Tag Archives: MLB draft

01 Jun

feeling a draft

One week out from the major league draft, which begins June 8 and lasts three days, it’s a good time to take a glance back at the top Mississippians picked in last year’s draft. Blake Anderson from West Lauderdale High, taken in the first round by Miami, hasn’t been assigned to a team for 2015, nor have Columbia product Ti’Quan Forbes (second round, Texas) or George County’s Justin Steele (fifth round, Chicago Cubs). The short-season clubs, their likely destination, open after the draft. Ex-Mississippi State star Jacob Lindgren, picked in Round 2 by the New York Yankees, is already in The Show. In three games, he has a 5.40 ERA. Ole Miss alum Chris Ellis (third round, Los Angeles Angels) is 3-5, 4.37 in 10 starts at Inland Empire in the high Class A California League. A third-round selection by Cleveland, Bobby Bradley out of Harrison Central is batting .253 with five homers and 20 RBIs at Lake County in the Class A Midwest League. He was sidetracked for a time with an oblique strain. Last year’s Ferriss Trophy winner, Auston Bousfield of Ole Miss, a fifth-round pick by San Diego, is hitting .313 with 14 stolen bases at Lake Elsinore in the Cal League. Also of note: Former Southern Miss star Bradley Roney, an eighth-rounder by Atlanta, is pitching at Class A Rome and has a 5.29 ERA with a save in 11 appearances. He could make it to the Double-A Mississippi Braves by next season. P.S. Left-handed reliever Donnie Veal was designated for assignment by Atlanta and may be looking for a new team. Veal, a Jackson native and big league vet, had a 14.54 ERA in 4 1/3 innings for the Braves. Three of the eight hits he allowed were homers.

29 May

remember the eagles

As the NJCAA Division II World Series plays out in Enid, Okla., it seems a shame that Hinds Community College isn’t there for an encore. Sam Temple’s Eagles, national runners-up in 2014, won a school-record 43 games this year but couldn’t get past a strong LSU-Eunice club in Region 23. Hinds recently bid farewell to an impressive group of sophomores who went 83-28 during their career, with two state titles (regular season and tournament in 2015), a region title and a long stay at No. 1 in the national poll. Twelve Eagles made first- or second-team All-MACJC this season. Moving on are the likes of All-Region right-hander Randy Bell (HCC record-tying 21 career wins), RH Austin Sanders (record 21 career saves), first baseman Marshall Boggs (record 139 career hits), 2B Matt Jones (team-leading .369 average in 2015), catcher Jonathan Washam (team-best 68 hits in 2015), 3B/SS Chase Lunceford (team-leading nine homers in 2015, 19 career), RH Casey Sutton (7-1 this season), RH Houston Case (7-2), RH Derek Martin (6-0), OF Tyler Cox (.323), OF Quade Smith (team-leading 11 steals) and RH Keller Bradford (1.54 ERA). Shortstop Jordan Washam (.369) and RH Graham Ahlrich (1.99 ERA) played only this season, and they are among six Eagles bound for Louisiana Tech. Sanders signed with Ole Miss, Case with Southern Miss and Bell with South Alabama. Cox, Martin and Bradford will play for Louisiana-Monroe. Years from now, we may still look back with wonder on this two-year run by HCC. P.S. Austin Riley, who led DeSoto Central High to the MHSAA Class 6A championship, is rated No. 107 in mlb.com’s latest list of the Top 200 draft prospects. Mississippi State signee Riley, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound third baseman/pitcher, batted .423 with 11 homers and went 7-2 with a 2.70 ERA for the 28-9 Jaguars. Pearl River CC right-hander Jacob Taylor is No. 77 on the mlb.com draft chart.

