Tag Archives: Mississippi Braves

15 Aug

under the radar

It’s tough to get much attention in the American Association, an independent league of mostly Midwest teams with odd nicknames. Gavin Collins deserves a little love. The Mississippi State alum has banged out 16 hits over his last 10 games for the Kansas City Monarchs, a .381 clip that has boosted his average to .314. Playing catcher and some third base, Collins, 28, has 10 homers and 41 RBIs for a team that leads the AA’s West Division with a 46-33 record. Collins may also have found it difficult to get much attention while at MSU, where, in his junior year of 2016, his teammates included Brent Rooker, Nathaniel Lowe, Dakota Hudson, Ethan Small, Konnor Pilkington and Jake Mangum. Collins hit .302 for a 44-win team that reached a Super Regional, and he was a 13th-round pick by Cleveland in the 2016 draft. He spent six years in the Indians/Guardians’ minor league system, batting .246 overall and reaching the Triple-A level. He became a free agent at the end of the 2022 season, signed with Tampa Bay and went to the Rays’ spring training camp before being released at the end of March. He then signed with the Monarchs, who also suit up ex-Bulldogs standout Jacob Robson, Delta State product Dalton Moats and Chris Herrmann — another catcher, one who spent eight years in the big leagues and currently leads the team in average, homers and RBIs. P.S. With Ozzie Albies on the injured list, Atlanta reportedly has called up former Mississippi Braves star Vaughn Grissom from Triple-A Gwinnett, probably as the backup to Nicky Lopez at second base. Grissom, a righty hitter, is hitting .327 with six homers and 50 RBIs. The Braves’ other infield option at Gwinnett was ex-M-Braves star Braden Shewmake, a lefty hitter and better fielder than Grissom who is batting .229 with 13 homers, 57 RBIs and 20 steals. That’s some kinda system depth. … Also back in The Show is former M-Braves infielder Johan Camargo, recently signed and called up Monday by San Francisco. Camargo spent 10 years in the Atlanta system and was in Pearl in 2016.

12 Aug

here and there

Back in May, playing for Ole Miss, Calvin Harris hit four home runs in a game. On his list of 2023 highlights, that might still be No. 1 — but what he did Friday night has to be a close second. Harris’ first homer as a pro was a two-run walk-off shot that gave Low-Class A Kannapolis an 8-7 win against Down East. A fourth-round draft pick by the Chicago White Sox, Harris, a catcher, is batting .297 in seven games for the Cannon Ballers. … On Fernando Valenzuela Night at Dodger Stadium, ex-Ole Miss ace Lance Lynn threw five innings, allowing one unearned run, and struck out nine as Los Angeles beat Colorado 6-1. Lynn, 36, is 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA since joining the Dodgers at the trade deadline. He has 1,881 career strikeouts over 333 career games. … Former DeSoto Central High star Austin Riley went 3-for-4 with his 27th homer and two RBIs in Atlanta’s 7-0 win over the New York Mets. Riley, a 2023 All-Star, is batting .355 with five homers in his last 15 games and .333 with 11 bombs, 28 RBIs and 21 runs since the All-Star break. … In manager Bruce Bochy’s return to San Francisco, former Mississippi State standout Nathaniel Lowe belted his 14th homer — 70th career in MLB — to help Bochy’s Rangers beat the Giants 2-1. Bochy, in his first year in Texas, won three championships with the Giants; the Rangers are seeking their first. … Southern Miss product Nick Sandlin threw four pitches and got a hold in a Cleveland win on Thursday. On Friday, he threw three pitches, the last of which was blasted for a walk-off homer by Tampa Bay’s Wander Franco. That came after the Guardians had scored three times on wild pitches in the top of the ninth. … Olive Branch native Kendall Williams tossed six shutout innings in his second start for Double-A Tulsa in the Dodgers’ system. The 22-year-old right-hander is 1-0 with a 0.90 ERA for the Drillers. … The Double-A Mississippi Braves scored 18 runs in a sweep at Rocket City, getting homers from Luke Waddell, Drew Lugbauer and Jesse Franklin V. Franklin has a 22-game on-base streak.

