Tag Archives: MLB

22 Jun

flashback

On this date in 1985, Jackson native Curtis Ford made his big league debut for St. Louis — and it was one for the scrapbook. Pinch-hitting in the ninth inning at Busch Stadium, he got a game-winning hit off Lee Smith — future Hall of Famer — of the Chicago Cubs. Ford went 6-for-12 that season and hit .245 with 36 steals in 406 games over parts of six MLB campaigns. He played in the 1987 postseason with St. Louis and batted .318, going 4-for-13 with two RBIs in the World Series loss to Minnesota. He played in Mexico and independent leagues until 1997. A Murrah High grad, Ford played college ball for Bob Braddy at Jackson State and is one of nine JSU alums to make The Show. Also on the list: Oil Can Boyd, Dave Clark, Marvin Freeman and Wes Chamberlain. Ford played for Double-A Arkansas in the Texas League and was on base in the 1984 TL All-Star Game at Smith-Wills Stadium when Jackson’s Billy Beane hit a game-winning homer. Ford’s son Curtis played at Mississippi Valley State under Doug Shanks. P.S. Nathaniel Lowe hit his 100th career homer on Saturday, then added No. 101. The Mississippi State alum contributed two solo shots to Washington’s 7-3 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With four homers in June, Lowe has 12 for the year and is batting .228 with 47 RBIs. … Ex-MSU star Justin Foscue was recalled from the minors by Texas but did not play Saturday. He was batting .269 with 10 homers at Triple-A Round Rock; he went 2-for-42 in his MLB debut last season. … Jordan Westburg, another former Bulldogs standout, left Saturday’s game with a jammed finger and is considered day-to-day by Baltimore. A 2024 All-Star, he is hitting .229 in 34 games, having recently come off the injured list. … Petal native and erstwhile big leaguer Demarcus Evans is pitching again, now in the independent American Association. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound right-hander has a 2.08 ERA in four games for Gary SouthShore. He last pitched in MLB in 2021 with Texas and has made just nine appearances, all in indy leagues, since 2022.

21 Jun

big league chew

Matt Wallner’s sixth home run of the season, a rather modest 370-footer, came in the seventh inning Friday night with his team down 8-0. But it was a significant hit for the Minnesota slugger out of Southern Miss. Milwaukee rookie and former Biloxi Shuckers ace Jacob Misiorowski had a no-hitter going at the time. In fact, the 6-foot-7 right-hander had entered the seventh with a perfect game, following up the five no-hit innings he threw in his big league debut last week. A walk to Byron Buxton ended the perfecto and Wallner then took a hanging slider out of the park to end Misiorowski’s night. The Brewers won the game 17-6. … Former state prep stars Austin Riley and Colt Keith also went deep Friday in losing causes, Riley hitting his 12th for Atlanta, Keith his sixth for Detroit. … Spencer Turnbull, the ex-Madison Central standout, made his first start for Toronto — and first since last season with Philadelphia — and it did not go well: The Chicago White Sox touched him up for five runs (four earned) in two innings. Turnbull now has a 7.11 ERA in three games for the Blue Jays, who lost 7-1 Friday. Ex-USM star Nick Sandlin came off the injured list and tossed a scoreless inning in relief for the Jays in his first MLB game in two months. … Former Jackson Generals standout Ray Montgomery is serving as the Los Angeles Angels’ acting manager with Ron Washington sidelined by health concerns. It’s the second time in the four years Montgomery, the team’s bench coach, has stepped in as acting skipper. The Angels lost to Houston 3-2 on Friday. … Will Clark, the former Mississippi State star now a special assistant with San Francisco, is helping Rafael Devers learn the ropes at first base, per reports. Devers, recently acquired from Boston, has never played the position. Clark was a five-time All-Star at first base with the Giants. “He’s very eager to help,” Giants manager Bob Melvin told The Mercury News of San Jose.