04 May

the journey’s end

Former Southern Miss standout Scott Copeland recently became the fourth (and presumably last) member of the Mississippi draft class of 2010 to make the major leagues. When you consider that just getting out of A-ball is an accomplishment, that’s a pretty good number. Twenty-four from the state were drafted, 14 signed. Drew Pomeranz, picked fifth overall out of Ole Miss by Cleveland, made the big leagues in 2011 with Colorado. Now with Oakland, he has a 4.28 ERA over 59 games. Ryan Bolden, picked 40th overall out of Madison Central High by the Los Angeles Angels, did not get past rookie ball in four seasons. He died tragically in December (see previous post). Corey Dickerson, picked in the eighth round out of Meridian Community College by Colorado, reached the majors in 2012 and has batted .296 in 224 games. Aaron Barrett was plucked in the ninth round out of Ole Miss by Washington and made his MLB debut in 2014. He has a 2.42 ERA over 64 games. Three others were drafted in the first 10 rounds, but none of them has played above A-ball. Jones County JC alum Chris Lofton (ninth round, San Francisco), played in high Class A in 2014 and is now a free agent. UM’s Tim Ferguson (10th round, Kansas City) made it to high-A in 2013 but wasn’t in the game last year. And former Terry High star Deshun Dixon (10th round, Tampa Bay) topped out in short-season A-ball in 2012. Copeland, a 6-foot-3 right-hander, finally reached The Show in his sixth pro season. He was drafted in the 21st round by Baltimore and is now in the Toronto system. He pitched three scoreless innings in two appearances for the Blue Jays over the weekend, then was shipped back to Triple-A Buffalo today.

28 Apr

beep beep

In his ninth game of the season, Jarrod Dyson got his first stolen base. The ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College star swiped three bags on Monday, helping Kansas City beat Cleveland 6-2. Dyson, who led the Royals with 36 bags in 2014, hasn’t gotten a lot of opportunity to showcase his speed to this point. He has only 18 at-bats (three hits) and has scored five runs for the 13-6 Royals. Dyson batted .269 and scored 33 runs in 120 games (260 ABs) last year. P.S. Pearl River Community College sophomore Jacob Taylor is the lone Mississippian on mlb.com’s new list of the Top 100 draft prospects. Taylor, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound right-hander with an upper 90s fastball, is rated No. 76. He is 2-5 with a 3.90 ERA for a Wildcats team that has had a rough year. The Picayune native has 44 strikeouts in 57 2/3 innings in 11 games. … No. 38 on the list is Ke’Bryan Hayes, son of former Hattiesburg High and MLB star Charlie Hayes. The younger Hayes is a high school third baseman in Texas.

19 Dec

heartbreaking

Ryan Bolden was drafted 40th overall, ahead of the likes of Taijuan Walker, Nick Castellanos, Jedd Gyorko, Drew Smyly, Andrelton Simmons and Derek Dietrich, all picked inside the first two rounds of the 2010 MLB draft. The Los Angeles Angels apparently loved the power/speed potential of the strapping 6-foot-3, 190-pound Bolden, an outfielder who starred for Madison Central’s 2010 state championship team. The pro game was a big step for Bolden, and he spent three years in the rookie Arizona League, never batting above .200. Injuries crept in. He played just seven games in 2013 and none this past season but had not yet given up the game. Bolden’s life ended shockingly and tragically on Wednesday when he was shot in Atlanta. He was only 23. “He was just a really good young man and came from a really good family. It’s heartbreaking; it really is,” Angels scouting director Ric Wilson told mlb.com.

04 Aug

a golden arm

If you had a time machine, wouldn’t it be fun to go back to the early 1970s and watch Ray Guy pitch for Southern Miss? Yes, pitch. As good as the newly minted Pro Football Hall of Famer was on the football field as both a punter and defensive back, you can probably find some old-timers around Hattiesburg who would swear that Guy is also the best pitcher the school ever had. Baseball didn’t get much emphasis or hype at USM when Guy was there — the team never played more than 28 games during any of his three seasons (1970-72) and went 39-39 overall — but scouts made it a point to know when Guy was pitching. He was drafted three times by MLB clubs (including Atlanta) while at USM, in addition to being picked after his senior year of high school at Thomson, Ga. Guy posted a 2.94 ERA for his career with the Golden Eagles, struck out 266 batters in 220 2/3 innings, registered a 16-strikeout game and tossed a no-hitter against William Carey. If you had that time machine, it sure would be fun to watch the athlete known for the thunder in his foot put on a show with the lightning in his arm.

18 Jul

the first four

Blake Anderson, the first of the four Mississippi natives picked in the first two rounds of last month’s MLB draft, got his first professional hit on Thursday. Anderson, the former West Lauderdale catcher picked 36th overall by Miami, snapped an 0-for-21 start with a single for the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Marlins. Jacob Lindgren, from the Kiln by way of Mississippi State, has put up a 1.29 ERA in six appearances at three levels for the New York Yankees, who drafted the left-hander 55th overall. Lindgren is currently at high Class A Tampa in the Florida State League. Ti’Quan Forbes, the star shortstop from Columbia who was taken 59th overall by Texas, is batting .242 with six RBIs and 15 runs in the rookie Arizona League. And ex-Madison Central High standout Spencer Turnbull, picked 63rd out of Alabama by Detroit, has a 6.75 ERA in three starts for Connecticut in the short-season Class A New York-Penn League.

