Tag Archives: Mississippi Braves

27 Jul

central casting

There is a three-team battle going on in the American League Central, and a bunch of Magnolia State products were on the frontlines Tuesday in three different skirmishes. Start in Boston, where former Southern Miss pitcher Kirk McCarty, making just his fourth big league appearance, delivered four shutout innings and got his first MLB win in Cleveland’s 8-3 victory at Fenway Park. “It’s special,” said McCarty, who in the last couple weeks was claimed on waivers by Baltimore and then reclaimed by the Guardians. The left-hander allowed just one hit and one walk while fanning four. He followed fellow former Golden Eagles star Nick Sandlin in what was a bullpen game for Cleveland. Sandlin, who has a 2.81 ERA, got the last two outs of the third inning. The Guardians (49-47) moved to within 2 1/2 games of first-place Minnesota (52-45) in the AL Central after the Twins lost at Milwaukee. The Brewers gave former Mississippi State star Ethan Small his second big league start, and it was a little rough, much like his first one back in May. Small yielded a leadoff home run to Byron Buxton, three more hits, four walks and two more runs in 3 2/3 innings. He has a 7.11 ERA in his two MLB games. However, the Brewers, the first-place team in the National League Central, rallied to win 7-6, aided by ex-State slugger Hunter Renfroe’s 17th home run. Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox (49-48, 3 games back in the AL Central) kept pace with their third straight win, beating Colorado at Coors Field 2-1. Ex-State standout Kendall Graveman worked a scoreless eighth inning for Chicago, notching his 15th hold. East Central Community College alum Tim Anderson, the ChiSox’s All-Star shortstop, had a hand in all four of the double plays the team turned in that game. P.S. Props to former Mississippi Braves manager Brian Snitker for notching his 500th win with Atlanta on Tuesday. His club, the reigning World Series champion, has won four straight NL East titles. … South Panola High product Emaarion Boyd, one of the two prep players drafted (11th round) out of the state last week, reportedly has signed with Philadelphia. He is the seventh player of 23 drafted to sign, according to mlb.com (see previous posts).

21 Jul

odds and ends

A way-too-early mock draft for 2023 by MLB Pipeline has Ole Miss shortstop Jacob Gonzalez going second overall to Cincinnati and former Southern Miss pitcher Hurston Waldrep ninth to the Los Angeles Angels. Waldrep reportedly has transferred to Florida. … Former Petal High star and ex-big leaguer Anthony Alford, who turned 28 on Wednesday, is batting .244 with four homers and 17 RBIs for the KT Wiz in the Korean Baseball Organization. Alford, who has played in 102 MLB games, had four at-bats with Pittsburgh this season. … Oddly coincidental: Mississippi natives Nook Logan and Craig Tatum debuted in the big leagues on this date five years apart. Logan, a Copiah-Lincoln Community College product from Natchez, went 1-for-3 in his first game for Detroit in 2004, while Hattiesburg native Tatum, a Mississippi State alum, was 0-for-2 for Cincinnati in 2009. Logan was one of three Mississippians, along with Dmitri Young and Marcus Thames, who started for the Tigers on July 21, 2004, against Kansas City. Logan hit .268 with 56 steals in 321 games over four MLB campaigns. Tatum hit .223 over parts of three seasons. … The Double-A Mississippi Braves, off to a 14-4 start in the second half of the Southern League season, return to the field on Friday at Montgomery. The M-Braves have won six straight. The Biloxi Shuckers (6-12) return on Friday against Pensacola at MGM Park. … The state semi-pro tournament is slated for this weekend at Mississippi College’s Frierson Field. The venerable Hattiesburg Black Sox are the presumptive favorites. … The Triple-A Nashville Sounds are having a Tim Dillard Bobblehead Night on July 29 and will retire the former pitcher’s number in a pregame ceremony. Dillard, a Saltillo High and Itawamba Community College alum, pitched with the Sounds for parts of nine seasons and spent parts of four years in the big leagues with Milwaukee. … On July 30, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame will formally induct ex-Delta State star Barry Lyons and Ole Miss product David Dellucci, both former major leaguers, as part of its Class of 2022.

