28 Jan

circling back

Adam Frazier, the ex-Mississippi State standout, is off the free agent market, having reportedly agreed to sign with his original MLB team, Pittsburgh. A nine-year veteran, Frazier spent the first 5 1/2 years of his career with the Pirates, making the All-Star Game in 2021. The 32-year-old utility man has bounced around ever since, playing for four other teams, three of which made the postseason. The left-handed hitter batted just .202 for Kansas City in 2024 but has a .264 career mark with 60 homers and 55 steals. … With the gates of spring training camps soon to swing open, three other notable Mississippi products, each a big league veteran, remain unsigned. Pitchers Spencer Turnbull, Lance Lynn and Kendall Graveman would seem to be attractive, reasonably priced options for teams that still have holes to fill. Former Madison Central High star Turnbull, 32, has a 4.26 ERA in six big league seasons, working primarily as a starter, and made just $2 million last year with Philadelphia. He posted a 2.65 ERA in an injury-shortened 2024 season but is reportedly healthy now. Ole Miss alum Lynn, 37, had a 3.84 ERA in 23 starts last season with St. Louis, where he was on a one-year, $11M deal. Lynn has 143 career wins dating to 2011, when he helped the Cardinals win the World Series as a rookie. Ex-State star Graveman, 34, missed all of 2024 following shoulder surgery last off-season. A nine-year vet, he has a career ERA of 3.95, working strictly as a reliever since 2020. He was effective in middle relief for Houston in 2023. P.S. Former Mississippi College standout Blaine Crim, who batted .277 with 20 homers and 86 RBIs for Texas’ Triple-A team in 2024, has received a non-roster invite to the Rangers’ camp. The Gulf South Conference’s player of the year in 2019, the righty-hitting first baseman has batted .295 in his minor league career with 103 homers in 562 games. … MLB Pipeline gave 70-grade arm tools (on the 20-80 scouting scale) to 2024 draftees and Magnolia State prep products Konnor Griffin (Pittsburgh system) and Braden Montgomery (Chicago White Sox).

16 Jan

taking a dip

Austin Riley tumbled in MLB Network’s ranking of the Top 10 Third Basemen Right Now, from No. 1 last year to No. 5. But that ranking ought to come with an asterisk. The former DeSoto Central High standout’s ’24 season was limited by injuries to 110 games — he went down for the year on Aug. 18 with a broken hand — but he still managed to hit 19 home runs while playing top-notch defense. He batted .256 and drove in 56 runs, scored 63 and posted a .783 OPS. He finished behind Jose Ramirez, Rafael Devers, Alex Bregman and Manny Machado in the MLB Network ranking. In 2023, when he was tops on that chart, Riley was an All-Star and batted .281 with 37 homers and 97 RBIs. Atlanta will be counting on a bounce-back year from the 27-year-old Riley, one of several Braves stars who were injured in 2024. … Another former Mississippi Braves star, William Contreras, now with Milwaukee, was ranked as the No. 1 catcher by MLB Network, and Biloxi Shuckers alum Devin Williams, now with the New York Yankees, was ranked No. 1 among relief pitchers. Ex-M-Braves star Michael Harris II checked in at No. 4 on the center field chart. P.S. Ex-Mississippi State standout J.P. France, now with Houston, told mlb.com that he hopes to be back in action in July after having shoulder surgery last summer. Right-hander France went 0-3 with a 7.46 ERA in five starts for the Astros in 2024 after winning 11 games as a rookie in 2023.

10 Jan

money matters

Coming off an injury-shortened campaign that saw him go 5-5 with a 3.07 ERA, left-hander Justin Steele has agreed to a $6.55 million contract for 2025 with the Chicago Cubs. The four-year veteran from Lucedale, a key starter for the Cubs, is 29-21, 3.24, for his career. Steele is among four Mississippians who agreed Thursday to pre-arbitration deals, per a report by MLB Trade Rumors. Garrett Crochet, the ex-Ocean Springs High star, signed for $3.88M with Boston, which recently traded for the All-Star lefty. Southern Miss product Nick Sandlin agreed with his new club, Toronto, on a $1.6M contract, and Ole Miss alum Nick Fortes signed for $1.86M with Miami. Ex-MSU star Brent Rooker got a 5-year, $60M extension from the A’s earlier in the week, saying “This is where I want to be, and I’m hoping that’s what this communicates” at a Thursday press conference. Headed to salary arbitration is former Mississippi State standout Nathaniel Lowe, recently dealt to Washington by Texas. Lowe, who made $7.5M in 2024, has asked for $11.1M, while the Nationals countered with $10.3M — a nice raise either way it goes. … Kirk McCarty, a USM product from Hattiesburg, has re-signed with CTBC Brothers of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, per reports. Erstwhile big leaguer McCarty went 5-3 with a 2.76 ERA last year for CTBC, which won the league title.

