Tag Archives: Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

07 Aug

ups and downs

The Cleveland Indians, who have been making a flurry of moves with pitchers, recalled former Picayune High standout T.J. House from Triple-A Columbus on Saturday. Left-hander House previously had some success as a starter for the Indians but is now working out of the bullpen. In 14 appearances as a reliever in Columbus, House had a 1.98 ERA. … Itawamba Community College alum Desmond Jennings has gone back on the disabled list for Tampa Bay with a left knee contusion. Jennings fouled a ball off of the knee early last week; he had surgery on that knee last year. The outfielder is batting just .200 in 65 games for the Rays. … Ex-East Central CC star Tim Anderson was back in the Chicago White Sox’s lineup on Saturday after missing a game with a hand injury. Anderson, hitting leadoff, went 1-for-3 with a run in the win against Baltimore and is batting .265 for the season. … Mississippi Gulf Coast CC product Tony Sipp gave up an eighth-inning home run to Jonathan Lucroy on Saturday in Houston’s 3-2 loss to Texas. The Astros trailed just 2-1 at the time in the American League West showdown. Sipp’s ERA jumped to 4.85. … Former Ole Miss star Cody Satterwhite is off to an inauspicious start in Japan. The minor league veteran has a 4.50 ERA in four appearances for Hanshin. He had a 1.50 with the Los Angeles Angels’ Triple-A Salt Lake club before signing with Hanshin.

01 Aug

meanwhile, down on farm

Cleveland’s trade for New York Yankees relief ace Andrew Miller had a trickle-down effect in the Indians’ organization. Joey Butler, the former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College star from Pascagoula, was removed from the 40-man roster to clear a spot for Miller and designated for assignment on Sunday. Butler, 30, an outfielder, has been playing at Triple-A Columbus all season, hitting .238 with eight homers and 40 RBIs. The Indians claimed Butler on waivers in the off-season from Tampa Bay, where he played well in 2015 (.276, eight bombs in 88 games) in his first real opportunity in the big leagues. The Indians reportedly liked what they saw from Butler in spring training, so he might stay in the organization. He is a .288 hitter with 90 homers over his minor league career, which dates to 2008, when he was drafted by Texas out of UNO. P.S. The all-Mississippi home run race heated up on Sunday. Surging Mitch Moreland, the former Mississippi State standout, clubbed his 18th for Texas, but Southern Miss product Brian Dozier belted a pair for Minnesota to end the day with 19. (Dozier, not a noted slugger at USM, has 94 homers in four-plus MLB seasons.) Ex-Ole Miss star Zack Cozart (Cincinnati) has 15 homers this year, as does Meridian CC alum Corey Dickerson (Tampa Bay). … Continuing on a home run theme, former Mississippi Braves star Jose Peraza hit his first big league homer for the Reds and Jeff Francoeur crushed his 160th for Atlanta. It was Francoeur’s first homer at Turner Field as a Brave since 2009.

09 Jul

four things

Thinking about:
Tim Anderson’s agility. The East Central Community College product turned a slick triple play for the Chicago White Sox on Friday night. The rookie shortstop trapped a sinking liner to his left off the bat of Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman, tagged a runner trying to get back to second base, stepped on second and threw to first. All in one motion. “I was kind of like a basketball player in that role,” Anderson said in an Associated Press article. Anderson was, in fact, an All-State basketball player in Alabama before electing to play baseball at ECCC. There were concerns about Anderson’s defense in the minors – he made 25 errors last year and 34 in 2014 – but he has been money in his 26 big league games, with one error in 102 chances.
Billy Hamilton’s speed. The former Taylorsville High star ran down yet another fly ball in deep center field for Cincinnati, stretching for the catch just before he jumped into the wall. With apologies to Dominique Wilkins, Hamilton is another Human Highlight Film. Hamilton still isn’t hitting a bunch (.240), but he saves a ton of runs with his D. Not only does he have great range, but last season, Hamilton didn’t make a single error. He has two this year in 166 chances. The converted shortstop also has six assists in 2016.
Mitch Moreland’s health. The Mississippi State alum, troubled by a calf injury, was supposed to start for Texas on Friday but didn’t. He last started a game on July 2 and has just one at-bat since then. Perhaps is hitting has been affected. He’s at .228 with 11 homers and 34 RBIs, .216 with just one bomb over his last 15 games. The Rangers also miss his glovework at first base.
Tony Sipp’s effectiveness. The former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College standout, a key piece of Houston’s bullpen in 2015, is in a very real funk. The veteran left-hander has seen his ERA balloon to 5.40 in 23 1/3 innings. Right-handers are hitting .327 against him and lefties .300. The Astros have seemed reluctant to use their only lefty reliever of late. “We have to get Tony going in our bullpen,” manager A.J. Hinch recently told the Houston Chronicle.

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.

