Tag Archives: Mississippi Braves

08 Jul

access denied

Tim Anderson has won a batting title and a Silver Slugger award. The former East Central Community College star, now in his seventh big league season, led his team, the Chicago White Sox, to a playoff berth in 2020 and to the top of the American League Central standings as of today. And yet: He hasn’t earned an All-Star Game invite. Granted, for a shortstop in the AL, that’s no easy feat. Xander Bogaerts was voted in by the fans. Carlos Correa and Bo Bichette, also deserving of consideration, were picked as reserve shortstops. Anderson — currently batting .307 with six homers, 29 RBIs, 50 runs and 14 steals — was snubbed, and Frank Thomas, the former White Sox star and Hall of Famer, was outraged (really). “Tim Anderson has proven to be a superstar in this league,” he said during a rant on a ChiSox pregame TV show. The normally outspoken Anderson has let his bat talk. He is 8-for-12 since the reserves were announced on July 4. He put up a 4-for-4 game on Wednesday as Chicago – and Ole Miss product Lance Lynn, an All-Star pick – beat Minnesota 6-1. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves Ronald Acuna, Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley and Dansby Swanson combined for 11 hits, four RBIs and seven runs in Atlanta’s 14-3 win over Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Some other ex-M-Braves also showed out: Jason Heyward put a 4-1-1-1 in the box score and made a great catch in right field as the Cubs snapped their 11-game skid; Craig Kimbrel got the last three outs. Jose Peraza hit a late game-tying homer that propelled the New York Mets to a win over Milwaukee. Phil Gosselin went 1-for-4 with an RBI for the Los Angeles Angels in a 5-4 win against Boston. And Alex Wood worked seven innings for his eighth win as San Francisco topped St. Louis 5-2.

02 Jul

that’s pretty cool

Mississippi will be represented by at least one state college product in the MLB All-Star Game for the sixth straight time. Adam Frazier, the Mississippi State alumnus now with Pittsburgh, was the winner in fan balloting to start at second base for the National League. It’ll be his first trip to the Midsummer Classic, and he is very deserving of the honor. The lefty-hitting Frazier, in his sixth MLB season, is batting .326 with 101 hits, four homers, 28 RBIs and 50 runs. “I don’t really love the spotlight itself. I just try to go about my business and take care of what I need to take care of,” Frazier said in an mlb.com article. “It’s pretty cool to have the support, and I’m happy for that.” This is also pretty cool: The last Pirates second baseman to start an All-Star Game was Bill Mazeroski in 1967. More Mississippians could be headed for Colorado for the July 13 game when pitchers and reserves are announced Sunday. In 2019, the last time there was an All-Star Game, Brandon Woodruff, the ex-State standout from Wheeler, went as a replacement to the National League pitching staff. He followed Mitch Moreland (2018), Zack Cozart and Corey Dickerson (2017), Drew Pomeranz (2016) and Brian Dozier and Jonathan Papelbon (2015) as recent All-Stars out of Magnolia State schools. … Former Mississippi Braves Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna also were voted in, as announced by MLB on Thursday. P.S. The all-Mississippi home run chase in MLB is proving to be quite interesting. DeSoto Central product Austin Riley belted his 14th on Thursday (off Jacob deGrom, no less), moving two ahead of ex-MSU star Hunter Renfroe and Bulldogs alum Nate Lowe, who hit two on Thursday to get to 12. Gulfport’s Bobby Bradley, who has only been up since June 5, has eight. Still waiting for former State standout Moreland to get it going; he’s at six. … Down in the minors, Houlka’s Tyreque Reed hit two bombs for High-A Greenville (Boston) and has 12 on the season.