11 Aug

prospecting

Former Biloxi High standout Colt Keith, who has reached Triple-A at age 21 in his third pro season, is ranked No. 26 in MLB Pipeline’s newly released Top 100 minor league prospects. Keith is the lone Mississippi product in the overall rankings. The former Gatorade player of the year is Detroit’s No. 2 prospect and is currently hitting .270 with three homers and 19 RBIs at Toledo while playing mainly third base. There are 19 other state college or prep alums in the team Top 30 rankings. Six players from this year’s draft class were slotted in, including Southern Miss alum Hurston Waldrep, who is Atlanta’s No. 2. Ole Miss product Jacob Gonzalez is the Chicago White Sox’s No. 4, fellow former Rebels star Kemp Alderman is Miami’s No. 9 and former Mississippi State star Colton Ledbetter is Tampa Bay’s No. 9. Ledbetter, a left-handed hitting outfielder, is 7-for-17 with a homer in his first five pro games. Cooper Pratt, the state’s 2023 player of the year at Magnolia Heights Academy, is Milwaukee’s No. 10, and ex-USM star Tanner Hall is Minnesota’s No. 15. Of particular note, Justin Foscue, the 14th overall pick out of MSU in 2020, is ranked as Texas’ No. 6 and is having a good year at Triple-A Round Rock, batting .262 with 11 homers, 49 RBIs and 65 runs in 86 games. With third baseman Josh Jung currently out with a broken thumb, the Rangers might give Foscue a call in the near future. … The Double-A Mississippi Braves’ roster includes four of Atlanta’s Top 30: lefty Luis De Avila (No. 13), shortstop Cal Conley (No. 21), outfielder Jesse Franklin V (No. 22) and righty Tyler Owens (No. 27). Former M-Braves right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver, now at Triple-A Gwinnett, is the lone Atlanta prospect in the Top 100 at No. 58. He has already debuted in MLB. P.S. Ex-USM star Nick Sandlin threw four pitches Thursday, got a ground ball to escape a base-loaded situation in the sixth inning and earned his seventh hold in Cleveland’s 4-3 win against Toronto. Sandlin has a 3.45 ERA for the second-place Guardians. … Former Ole Miss standout Thomas Dillard and ex-Harrison Central High star Bobby Bradley traded homers in the independent Atlantic League on Thursday. Dillard’s 31st was not enough for Lexington, which fell 8-6 to Bradley (23 bombs) and Charleston.

09 Aug

transaction action

A virtual horde of minor leaguers started new assignments on Tuesday, and among Mississippi products, none made a bigger splash than former Southern Miss star Matthew Etzel. Etzel homered in his debut for Low-Class A Delmarva in the Baltimore organization. The 2023 draftee was promoted from rookie ball, where he was off to a sizzling start (see previous post). Atlanta promoted three Mississippians. Itawamba Community College alum Will Verdung moved from the Florida Complex League to Low-A Augusta and went 1-for-5. Hurston Waldrep, a USM alum and the Braves’ first-round pick (from Florida) last month, moved from Augusta to High-A Rome, as did ex-Smithville High standout Jared Johnson, who pitched a scoreless inning on Tuesday. Colton Ledbetter, a ’23 draftee out of Mississippi State, went 0-for-3 for Low-A Charleston (Tampa Bay); he hit .400 in the FCL. Former USM star Dustin Dickerson, also a ’23 draftee, went 0-for-3 in his debut for High-A Quad Cities in the Kansas City system; he hit .357 in the Arizona Complex League. Ex-Ole Miss standout Tim Elko made his Double-A debut in the Chicago White Sox chain, going 1-for-5 for Birmingham; he hit 22 homers in the two levels of A-ball. Meridian Community College product Davis Bradshaw went 0-for-3 at Double-A Pensacola (Miami) after a move up from High-A Beloit, where he hit .317; Bradshaw got a look in Double-A last year. Ole Miss alum Anthony Servideo was bumped from Double-A Bowie to High-A Aberdeen in the Orioles’ system and went 1-for-4; he was hitting .218 at Bowie. Landon Tomkins, an ex-Hinds CC standout and a ’23 draftee, was reactivated by Pittsburgh at Low-A Bradenton and pitched an inning (two unearned runs) in his second pro game. P.S. Four former Mississippi Braves hit a total of five homers for four different teams in the big leagues on Tuesday: Ronald Acuna for Atlanta, William Contreras for Milwaukee, Drew Waters for Kansas City and Joey Meneses (two) for Washington. Braden Shewmake hit one for Triple-A Gwinnett.