20 Jun

the journey begins

The top four Mississippians picked in the MLB draft, all taken in the first two rounds, have signed pro contracts: Blake Anderson (West Lauderdale High) with Miami, Jacob Lindgren (Mississippi State) with the New York Yankees, Ti’Quan Forbes (Columbia High) with Texas and Spencer Turnbull (Madison Central via Alabama) with Detroit. Harrison Central High’s Bobby Bradley, a third-round pick, also has signed with Cleveland. The crop of nine Ole Miss players who were selected, including third-rounder Chris Ellis (by the Los Angeles Angels), can’t sign until they are done at the College World Series. P.S. LeDarious Clark, an outfielder at East Mississippi Community College, was the top-rated juco draft prospect in the state before the season. Clark hit .325 with five home runs, 30 RBIs and 20 steals for a good Lions team but was not picked in the 40 rounds of the draft. There has been no report on any team signing Clark as a free agent.

09 Jun

numbers of note

2 — Number of home runs this season for Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton, who hit his latest on Sunday in Cincinnati’s 4-1 win over Philadelphia. Hamilton is batting .253 with 23 stolen bases.
3 — Months former Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland is expected to miss after having ankle surgery. “It’s to the point where I’m hurting the team …,” the Texas Rangers first baseman told ESPNDallas.com about his decision to go under the knife. Moreland is batting .246 with two homers; he hit 23 bombs in 2013.
12 — Hits, in nine MLB games, for Tommy La Stella, the former Mississippi Braves standout now starting at second base for Atlanta. La Stella, a .340 hitter in Pearl last season, is batting .400.
14 — Runs scored by the M-Braves in their victory over Chattanooga at Trustmark Park on Sunday. The M-Braves are 1½ games out of first in the Southern League South with six to play.
16 — Hits this season for Ole Miss freshman Colby Bortles, who delivered his latest on Sunday, a two-run, eighth-inning single that helped the Rebels beat Louisiana-Lafayette 5-2 in their NCAA Super Regional. Game 3, with a College World Series trip on the line, is tonight at 6.
35 — Number of Mississippi-connected players picked in the MLB draft, from West Lauderdale High catcher Blake Anderson at No. 36 overall to Gulfport High third baseman Daniel Keating at No. 1181.
38 — Points lost off his batting average since May 21 by Ole Miss product Seth Smith. Smith, batting .301 with six homers and 21 RBIs for San Diego, is 7-for-34 (.206) over his last 10 games with just one RBI.

07 Jun

head of the class

There are always surprises in the MLB draft. Blake Anderson qualifies as one. The catcher from West Lauderdale High was rated No. 216 on Baseball America’s last pre-draft prospect chart. He went 36th overall, taken by Miami in the competitive balance round. As the first Mississippian picked, Anderson joins a list that includes Hunter Renfroe (2013), D.J. Davis (2012), Connor Barron (2011), Drew Pomeranz (2010) and Billy Hamilton (2009). Anderson has a chance to join another short list – the one of Mississippi-born catchers who have had success in the big leagues. The state has produced Jake Gibbs, Barry Lyons, Jerry Moses, Eli Whiteside … and, well, there aren’t many. The Marlins obviously like something about Anderson, who goes 6 feet 3, 180 pounds. Defense is said to be his forte, but he did hit .438 with eight homers this year for a perennially strong prep program that won another state title. He is a Southern Miss signee. P.S. Four Magnolia State natives were picked in the first two rounds, which is impressive. Mississippi State left-hander Jacob Lindgren, from Bay St. Louis and St. Stanislaus High, was taken 55th by the New York Yankees, who reportedly think he can rise quickly. Columbia High shortstop Ti’Quan Forbes (an Ole Miss signee) went 59th overall to Texas, and former Madison Central star Spencer Turnbull, a right-hander at Alabama, was No. 63 by Detroit. … Only one Mississippi juco player was picked in the first two days: Left-hander Lane Ratliff of Jones County JC went to Seattle in the sixth round.