Tag Archives: MLB draft

08 Jul

smashing debut

Never regarded as a power hitter at Mississippi State, Hunter Stovall stepped to the plate for his first professional at-bat on Saturday night and — you guessed it — hit one out. He apparently enjoyed it so much, he hit another home run in his second at-bat for the Grand Junction Rockies of the rookie Pioneer League. A 21st-round pick by Colorado last month, Stovall finished 3-for-4 in his first game, driving in four runs all told. He hit .321 for the Bulldogs in 2018, helping fuel their run to the College World Series. But he hit just four homers in his three-year career at State. The ball does fly in Colorado, where Grand Junction is located, but still, it was an impressive debut. “You’re here for a reason, don’t worry about the numbers, just go out and play,” Grand Junction manager Zack Osborne told milb.com after the game. On base for both of Stovall’s homers was Will Golsan, the Ole Miss product who was drafted in the 26th round this year. He also went 3-for-4 on Saturday and is at .311 in 17 games. Golsan, playing left field, and Stovall, a second baseman, hit 1-2 in the order. Also on the Grand Junction roster is ex-Ole Miss pitcher Ryan Rolison, who was the 22nd overall pick by the Rockies this year. He has yet to make his pro debut. How’d so many Mississippi products wind up on this one club? It is no coincidence that Mississippian Damon Ianelli, a former Southern Miss assistant under Hill Denson, is a longtime Colorado scout.

06 Jul

whirlwind

Whirlwind is a great word. Sounds like what it means: energetic, dizzying, a little bit chaotic. There may be no better word to describe the last few weeks for Mississippi State. Walk-off wins. Trip to Omaha. Disheartening finish. Top 10 rankings. Jake Mangum’s coming back. Gary Henderson’s not. Chris Lemonis is coming in. Konnor Pilkington and Jacob Billingsley are going pro. J.T. Ginn isn’t. When the Ginn news dropped late Thursday, it was truly a wow moment. Ginn, the state’s player of the year from Brandon and the 30th overall pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers, turned down big bucks – slot value of $2 million-plus – to follow a dream of playing for the Bulldogs. The centerpiece of a recruiting class that includes a slew of the state’s top players, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Ginn can both pitch and hit. He could have a major impact in 2019. And there’s also the possibility that signee Carter Stewart, the big right-hander from Florida drafted in the first round by Atlanta, will be coming to Starkville. Stewart was the eighth overall pick but hasn’t signed, reportedly because of concerns about a wrist problem. Signing deadline is today. Stay tuned. There’s already much anticipation for fall ball in Starkville. Most of the position players responsible for State’s amazing postseason run – including Mangum, the team leader and best hitter – are back. Lemonis and Ginn are in. The whirlwind goes on. P.S. Former State standouts Dakota Hudson (now in St. Louis’ system) and Nathaniel Lowe (Tampa Bay) have been named to the U.S. roster for the July 15 All-Star Futures Game. Also on the U.S. team are current Mississippi Braves pitcher Kyle Wright, Biloxi Shuckers infielder Keston Hiura (Milwaukee) and Ke’Bryan Hayes (Pittsburgh), son of Hattiesburg native and ex-big leaguer Charlie Hayes.

02 Jul

there and here

Nick Sandlin, former Southern Miss All-American and 2018 Ferriss Trophy winner, already has been promoted to the low Class A Midwest League by Cleveland. The second-round draftee pitched a scoreless inning for Lake County in his MWL debut on Saturday. Sandlin, 21, made three scoreless appearances in the rookie Arizona League. … Hattiesburg’s Joe Gray, a second-round pick by Milwaukee in last month’s draft, made his pro debut over the weekend. He was 1-for-3 with a double in his first game on Saturday for the Arizona League Brewers, then went 0-for-4 on Sunday. … USM’s Matt Wallner is 2-for-13 with four runs in four games and Ole Miss’ Parker Caracci has five strikeouts in two innings pitched for the Collegiate National Team, which is currently playing games at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C. … Ole Miss’ Thomas Dillard hit 32 home runs to finish third in Sunday’s College Home Run Derby in Omaha, Neb. … Logan Tanner of George County High and Olive Branch native Kendall Williams (now at IMG Academy in Florida) participated in the USA Baseball Under-18 National Team Trials last week. Tanner went 1-for-5 and pitched an inning, while Williams went 4 1/3 innings (no earned runs) and got a win in his one game. Jackson Prep’s Jerrion Ealy played in the earlier Tournament of Stars portion of the event. The U18 Team USA roster will be announced in the fall. … The Tupelo Thunder leads the Cotton States League standings with a 10-2 record. Trey Jolly, onetime Mississippi State player from New Albany, is hitting .500 with two homers and nine RBIs for Tupelo, and Northeast Mississippi Community College alum Nikolas Wilcher is 3-0 with a 0.69 ERA.