06 Aug

around the horn

The Milwaukee Brewers will get a jolt of energy today when Wheeler’s Brandon Woodruff takes the mound for the first time in four months. The Brewers, after a winning rally against visiting Pittsburgh on Saturday, are 60-52 and lead the National League Central by 1.5 games over Cincinnati and 2.5 over the Chicago Cubs. Woodruff, a two-time All-Star and a horse in the Brewers’ rotation since 2019, posted a 0.79 ERA in his first two starts this season before being shut down with a shoulder problem. Drafted out of Mississippi State in 2014, Woodruff is 42-25, 3.14, for his MLB career and typically gets deep into games. “I hold myself to a high standard and expect a lot of myself …,” he told reporters recently. “I’m happy to get to pitch.” He has dominated most of the hitters on the Pirates’ roster. Woodruff’s addition to Milwaukee’s active roster means there is a Mississippi product on every first-place club: Adam Frazier and Jordan Westburg in Baltimore, Matt Wallner in Minnesota, Nathaniel Lowe and Chris Stratton in Texas, Austin Riley in Atlanta and Lance Lynn with the Los Angeles Dodgers. P.S. Tim Anderson, the ex-East Central Community College standout now with the White Sox, engaged in a fist fight with Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez on Saturday and incited a benches-clearing brawl. Anderson, having a tough year for a disappointing team, faces a certain suspension, as do several others. He has been involved in a number of kerfuffles over the years. … Trustmark Park in Pearl is supposed to be a tough place to hit a home run. Well, try telling that to Drew Lugbauer of the Mississippi Braves. He hit three bombs in a win against Montgomery on Saturday night, the first time anyone has done that at the TeePee. With five homers in his last three games, he has 20 on the year, tied for first in the Southern League. Thirteen of those homers have come at home. He holds the Double-A club’s career record for bombs with 66, 32 at home. Of note: Left-hander Luis De Avila, an emerging prospect in the Atlanta system, threw six shutout innings against the Biscuits and improved to 6-6, 2.95, this season. … Hurston Waldrep, Atlanta’s first-round pick this year and a former Southern Miss pitcher, threw three innings in his pro debut for Low-Class A Augusta. He struck out eight and yielded one run. … Ex-Ole Miss star David Parkinson improved to 4-0 in his last five starts for Double-A Reading (Philadelphia system), going six innings (no earned runs) against Hartford. Left-hander Parkinson (6-4, 4.30) was the Phillies’ minor league pitcher of the year in 2018 before his career got off track. … Stuck in A-ball since 2018, former Pascagoula High standout Willie Joe Garry Jr. got a promotion last week to Double-A Wichita in the Minnesota chain and has looked right at home. Garry, 23, a lefty-hitting outfielder, belted a grand slam Saturday night and is 2-for-7 with six RBIs in two games. He was a .205 career hitter in 294 games in the low minors.

