Tag Archives: Mississippi Braves

20 Jun

on a scale …

Good: Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier hit his eighth home run of the year on Sunday, helping Minnesota beat the New York Yankees 7-4.
Better: Ex-Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz scattered six hits (three of them homers) and fanned seven over six innings to lead San Diego to a 6-3 win over first-place Washington. With six wins already, Pomeranz has set a career-high in his sixth MLB season.
Best: Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland hit his 11th homer, a 456-foot blast, to help Texas win at St. Louis 5-4. The Rangers, at 45-25, trail only the Chicago Cubs (47-20) in wins.
And the bad news: On the same day that fellow former Mississippi Braves Julio Teheran (one-hitter) and Freddie Freeman (4-for-5, RBI) starred in a 6-0 win against the New York Mets, Mallex Smith suffered a fractured left thumb that likely will sideline the rookie outfielder until late July. Smith is batting .237 with three homers, 21 RBIs and 14 steals.

18 Jun

whatever happened to …

Diory Hernandez, who helped the Mississippi Braves make the postseason for the first time in 2007, is currently wearing out the Mexican League. The 32-year-old from the Dominican Republic is batting .336 with 16 homers and 70 RBIs for Aguascalientes. The home run and RBI totals lead the Triple-A caliber league. Hernandez, primarily a shortstop in his career, batted .307 with seven homers and 59 RBIs for the ’07 M-Braves and was among six from the team to start the Southern League All-Star Game played in Pearl that summer. He started the next year in Mississippi before getting a promotion after 22 games. Hernandez played in 75 major league games for Atlanta, batting .157. … William Beckwith, the Crawford native and former Atlanta prospect, is playing in the independent Frontier League. The lefty-hitting first baseman, who didn’t play in 2015, is batting .244 with a homer and eight RBIs for the Lake Erie Crushers. Beckwith hit 15 homers at Class A Rome in 2012 and played in the 2013 exhibition game at Trustmark Park that matched the Atlanta Braves against a team of Braves minor league stars. P.S. Congratulations to former Delta State player and assistant coach Greg Goff for getting the Alabama job; Goff took Louisiana Tech to the NCAA’s Starkville Regional this season. … Mark it down: On June 17, Tim Anderson got his first major league steal for the Chicago White Sox. The East Central Community College product stole 94 bags in 332 games in the minors.

17 Jun

there and here

Cody Reed’s promotion to Cincinnati – the left-hander is scheduled to start Saturday against Houston – brings to six the number of Mississippi junior colleges currently represented in the big leagues. Reed played at Northwest Mississippi Community College. The other MACJC products are Tim Anderson (East Central), Corey Dickerson (Meridian), Jarrod Dyson (Southwest), Desmond Jennings (Itawamba) and Tony Sipp (Gulf Coast). That’s kinda cool. … Former Ole Miss standout Chris Ellis is slated to make his Triple-A debut on Saturday for the Gwinnett Braves against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Ellis was promoted today from the Double-A Mississippi Braves. The right-hander was 8-2 with a 2.75 ERA for the M-Braves and had been selected for next week’s Southern League All-Star Game. Lucas Sims, another pitching prospect who had been scuffling at Gwinnett, returned to the M-Braves’ roster. … Tyler Moore has played just one game since late April for Gwinnett. The Mississippi State alum, batting .242 with one homer in 16 games, is on the disabled list – his second stint this season — with an undisclosed injury. … Oxford High, the MHSAA Class 5A champion, is ranked 19th in Baseball America’s final high school poll of 2016. The Chargers, led by Jason Barber and Grae Kessinger, went 28-8. Class 6A champ Madison Central (27-10) is ranked No. 42 in that poll.