29 Jun

minor matters

Mississippi State product Jacob Robson got a hit and stole a base in his Triple-A debut for Toledo on Thursday. The lefty-hitting outfielder, an eighth-round pick by Detroit in 2016, batted .286 with seven homers, 32 RBIs and 11 steals at Double-A Erie. Robson has hit .296 with 11 homers and 48 steals in his minor league career. He joins fellow former Bulldogs star Zac Houston and Southwest Mississippi Community College alum Kade Scivicque on the Toledo team. … Ex-Southern Miss standout Cody Carroll, a New York Yankees farmhand, and State alum Dakota Hudson, in St. Louis’ system, have been selected for the Triple-A All-Star Game, set July 11 at Columbus, Ohio. Former Mississippi Braves ace Kolby Allard also made the International League team. … MSU alum Nathaniel Lowe, who was wearing out the Class A Florida State League, is doing much the same at Double-A Montgomery, Tampa Bay’s Southern League affiliate. Lowe, a left-handed swinging first baseman, is hitting .355 with five homers and 17 RBIs in 16 games for the Biscuits. He already has won an SL player of the week award and hit a walk-off homer. A third-year pro, Lowe hit .356 with 10 homers and 44 RBIs at Port Charlotte to begin 2018. … Meridian Community College standout Milton Smith Jr., a 22nd-round pick by Miami earlier this month, is 10-for-26 with six runs and three steals in seven games for the rookie Gulf Coast League Marlins. He hit .404 with 67 runs and 37 bags in 52 games for the Eagles this season. … The recent signing by Konnor Pilkington (third round, Chicago White Sox) leaves only J.T. Ginn (first round, Los Angeles Dodgers) and J.P. France (14th round, Houston) as unsigned draftees among the Mississippians picked in the first 15 rounds. Signing deadline is July 6 for most picks.

27 Jun

odds and ends

Atlanta has called up pitcher Wes Parsons, who becomes the sixth former Mississippi Braves player to be promoted to the big club this season. The others are Jesse Biddle, Ronald Acuna, Mike Soroka, Dustin Peterson and Evan Phillips (who didn’t get into a game). Parsons was 1-2 with a 1.23 ERA in eight games for the Double-A M-Braves this season before being bumped to Triple-A Gwinnett in late May. He also pitched for the M-Braves last year. Over 130 M-Braves alums have risen to the majors since the team moved from Greenville, S.C., to Pearl in 2005. … Drew Pomeranz was slated to throw a simulated game today at Fenway Park as he tries to work his way back to Boston’s rotation. The lefty out of Ole Miss has missed most of June with arm and neck pain. A 17-game winner for the Red Sox in 2017, he is 1-3 with a 6.81 ERA this season. He’s also a pending free agent, which he says is not something on his mind these days. “I’m focused on just getting my stuff right and just being myself and we’ll see what happens,” he told masslive.com. … Bryce Brown, the former Jackson State star now in the Tampa Bay system, had an interesting box score line on Tuesday: 0-3-0-0. Brown walked three times and stole second base each time, scoring half of Hudson Valley’s runs in a 6-1 victory against Connecticut in the short-season Class A New York-Penn League. Brown is hitting .208 with seven steals in 10 games in his second pro season. … Justin Henry, ex-Ole Miss standout from Vicksburg and a longtime minor league player, is the Southeast area scout for Detroit and spent many hours observing overall No. 1 pick Casey Mize, the right-hander out of Auburn who signed Monday with Detroit for $7.5 million. … D.J. Davis, the Stone County High product and former first-round draft pick (see previous posts), was released earlier this month by Toronto. The 23-year-old outfielder was batting .239 in 36 games at Class A Dunedin. He hit .242 in seven pro seasons, never rising above A-ball. … Pearl River Community College alum Jacob Taylor, a fourth-rounder in 2015, retired in May. Dogged by injuries, the right-hander appeared in only 25 games in four years in Pittsburgh’s system, seven games in A-ball this year. … The Bray brothers from Vancleave also are out of the game. Tyler Bray, a pitcher who reached Triple-A in 2017 with St. Louis, was released in April. Outfielder Colin Bray was in high-A last year with Arizona but missed most of the season with injuries. He retired in March.