17 Jun

temperature reading

Maybe there should be a CAUTION sign hanging above Jake Mangum’s locker. The Mississippi State product from Flowood is that hot, and so is his Tampa Bay team. With Mangum banging out three hits and driving in three runs, the Rays beat visiting Baltimore 7-1 on Monday. That’s four straight wins, 10 out of 13 and 19 out of 25 for the Rays, now 40-32 and just 2.5 games back of slumping New York atop the American League East. “We have a lot of faith in each other,” Mangum told mlb.com. “If I don’t get the job done, the guy behind me is gonna get it done, the guy in front of me is gonna get it done.” Lately, Mangum has been getting it done. The rookie switch-hitter is 12-for-27 (.444) over his last seven games with eight RBIs, five runs and five stolen bases. He is hitting .315 on the season with 21 RBIs, 13 runs and 10 bags in 37 games; he missed almost a month after a groin injury in late April. … And then there is the coldest team in the big leagues: Washington, which blew a ninth-inning lead Monday and lost to lowly Colorado 6-4 at Nationals Park. That’s nine straight losses for the Nats, now 30-42 and sinking in the National League East. Former Mississippi State standout Nathaniel Lowe, the regular first baseman, is also in a cold snap, with just four hits and eight strikeouts in his last 22 at-bats. Brought in this season to provide some power for a young team, he has just one home run since May 16. On the year, Lowe — a Silver Slugger winner in 2022 and a World Series champ in ’23 with Texas — is batting .227 with nine homers and 44 RBIs. He has been the subject of trade rumors, but you wonder if interest might be waning. P.S. Ex-State star J.T. Ginn came off the injured list for the A’s Monday and threw three scoreless innings in relief in a 3-1 win vs. Houston. He has a 4.79 ERA in five appearances this season.

16 Jun

all in a day

On a day when the Rafael Devers trade shook the baseball world, other things did happen throughout the game. Here’s a snapshot of Sunday movers and shakers with Mississippi ties:
In the big leagues, former Mississippi State star Jordan Westburg went 2-for-4 with a homer, two RBIs and three runs out of the leadoff spot, driving Baltimore to its third straight win, 11-2 over the Los Angeles Angels. Westburg, who has three homers since coming off the injured list on Tuesday, has seven bombs on the year and has lifted his average to .234.
At Triple-A, Southern Miss alum Hurston Waldrep, who has had a very uneven season for Gwinnett in Atlanta’s system, allowed one run in six innings with six strikeouts as the Stripers beat Memphis. Waldrep, a 2023 first-round draftee (out of Florida) and Atlanta’s No. 2 prospect, is 5-5 with a 5.84 ERA.
At Double-A, ex-Ole Miss star Kemp Alderman went 2-for-5 with a homer, three RBIs and two runs for Miami affiliate Pensacola in a win against Rocket City. Alderman, a second-round pick in 2023 after winning the Ferriss Trophy, is batting .290 with seven homers and 30 RBIs for the Blue Wahoos.
At High-Class A, MSU product Khal Stephen improved to 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA for Vancouver, throwing five innings (one run) to beat Spokane. A second-round pick by Toronto in 2024, Stephen is 6-0, 2.10, in 13 games over two levels of A-ball in his pro debut.
At the Low-A level, former MSU standout Connor Hujsak, batting third and playing right field for Charleston, went 1-for-5 with two walks, two RBIs, two runs and two steals in a doubleheader split against Augusta. A 13th-round pick by Tampa Bay in 2024, Hujsak is batting .230 with three homers, 32 RBIs and 14 bags in 58 games this season.
In the unaffiliated Mexican League, Ole Miss product and ex-big leaguer Chris Ellis notched his 12th save with a scoreless ninth for Monterrey in a 3-1 win vs. Queretaro. Ellis, 32 and in his 11th pro season, has a 2.61 ERA over 21 appearances for the Sultans.
And in the independent Frontier League, Brayland Skinner, MSU alum from Lake Cormorant, went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a steal in the Mississippi Mud Monsters’ 11-3 loss at Schaumburg. Skinner, in his second indy ball season, is hitting .310 with a league-best 25 stolen bases.