30 Jun

triple-a troopers

Getting to the big leagues is hard. Staying, they say, is harder. And getting back to the big leagues after losing your roster spot might be a different level of hard. That’s the plight faced by a handful of Mississippians currently playing in Triple-A with no clear path to another MLB chance. Anthony Alford, Cody Carroll, Chris Ellis, JaCoby Jones and Jacob Waguespack are veteran pros no longer holding a 40-man MLB roster spot in their respective organizations. Alford, 26, from Petal, was designated for assignment by Pittsburgh on April 21, hitting .083 at the time. He has perked up at Indianapolis, batting .292 with six homers in 35 games. But his MLB track record (.150 in 62 games over five years) isn’t good. Former Southern Miss star Carroll, 28, pitched in 15 games for Baltimore in 2018 and got into three games last summer but was waived in September. Assigned to Norfolk this year, he has a 5.56 ERA in 13 appearances. Ellis, 28, a former Ole Miss (and Mississippi Braves) standout, has one MLB game (one inning, actually) on his resume. That was with Kansas City (as a Rule 5 draft pick) in 2019. He was DFA’d after that game and returned to St. Louis, which released him in May 2020. Tampa Bay signed Ellis in the off-season; he is 0-1 with a 6.45 ERA in eight games at Durham. Jones, 29, the former Mr. Baseball from Richton, seemingly had established himself as an outfielder with Detroit. But after struggling to start this season, he was demoted and then DFA’d on June 6. He is batting .222 in 25 games for Toledo. Waguespack, 27, an Ole Miss alum, was up with Toronto last summer (8.15 ERA) but was DFA’d in March. He is 3-2, 3.43 at Buffalo. What are the odds any of these players gets another shot in the big leagues? Well, as they say, as long as you’re wearing a uniform, you’ve got a chance. P.S. Former Mississippi State ace Ethan Small and Mississippi Braves product Drew Waters have been selected for the All-Star Futures Game in Denver on July 11. Small, recently promoted from Double-A Biloxi to Triple-A Nashville, is Milwaukee’s top-rated pitching prospect. Waters, 2019 Southern League MVP, is playing at Triple-A Gwinnett; the switch-hitting outfielder is Atlanta’s No. 2 prospect.

25 Jun

shout-out to pitching

Most of the highly rated prospects on the Mississippi Braves’ roster are position players. But the Double-A team’s rise to the top of their division can be attributed more to the arms than the bats. The M-Braves have won 19 of 25 to reach 27-18 on the season. Last in the Double-A South in hitting (.211) and next-to-last in runs, they have the best staff ERA in the league at 3.30. Opponents are hitting just .216 against them – lowest in the league – and have a league-low 20 homers in 45 games. There is some power in the M-Braves’ lineup, and they hit three home runs in Thursday night’s 6-2 win over Tennessee at Trustmark Park. But the pitching rates a shout-out, as well. Spencer Strider, Atlanta’s No. 20 prospect (with a bullet), made his Double-A debut and yielded two runs in 4 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts. He has a 1.82 ERA and 64 punchouts in 34 2/3 innings over three levels. The 2020 fourth-round pick from Clemson was followed to the bump by Kurt Hoekstra, Brooks Wilson and Brandon White, who combined to allow just two hits and fan six over the final 4 1/3. White has emerged as a reliable closer with seven saves and a 1.69 ERA. Hoekstra (3.38), Wilson (1.71), Josh Graham (2.33) and Troy Bacon (1.93) have been effective out of the pen. Bacon had a rare immaculate inning (three K’s on nine pitches) in Tuesday’s game. Nolan Kingham, a former Texas star, has emerged as the ace among M-Braves starters. The right-hander tossed 7 1/3 shutout innings Wednesday to improve to 5-1 with a 2.29 ERA. Opening day starter Hayden Deal, a lefty who’ll go tonight at the TeePee, is 1-2 with a 3.28 and has yet to allow a home run. Odalvi Javier is 3-1, 2.78 and A.J. Puckett 1-2, 2.59. The highest-rated pitching prospect on the roster is No. 14 Viktor Vodnik (0-1, 2.51), but he is currently on the injured list. If it’s true that good pitching beats good hitting, the 2021 M-Braves are in good shape.

