Tag Archives: Mississippi Braves

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.

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).

27 Mar

appetizers

Fun facts about MLB’s Opening Day:
Garrett Crochet will make his second straight opening day start when he takes the bump for Boston against Texas. The Ocean Springs native started Game 1 for the Chicago White Sox last year and — perhaps foreshadowing the team’s dismal season — took a loss despite allowing just a lone run in six innings against Detroit, which won 1-0 behind Tarik Skubal. Incidentally, ex-Biloxi High star Colt Keith made his big league debut in that game and got his first hit off Crochet.
The record for consecutive opening day starts by a Mississippi native belongs to Roy Oswalt, the Weir High and Holmes Community College alum who made eight starts for Houston between 2003-10. The right-hander, who won 163 games in his stellar career, was in his third big league season when he got the Day 1 call for the Astros in 2003, and he beat Colorado, yielding one earned run in seven innings.
The record for highest on-base percentage all-time on opening day (at least 10 starts) is .500, according to mlb.com research. Ellisville native and Mississippi State alum Buddy Myer shares that mark with two others. Myer, a leadoff batter most of his career, played from 1925-41 and had a career .389 OBP, in the top 100 all-time.
The record for home runs on an opening day is three, and Vicksburg native Dmitri Young is among the four players to accomplish that feat. “Da Meat Hook” did it 20 years ago for Detroit; he went 4-for-4 and drove in five runs in an 11-2 victory against Kansas City. Young belted 171 career homers and hit two in a game six times.
The only opening day cycle in major league history belongs to Gee Walker, a Gulfport native and ex-Ole Miss star who pulled it off on April 20, 1937, for Detroit against Cleveland. He went 4-for-4 and scored twice in that game, a 4-3 win; he batted .294 in a 15-year career.
Two former Mississippi Braves standouts — Jordan Schafer and Jason Heyward — homered on opening day in their first career at-bat, both for Atlanta, Schafer in 2009 and Heyward in 2010. Schafer would hit only 11 more homers in a brief career. Heyward, still playing, has 184 bombs.
P.S. The Los Angeles Angels optioned Chuckie Robinson, ex-Southern Miss star, to Triple-A on Wednesday. Now in his third organization, the 30-year-old catcher, a good defensive player, has a career .132 average in 51 MLB games.

26 Mar

play ball!

A pair of Mississippi high school products will be on the mound as starting pitchers on Thursday, opening day for most of the major league clubs. Garrett Crochet, out of Ocean Springs, will go for Boston — in his Red Sox debut — at Texas and Justin Steele, ex-George County standout, gets the ball for the Chicago Cubs at Arizona. Steele is 0-1, having lost in the Cubs’ second game in Japan last week. There are state connections in just about every game. Austin Riley is back at third base for Atlanta, which opens at San Diego. Hunter Renfroe likely will be in the lineup for Kansas City against visiting Cleveland. Baltimore, with Jordan Westburg at third base, visits Toronto, where Nick Sandlin now works out of the bullpen. There’s Chris Stratton with the Royals, Brent Rooker with the A’s, Matt Wallner with Minnesota, Colt Keith with Detroit, Will Warren with the New York Yankees, Nick Fortes with Miami. Adam Frazier is back with Pittsburgh after side trips to San Diego, Seattle, Baltimore and Kansas City. Thursday will bring the Washington debut of Nathaniel Lowe when the Nationals host Philadelphia. Tim Anderson, who made the Los Angeles Angels’ club as a non-roster invitee, returns to Chicago, where he was once a batting champ for the White Sox. Marcus Thames is the hitting coach for the White Sox and Bobby Dickerson the infield coach for the Phillies. Brandon Woodruff (Milwaukee), James McArthur (Kansas City) and J.P. France (Houston) will start the season on the injured list. … Of note: Four former Biloxi Shuckers, including the starting pitcher, and a former Mississippi Braves star are expected to be in Milwaukee’s Day 1 lineup, and four former M-Braves and one ex-Shuckers star are projected as starters for Atlanta. (And Ronald Acuna could return to Atlanta’s active roster by late April.) P.S. Ole Miss alum and MLB veteran Drew Pomeranz, 36, was released by Seattle. He was in camp as a non-roster invitee and posted a 4.70 ERA in eight games. … Ex-Rebels star Hayden Dunhurst, a 24-year-old catcher from Carriere, has re-signed with Kane County of the independent American Association.

