Mississippi Mud Monsters Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

to do list

Having chosen a nickname and a logo, released a schedule for 2025 and named a general manager, the Mississippi Mud Monsters’ next — and perhaps most-anticipated — task is putting together a team, starting with the hiring of a field manager. Andrew Seymour, who spent the previous six seasons as GM of the Palm Beach Cardinals, a Class A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, has taken the administrative reins as GM of the Mud Monsters, who’ll begin play in the independent Frontier League next May at Pearl’s Trustmark Park. Frontier League teams, of which there are 18, have been announcing player signees for 2025 since their season ended in mid-September. Banks Tolley, ex-St. Andrew’s High and Appalachian State star, signed with Schaumburg of the FL last month after playing briefly in the league last summer. It’s likely the Mud Monsters will attempt to recruit players with ties to baseball-rich Mississippi. (Incidentally, Tyreque Reed, a Houlka native who played at Itawamba Community College and several years in the minors, led the Frontier League in hitting this past season with a .341 average for Washington. He is not currently listed on the Wild Things’ roster. Ex-Belhaven All-America pitcher Brett Sanchez played for the FL’s Joliet team in 2024.) The Mud Monsters’ first home game is set for May 8 against the Florence Y’alls. P.S. Catching up with: Former William Carey star Patrick Lee, who played in the Detroit system in 2024, is in the Puerto Rican (Roberto Clemente) Winter League, batting .278 in seven games with five runs and four steals for San Juan. … Harrison Central High alum and ex-big leaguer Bobby Bradley has hit four homers in 19 games for Navojoa in the Mexican Pacific League. He has five homers and 20 RBIs all told in the MPL this winter after hitting 13 in the summer Mexican League. … Former Magee High standout Brennon McNair, a Kansas City prospect, is hitting .205 with two homers, five RBIs and three steals for Brisbane in the Australian Baseball League. … The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, now called the HBCU Athletic Conference, will not play its season-ending tournament at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium in 2025, ending a three-year run there. Tougaloo and Rust are members of the NAIA-level league.

save the date

Mississippi’s new pro team has announced a schedule for 2025, with opening day set for May 8 at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The Mud Monsters, yet to announce a manager or a roster, will play a 96-game schedule — 48 home dates spread over nine homestands — in the independent Frontier League, an 18-team league comprised mainly of teams in the Midwest and East Coast (plus three in Canada). The Mud Monsters’ inaugural game will be against the Florence (Ky.) Y’alls. The Mud Monsters are moving into the 5,500-seat stadium vacated by the Mississippi Braves, the Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. Diamond Baseball Holdings, the franchise owner, has moved the club to Columbus, Ga., presumably because of flagging attendance. (Baseball America noted that the 20-year-old Pearl ballpark needed some upgrades to meet MLB’s minor league standards.) … The Mud Monsters will be the seventh pro team to play in central Mississippi going back to 1953, when the original Jackson Senators pulled up stakes after their downtown stadium was destroyed by a tornado. Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium hosted the Mets, Generals, DiamondKats and Senators before the M-Braves arrived in Pearl in 2005. The Mud Monsters franchise is owned by Joseph Eng, an executive with Billtrust who also owns a franchise in the indy American Association. TBH Sports and Entertainment has been managing the ballpark, which is owned by Bloomfield Equities, a subsidiary of Yates Construction, which built the stadium.