Tag Archives: minor league baseball

28 Jun

home run tracker

Flashing the power he displayed at Oxford High and Ole Miss, Thomas Dillard hit a pair of home runs in a game for High-A Wisconsin on Sunday. One of the bombs was a reported 438-footer. Dillard enjoyed a 3-for-6 day with five RBIs in a twinbill sweep by the Timber Rattlers, a Milwaukee farm team. Dillard is batting .240 (.420 slugging) with five homers and 37 RBIs in his second pro season. The switch-hitting catcher/first baseman, Milwaukee’s No. 22 prospect, was a fifth-round pick in 2019. He hit seven homers that summer and spent 2020 at the Brewers’ alternate site. … Joe Gray Jr., another Brewers prospect, hit his 11th homer on Sunday at Low-A Carolina. That total leads the Low-A East and is tied (with Brent Rooker in Triple-A) for the most by Mississippian in the minors. Former Hattiesburg High star Gray, in his third pro season, is batting .308 with 49 RBIs, bidding for a promotion to the Wisconsin team. Two more Mississippi-connected prospects went deep in the minors Sunday: Former Itawamba Community College and Houlka High star Tyreque Reed smacked his ninth homer for High-A Greenville in Boston’s system, and Ole Miss product Tyler Keenan, a 2020 draftee, hit No. 4 for High-A Everett in Seattle’s system. And something to watch for today: Blaze Jordan, the storied slugger from DeSoto Central, is expected to make his pro debut for Boston’s Florida Complex League team. Jordan famously hit two 500-foot homers in a showcase event at age 13 and won the high school home run competition at the 2019 MLB All-Star Game.

23 Jun

dog day

Was there something in the air on Tuesday night? Cue Phil Collins. Mississippi State got thunder (Tanner Allen) and lightning (Landon Sims) in a supercharged comeback win in the College World Series in Omaha, and that vibe seemed to spread to Bulldogs alums scattered around the pro landscape. At Tampa Bay, Hunter Renfroe homered and drove in three runs in a Boston win. At Pittsburgh, Adam Frazier homered and scored twice in the Pirates’ victory against the Chicago White Sox. (The win went to David Bednar, brother of Will, State’s star from Sunday.) In Seattle, Kendall Graveman pitched a perfect ninth for the save as the Mariners beat Colorado. Mitch Moreland and Nate Lowe were on opposing sides in the Oakland-Texas game, but whether they felt the vibe, we can’t be sure. Neither played. Down in Triple-A, Brent Rooker hit another bomb in a win by St. Paul, and Jacob Robson went yard in Toledo’s win. In Double-A, Jake Mangum took an 0-for-4 for Binghamton but did enjoy the view from center field in his team’s no-hitter. And, hey, the Arizona Diamondbacks should be on notice today: Brandon Woodruff gets the start looking for his sixth win for Milwaukee. Don’t bet against him. P.S. Incidentally, Renfroe, Frazier, Graveman, Robson and Woodruff were teammates on the 2013 State team that made the CWS finals. Jonathan Holder (currently on the MLB injured list) and Jacob Lindgren (now with the independent Kansas City Monarchs; he pitched a scoreless inning in a win on Tuesday) were also on that club.

13 Jun

license to steal

A new rule in High-A ball this season has given some players what must feel like a license to steal. The pitcher must step off the rubber before making a pickoff move. No one has taken better advantage of the rule than Delvin Zinn, the former Itawamba Community College star now with the Chicago Cubs’ South Bend affiliate. Zinn pilfered his 22nd bag on Saturday; that leads all three High-A leagues. He hasn’t been thrown out once. Zinn’s career may have stalled a bit; he was drafted in 2016 and hasn’t played above A-ball. But the 5-foot-10, 170-pound shortstop does have some speed. He stole 30 bases in A-ball two years ago under the old rules. As great as his pace is this season, Zinn isn’t going to match what Billy Hamilton did at the high Class A level in 2012. The Taylorsville Tornado stole 104 bases in the California League before adding 51 more in Double-A to set an all-time pro record with 155 bags. … In Low-A ball, where the pitcher is limited to two pickoff moves per plate appearance, steals are also up this season, though none of the Mississippians at that level are exactly running wild. Former Hattiesburg High standout Joe Gray Jr., having a really good year, has eight steals for Carolina (Milwaukee), and Meridian CC product Sam McWilliams has eight for Rancho Cucamonga (Los Angeles Dodgers). Willie Joe Garry Jr., from Pascagoula, has seven bags for Fort Myers (Minnesota) while hitting .165.