19 Jul

all-star nuggets

The last time Dodger Stadium hosted an All-Star Game, Grenada native Dave Parker started in right field for the National League, which won 4-2 to take a 32-18-1 lead in the series. That was 1980 — and, my, how things have changed. The American League takes a 46-43-2 lead into tonight’s game. … Tim Anderson (East Central Community College) will start at shortstop for the AL and Austin Riley (DeSoto Central High) will come off the bench for the Nationals in tonight’s game, but they won’t be the only Mississippians to take the field in Los Angeles. Brookhaven native Lance Barksdale, a veteran MLB umpire, will work first base in his second All-Star Game assignment. … Riley is one of five former Mississippi Braves on the NL’s active roster, joining Ronald Acuna, William Contreras, Dansby Swanson (all with Atlanta) and Freddie Freeman (now the Dodgers). Max Fried was named to the team but will not pitch. Brian Snitker, the M-Braves’ first manager in 2005, will run the NL squad. Former Biloxi Shuckers star Devin Williams of Milwaukee also is on the NL roster. … Acuna, who will start in right field and bat leadoff, hit a 472-foot bomb completely out of Dodger Stadium — a very rare feat — during Monday’s Home Run Derby. … Venerable Dodger Stadium, which formally opened in 1962, underwent a $100 million renovation in 2019-20 under the direction of Jackson native Janet Marie Smith, the club’s Senior Vice President of Planning and Development. The All-Star Game was to have been played there in 2020 but was rescheduled to this year. Smith, a Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer, called her work “less of a renovation … than it is a reimagining of how these buildings come together.” A new plaza beyond center field makes it a more fan-friendly, fan-accessible facility. … Thirty years ago, in the 1992 All-Star Game at San Diego, former Mississippi State star Will Clark hit his only home run in six All-Star appearances. Clark, then with San Francisco, took former Jackson Mets pitcher Rick Aguilera deep for a three-run homer in the eighth inning of the AL’s 13-6 victory. Clark went 5-for-13 in All-Star Games. … Twenty years ago, in the 2002 Midsummer Classic at Milwaukee, Jackson Generals alum Freddy Garcia, then with Seattle, got the last six outs for the AL (in innings 10 and 11) in the infamous 7-7 tie that created such an inexplicable uproar. Former Gens star Lance Berkman, with Houston at the time, drove in two runs for the NL. … William and Willson Contreras are the latest brother act in the All-Star Game, a list that includes Pascagoula native Harry Walker and brother Dixie (born in Alabama) in 1947. Harry Walker started in center field and led off for the NL, with Dixie playing right and hitting second. Harry, who won a World Series with St. Louis in 1946, was traded to Philadelphia early in ’47, made the All-Star Game for the second time and went on to win the NL batting title. … Trivia time: Who was the first Mississippi native to make an All-Star Game? Ellisville’s Buddy Myer of the Washington Senators was on the AL roster for the 1935 game — the third one played — but he didn’t get on the field.

