserted into a major league game for the first time, as a pinch runner in the seventh inning of a scoreless game between the host Reds and St. Louis. The former Taylorsville High star, who had swiped 395 bases in five minor league seasons to that point, promptly stole second — against Cardinals All-Star/Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina, no less. Todd Frazier then doubled, and Hamilton cruised home with what would be the game’s only run. That stolen base was the first of 326 big league steals by Hamilton, the all-time leader among Mississippi natives. The run was the first of 454 he would score in 951 MLB games in a career that ended in 2023. He was also a tremendous defensive center fielder. Hamilton got national attention when he stole a record 155 bases in the minors in 2012. His games were like a track meet: 410 steals in 572 minor league contests. In his first four full big league seasons (2014-17), he swiped 56, 57, 58 and 59. In 2018, his last season with Cincinnati, he got 34 bags. That was the last year he played regularly as he bounced from team to team, playing for seven all told from 2019-23. He played his last game on May 4 of last year for the Chicago White Sox. And yes, he did steal a base. Listed at 6 feet, 160 pounds in his prime, Hamilton hit just .239 (.292 on-base percentage) over his 11-year career. One can only wonder what kind of numbers “Bone” would have put up if he could only have gotten on base more often. Second on Mississippi’s all-time steals list is Cool Papa Bell, credited with 285 in his Negro Leagues career. Jarrod Dyson is third with 266, Gee Walker fourth with 223. Even with new rules now that favor base-stealing, it’s hard to imagine anyone topping Hamilton’s 326.