15 Jun

fathers and sons

There have been a fairly amazing number of father-son duos in major league history — more than 250, according to Baseball Almanac. The Griffeys and the Boones. The Bells and the Alous. More recently, the Guerreros, Witts and Hollidays. As you might figure, several of these father-son duos have had a Mississippi connection. Current Pittsburgh third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes is the son of ex-big leaguer Charlie Hayes, a Mississippi native who starred at Forrest County AHS in the early 1980s. Harry Walker, Pascagoula native who played 11 years in the big leagues between 1940 and ’55, was the son of Ewart “Dixie” Walker, a Pennsylvania native who pitched in the majors from 1909-12. Crawford native Sam Hairston, one of the first black Mississippians to play in MLB, was the father of two big leaguers and the grandfather of two more. Former Ole Miss star and coach Don Kessinger, an All-Star shortstop in his day, is the father of ex-big leaguer Keith Kessinger, who also played at UM, and the grandfather of Grae Kessinger, an Oxford native and UM alum who was in The Show in 2023-24. Ex-big leaguer Steve Dillard, another former Ole Miss standout, is the father of Tim Dillard, who played at Saltillo High and Itawamba Community College before enjoying a four-year MLB career. Del Unser, who played at Mississippi State en route to a 15-year major league career, is the son of Al Unser, who played four seasons in The Show in the 1940s. (Worth noting is the Magnolia State connection of Boston pitcher Hunter Dobbins, who has been in the news a lot of late after “dissing” the New York Yankees and then beating them twice, including on Saturday. Dobbins’ father, Lance, never made The Show but did pitch for the independent Meridian Brakemen some 30 years ago.) P.S. Konnor Griffin, the ex-Jackson Prep star, hit his first homer in High-Class A on Saturday and is batting .435 in five games since his promotion. Overall, Pittsburgh’s No. 2 prospect is batting .348 with 10 bombs, 41 RBIs and 31 steals in his first pro season. … Tim Elko, the former Ole Miss slugger, was sent back to Triple-A by the Chicago White Sox. Elko was hitting just .155 in 58 at-bats, though four of his nine hits were homers.

14 Jun

hard luck

Garrett Crochet, the former Ocean Springs High star, was two outs away from a shutout against the New York Yankees. Boston’s big left-hander was one strike away from punching out Aaron Judge for the fourth time on Friday night at Fenway Park. Then the Yankees slugger did his thing, pulverizing a 3-2 fastball 443 feet over the left-field wall, out of the park, tying the score. Exit Crochet. The Red Sox won the game 2-1 in 10 innings, but Crochet was denied his first career shutout. “Crochet deserved this win, but the team needed it more,” said Boston broadcaster Lou Merloni. The Red Sox are 35-36, in fourth place and 8.5 games back of the first-place Yankees in the American League East. Crochet, in his first year with Boston, has six wins, a 2.24 ERA and a league-leading 117 K’s, seven on Friday. … It was a hard luck day also for former Ole Miss standout Drew Pomeranz. Pitching the 10th inning for the Chicago Cubs, he was on the bump when Pittsburgh’s “ghost runner” — Mississippi State alum Adam Frazier — scored the go-ahead run on a double-play ball. The Pirates held on for a 2-1 win at Wrigley Field. Pomeranz, who had not allowed a run in 18 appearances overall before Friday, gets charged with an unearned run, per the extra-inning rules, as well as the loss. … More hard luck: Gunnar Hoglund, another Ole Miss alum, is done for the season after hip surgery; the right-hander, who made his MLB debut in May after four years in the minors, had a 6.40 ERA in six starts for the A’s. … Luck didn’t smile on ex-Ole Miss ace Ryan Rolison either. Colorado’s rookie lefty gave up four hits, a walk and five runs in the eighth inning at Atlanta during the Braves’ 12-4 win. It didn’t help that the woeful Rockies committed four errors in that frame. P.S. There’s a bundle of state products on the preliminary rosters in the Cape Cod League, which launches its season today. (Note: The rosters can and will change during the summer.) Mississippi State’s Ace Reese, Charlie Foster, Dane Burns and Duke Stone are on the Chatham roster, along with ex-Jackson Prep (and current South Alabama) star Duncan Mathews. Bourne lists Ole Miss’ Campbell Smithwick and Owen Paino and Southern Miss’ Grayden Harris. USM’s Josh Och is on Hyannis’ roster and UM’s Patrick Galle on Wareham’s. Former Mississippi Braves and MLB catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia will manage Falmouth, which lists Grayson Saunier, an ex-Ole Miss pitcher, on its roster.

11 Jun

out of kilter

In his first game off the injured list, Mississippi State product Jordan Westburg hit a home run for Baltimore. Unfortunately for the Orioles, the homer came in the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s 5-3 loss to Detroit. The Orioles, perhaps the most disappointing team in the big leagues, had entered the opener of this series having won seven of nine. Westburg and center fielder Cedric Mullins were activated from the IL. “I think everybody in Baltimore is excited,” O’s interim manager Tony Mansolino said pregame. Detroit, with the best record (44-24) in baseball, didn’t seem to notice, building a 5-1 lead by the fifth inning. Baltimore managed just six hits. And so it goes for the O’s. They are now 26-39, dead last in the American League East. Westburg was an All-Star at third base in 2024, when he hit .264 with 18 homers and 63 RBIs. A big season was expected of him and this team, which went 91-71 in 2024 and made the playoffs. But like many of his teammates, Westburg scuffled out of the gate. When he went down with a hamstring injury on April 28, he was hitting .217. He now has five homers but just seven RBIs. His numbers are bound to improve, but the team is in such a deep hole, and its pitching in such a fix, improvement in the standings could be a tall order. … Home runs were kind of a thing for Mississippians on Tuesday. In MLB, Nathaniel Lowe hit his ninth for Washington, Matt Wallner his fifth for Minnesota and Nick Fortes his second for Miami. In the minors, Reed Trimble (Baltimore system), Braden Montgomery (Chicago White Sox) and Brennon McNair (Kansas City) went yard. And in the independent Frontier League, Travis Holt and Karell Paz homered for the Mississippi Mud Monsters in a road win at Joliet. P.S. He didn’t hit one out, but Konnor Griffin went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run in his High-Class A debut for Greensboro in the Pittsburgh system. Griffin, first-round pick out of Jackson Prep last summer, hit .338 with nine homers in Low-A ball and led the Florida State League in several categories before his promotion.