22 Jun

breaking in

Ryan Rolison, the first player picked – 22nd overall by Colorado — from Mississippi in this month’s MLB draft, is on the roster of the Grand Junction Rockies but has yet to pitch in the rookie-level Pioneer League. Will Golsan, Rolison’s former Ole Miss teammate and a 26th-round selection by the Rockies, has played for Grand Junction and has some good numbers. The Columbus native is 6-for-13 with a homer and two RBIs. … Nick Sandlin, drafted by Cleveland in the second round out of Southern Miss, made his pro debut on June 18 and threw a scoreless inning for the Arizona League Indians. Sandlin won a national pitcher of the year award as well taking C-USA top pitcher honors and the Ferriss Trophy. … USM alum Luke Reynolds, C-USA player of the year and a 10th-round pick by the Chicago Cubs, has not yet made his debut. … Former Delta State star Zack Shannon, whose 31 homers in 2018 set an all-division state record, is 2-for-10 with no extra base hits in three games for the AZL Diamondbacks. … Ole Miss product Brady Feigl (fifth round by Oakland) pitched for the Vermont Lake Monsters (New York-Penn League) on Thursday night and yielded two runs in an inning of work. … UM alum Nick Fortes (fourth round, Miami) is 1-for-4 with two RBIs in one appearance, on June 16, for Batavia in the NYP League. … On the Marlins’ Gulf Coast League team are former Meridian Community College teammates Davis (Will) Bradshaw and Milton Smith Jr. Bradshaw is 0-for-7 in two games, Smith 1-for-9. … James McArthur, another Ole Miss alum (12th round, Philadelphia), is on the roster of the GCL Phillies West but has not pitched. … Pascagoula High product Willie Joe Garry Jr. made his debut for the GCL Twins on June 19 and went 0-for-4. … Of note: Former Ole Miss standout and erstwhile big leaguer Chris Coghlan is also playing in the AZL, with a Chicago Cubs affiliate. Coghlan, getting his game back in shape after many months off, is 1-for-7 in two games.

21 Jun

such fruitful fun

Gotta love this comment from Mississippi State ace Konnor Pilkington: “We’re just a bunch of rednecks playing ball and having fun.” A season that started out as anything but fun for Mississippi State has become a joyride in the postseason, featuring walk-off dramatics and the now ubiquitous Rally Banana. The Bulldogs are one win away from making the College World Series’ best-of-3 finals. Winning is fun, and State, once saddled with a 19-19 record and dire expectations of an NCAA Tournament bid, has gone 20-8 since mid-April. Scoring begets winning, and State, which once had trouble with the bats, has been piling up runs during its 8-2 postseason run, averaging almost eight per game with five-double digit efforts. A 12-2 win against North Carolina on Tuesday was fueled by the Banana Man himself, Jordan Westbury, who drove in seven runs. But forget banana power for a minute: Perhaps this is just a team living up to its potential. Despite the loss of 2017 star Brent Rooker, the Bulldogs were ranked in some preseason polls. They had seven players drafted by MLB clubs this month, including Pilkington (in the third round) and top hitter Jake Mangum (also drafted in 2017). So the rednecks do have talent; they didn’t just fall off the banana truck, so to speak. Now can they keep up the fun just a little longer? Oregon State, which already has a CWS loss, awaits on Friday. The Beavers may not be fueled by any fruit — and odds are there aren’t many rednecks on their roster — but they can play ball. Collegiate Baseball ranks them No. 1 in the nation. They are 51-11-1, including an 11-6 stunner of a win against North Carolina on Wednesday. And they have infielder Nick Madrigal, the fourth overall pick in the draft. P.S. A little research indicates the rally banana has been used before. Back in May 2015, the Los Angeles Dodgers were in the throes of a scoring slump, without a run in 35 straight innings. Sitting in their dugout, Kike Hernandez picked up a banana and proclaimed it the “rally banana.” The Dodgers promptly scored and won the game. They won again the next day. Alas, the banana power ran out in game three, and the Dodgers were pounded by San Diego, a grim reminder that bananas do have a relatively short shelf life.