23 Dec

it’s a challenge

The new task for Nathaniel Lowe, who has a World Series ring, a Silver Slugger award and a Gold Glove on his resume, is to help the lowly Washington Nationals climb back into contention in the stacked National League East. The ex-Mississippi State slugger was traded Sunday from Texas to the Nationals for left-hander Robert Garcia. A lefty-hitting first baseman, Lowe had some very good years with Texas after moving there from Tampa Bay. He batted .274 with 78 home runs in four years as a regular with the Rangers, who won the 2023 world championship. Lowe, 29, hit .302 with 27 bombs in his Silver Slugger season of 2022 but faded a bit the last two years, batting just .265 with 16 homers in 2024. The Nats, who have had five straight losing seasons, were in desperate need of a first baseman, while Texas had recently acquired Jake Burger, another power-hitting first baseman, from Miami. … In another deal involving the NL East, ex-South Panola High star Emaarion Boyd, Philadelphia’s No. 23 prospect, was shipped to Miami along with another prospect for major league pitcher Jesus Luzardo and a minor leaguer. Boyd, a speedy outfielder, played at the High-Class A level last season, hitting .239 with 24 steals. An 11th-round pick by the Phillies in 2022, Boyd has a .256 career average and 91 bags in his fledgling pro career. P.S. Former Ole Miss catcher Cooper Johnson, who played in Double-A last season, has been invited to big league spring training by Texas. Johnson hit .235 with 14 homers at Double-A Frisco in 2024; he was originally drafted by Detroit in 2019.

18 Dec

transaction watch

Former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson, who finished last season on the Chicago White Sox’s roster, has been traded to the Los Angeles Angels for cash. Robinson, 30, originally drafted by Cincinnati in 2016, has played in 51 big league games over two seasons, hitting .129 in 26 games for the lowly White Sox in 2024. He has a .257 minor league average. Regarded as a good defensive catcher, Robinson helped USM win a C-USA title in 2016. (The ChiSox needed to create a 40-man roster spot after signing former Mississippi Braves pitcher Bryse Wilson as a free agent.) … In other recent transactions: Washington signed Mississippi State alum Konnor Pilkington, who has some MLB experience, to a minor league contract. … Seattle signed MLB veteran and Ole Miss product Drew Pomeranz to a minor league deal; the lefty with a 3.91 career ERA last pitched in the majors in 2021. … San Francisco re-signed ex-MSU star Ethan Small to a minor league deal after he was non-tendered last month. Small made four big league appearances with Milwaukee in 2022-23. … Colorado released ex-State slugger Brad Cumbest, a 2022 draftee who hit .173 in the minors. … Starkville native Julio Borbon, an ex-MLB outfielder, has been named Milwaukee’s first-base coach. P.S. On this date in 2021, former Mississippi State star Buck Showalter was hired to manage the New York Mets. It was his fifth major league managerial job — and proved to be his shortest stint. He won manager of the year honors — for the fourth time — in 2022 but was surprisingly fired at the end of the next season when the team had a losing record. He has a career record of 1,727-1,665.