03 Mar

next man up

Perhaps sooner than expected, Drake Baldwin — Atlanta’s No. 1 prospect — will join the lengthy list of former Mississippi Braves catchers to reach the majors. The injury to starting catcher Sean Murphy that will sideline him at the start of the 2025 season opens the door for Baldwin to make Atlanta’s opening day roster. In camp as a non-roster invitee, Baldwin is 4-for-12 with two RBIs in Grapefruit League games. At age 23, he already has impressive seasoning. A former third-round pick from Missouri State, the lefty slugger hit .244 with four homers in 52 games for the Double-A M-Braves in 2024 before finishing the season at Triple-A, where he belted 12 more bombs. He batted .377 in a brief stint in the Arizona Fall League and then played for Team USA in the World Baseball Premier 12 tournament. Since Brian McCann jumped to the big leagues from Mississippi in 2005, 10 other M-Braves catchers have made the climb, including Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Christian Bethancourt, William Contreras, Shea Langeliers, Alex Jackson, Willians Astudillo, Clint Sammons and Jesus Sucre.

14 Feb

here and there

Four out of a hundred ain’t bad, all things considered. Little ol’ Mississippi has produced four members of MLB Network’s Top 100 Right Now in the big leagues. Austin Riley, the ex-DeSoto Central High star, is ranked No. 33, Brent Rooker (Mississippi State) No. 46, Garrett Crochet (Ocean Springs) No. 56 and Justin Steele (George County) No. 88. Riley leads a pack of seven former Mississippi Braves in the Top 100, with Freddie Freeman heading that list at No. 8. Ronald Acuna, coming back from injury, is No. 16. Spencer Strider, who missed most of 2024 and will start this season on the injured list, isn’t ranked at all after being No. 17 prior to last season. Three Biloxi Shuckers alumni made the new rankings, topped by Corbin Burnes at No. 35. … Former Ole Miss standout James McArthur had off-season elbow surgery and apparently will not be ready for the start of the season with Kansas City. McArthur, 28, had 22 saves for the Royals in 2023-24, his first two MLB campaigns. … The independent Mississippi Mud Monsters have added four players to their 2025 roster: pitcher/outfielder Tahj Cunningham, right-hander Luis Devers, catcher Nick Hassan and shortstop Travis Holt. The Feb. 12 signings were released on the Frontier League transactions page. Cunningham, 25, has played for the U.S. Virgin Islands national team and in a couple of foreign leagues in addition to a stint at Lake-Sumter State College, a Florida juco. Devers, 24, from the Dominican Republic, spent six seasons in the Chicago Cubs’ system, posting a 3.28 ERA. He was 4-3, 5.33, at High-Class A South Bend last season. Hassan, 25, is a former all-conference player at Kennesaw (Ga.) State (.323 last season) who played briefly in the Frontier League last summer. Holt, 25, played four years at High Point (N.C.) and another at Butler, batting .295 career; he has played a couple of seasons in indy ball.

12 Feb

an anniversary to celebrate

In recognition of Black History Month, here’s a tip of the cap to the 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes, who won the Negro League World Series with three Mississippi natives on the roster. Reference works differ on the Buckeyes’ overall record, but according to baseballreference.com, the team went 63-17-1. The Buckeyes won both halves of the split season in the Negro American League and then swept the National League champion Homestead Grays 4-0 in the Series. Lowndes County/Columbus native Sam Jethroe and Jackson’s Buddy Armour played center and left field, respectively, for the ’45 Buckeyes, and Lauderdale native Lovell Harden pitched out of the bullpen. A seven-time All-Star in the Negro Leagues, Jethroe, nicknamed “The Jet,” would go on to win rookie of the year honors in the majors in 1950 with the Boston Braves. According to the available stats from Baseball Reference, he batted .333 with 20 RBIs and five steals in 21 official games for the ’45 Buckeyes. Armour — a four-time All-Star and .285 career hitter — hit .254 with six RBIs and nine runs in 17 games that season. Harden made just two appearances. In the World Series against Homestead — which suited up Mississippians Cool Papa Bell and Dave Hoskins — Armour was 4-for-13 with two runs and three RBIs and Jethroe 4-for-15 with two RBIs and a run. Other members of that championship team celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2025 included player/manager Quincy “Big Train” Trouppe, pitching brothers George and Willie Jefferson, Cuban shortstop Avelino Canizares and third baseman Parnell Woods. P.S. Other anniversaries of note in 2025: It was 50 years ago — 50 years! — that the Jackson Mets made their debut at brand new Smith-Wills Stadium with a team that included Craig Cacek, Angel Cantres and Hattiesburg native Bobby Myrick. In 2000, the independent Jackson DiamondKats played their lone season at Smith-Wills, and 20 years ago, the Mississippi Braves — with Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur and Blaine Boyer — debuted at Pearl’s Trustmark Park, while the indy Senators — managed by Hill Denson — began their final season at Smith-Wills. The Kansas City Royals will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their 2015 World Series winner, a team managed by former JaxMets catcher Ned Yost and featuring McComb native Jarrod Dyson as a reserve outfielder.