07 Jun

feel the power

Itawamba Community College alumnus Desmond Jennings, in a slump and under fire in Tampa Bay, broke out with a 3-for-4 game on Monday that included his fourth home run of the year. Jennings, whose playing time has diminished of late, is batting .189 with 13 RBIs for the last-place Rays, who beat Arizona 6-4 for a fourth straight win. … In his first game in Triple-A, former Richton High star JaCoby Jones went deep for Toledo. Jones, one of Detroit’s hottest prospects, batted .312 with four bombs and 20 RBIs at Double-A Erie after starting the year on the suspended list. … Tim Anderson, the East Central CC product, belted his fourth homer of the season for Triple-A Charlotte in the Chicago White Sox’s system. Anderson is hitting .300 with 20 RBIs, 38 runs and 10 steals. … Harrison Central High product Bobby Bradley, who has been scuffling, hit a grand slam, plus a two-run double, for Class A Lynchburg. Cleveland’s No. 3 prospect, who turned 20 on May 29, is hitting .232 with 14 homers and 53 RBIs. P.S. The Indians, somewhat strapped for outfield help, have former Mississippi Gulf Coast CC star Joey Butler at Triple-A Columbus, but he hasn’t been hitting enough (.222 with three homers) to rate a call-up. Butler batted .276 with eight bombs in 88 games for Tampa Bay in 2015, the first year he had gotten extended big league time.

16 May

west side story

Texas figures to be fighting – figuratively and maybe literally – for the American League West title the rest of the way. Mitch Moreland, the former Mississippi State slugger from Amory, is a key piece in the Rangers’ loaded lineup. The lefty-swinging first baseman is batting .250 with four homers and 16 RBIs for a first-place team that is 22-16. Several other Mississippians also figure to play important roles in how the West is won. For Seattle, currently second in the division standings at 21-16, Jackson native and Ole Miss alum Seth Smith is a platooning outfielder, starting mainly against right-handers. Smith is hitting .247 with four homers and 14 RBIs. In Oakland, currently running fourth at 16-22, the A’s are hoping for better stuff from ex-Rebels star Chris Coghlan and former Bulldogs ace Kendall Graveman. Coghlan, playing a utility-type role, hit his fifth home run in a win on Sunday but is batting just .174. Graveman is 1-5 with a 5.84 ERA over seven starts. He has been burned by 10 home runs. Tony Sipp, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product from Pascagoula, has a 3.77 ERA in 17 relief appearances for Houston, which has had a rough start (15-24) on the heels of last year’s postseason run. The Astros are going to get better, and the AL West will likely get wilder.

06 May

minor details

Anthony Alford, the ex-Petal High star, is playing again for Toronto’s high Class A Dunedin club after missing almost a month with a knee injury. Alford is just 1-for-12 in three games since he returned and is at .071 in four games all told. The highly regarded outfielder is playing just his second full pro season. … The Mississippi Braves’ Mississippi connections are putting up good numbers. Ole Miss product Chris Ellis moved to 4-0 with a 2.06 ERA with a win at Tennessee on Thursday, and Southern Miss alum Bradley Roney got the save, his second to go with an 0.87 ERA in nine appearances. … Former DeSoto Central standout Austin Riley, a 2015 Atlanta draftee and one of the organization’s top prospects, is batting .237 with two homers and 11 RBIs at low Class A Rome. … Vancleave High product Colin Bray is featured in the May 6-20 issue of Baseball America as a player to watch in the Arizona system. After a strong year in low-A ball in 2015, Bray, a switch-hitting outfielder, is batting .233 at high-A Visalia. “He can do everything you want a young player to do,” said Diamondbacks farm director Mike Bell. … Ole Miss product Alex Yarbrough is back in Double-A, where he had great success in 2014, in the Los Angeles Angels’ system. Yarbrough, who scuffled last year in Triple-A, is batting .275 with six doubles and 11 RBIs in 20 games at Arkansas. … Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College alum Fred Lewis, now 35, is hitting .286 with three homers for Southern Maryland in the independent Atlantic League.

19 Mar

getting up to speed

Starting in center field for the first time this spring, Billy Hamilton and his surgically repaired right shoulder didn’t get tested in Cincinnati’s game against Milwaukee on Friday. He caught one fly ball and fielded one base hit. He also went 0-for-3 in five innings as the leadoff batter. But the ex-Taylorsville High star called it “a good day.” He told mlb.com that his arm feels fine when he throws on the side and his biggest concern is getting more at-bats. He has had only 10 so far, getting two hits, a triple and a bunt single. The lithe switch-hitter doesn’t have a stolen base attempt, and that, of course, is his most valuable skill. Hamilton has 126 bags in his two-plus big league seasons, but he needs to hit more (.242) to make that speed work. … That other MLB speed demon from Mississippi, McComb’s Jarrod Dyson, is reportedly making nice progress on his return from an oblique strain suffered on his first at-bat of spring training. Dyson is throwing but not yet swinging a bat. He has said that he expects to miss only a couple of weeks of Kansas City’s season. Southwest Mississippi Community College alum Dyson, who has 146 career bags, was projected as the Royals’ starting right fielder this year. P.S. Joey Butler, the Pascagoula native and Mississippi Gulf Coast CC product, smashed a grand slam for Cleveland on Friday. Butler is trying to win an outfield job with the Indians, who claimed him on waivers from Tampa Bay in the off-season. His is hitting .208 with two homers this spring. Butler faces a lot of competition. Cleveland recently signed veteran outfielder Marlon Byrd to a minor league deal, and injured star Michael Brantley is expected to make his spring debut today.