12 Jun

around the horn

The matchup of the National League’s third-leading hitter against the pitcher with the loop’s third-best ERA — who just happened to be teammates eight years ago at Mississippi State — went to the latter on Friday night in Milwaukee. So did the game. Brandon Woodruff retired Adam Frazier in three at-bats while working seven strong innings in the Brewers’ 7-4 win over Pittsburgh. Woodruff is 5-2 with a 1.53 ERA for the Brewers, tied for first in the NL Central with Chicago. Frazier’s average dipped to .328 after an 0-for-4 for the last-place Pirates. … Cleveland’s decision to give Bobby Bradley another big league opportunity is looking like a shrewd move. The former Harrison Central High standout, looking fitter than ever, hit his second homer in the Indians’ 7-0 win against Seattle and is batting .462 with six RBIs in four games. … Ocean Springs native Garrett Crochet threw two scoreless innings, fanning three, to notch his sixth hold in the Chicago White Sox’s 5-4 win against Detroit. Crochet’s ERA is 0.44, and the flame-throwing lefty has 25 K’s in 20 1/3 innings. … Down in Double-A, the Mississippi Braves lost their manager — Wyatt Toregas resigned unexpectedly (no reason given in the press release) — and then lost in 10 innings at Biloxi. The M-Braves had won four straight. … Also in the Double-A South, former Southern Miss star Chuckie Robinson homered in Chattanooga’s 1-0 win vs. Pensacola. Robinson, batting .269 with two bombs, was behind the plate for Cincinnati mega-prospect Hunter Greene’s fifth win. … MSU product Brent Rooker homered for the second straight game for Triple-A St. Paul and now has nine homers on the season. He is batting .237 with 16 RBIs as he works toward a recall to Minnesota. … Ex-Ole Miss standout Parker Caracci picked up his fourth save and trimmed his ERA to 1.50 over 13 games for High-A Vancouver in Colorado’s system. … On the college front, Ole Miss fell into a hole at Arizona, yielding four home runs and failing to score after the first inning in a 9-3 loss in Game 1 of the Tucson Super Regional. Mississippi State hosts Notre Dame today in Game 1 of that best-of-3 super regional.

10 Jun

where are they now?

Of the Mississippians drafted in 2020, Garrett Crochet was the only one to make his pro debut last season, jumping right into the MLB fray with the Chicago White Sox. The Ocean Springs native, the 11th overall pick (out of Tennessee), has fared quite well: 0.37 ERA over 22 career games. Of those whose pro debuts were delayed until 2021, Jordan Westburg has had the best start. The ex-Mississippi State star, the 30th overall pick by Baltimore, already has earned a promotion to High-A ball. After batting .366 with three home runs and 24 RBIs in 20 games at Low-A Delmarva, Westburg was moved to Aberdeen on June 1. He is at .250 with six RBIs in six games there. Justin Foscue, the 14th overall selection out of MSU, is batting .182 with two homers and six RBIs in 12 games at High-A Hickory in the Texas’ system. He is currently on the injured list, as are the two players drafted out of Ole Miss last year. Third-rounder Anthony Servideo is at Low-A Delmarva (Orioles), where he is at .246 with seven RBIs in 20 games. Fourth-rounder Tyler Keenan is batting .163 with a homer and 12 RBIs with Seattle’s High-A Everett club. Former State star J.T. Ginn, drafted in the second round by the New York Mets, made his second career start on Wednesday, throwing four innings for Low-A St. Lucie. Coming off Tommy John surgery, Ginn has a 1.29 ERA in seven innings. Colt Keith, a fifth-round pick from Biloxi High, is 2-for-7 in two games for Low-A Lakeland (Detroit). Blaze Jordan, the highly publicized slugger picked in the third round out of DeSoto Central, has yet to debut in Boston’s system.