17 Jul

saturday in the park

At Trustmark Park in Pearl, Vaughn Grissom kept raking and Drew Lugbauer slugged another home run for the red-hot Double-A Mississippi Braves. Grissom, Atlanta’s No. 4 prospect, hit a two-run triple to the gap in right-center and Lugbauer added his 20th homer — high off the batter’s eye in dead center field — to help the M-Braves (13-4) to a 6-2 win over Rocket City. In five games in Pearl, Grissom is batting .500 (11-for-22) with a homer and five RBIs. He hit .312 with 11 homers at High-A Rome before being promoted.
At Nationals Park in Washington, newly minted All-Star Austin Riley hit his 27th homer for Atlanta and fellow All-Star and M-Braves alum Max Fried won his 10th game as the Braves beat the Nats 6-3. Ex-DeSoto Central High standout Riley is batting .284, slugging .577 and has 61 RBIs and 54 runs in 91 games. Fried went seven innings to move to 10-3 with a 2.84 ERA.
At Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Matt Wallner, the ex-Southern Miss star, hit a two-run homer in the All-Star Futures Game. M-Braves pitcher Jared Shuster yielded a home run in to his former M-Braves batterymate Shea Langeliers, now in Oakland’s system. Langeliers was named the game’s MVP. Wallner, recently promoted to Triple-A in the Minnesota system, hit 21 homers in Double-A this season.
At SRP Park in North Augusta, S.C., Brandon Parker, the Saucier native and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product, hit his seventh homer for Low-A Augusta in Atlanta’s system and boosted his average to .282 (.333 in July) with a two-hit game. Parker hit .185 at Augusta in 2021.
P.S. Kudos to Team USA and Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco for a bronze medal finish in an international tournament in The Netherlands. Ole Miss’ Jacob Gonzalez hit .250 with a homer and four RBIs, Rebels teammate Hunter Elliott posted a 1.31 ERA in two games and Southern Miss’ Tanner Hall won his lone start. … Former Biloxi Shuckers standout Devin Williams, now a set-up reliever in Milwaukee, reportedly has been added to the National League All-Star team. Fellow Shuckers alum Josh Hader, the Brewers’ closer, was picked but elected not to participate.

16 Jul

update: riley’s in

Austin Riley has been added to the National League roster for Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game, replacing Nolan Arenado. Former DeSoto Central High star Riley, Atlanta’s third baseman, joins East Central Community College product Tim Anderson, the American League’s starting shortstop, as Mississippians invited to the Midsummer Classic at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Riley is one of five former Mississippi Braves on the NL roster, along with Ronald Acuna, Dansby Swanson, William Contreras and Max Fried.

16 Jul

star power

The No. 1 player in the Hitter Power Rankings announced Thursday by mlb.com is not in Monday’s Home Run Derby. Nor is ex-DeSoto Central High star Austin Riley in the MLB All-Star Game, though he keeps building his case to be named as a replacement should one be needed on the National League squad. Riley, the aircraft carrier for Atlanta’s potent offense, leads the majors in total bases with 201. He hit his 26th homer — second in the NL — in Friday’s win at Washington. He is batting .424 with eight homers and 17 RBIs in his past 16 games and is currently riding an 11-game hit streak. Star stuff, for sure. Riley has said he’d love to participate in a Home Run Derby if (when?) he makes an All-Star Game. One imagines the 6-foot-3, 240-pound third baseman could put on quite a show. If we could put together a home run derby contest solely of Mississippians in pro ball, it would be compelling theater. You’d have Riley, who has blasted a 441-footer this season; Crystal Springs native Hunter Renfroe, who has 13 bombs for Milwaukee, including a 444-foot shot; Mississippi State alum Nathaniel Lowe (12 homers, including a 439-footer, for Texas); Southern Miss product Matt Wallner (21 in Double-A for Minnesota); ex-State star Brent Rooker (16 in Triple-A for San Diego); MSU alum Jordan Westburg (16 at Double-A and Triple-A for Baltimore); former Mississippi College star Blaine Crim (13 at Double-A for Texas); and the DeSoto Central slugging legend Blaze Jordan (eight in A-ball for Boston). P.S. Wallner is in today’s All-Star Futures Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. There is an unofficial batting practice home run derby during that event, and he’d be one to watch. … Brookhaven native Lance Barksdale, a veteran MLB umpire, has been named as one of the umps for Tuesday’s All-Star Game; he’ll work first base. … Oxford High catcher Campbell Smithwick participated in Friday’s MLB-USA Baseball High School All-American Game at Dodger Stadium. … St. Louis has placed MSU product Dakota Hudson on the injured list with a neck strain. Hudson is 6-6 with a 4.10 ERA on the year — 2-4, 6.16 in his last seven starts. … Atlanta prospect Vaughn Grissom is batting .556 in four games for the Double-A Mississippi Braves, who won Friday on a walk-off homer by Justyn-Henry Malloy to improve to 12-4 in the second half.