06 Feb

juco jottings

Playing at MGM Park in Biloxi, it was only fitting that Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College produced a couple of thrillers as it opened the 2016 season on Friday. The Bulldogs split a doubleheader against Jackson State (Tenn.) CC. They took a 5-4, walk-off win in the opener, scoring the game-winner on a fly ball by Marcus Buckley. Tyler Evans had two RBIs in the game as Gulf Coast rallied from a 4-0 deficit. Former Gulf Coast star and ex-big leaguer Matt Lawton threw out the first pitch to start Game 2, but the Bulldogs couldn’t quite pull off a fantastic finish, falling 5-3 in extra innings. Justin Nussbaum had a three-run double for Gulf Coast. … Meridian CC, which opens today against Bishop State at Scaggs Field, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of one its best teams on a long list of good ones. The 1996 Eagles, featuring future big leaguers Jason Smith and Paul Phillips, finished national runners-up in the NJCAA Division I World Series. MCC has had seven teams reach the juco World Series. … Holmes CC coach Kenny Dupont begins his 17th season in Goodman with 471 career wins. … New Northeast Mississippi CC coach Richy Harrelson will make his debut today when Columbia (Tenn.) State CC comes to Booneville. Harrelson, a former Ole Miss standout, was an assistant to former Tigers coach Kent Farris for several years. … Nationally ranked Hinds CC, the defending MACJC champion, opens Wednesday against Bossier (La.) Parish in Raymond. Sam Temple’s Eagles, who lost a lot from last year’s club, will count on production from Kyle O’Keefe (.327 in 110 at-bats 2015) and Hunter Bell (.375 in 48 ABs). … New Jones County JC coach Chris Kirtland will make his debut next Friday, when the Bobcats play Motlow (Tenn.) State in Ellisville. JCJC features one of the state’s best players in catcher Mason Irby, an All-America candidate. … Another juco player to keep a keen eye on this year is Itawamba CC infielder Delvin Zinn, the former Pontotoc High star who transferred from Mississippi State in December. Zinn made some prep All-America teams last season and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs. … Former Northwest Mississippi CC standout Clay Casey is now at Houston. He batted .333 with 12 bombs for the Rangers in 2015. He was drafted out of DeSoto Central High in 2014. … There are eight Mississippi juco products on Louisiana Tech’s roster, six of them from Hinds’ outstanding 2015 team. The Bulldogs’ new pitching coach is former JCJC coach Christian Ostrander.

14 Dec

around the horn

Former Ole Miss standout Aaron Barrett made some headlines over the weekend when he blamed his elbow injury on overuse early in the 2015 season. The right-handed reliever, who’ll miss the 2016 season following September Tommy John surgery, worked in 30 of Washington’s first 60 games. “The bottom line was I was literally just throwing too much,” he told The Associated Press. He pitched in only 10 games thereafter, working 29 1/3 innings all told. After a strong start, Barrett did two stints on the disabled list and wound up with a 4.60 ERA. … Houston wanted lefty reliever Tony Sipp back in the fold for 2016, and the feeling apparently was mutual. “You can see the talent on this team. … Just want to be a part of it,” Sipp told mlb.com. The Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product from Pascagoula signed a 3-year, $18M deal with the Astros, for whom he posted a 1.99 ERA in 2015. He yielded one unearned run in five appearances in the postseason, Houston’s first venture there in 10 years. … Jonathan Papelbon, the Mississippi State alum, told WEEI.com (a Boston radio station) that new Red Sox closer (and former Mississippi Braves star) Craig Kimbrel is “a younger version or me.” Papelbon, now with Washington, is Boston’s all-time saves leader but, of course, is also infamous for some episodes of hotheadedness. Red Sox fans must be hoping that Papelbon was only talking about his pitching exploits when he made his comment about Kimbrel. … The Chicago White Sox reportedly discussed a trade with Cincinnati for All-Star third baseman Todd Frazier but did not want to include Tim Anderson, the ex-East Central CC star, in the deal. Shortstop Anderson, the White Sox’s top-rated prospect, hit .312 with 49 stolen bases at Double-A Birmingham this past season. Anderson had a “speed score” of 8.6 in 2015, fifth-best among mlb.com’s Top 100 prospects.