02 Aug

cape crusaders

A handful of Mississippians are on playoff-bound teams in the Cape Cod League, which concludes its regular season today. The playoffs in the elite college summer league begin on Friday. Mississippi State’s Hunter Hines, the league home run and RBI leader, and former Madison Central High star Braden Montgomery play for Yarmouth-Dennis, which currently sits second in the East Division. Ole Miss’ Mason Nichols and Southern Miss’ Kros Sivley, J.B. Middleton and Will Armistead are on the Hyannis roster, second in the West. Hines is batting .262 with 12 homers and 43 RBIs. Teammate Montgomery, a current Stanford standout who played for Team USA earlier this summer, is hitting .319 with one homer and nine RBIs. He has pitched in three games, yielding three runs, all in a relief appearance on Tuesday. Nichols, who started Tuesday for Hyannis, is 1-1 with a 3.46 ERA in eight games. Sivley, who picked up the win on Tuesday, is 2-1 with a 4.35 in 11 games; Middleton has a 3.24 with a win and a save in six appearances; and Armistead has a 7.20 in six games. P.S. Ex-Ole Miss star Lance Lynn went seven innings Tuesday night to get the win against Oakland in his Los Angeles Dodgers debut. Lynn gave up three homers — including ex-MSU standout Brent Rooker’s 18th — and leads MLB with 31 bombs allowed. … George County High product Justin Steele notched his 12th win — tied for the MLB lead — for the Chicago Cubs in a beatdown against Cincinnati. … Alec Barger, who had a 3.29 ERA in 30 appearances for the Double-A Mississippi Braves, was dealt by Atlanta to Colorado for big league left-hander Brad Hand. … UM alum James McArthur (4.28 ERA at Triple-A Omaha) was recalled to the majors by Kansas City. … Ex-USM star Matthew Etzel went 1-for-3 with an RBI in his pro debut Tuesday for Baltimore’s Florida Complex League team, and ex-Golden Eagles standout Justin Storm threw a scoreless inning for Miami’s FCL team in his debut. … USM slugger Slade Wilks, who is not playing summer ball, is working as a hitting instructor at Alpha Academy in Columbia, his hometown, per a report by Hattiesburg TV station WDAM. Wilks hit .289 with 20 homers and was a Ferriss Trophy finalist in 2023. … The semi-pro Hattiesburg Black Sox, who won the Mississippi Baseball Congress championship, will begin play Thursday in the NABF Major Division World Series at Battle Creek, Mich. The Black Sox swept the individual honors in the MBC tournament, with Jake Lycette winning MVP, Ervin Simmons the top pitcher award and Marcus Ragan the batting title. … The Tupelo Thunder, with a roster stocked with Mississippi juco players, won the Cotton States League championship last weekend.

29 Jul

on the rise

The Biloxi Shuckers won their fourth straight game Friday night at MGM Park and moved into a tie for first place in the Southern League South, fueled by a pair of the top prospects in Milwaukee’s productive pipeline. Jackson Chourio, the No. 2 prospect (per mlb.com) in the minor leagues, went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs in the Shuckers’ 9-5 win against Birmingham, and Tyler Black — the Brewers’ No. 5 prospect — added a triple, two RBIs, two runs and a stolen base. Chourio, signed out of Venezuela in 2021, is batting .281 with 15 homers, 65 RBIs, 57 runs and 31 steals. Black, the 33rd overall pick out of Wright State in 2021, is at .281 with 14 bombs, 46 RBIs, 67 runs and 45 steals, which leads the league. Black leads off and Chourio hits second for a Shuckers team that features six of the Brewers’ top 15 prospects. Four recent Shuckers alums — Sal Frelick, Brice Turang, Joey Wiemer and Abner Uribe — have had an impact as rookies for the Brewers, who lead the National League Central. The Shuckers, winners of eight of their last 10, moved to 15-10 in the second half with Friday’s win. They got an assist from the Mississippi Braves, who took down first-place Pensacola 4-1 Friday at Trustmark Park as Nolan Kingham threw five shutout innings, Jesse Franklin V banged out three hits and two RBIs and Drew Lugbauer slugged his 15th homer. P.S. Former Mississippi State star Adam Frazier didn’t get a hit Friday for Baltimore but made two great stops at second base and turned a double play to help the first-place Orioles beat the New York Yankees — and Aaron Judge — 1-0 at Camden Yards. Anthony Santander hit a walk-off bomb in the ninth. … As part of the Chicago White Sox’s fire sale, Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers and ex-MSU standout Kendall Graveman went to Houston. Lynn is 6-9 with a 6.47 ERA this year but is 129-93, 3.71, for his career. Graveman, who pitched for the Astros in 2021, is 8-for-12 in save opps with a 3.48 ERA in 2023.