14 Jul

twin streaks

Seattle stretched its win streak to 10 games on Wednesday with some major contributions from Mississippi State product Adam Frazier. Meanwhile, former George County High star Justin Steele, the Chicago Cubs’ starter on Wednesday, failed in his effort to halt Baltimore’s win streak, which also went to 10 games. In the opener of a doubleheader at Washington, Frazier went 2-for-4 with a home run and threw out a runner at the plate from right field in the Mariners’ 6-4 victory. In Game 2, Frazier went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a stolen base and had a hand in two double plays at second base in a 2-1 win. An All-Star in 2021, Frazier has not had a good first season with Seattle (.229, three homers, 23 RBIs) but is showing signs of heating up (.346 in his last seven games). At Wrigley Field, Steele, just off the paternity list, gave up three runs on four hits in the first inning and wound up allowing four runs all told in six innings against the Orioles. It was a bad omen when the first batter of the game, Cedric Mullins, lined a single off Steele’s left hip. The loss in the 7-1 game dropped Steele to 3-6, 4.15 ERA, on the year. He was 2-0 with a sub-3.00 ERA over his previous six starts before running into the suddenly red-hot O’s. P.S. Interesting stat: Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton does not have a hit or a walk in nine games for Miami but has scored six times and swiped three bags. He scored twice in the Marlins’ 5-4 comeback win against Pittsburgh. … Ex-MSU star Brent Rooker returned to Triple-A El Paso on Wednesday and promptly hit homers No. 15 and 16. He was 0-for-7 in his brief stay with San Diego. … Atlanta prospect Vaughn Grissom hit his first Double-A homer on Wednesday at Pearl’s Trustmark Park and is 6-for-10 in two games with the Mississippi Braves.

13 Jul

name-dropping

Jared Shuster, a highly rated Atlanta prospect and an All-Star Futures Game selection, threw seven shutout innings with 12 strikeouts in the Mississippi Braves’ 6-0 win Tuesday night against Rocket City at Trustmark Park. Left-hander Shuster, 23, a first-round pick in 2020, is 6-7 with a 2.87 ERA and 98 K’s in 84 2/3 innings. … Vaughn Grissom, the Braves’ No. 4 prospect, made his Double-A debut (see previous post) and went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a steal for the M-Braves. … Former M-Braves pitcher A.J. Minter, filling in as closer, worked a clean ninth inning for his fourth save in Atlanta’s 4-1 win vs. the New York Mets. Minter has a 1.66 ERA in 41 appearances this season. … If anyone was wondering: Andy Fletcher, an Ole Miss alum who lives in Mississippi, was behind the plate for the Mets-Braves game at Truist Park; he graded out on ball-strike calls at 95.4 percent accuracy (seventh-best among the 15 umps who worked Tuesday) and 92 consistency (second-lowest), according to umpscorecards.com. … Ole Miss’ Jacob Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs in Team USA’s 10-0 win against The Netherlands. Gonzalez is batting .286 in the tournament for the Collegiate National Team (3-1). … McComb native Corey Dickerson, in his fourth game off the injured list, banged out two more hits in St. Louis’ win over the Los Angeles Dodgers and raised his average over .200 (.207). … Hunter Renfroe, the ex-Mississippi State standout from Crystal Springs, returned from the IL for Milwaukee and went 0-for-4 in the Brewers’ win against Minnesota in a clash of first-place teams. … MSU product Konnor Pilkington, called up to start Game 2 of a twinbill for Cleveland, worked five innings and allowed three earned runs in a 7-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Pilkington is 1-2, 4.24, in 11 games in his rookie campaign. … Former State star Chris Stratton made his first start since 2019 and pitched 2 1/3 innings for Pittsburgh in a victory against Miami. Stratton, with a 5.06 ERA in 37 games this season, allowed two hits and one run. He left the game after yielding a double to Ole Miss alum Nick Fortes. … Brent Rooker, 0-for-7 in two games with San Diego, was optioned back to Triple-A El Paso, the third time in 2022 the MSU product has been up-and-down. … Northwest Mississippi Community College alum Cody Reed pitched a scoreless inning for Tampa Bay’s team in the Florida Complex League, his first appearance this season. Reed, a six-year MLB vet, pitched in 12 games for the Rays last season before an injury sidelined him. He was hurt again in the spring. … Ex-Southern Miss star Kirk McCarty, claimed off waivers by Baltimore last week and sent to Triple-A, was designated for assignment by the Orioles. … Tanner Allen, the 2021 Ferriss Trophy winner at State, went 2-for-4 in his first game for Low-Class A Jupiter in Miami’s system. Allen was sent down from High-A Beloit with a .209 average.