06 Jun

there and here

Bobby Bradley, the former Harrison Central High slugger, was back in the big leagues on Saturday and doubled in his only at-bat as a pinch hitter for Cleveland. The lefty-hitting first baseman/DH made his MLB debut in 2019 but didn’t get the call last season. Sent to Triple-A Columbus despite a strong spring, he was hitting .196 with nine homers (and a 36 percent strikeout rate) when the Indians decided to give him another look after axing Jake Bauers. Bradley told cleveland.com that he feels no pressure: “I get to settle in and get comfortable and play my game.” Known affectionately as “The Assassin” at Columbus, where he hit 33 homers in 2019, Bradley could give the Indians some needed thump if he can cut down on the strikeouts. He’ll probably be in the lineup today at Baltimore. … Madison Central product Spencer Turnbull has landed on the 10-day injured list with a forearm strain. He is 4-2, 2.88 ERA for Detroit; one of the wins was a no-hitter. … Ex-Mississippi State standout Brent Rooker hit his seventh homer of the season and is batting .238 for Triple-A St. Paul in Minnesota’s system. Rooker was in the big leagues briefly in April. … LeDarious Clark, the East Mississippi Community College alum and former Texas Rangers minor leaguer, has four homers and a .320 average in nine games in the independent Atlantic League, now one of MLB’s new partner leagues. … Joe Gray Jr., the former Hattiesburg High star who was once a prized prospect in Milwaukee’s system, appears to be figuring some things out at Low-A Carolina. He blasted his ninth homer on Saturday and is at .291 with 34 RBIs. He is only 21. … After suffering three straight soul-crushing postseason losses, Southern Miss bounced back with a vengeance in a 21-0 win over Southeast Missouri State in the Oxford Regional. That gives the Golden Eagles another shot at Florida State in an elimination game today. FSU beat USM 5-2 on Friday, then lost to Ole Miss Saturday. … Hail to the MHSAA champs: Madison Central polished off Northwest Rankin for the Class 6A title, joining Saltillo (5A), West Lauderdale (4A), Booneville (3A), Taylorsville (2A) and Tupelo Christian (1A) in the winners’ circle.

04 Jun

on the bump

Throwing 44 pitches over three scoreless innings on Thursday, J.T. Ginn has taken the first official step of his pro career. The ex-Mississippi State standout from Brandon made his long-awaited debut for the Low-A St. Lucie Mets. He yielded two hits, two walks and an HBP while registering one strikeout against Fort Myers. It was Ginn’s first appearance in an actual game since February of 2020 with MSU. He had Tommy John surgery shortly thereafter. The New York Mets picked him in the second round of last summer’s draft; they figure to be very cautious this year with their No. 6-ranked prospect. At MSU, right-hander Ginn posted a 3.22 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 89 1/3 innings, most of those in 2019 when he was the SEC and national freshman of the year. He features power stuff: an upper 90s fastball, a nasty sinker and a hard slider. Elsewhere on minor league mounds: Former Southern Miss standout Kirk McCarty improved to 4-0 with a strong seven-inning outing for Triple-A Columbus in the Cleveland system. The 5-foot-8 lefty, who has a 4.04 ERA in six starts, allowed five hits and two runs with seven K’s to beat Indianapolis. He is in his fourth pro season. … Ole Miss product Chris Ellis saw his ERA jump to 9.26 in four starts for Triple-A Durham in Tampa Bay’s chain. The well-traveled Ellis, 28, was touched for two hits, two walks and two runs in just one inning; he escaped with a no-decision. Durham’s game against Norfolk was called in the eighth inning after Bulls pitcher Tyler Zombro was hit in the head by a line drive. He was hospitalized and in stable condition at last report.

02 Jun

starlight

More than a few atta boys are in order, starting with the stars from the MHSAA championships at Pearl’s Trustmark Park (props to SBLive for those details):
Tupelo Christian’s Daniel Reddout pitched six innings, allowing one earned run, in a 5-2 win against Resurrection Christian in Class 1A.
Magee’s Adam May went seven innings to beat Booneville 6-3 in 3A.
Pascagoula’s Brayden Scott allowed one run in six innings in a 12-1 blowout of Saltillo in 5A.
In the minors, Houlka native Tyreque Reed belted his eighth home run for High-A Greenville in the Boston system.
Harrison Central High alum Bobby Bradley hit his eighth dinger for Triple-A Columbus (Cleveland).
Ex-Mississippi State star Ethan Small struck out 11 over five shutout innings for Double-A Biloxi (Milwaukee).
Ole Miss product Will Ethridge allowed one hit over six shutout innings with eight K’s for Low-A Fresno (Colorado).
MSU product Jordan Westburg had a hit and three RBIs in his High-A debut for Aberdeen (Baltimore).
In independent ball, ex-UM standout Braxton Lee went 2-for-5 and is batting .438 in four games for Southern Maryland in the Atlantic League.
In the big leagues, DeSoto Central alum Austin Riley was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and is hitting .310 with 24 RBIs for Atlanta.
Former State star Adam Frazier put up a 2-for-4 for Pittsburgh, raising his average to .335, third-best in the National League.
Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton went 1-for-3 (a face-planting “hustle homer”) with an RBI for the Chicago White Sox, boosting his average to .316 with five runs and five RBIs in his last seven games.
Ocean Springs’ Garrett Crochet threw two scoreless innings for the White Sox, cutting his ERA to 0.57 in 15 games.
Ex-State standout Hunter Renfroe extended his hitting streak to five games, during which he has 10 hits, eight runs and three RBIs for Boston.