18 Jun

closing time

There were rumblings about Craig Kimbrel the last couple years. He was getting hit, coughing up runs. Was the former Mississippi Braves star headed toward the sudden crash-and-burn that strikes many relief pitchers? Nah. Forget that. Kimbrel converted his 13th straight save opportunity Thursday night in the Chicago Cubs’ 2-0 win against the New York Mets. He hasn’t allowed a run in seven appearances this month. He hasn’t allowed a hit since May 26, eight games ago. He is 19-for-21 in save chances this season with a 0.64 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings. In the bigger picture, he moved into the top 10 in all-time saves with No. 367, matching the total of former Jackson Mets hurler Jeff Reardon. They are two of the four Mississippi connections in the top 10. Former Generals star Billy Wagner is No. 6 with 422 and Mississippi State product Jonathan Papelbon is ninth at 368. There are three other former Jackson area Double-A players in the top 23: Randy Myers (Mets) at No. 13 with 347, Todd Jones (Generals) at No. 22 with 319 and Rick Aguilera (Mets) at No. 23 with 318. (Note: Lee Smith, No. 3 all-time with 478 saves, actually pitched in two games for the 1998 Generals during his final pro season.) P.S. Former State star Brandon Woodruff surrendered a grand slam Thursday for the first time in his career, covering over 360 innings. Not surprisingly, it happened at Coors Field. Colorado’s C.J. Cron hit an opposite-field shot on a 98 mph fastball as part of the Rockies’ five-run first inning en route to a 7-3 win over Milwaukee. “The margin of error here is just so razor thin,” Woodruff said in an mlb.com piece. Woodruff is 5-3 despite a 1.94 ERA, which ranks fifth in the big leagues.

17 Jun

stop thief!

You wouldn’t necessarily go to a Mississippi Braves game to watch Shea Langeliers play catcher, but you’d probably come away impressed. Take Wednesday night’s game, for instance. Langeliers, Atlanta’s No. 3-rated prospect, threw out two would-be base stealers in the Double-A team’s 2-1 win against Birmingham at Trustmark Park. (For the record, before throwing out Laz Rivera for the second time, Langeliers appeared to pick him off first base; the umpire called Rivera safe.) Langeliers has thrown out 17 of 29 attempted base thieves. That’s 59 percent. A 30-percent rate is considered good. The 2019 first-round pick has just two passed balls and two errors over 29 games. From MLB Pipeline’s scouting report: “His athleticism and agility allow him to be a plus blocker and receiver and he perhaps has the best arm of any catcher in the Minor Leagues, one that allowed him to throw out 41 percent of potential basestealers in 2019.” Oh, and he is also the M-Braves’ best hitter. … No. 4 prospect Braden Shewmake, hitting just .127, did drive in one of the M-Braves’ runs, his 11th RBI. No. 25 prospect Justin Dean (.242) picked up the other, his 14th RBI. Elsewhere in the Atlanta system: No. 5 prospect Kyle Muller became the latest M-Braves alum to advance to the big leagues, working an inning for the Braves in their 10-8 loss to Boston. Muller allowed four hits and two runs in relief of former M-Braves star Ian Anderson, who gave up four runs in four innings. All of that was before M-Braves alum A.J. Minter yielded a game-turning grand slam to Christian Arroyo. Such is the state of the big Braves’ pitching staff. … At Triple-A Gwinnett, No. 1 prospect – and erstwhile Atlanta center fielder – Cristian Pache is hitting .300 since being sent down on May 29. No. 2 prospect Drew Waters, the 2019 Southern League MVP who has yet to get a big league look, is batting .279 with three homers and eight steals. … At High-A Rome, No. 6 prospect Jared Shuster threw four shutout innings Wednesday in a 5-0 win. The left-hander out of Wake Forest is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in five games. … At Low-A Augusta, two Mississippi products, both 2019 draft picks, are feeling their way in pro ball. Brandon Parker, a Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College standout from Saucier, is batting .160 with five bombs and 19 RBIs in 30 games. Right-hander Jared Johnson, the No. 29 prospect out of Smithville High, allowed three runs with four strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings in his only appearance to date.