16 Jun

big league chew

Freddie Freeman was touted as a future star when he arrived in Mississippi in July of 2009, and he is one former Mississippi Braves player who has lived up to that billing. Freeman became just the third player in the Atlanta Braves era (1966-now) to hit for the cycle in leading the Braves to a 9-8, 13-inning win over Cincinnati on Wednesday night. Freeman’s numbers aren’t jaw-dropping this season — .257, 11 homers, 22 RBIs – but keep in mind that he is surrounded by a weak team. If Atlanta has only one player picked for the All-Star Game, Freeman certainly should be it. It would be his third trip in the last four years. … Craig Kimbrel, another ex-M-Brave who has become a bonafide MLB star, notched his 15th save for Boston in its 6-4 win against Baltimore in a big American League East showdown. … Tim Anderson, the East Central Community College alumnus, is getting a lot of credit for rejuvenating the Chicago White Sox. Anderson, now leading off, went 3-for-5 and scored three times in the ChiSox’s 5-3 win against Detroit. Chicago climbed back to .500 and is just 2½ games out in the AL Central. Through six games, shortstop Anderson is batting .320 with three doubles and a triple. He hasn’t stolen a base yet, but those will come. … Mississippi Gulf Coast CC product Tony Sipp got one out and a win for resurgent Houston in a 4-1 victory against St. Louis. Sipp retired Matt Carpenter with runners at second and third in the seventh inning, keeping the Cardinals’ lead at 1-0. A George Springer homer in the eighth put the Astros on top. Left-hander Sipp (1-2) has a 3.22 ERA in 29 appearances. … Mitch Moreland, the former Mississippi State star from Amory, extended his hitting streak to seven games in Texas’ 7-5 win against Oakland. Moreland is batting .370 during his streak with four homers. For the year, he is at .227 with 10 bombs and 28 RBIs for a Rangers club that has opened up a 6½-game lead in the AL West. … Meridian CC alum Corey Dickerson was 1-for-3 with two RBIs for Tampa Bay, which beat Seattle 3-2. Dickerson’s average is up to .209, and he has 12 homers and 31 RBIs for the Rays, who are fighting to stay in the AL East race. P.S. Former State standout Brandon Woodruff had a rough start in a big game for Biloxi in the Double-A Southern League. He yielded three hits, two walks and three runs in a third of an inning in a loss to Jacksonville, dropping his record to 2-3 and jacking his ERA to 4.71. The Shuckers are still tied for first with Pensacola in the SL South; the first half ends Sunday.

09 Jun

there and here

Corey Dickerson slugged two homers for Tampa Bay on Wednesday, giving the former Meridian Community College standout 11 for the year. He leads the all-Mississippi home run derby by two over Ole Miss product Zack Cozart, who hit his ninth for Cincinnati. Ex-Southern Miss star Brian Dozier (Minnesota) has seven, and State alum Mitch Moreland (Texas) and UM’s Seth Smith (Seattle) have six each. … Dakota Hudson may be the only Mississippian picked on Day 1 of the MLB draft, which will go through 77 picks today. The Mississippi State right-hander, who has been garnering all types of honors of late as he also preps for the Super Regional showdown with Arizona, is rated 13th on Baseball America’s draft prospects list and 15th on mlb.com’s. Others who might get called today include Ole Miss’ J.B. Woodman, State’s Daniel Brown, Reid Humphreys and Jacob Robson, George County High’s Walker Robbins and Oxford High’s Thomas Dillard and Grae Kessinger. … Atlanta has the third overall pick – surely the Braves will take a college bat – and Milwaukee has the fifth. … Dansby Swanson, the Braves’ top prospect, has seen his average drop 30 points the last two weeks. The shortstop, one of four Mississippi Braves named to the Southern League All-Star Game, is batting .269 with four homers and 17 RBIs after an 0-for-4 on Wednesday night. … Mason Robbins, Walker’s brother, is on a tear at Class A Winston-Salem in the Chicago White Sox’s system. The ex-USM star, a lefty-hitting outfielder, has batted .410 over his last 10 games and is at .314 with two homers and 19 RBIs for the season. … Pearl River Community College will have a new coach in place soon. Michael Avalon, formerly of Mississippi Delta CC, is expected to be approved next week. The Wildcats went 25-21 in 2016, the last of Josh Hoffpauir’s six seasons as coach. … Robert Carson, the much-traveled former Hattiesburg High star, is now pitching for Southern Maryland, the independent Atlantic League club that Stone County High product Fred Lewis also plays for.