27 May

just stuff

Oak Grove visits Northwest Rankin tonight to decide the MHSAA Class 6A South State title and berth in next week’s finals against Madison Central. All of the other state championship pairings are set for the big event that starts Tuesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. In 5A, it’s Saltillo-Pascagoula, 4A West Lauderdale-Sumrall, 3A Booneville-Magee, 2A East Union-Taylorsville and 1A Tupelo Christian-Resurrection Catholic (Pascagoula). Madison Central is top-ranked in the state by MaxPreps and is No. 6 in the country. NWR is fifth in the state, Oak Grove 12th. Sumrall is No. 4, and Booneville is eight. … Southern Miss beat Western Kentucky in its C-USA Tournament opener, finishing off the 11-1 win at 2:59 a.m. today in Ruston, La. The Golden Eagles play again tonight, throwing C-USA pitcher of the year Walker Powell at Lousiana Tech. Ole Miss and Mississippi State both lost in SEC tourney play on Wednesday and face elimination games today in Hoover, Ala. Delta State starts play in the NCAA Division II South Region today vs. Tampa at Pensacola, Fla. … Braden Shewmake, the Mississippi Braves shortstop and Atlanta’s No. 4 prospect, is in the throes of a woeful slump. After an 0-for-4 on Wednesday against Montgomery at the TeePee, Shewmake is batting .086. He has five hits, one homer. He hit .300 over two levels in 2019. … Jacob Robson, the former Mississippi State standout, is hitting the pause button on his torrid start in the minors this season. But for good reason. Robson, a native of London, Ont., is off to play for Team Canada in the Olympics qualifying event in Florida next week. Robson, 26, a lefty-hitting outfielder, is batting .424 with two homers and 10 RBIs for Double-A Erie in Detroit’s system. He played in Triple-A in 2019, hitting .267, and has a .295 career average. He was an eighth-round pick out of Starkville in 2016. He’s not on the Tigers’ top 30 prospect list but has been in their big league spring camp the last couple of years. … Magnolia State products Hunter Renfroe and Austin Riley played a little tit-for-tat in Wednesday’s MLB game between Boston and Atlanta. Renfroe, from Crystal Springs, hit a 377-foot homer for the Red Sox in the second inning. Riley, from Southaven, retaliated with a 390-foot shot, also over Fenway Park’s Green Monster, three innings later. Boston ultimately won the game. … MLB placed Los Angeles Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway, a former Ole Miss pitcher, on the ineligible list through 2022, the culmination of investigation into numerous sexual harassment allegations. The Angels promptly fired Callaway, who hadn’t been with the team at all this season. … Ex-Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz, now with San Diego, reportedly has suffered a setback in his recovery from a left shoulder impingement and could be out an extended time. He has been on the IL since May 13.

26 May

minor matters

Joe Gray Jr. had a day, perhaps one of his best, for Low-A Carolina in Milwaukee’s system on Tuesday. The ex-Hattiesburg High standout went 3-for-6 with a grand slam, six RBIs, four runs and a stolen base. A second-round pick in 2018, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound outfielder scuffled in his first two pro seasons, batting under .200, but is at .239 with five homers, 18 RBIs and five bags for the Mudcats. Over his last four games, Gray is 7-for-20 with three bombs. Once ranked among the Brewers’ top 10 prospects, he has dropped off the mlb.com chart. Only 21, he is certainly capable of a resurgence. Missing the 2020 season didn’t help. Gray hit .182 with two homers in 24 games in the rookie Arizona League in 2018 and .164 with three homers in 31 games in the advanced rookie Pioneer League in 2019. … Jake Mangum, the former Mississippi State and Jackson Prep star, has made a smooth adjustment to Double-A pitching. Moved up as part of the injury-riddled New York Mets’ roster shuffling, Mangum is batting .385 in three games at Binghamton in the Double-A East. He homered and drove in four runs Tuesday. He was hitting .206 in A-ball. … Delvin Zinn, the Itawamba Community College product from Pontotoc, is batting .275 with eight RBIs, 13 runs and 14 steals, tops in the High-A Central, for South Bend in the Chicago Cubs’ system. Zinn swiped 30 bags in 2019. (He was involved in a rare benches-clearing brawl that led to four ejections on Tuesday in a game against Fort Wayne; Zinn was not ejected.) … Ex-MSU standout Hunter Stovall, back in Colorado’s system after a brief detour with Philadelphia, is hitting .264 with a homer and nine RBIs for High-A Spokane. … Jordan Westburg, the 30th overall pick out of State last summer, is raking at a .373 clip with three homers and 18 RBIs for Baltimore’s Low-A Delmarva team. He might not be long for that level.