16 Jun

highs and lows

Tuesday was a good day for Bobby Bradley. The ex-Harrison Central High star went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs in Cleveland’s 7-2 win over Baltimore, boosting his average to .440 (11-for-25) since his call-up on June 5. “In my head, this is 12-year-old All-Stars, as fun as we can get, just playing some summer ball,” Bradley said in an mlb.com article. These are meaningful games for the second-place Indians, who are trying to keep pace with division-leader Chicago in the American League Central. Bradley has contributed three homers and 10 RBIs – and has struck out just four times. These results are much-improved over his 2019 MLB trial, when he batted .178 with one homer and fanned 20 times in 45 at-bats. Bradley, 25, won home run crowns in four different leagues en route to the majors. The Indians would love to see him tap into that power this summer – and keep having fun, of course. … Tuesday was a bad day for Demarcus Evans. The former Petal High star yielded a walk-off grand slam to Jose Altuve in Texas’ 6-3 loss in 10 innings to Houston. After Mississippi State product Nate Lowe had given the Rangers a 3-2 lead with an RBI knock in the top of the 10th, Evans failed to retire a batter in the bottom half. He walked two prior to Altuve’s bomb. Evans, 24, making his seventh big league appearance this season – and 11th overall – suffered his second blown save and saw his 2021 ERA jump from 2.16 to 5.40. P.S. Down on the farm, Ole Miss alum Nick Fortes hit a walk-off two-run homer for Pensacola in a 5-4 win against Montgomery in the Double-A South. Fortes, a catcher/DH, is batting .284 with two homers and 12 RBIs for the Miami affiliate. … Tonight at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Mississippi State product Konnor Pilkington will go to the bump for Birmingham against the Mississippi Braves. Pilkington, a former East Central High star, is 1-1, 2.60 ERA in six starts for the White Sox’s Double-A club.

15 Jun

finding their way

Things are clicking – sort of – for the Mississippi Braves. Though manager Wyatt Toregas resigned suddenly during the Double-A club’s series at Biloxi, the team won five of six there and has taken 12 of its last 16. At 20-16, the M-Braves are second in the Double-A South South Division. A new manager has not been named; the coaching staff ran the team for the last three games at Biloxi. The M-Braves’ pitching staff leads the league in ERA, and highly rated prospect Shea Langeliers is playing like one: .265 with nine homers, 19 RBIs and 20 runs, all team-leading stats. Braden Shewmake, Atlanta’s No. 4 prospect (Langeliers is No. 3), has finally begun to swing the bat after an ice-cold start. He has hit safely in five of his last six to reach .135 with three homers and 10 RBIs. Justin Dean has 10 steals and 17 runs. Birmingham, the top scoring team in the league, comes to Trustmark Park today with a 22-13 mark, first in the North Division. The Chicago White Sox’s affiliate features the organization’s No. 6 prospect, Micker Adolfo, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound outfielder batting .244 with eight homers. Ti’Quan Forbes, the former Mississippi Mr. Baseball from Columbia High, is batting .281 with three homers for the Barons, and Mississippi State product Konnor Pilkington, from Pascagoula, is 1-1 with a 2.60 ERA in six starts.

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.

04 Jun

messrs. 500

It seems somehow appropriate that Dansby Swanson and Ozzie Albies got their 500th career major league hits Thursday in the same game. The pair first played together as a keystone combo with the Mississippi Braves in 2016 and have followed a similar career arc. Swanson made his MLB debut in 2016, Albies the next year. They’ve now played 386 games together as the Atlanta shortstop and second baseman, respectively. They’ve been cogs – along with a bevy of other former M-Braves — in Atlanta’s run of three straight division titles. Swanson’s 500th hit was a big homer, figuratively and literally (440 feet), in the sixth inning of the 5-1 win over Washington at Truist Park. Albies’ 500th was his third hit of the game, an RBI double in the seventh. Sometimes you forget that Swanson was the No. 1 overall pick out of Vanderbilt in 2015 by Arizona, which sent him to Atlanta in the infamous Shelby Miller trade later that year. Swanson hasn’t always played up to that label. A recent hot streak has boosted his average to .239 with 10 homers and 25 RBIs. He’s a career .248 hitter prone to strikeout-filled slumps, but he flashes enough star power to keep Braves Nation excited. Albies was signed as a kid out of Curacao and has been a rock-solid contributor since arriving in the ATL. A switch-hitter, he’s currently batting .251 with nine homers and 32 RBIs. He is a .276 career hitter who has won a Silver Slugger and made the All-Star Game. Both young infielders are pretty slick with the glove. It’s too soon to start throwing out comparisons to Trammell and Whitaker, Russell and Lopes, Concepcion and Morgan, etc., but there does seem to be that potential. (At least Braves fans hope so.) P.S. An interesting footnote: The last teammates to get their 500th hit in the same game were former Ole Miss star David Dellucci and Gary Matthews Jr. with Texas in 2005. Dellucci, now starring on the SEC Network, finished with 736 hits.