02 Jun

links

While the ranks of Mississippi Braves alumni playing for Atlanta has thinned considerably of late, there are still a few making an impact for Brian Snitker’s crew. Take Wednesday night’s game. Freddie Freeman, an M-Braves star from way back in 2009, hit the walk-off home run to beat San Francisco 5-4 in 11 innings. Starter Williams Perez wasn’t particularly sharp but battled for 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs and keeping the Braves in the fight. Mallex Smith had an RBI triple and scored a run. Batting just .240, he has three homers, four triples, 19 RBIs, 18 runs and six stolen bases in 44 games. Arodys Vizcaino and Hunter Cervenka pitched well in relief. Jeff Francoeur, who played for Snitker on the original M-Braves club of 2005, had a pinch hit. Those connections aren’t insignificant. The Braves were 9-28 and almost unwatchable when Snitker took the reins as interim manager on May 17. They are 16-36 today, with four wins in their last six games. This team isn’t going to make any bold charge in the standings, but as we’ve seen lately it can be competitive, maybe even entertaining. Smith, Perez and Vizcaino, along with Julio Teheran and Daniel Castro, are among the building blocks for 2017 and beyond. More M-Braves alums – Tyrell Jenkins, Rio Ruiz, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, Chris Ellis? – could arrive in the ATL this season, providing more glimpses of that bright future we keep hearing about.

01 Jun

here and there

Seth Smith blasted two home runs for Seattle on Tuesday, then got hit by a pitch. But it’s not what you think. The former Ole Miss standout was plunked in the foot by what was described as an “eephus-type pitch” thrown by San Diego’s Christian Bethancourt, the ex-Mississippi Braves catcher who was working in mop-up duty in a 16-4 game. Bethancourt, known for his arm, touched 96 mph from the mound while also throwing some pitches in the 50-mph range. According to mlb.com, Smith told Bethancourt after the HBP: “As long as it’s not your fastball, we’re all right.” … Meridian Community College alum Corey Dickerson also went deep on Tuesday for Tampa Bay. Of his 31 hits, nine are homers; he is batting .204 with 24 RBIs. … Ole Miss product David Goforth has been sent down by Milwaukee; he has a 9.39 ERA in seven appearances. … Ex-Southern Miss star Scott Copeland is struggling in the Korean Baseball Organization. The right-hander, who pitched for Toronto in 2015, is 1-1 with a 7.07 ERA in six starts for the LG Twins. … Hunter Renfroe, the former Mississippi State standout, belted his 12th home run on Tuesday for El Paso, the Padres’ Triple-A club. He is batting .320 with 39 RBIs and surely itching for a call-up. … Adam Frazier, another Bulldogs product, is hitting .302 with 14 stolen bases at Triple-A Indianapolis in the Pittsburgh system. … Even after a rough outing on Memorial Day, UM alum Cody Satterwhite has a 1.96 ERA and a 3-1 record in 17 appearances for Salt Lake, the Los Angeles Angels’ Triple-A team. … There is much speculation that the Chicago White Sox may be ready to call up East Central CC alum Tim Anderson, the shortstop prospect who is batting .305 with 10 steals at Triple-A Charlotte. “He could come up and do well,” J.B. Shuck, recently recalled from Charlotte by the ChiSox, told csnchicago.com. “He has that personality where he’s not going to get rattled by anything.” … Ex-State standout Brandon Woodruff notched his first Double-A win on Tuesday when he worked seven strong innings for Biloxi in a 7-1 win over the M-Braves. … Anthony Alford, the former Mr. Baseball from Petal, has gotten hot at Class A Dunedin in Toronto’s organization. Coming back from a knee injury that contributed to a slow start, Alford hit .368 over his last 10 games and is up to .233 in 27 games on the season.