19 Jun

in other news …

Ole Miss’ Thomas Dillard is enjoying the summer, raking at a .348 clip for Cotuit in the Cape Cod League. The switch-hitting outfielder, who hit .310 with 13 homers for the Rebels this season, has six runs and one RBI in seven games in the talent-laden CCBL. … Jackson Prep’s Jerrion Ealy, a rising senior, is participating in USA Baseball’s Tournament of Stars, which is used to select the Under-18 National Team. Games began today in Cary, N.C. An outfielder with all the tools, Ealy hit .368 with three homers for Prep in 2018. The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder is an Ole Miss baseball and football commit for 2019-20. … The Collegiate National Team starts play next week at the USA Baseball complex in Cary. Ole Miss’ Parker Caracci and Southern Miss’ Matt Wallner are on the Team USA roster. … John Wesley Ray, a onetime Ole Miss and Delta State player, is wearing out the Cotton States League. The 6-5, 230-pound Ray is batting .522 with eight RBIs in seven games and is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in four pitching appearances for the North Delta Dealers. … Of the five prep players drafted from Mississippi earlier this month, first-round pick J.T. Ginn and second-rounder Joe Gray have not yet signed pro contracts. The MLB signing deadline is July 6. Brandon’s Ginn, the 30th pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers and a Mississippi State commit, stands to get a bonus offer of over $2 million, while Hattiesburg’s Gray, an Ole Miss signee who went 60th to Milwaukee, will command $1 million plus. Pascagoula’s Willie Joe Garry Jr. (ninth round) has signed with Minnesota. Madison Central’s Regi Grace (10th round) reportedly also has signed with the Twins, but the team has not officially announced it. Harrison Central’s Brendan Hardy (31st round) has reportedly agreed to terms with the New York Mets. … Former Hattiesburg High star Robert Carson and Starkville native Julio Borbon, both onetime big leaguers, are putting up good numbers in the independent Atlantic League. Left-hander Carson has a 1.90 ERA in 16 games for York, while Borbon is batting .304 with three homers and 25 RBIs for Somerset.

13 Jun

status update

Ryan Rolison, the 22nd overall pick in the draft and the first Mississippian chosen, has signed with Colorado; no financial details were announced. The left-hander was the first Ole Miss player to be drafted in the first round since Drew Pomeranz in 2010. The list of signees from this year’s draft also includes Zack Shannon (Arizona), James McArthur (Philadelphia), Brady Feigl (Oakland) and Dallas Woolfolk (Oakland). … T.J. House, the former Picayune High standout, has been released from Triple-A by the Chicago White Sox. The erstwhile big leaguer, 28, had a 1-6 record and a 6.81 ERA in nine starts for Charlotte. He has 29 MLB appearances on his ledger, the last with Toronto in 2017. … Mississippi State alum Kendall Graveman remains on the shelf in Oakland’s system with a forearm problem. Graveman last pitched on May 24 for Triple-A Nashville. The A’s opening day starter, he is 1-5, 7.60 in big league duty this year. … Ex-Ole Miss star Chris Coghlan, who signed a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs in late March, has not played this season because of a shoulder injury. The 32-year-old MLB veteran is a career .258 hitter and won a World Series ring with the Cubs in 2016.

07 Jun

that’s versatility

Corey Dickerson, the ex-Meridian Community College star, has been described as a “bat freak.” As a former MLB teammate once said, “He loves bats and he loves hitting.” Dickerson’s bat, which has produced 95 home runs in six big league seasons, wasn’t the main attraction in his performance for Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. In an 11-9 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dickerson contributed with his baserunning and his defense. Never known for his wheels, Dickerson scored four runs – one on a throwing error, another after beating out an infield hit. Not regarded as a great defensive player, he made a strong throw from left field to double a runner off first base, registering his fifth assist of 2018. It was a big win for the Pirates, who had been shut out in their previous two games. “It looked like everybody kind of had better approaches and had a little more fun tonight,” Dickerson told mlb.com. Acquired from Tampa Bay in a surprising trade this spring, Dickerson – and his bat – have played a big part in Pittsburgh’s surprising start. Clint Hurdle’s Bucs are 31-30. Dickerson, who had three singles on Wednesday, is batting .324 – sixth in the league — with five homers, 32 RBIs and 30 runs. P.S. Coincidentally, three players from Meridian CC, all outfielders, were drafted on Wednesday: Davis Bradshaw in the 11th round by Miami, Sam McWilliams in the 19th round by the Dodgers and Milton Smith Jr. in the 22nd round by the Marlins. Dickerson was an eighth-rounder (by Colorado) eight years ago.