07 Dec

names and numbers

There hasn’t been much activity on the major league free agent market, but that will change soon. Juan Soto, the biggest fish in the pond, likely will sign — for $600 million-plus — next week during the Winter Meetings. That figures to trigger a lot of movement in the market. Quite a few Mississippians with MLB experience are out there looking for a 2025 team. Some could get big bucks. The list includes: Madison Central High alum Spencer Turnbull; ex-Ole Miss star Lance Lynn; former Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman; MSU alum Adam Frazier; former Bulldogs star Ethan Small; ex-East Central Community College standout Tim Anderson; MSU product and Pascagoula native Konnor Pilkington; and Michael Rucker, a Columbus native. Of note: Lynn, 37, a 13-year MLB vet, recently told the New York Times that he has dropped 20 pounds this off-season and has received numerous calls from MLB clubs about pitching next season. He had a 3.84 ERA with St. Louis in 2024, when balky knees limited him to 23 starts. … Two state prep players made MLB Pipeline’s latest Top 100 draft prospects chart for 2025: Pitcher Landon Harmon of East Union High at No. 49 and shortstop JoJo Parker of Purvis at 86. The 6-foot-5 Harmon, the Class 2A player of the year, is a Mississippi State commit who pitched in the MLB-sponsored High School All-America Game at Petco Park last summer. Parker, a lefty hitter, is also an MSU commit. His twin brother, outfielder Jacob, won a share of the high school home run derby competition during the MLB All-Star festivities last summer and will get some scouts’ attention, as well. Only one high school player was drafted from the state in 2024: No. 9 overall pick Konnor Griffin of Jackson Prep. Also making MLB Pipeline’s new draft list at No. 66 is LSU’s Conner Ware, an injury-prone lefty from Germantown via Pearl River Community College. No players from Mississippi’s four-year schools cracked the Top 100. … Three state juco products made the top nine in d1baseball.com’s list of the Top 50 impact juco hitters now at NCAA Division I schools: Pearl River CC’s Bryce Fowler (now at Alabama) is No. 6, Mississippi Gulf Coast’s Brandon Cain (Oklahoma) No. 7 and PRCC’s Hollis Porter (Maryland) No. 9. Porter was the MACCC player of the year and a first-team NJCAA Division II All-America pick. Hinds product Thomas Marsala (Western Kentucky) was ranked 48th. … William Carey University, which went 37-16 in 2024 and made yet another trip to the NAIA World Series, is ranked ninth in the NAIA coaches preseason poll. Carey was the preseason No. 4 in 2024.

20 Nov

mlb roster moves

A handful of Mississippi college products were added to major league 40-man rosters on Tuesday, most notably former Mississippi State star Jake Mangum, who has toiled in Triple-A the past three years with three different organizations. Outfielder Mangum, a .296 hitter over his five minor league seasons, was selected by Tampa Bay. (The Rays traded starting center fielder Jose Siri to the New York Mets for a pitcher on Tuesday.) MSU product Eric Cerantola made Kansas City’s 40-man protected roster and ex-Ole Miss stars Gunnar Hoglund and Doug Nikhazy were added by Oakland and Cleveland, respectively. All three are pitchers who reached the Triple-A level this season. They’ll go to big league camp next spring, seeking to make the active roster for the 2025 season. … Atlanta added 2024 Mississippi Braves pitcher Rolddy Munoz and Milwaukee selected Logan Henderson, who pitched in Biloxi this past season. (As noted by mlb.com: Players signed at age 18 or younger must be added to 40-man rosters within five seasons or they become eligible to be drafted by other organizations through the Rule 5 process. Players signed at 19 or older have to be protected within four seasons. The Rule 5 draft is next month.) P.S. A total of 26 Mississippians (native or school alum) appeared in major league games in 2024, with J.T. Ginn, Will Warren, Hurston Waldrep, Justin Foscue and Colt Keith making their MLB debuts. Keith, a Biloxi High alum who played for Detroit this year, was a Silver Slugger finalist at second base.

18 Nov

totally random

Today’s subject: Ike Pearson. Context is of the utmost importance when considering the career of Pearson, a Grenada native who pitched in six big league seasons between 1939-48. The right-hander’s record was 13-50, his career ERA 4.83. Not so good. But note that in his prime years — 1939-42 — he had the misfortune to pitch for a Philadelphia Phillies club that finished last in the National League each season. Pearson had a promising debut, throwing 3 1/3 shutout innings against the defending league champion Chicago Cubs on June 6, 1939. He finished that year 2-13 with a 5.76 ERA. In 1941, on a Phillies team that went 43-111-1 — one of the worst teams of all-time — Pearson did a creditable job. He won four games. He saved six others, ranking fourth in the league. His ERA of 3.57 was best on the staff. He made 10 starts and finished 30 games, which led the NL. He also led the league in hit batsmen with eight. Pearson served in the Marine Corps from 1943-45, returning to baseball in ’46 to pitch in five games for the Phils, still a losing team. He finished his MLB career in 1948 with the Chicago White Sox, going 2-3, 4.92, for yet another last-place team. An alumnus of Ole Miss and Mississippi Delta Community College, Pearson died in 1995.