27 Jul

spotlight on …

Mississippi Braves Cal Conley and Jesse Franklin V are Atlanta’s No. 11 and No. 12 prospects, according to mlb.com’s rankings. Neither has really lived up to his billing. If the M-Braves (8-14) are to make a playoff push in the second half of the Southern League season, more production from those two would certainly be a big help. Conley, a 5-foot-8 shortstop/second baseman, is batting .214 with a .299 on-base percentage. A top-of-the-order bat, he has 42 runs and 14 RBIs in 89 games. Franklin, an outfielder regarded as one of the top power hitters in Atlanta’s system, has 10 home runs in 52 games. But he is batting .230 (.297 OBP) and has struck out 74 times (13 walks) in 196 at-bats. This is an M-Braves team with good pitching (the 4.00 ERA leads the league) and power (their 105 homers ranks third). What’s needed is more quality at-bats, more contact in clutch situations. The team ranks first in the SL in strikeouts (by batters) and last in runs. There is a correlation. The M-Braves lost to Pensacola 4-3 on Wednesday night at Trustmark Park, striking out 14 times and going 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. That was a winnable game. The M-Braves are two games — two losses — into a 12-game homestand that presents an opportunity to make a run in the SL’s South Division. Some hitters need to step it up. Conley and Franklin, the top prospects, would seem to be logical candidates.

24 Jul

off to a good start

Will Verdung hit 25 home runs in two seasons at Itawamba Community College, tying former Indians slugger Tyreque Reed for the most in program history. So maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise what Verdung did in his first at-bat in pro ball. The Corinth native hit a three-run homer today for the Florida Complex League Braves, Atlanta’s rookie-level affiliate. Verdung finished 1-for-3 against the FCL Orioles in Sarasota. Verdung, the MACCC’s player of the year for 2023, was drafted in the 13th round by the Braves earlier this month. A 6-foot-1, 185-pound third baseman, Verdung batted .389 with 15 homers and 65 RBIs this season and was a second-team NJCAA Division II All-America pick. He had signed with Southern Miss. … USM alum Hurston Waldrep, Atlanta’s first-round pick out of Florida, has yet to make his pro debut. More Braves stuff: Kudos to Mississippi Braves alum Daysbel Hernandez for picking up the win for Atlanta on Sunday against Milawukee. Hernandez struck out the side in his one inning of relief work. … Kudos to current M-Braves lefty Luis De Avila for being named Southern League pitcher of the week after tossing six no-hit innings with 11 strikeouts at Tennessee on Sunday. De Avila, 5-5, 3.04 ERA, has a current streak off 11 no-hit innings. … Atlanta traded prospects Victor Vodnik and Tanner Gordon, both of whom were on the M-Braves’ roster, to Colorado for major league reliever Pierce Johnson.

23 Jul

all in the family

Allan Winans, another in the long line of former Mississippi Braves pitchers to crash the big leagues, seemed well on his way to earning a win in his debut Saturday when Sal Frelick, a Biloxi Shuckers alum also making his MLB debut, intervened and stole the show. Frelick went 3-for-3, drove in the tying and go-ahead runs and made two great catches in right field as Milwaukee beat visiting Atlanta 4-3 in a riveting game between the parent clubs of Mississippi’s Double-A teams. Frelick, 23, who hit .317 for Biloxi last year, was asked postgame what he had imagined his debut would be like. “I think this blew it out of the water,” he said in an espn.com story. The game between the two first-place clubs, played before 39,707 at American Family Field, ended with former Shuckers star Devin Williams striking out ex-M-Braves star Ozzie Albies with the bases loaded for his 25th save. Austin Riley, another M-Braves alum, gave the Braves a 3-0 lead by homering for the fifth straight game, his 22nd blast of the year coming in the first inning against Shuckers alum Adrian Houser, who struck out 10 Braves in his six innings. Winans, 27, who went 1-4 despite a 2.44 ERA in eight starts for the ’22 M-Braves, carried the lead into the fifth. He gave up three hits and a couple of runs in that frame — Frelick led off with a single and came around to score — and departed after 4 1/3. Frelick’s third hit of the game was a one-out single in the sixth off Michael Tonkin that tied the score 3-3. In the bottom of the eighth, Frelick’s line drive sac fly to right field plated the go-ahead run. Willy Adames scored just ahead of the bounced throw from former M-Braves star Ronald Acuna. The rubber game of the series today features M-Braves alum Bryce Elder on the bump for Atlanta against another ex-M-Braves star, Julio Teheran, now in his first season with Milwaukee. Of note: Former Mississippi State star — and Shuckers alum — Brandon Woodruff made a rehab start in A-ball on Saturday and appears close to returning to the Brewers’ rotation. He had a 0.79 ERA in two starts before going on the injured list in April.