12 Jul

new kid in town

The Mississippi Braves said good-bye to one of their top performers on Monday when third baseman C.J. Alexander was included in the package Atlanta traded to Kansas City for a draft pick. Today, the M-Braves welcome a notable new player and a more highly regarded prospect, Vaughn Grissom. Grissom, rated No. 4 on the Braves’ prospect chart by MLB Pipeline, is in the lineup, batting second and playing shortstop, for tonight’s game against Rocket City at Trustmark Park. Grissom, 21, 6 feet 3, 210 pounds, was batting .312 with 11 homers, 55 RBIs and 20 steals at High-Class A Rome. Grissom was drafted in the 11th round in 2019 out of a Florida high school. He is batting .310 over his three pro seasons. The scouting report is high on his hitting skills, though there may be a question as to what position he is best-suited to play. … The M-Braves are off to an 8-4 start in the second half of the Double-A Southern League season. They’ll start lefty Jared Shuster (5-7, 3.13), the Braves’ seventh-ranked prospect, tonight against the Trash Pandas, a Los Angeles Angels affiliate. The M-Braves went 2-4 at Rocket City (Madison, Ala.) in June. The Trash Pandas’ roster includes Preston Palmeiro, son of former Mississippi State star Rafael, and Torii Hunter, Jr., son of the ex-big leaguer.

11 Jul

it’s on: mets-braves

New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves. Three-game series at Truist Park. Mets lead the Braves by 1 1/2 games in the National League East. This is going to be so much fun to watch, especially for Mississippi baseball aficionados. The Mets, after a late collapse in 2021, have been reinvigorated by manager Buck Showalter, the former Mississippi State star from the 1970s. The Braves, world champs in 2021, are back in championship form, led by former Mississippi Braves manager Brian Snitker and an armada of ex-M-Braves stars. All three of Atlanta’s scheduled starting pitchers for the series cut their teeth in Pearl. All-Star Max Fried (9-2, 2.52 ERA), who goes tonight, pitched for the M-Braves in 2017 and briefly in 2018. Flame-throwing Spencer Strider (4-2, 2.60, 102 strikeouts in 65 2/3 innings) pitched at Trustmark Park just last season, going 3-7, 4.71, but fanning 94 in 63 innings. And veteran Charlie Morton (5-3, 4.21) helped the 2007 M-Braves reach the postseason in the Southern League. Atlanta has five players picked for the All-Star Game, including M-Braves alums Ronald Acuna, William Contreras and Dansby Swanson. Former Braves star Mark DeRosa said on MLB Central today that it’s “a sin” that Austin Riley didn’t make the Midsummer Classic. The third baseman out of DeSoto Central High, also a former M-Braves standout, is batting .282 with 23 homers and 56 RBIs. DeRosa marveled over Riley’s at-bats in Sunday’s win against Washington; Riley went 3-for-6 with a homer and three RBIs, including the game-winner. The Braves, whose Double-A club has been in Pearl since 2005, have plenty of followers in the Jackson metro. But there are some Mets fans around, too, holdovers from the Jackson Mets era (1975-90) that produced so many big league stars and three Texas League pennants at Smith-Wills Stadium. P.S. The Braves have traded M-Braves alums Drew Waters, C.J. Alexander and Andrew Hoffman (who just joined the team on July 8) to Kansas City for the 35th pick in the upcoming draft. Waters, who was at Triple-A Gwinnett, won the Southern League batting title in 2019. Alexander was one of the best players on the current M-Braves club.