15 Nov

hardware pickers

Kudos to Garrett Crochet on winning the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award on Thursday. The Ocean Springs native, now with the Chicago White Sox, joins a rather select group of Mississippians (native or school alum) to have claimed one of MLB’s individual awards. (Yes, MLB gives out quite a few of them.) Crochet missed all of the 2022 season and most of 2023 following elbow surgery. The tall left-hander bounced back this year to go 6-12 (for an awful team) with a 3.58 ERA while averaging 12.9 strikeouts per nine innings. He also made the All-Star Game. Two other Mississippians have won the comeback award: Meridian Community College alum Cliff Lee in 2008 — the same year he won the AL Cy Young — and Vicksburg native Dmitri Young in 2007. Three Mississippians also have won the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award, which went to Shohei Ohtani this year. Vicksburg’s Ellis Burks got it in 2002, ex-Mississippi State star Rafael Palmeiro in 1999 and Grenada native Dave Parker in 1989 and ’90. No Mississippian has won the Hank Aaron Award for best overall hitter in each league or the Reliever of the Year Award. Mississippi products have won a handful of Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards over the years, including ex-MSU star Brent Rooker taking the AL award at DH this year. … The “major” individual awards will be handed out next week: Rookie of the Year on Monday, Manager of the Year on Tuesday, Cy Young on Wednesday and MVP on Thursday. Mississippi has produced winners in each of those categories. Former Ole Miss standout Chris Coghlan was the National League’s ROY in 2009, and Columbus native Sam Jethroe won the award in 1950. Former MSU star Buck Showalter is a four-time winner of the top manager award, each time with a different club, the most recent with the New York Mets in 2022. Lee is the state’s lone Cy Young winner, taking the honor in 2008 when he went 22-3 for Cleveland, and Parker is the only MVP winner, picking up the award in 1978, when he won the second of his two batting titles with Pittsburgh. (Adopted Mississippian Dizzy Dean, who was born in Arkansas, won the NL MVP in 1934 with St. Louis.) Of note: MSU product Will Clark was second (to Jackson Mets alum Kevin Mitchell) in the NL MVP voting in 1989, and Starkville native Hughie Critz was second (to St. Louis’ Bob O’Farrell) back in 1926. Weir’s Roy Oswalt was second (to Albert Pujols) in the NL rookie of the year voting in 2001.

14 Nov

shopping season

Three Mississippi products, all right-handed pitchers, made USA Today’s shopping list of major league free agents, though none is deemed to be highly coveted. Madison Central High alum Spencer Turnbull is ranked No. 49 on the list of the top 120, ex-Ole Miss star Lance Lynn is No. 75 and former Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman is No. 89. Turnbull, 32, posted a 2.65 ERA in an injury-shortened season with Philadelphia, with whom he signed a one-year deal for $2 million last off-season. Lynn, 37 and reportedly considering retirement, had a 3.84 ERA in 23 starts with St. Louis, where he was also on a one-year deal ($11 million). Lynn has 143 career wins — and 2,000-plus career innings. Graveman, 34, missed all of 2024 following shoulder surgery last off-season. He has a career ERA of 3.95 and was an effective middle reliever during Houston’s playoff run in 2023. Adam Frazier, the MSU alum cut loose by Kansas City last month, is also on the market; the versatile 32-year-old batted just .202 for the Royals in 2024. He has played for five teams over the past four seasons. … Onetime big league pitchers Konnor Pilkington, a State alum, and Michael Rucker, a Columbus native, are minor league free agents, as are ex-MSU standout Hunter Stovall, Madison Central product Regi Grace and ex-Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College star Brandon Parker.