31 May

going coastal

Round 2 of Season 2 of Mississippi Braves vs. Biloxi Shuckers starts tonight at MGM Park on the Coast. Alas, the pitching matchup that would have been so cool to see apparently won’t happen in this series. Mississippi State alum Brandon Woodruff is set to make his third Double-A start tonight for the Shuckers. Rated Milwaukee’s No. 30 prospect by mlb.com, he is 0-2, 8.00 ERA. Ole Miss product Chris Ellis, Atlanta’s No. 13 prospect, is slated to go Wednesday for the M-Braves. Ellis, after two straight uneven starts, is 6-2, 3.00. Former Southern Miss star Bradley Roney, who has pitched well out of the M-Braves’ pen (2 saves, 2.95 ERA), surely will make an appearance or two during the five games. The Shuckers took three of five from the M-Braves in Pearl in April and lead the series 15-13. Biloxi is 29-21, second to Pensacola in the Southern League South by a game; the M-Braves are 22-28 and fourth, 8 games back of first. Perhaps Biloxi will see an attendance spike for this series. The club is averaging an announced 2,596 fans per game, which ranks eighth in the 10-team loop. The M-Braves are seventh at 3,097 per game at Trustmark Park.

29 May

champs like us

The play at the plate – following two relay throws – long will be remembered in Hattiesburg. Southern Miss won its first Conference USA Tournament title since 2010 today, cutting down a Rice runner at home to preserve a 3-2 victory at Taylor Park. And so this remarkable season for Magnolia State baseball barrels ahead. USM’s tournament title is the second for the state in 2016; Delta State won the Gulf South Conference crown. Mississippi State won the regular season title in the SEC, and the Bulldogs will join the Golden Eagles and Ole Miss in the NCAA Tournament, all three possibly hosting regionals. And don’t forget that Jones County Junior College, which claimed its region tournament, is still playing in the NJCAA Division II World Series, having won its opener on Saturday. DSU reached the championship round of the NCAA Division II South Region tourney, and William Carey did the same in its NAIA regional, both coming up just short of the World Series in their divisions. P.S. In case anyone was wondering: There were 18 former Jackson Mets who played for the New York Mets during the 1986 championship season, which was celebrated at Citi Field this weekend. The Mets’ Double-A club had been in Jackson for 12 years by 1986 and would play at Smith-Wills Stadium for four more. … In case anyone hadn’t noticed: Jeff Francoeur, the former Mississippi Braves star, was batting .292 for Atlanta heading into today’s game. It’s good to see – and hear – Francoeur getting cheers again at Turner Field. … Debut alert: Former MSU standout Chris Stratton from Tupelo, now in the big leagues with San Francisco, will be the 18th Mississippian (native or college alum) to play in MLB this year when he makes his first appearance.

26 May

minor matters

The recent 50-game suspension he served for a drug of abuse violation may have been a lesson learned for JaCoby Jones. In eight games since he returned to the field with Double-A Erie, the former Richton High standout is batting .343 with three homers (all in his last three games) and nine RBIs. Jones, a top 10 prospect in Detroit’s system, worked out in extended spring camp in Florida while serving the suspension, imposed last fall. Primarily a shortstop during his four-year pro career, he has been playing center field of late. … Ole Miss product Chris Ellis, coming off his first loss of the season, goes to the bump for the Mississippi Braves tonight against Jacksonville at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Ellis is 6-1 with a 2.89 ERA in nine starts; he has a win against the Suns under his belt. … Despite a recent slump, Bobby Bradley, the ex-Harrison Central High star, still leads the high Class A Carolina League in home runs and RBIs. Bradley, playing for Lynchburg in Cleveland’s system, is batting .228 with 10 bombs and 40 RBIs. He has hit just .167 with one homer over his last 10 games. … Longtime Jackson-area fans will remember Joe Mikulik, who starred on the first Generals team at Smith-Wills Stadium back in 1991. Now a minor league manager known for his epic tirades, Mikulik, currently in Frisco (Texas Rangers), went on another after a disputed call on Tuesday. If you haven’t seen the video, you must find it. The Washington Post called Mikulik “the Laurence Olivier of minor league freakouts.” Wonder if former M-Braves manager Phillip Wellman, also managing in the Texas League at San Antonio, is jealous?