29 Jan

winter warriors

The Charros de Jalisco, with Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton batting leadoff and playing center field, won the Mexican Pacific League championship on Tuesday night and advanced to the Caribbean Series. The MPL champs will play Friday (10 p.m., MLB Network) against the champion of the Puerto Rican Winter League — Indios de Mayaguez — in Mexicali, Mexico. Hamilton, a longtime major leaguer with 326 career stolen bases, batted .246 with a league-best 38 steals and 49 runs in 64 games for Jalisco this season. He hit .243 in the MPL postseason, scoring 12 runs and swiping six more bags. The 34-year-old Hamilton last played in the big leagues in 2023 (three games with the Chicago White Sox). Former Mississippi Braves and big league star Julio Teheran pitched for Jalisco this season. … Incidentally, the dramatic home run by Junior Caminero that won the Dominican Winter League title on Monday night — and became a viral sensation — was hit off former M-Braves closer Jairo Asencio. Asencio played under the name Luis Valdez in 2008, when he saved 28 games for the Southern League champion M-Braves. Caminero’s Leones de Escogido team plays Venezuela on Friday (3:30, MLBN) in Mexicali. … The Venezuelan Winter League champ is the Cardenales de Lara. Former M-Braves Gorkys Hernandez — who spent parts of six years in the big leagues — and Hendrik Clementina played for Lara this season. Rosters for the Caribbean Series have not been announced. P.S. Regi Grace, former Madison Central High standout, has signed with Washington of the independent Frontier League. Grace put up a 3.94 ERA in 133 career games over six seasons in the Minnesota system, working at the Double-A level in 2024.

21 Jan

a breakthrough

The Texas League era lasted 25 years at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium, and a parade of talented players — All-Stars and World Series champs — passed through with the Double-A Mets and Generals. Billy Wagner, who pitched for the Generals 30 years ago, became the first player from that era (1975-99) to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Results were announced tonight on MLB Network. In his final year on the writers’ ballot, Wagner got 82.5 percent of the vote, clearing the 75 percent threshold. Wagner was a seven-time All-Star who registered 422 saves with a 2.31 ERA over 16 seasons in the big leagues. He ranks first all-time (live-ball era) in opponents batting average (.187), hits allowed per nine innings (6.0) and strikeouts per nine (11.9). In making a case for Wagner’s election, Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci called the little left-hander “historically difficult to hit.” Wagner was a first-round pick by Houston in 1993 out of NCAA Division III Ferrum College. He reached the Double-A Generals in 1995, going 2-2 with a 2.57 ERA in 12 starts, fanning 77 batters and walking 36 in 70 innings. He debuted with the Astros later that year. … Former Generals outfielder Bobby Abreu, in his fifth year on the ballot, got 19.5 percent of the vote, topping the 5 percent mark needed to remain on the ballot for next year. Surprisingly, Brian McCann, one of the best players to pass through Pearl’s Trustmark Park during the Mississippi Braves’ 20-year run, got just 1.8 percent in his first year of eligibility. McCann, a catcher, batted .262 with 282 homers and 1,018 RBIs with seven All-Star Game appearances in a 15-year career. He was the first M-Braves alum to reach the majors, going up to Atlanta in 2005. P.S. Mississippi native Dave Parker previously was elected to the Hall by the Classic Era Committee and will join Cool Papa Bell (Starkville) as the only state natives in Cooperstown. The induction ceremony is set for July 27.

16 Jan

taking a dip

Austin Riley tumbled in MLB Network’s ranking of the Top 10 Third Basemen Right Now, from No. 1 last year to No. 5. But that ranking ought to come with an asterisk. The former DeSoto Central High standout’s ’24 season was limited by injuries to 110 games — he went down for the year on Aug. 18 with a broken hand — but he still managed to hit 19 home runs while playing top-notch defense. He batted .256 and drove in 56 runs, scored 63 and posted a .783 OPS. He finished behind Jose Ramirez, Rafael Devers, Alex Bregman and Manny Machado in the MLB Network ranking. In 2023, when he was tops on that chart, Riley was an All-Star and batted .281 with 37 homers and 97 RBIs. Atlanta will be counting on a bounce-back year from the 27-year-old Riley, one of several Braves stars who were injured in 2024. … Another former Mississippi Braves star, William Contreras, now with Milwaukee, was ranked as the No. 1 catcher by MLB Network, and Biloxi Shuckers alum Devin Williams, now with the New York Yankees, was ranked No. 1 among relief pitchers. Ex-M-Braves star Michael Harris II checked in at No. 4 on the center field chart. P.S. Ex-Mississippi State standout J.P. France, now with Houston, told mlb.com that he hopes to be back in action in July after having shoulder surgery last summer. Right-hander France went 0-3 with a 7.46 ERA in five starts for the Astros in 2024 after winning 11 games as a rookie in 2023.