10 Jun

alumni meeting

Though the Mississippi-Biloxi rivalry no longer exists in the Southern League, alumni of the Double-A clubs can still clash in the National League. The first meeting of 2025 between Atlanta and Milwaukee happened on Monday night at American Family Field — and the former M-Braves won the day and the game, 7-1, snapping a dreadful seven-game losing streak. Five M-Braves alums combined for seven hits, four walks and five runs. Notably, Ronald Acuna homered for the fifth time in his 16 games; Austin Riley went 3-for-5 to raise his average to .285; and Ozzie Albies registered career hit No. 1,000. He is the all-time hits leader among Atlanta second basemen. Three ex-Shuckers were a combined 1-for-9 with a pair of walks. (Former M-Braves catcher William Contreras, now Milwaukee’s backstop, was 1-for-4 with an RBI knock.) It was a huge win — psychologically, at least — for the Braves, now 28-37 but still mired in fourth place in the NL East. The Brewers are 35-32, third in the NL Central. Game 2 of the three-game set is tonight. … The M-Braves, who played at Trustmark Park in Pearl from 2005-24, have produced more than 180 big league players. The Shuckers, based in Biloxi since 2015, have sent more than 80 players into MLB. P.S. Mississippi State alum Jake Mangum had a four-hit, two-RBI game Monday as Tampa Bay spoiled the debut of No. 1 overall prospect Roman Anthony by beating Boston 10-8 in 11 innings at Fenway Park. … Arizona has placed ex-MSU star Kendall Graveman back on the injured list with a hip problem. He had made nine appearances, all but his last effective ones. … Chris Stratton, another ex-Bulldogs standout, declared free agency Monday. Since being designated for assignment and then released by Kansas City on May 25, the 10-year MLB vet has: signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, been DFA’d, been outrighted to Triple-A, declared free agency, re-signed with the Dodgers, been DFA’d again, been outrighted again and declared free agency again. He made three appearances with the Dodgers during that time. … On June 10, 2019, Arizona and Philadelphia set a major league by combining for 13 homers in a game at Citizens Bank Park. The fun started when McComb native Jarrod Dyson led off with a bomb, the first of three straight by the Diamondbacks to start the game. Dyson hit only 21 homers in his 12-year career, but he’s in the home run record book.

09 Jun

in local news

At Pearl, the Mississippi Mud Monsters wrapped up a 4-1 homestand with a twinbill split Sunday against Florence (Ky.) at Trustmark Park. In the 11-2 win in Game 2, Kyle Booker homered and drove in three runs to back the strong start of Rodney Theopile. Nick Hassan went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run for the independent Mud Monsters. Booker, a former DeSoto Central High star who spent three years at Tennessee, is batting .327 with three homers and 18 RBIs on the year. He had two of the Mud-sters’ three hits in a 4-0 loss in Sunday’s opener. Mississippi is 13-14 in its inaugural Frontier League season. After a 12-game road trip, the next homestand starts June 24.
At Biloxi, the Double-A Shuckers whipped Montgomery 6-4 at Keesler Federal Park to win the Southern League series 5 games to 1. The first-place Shuckers are 35-22. Brock Wilken, a highly rated Milwaukee prospect, hit a grand slam, and former Magnolia Heights standout Cooper Pratt, another top prospect, went 3-for-4 with an RBI, a run and two steals. Wilken leads the SL with 15 homers and 35 RBIs. The Shuckers are celebrating their 10th anniversary season as an SL club.
At New Albany, the college boys of the Cotton States League played a pair of doubleheaders in BNA Bank Park with league-leader Tallahatchie going 1-0-1 vs. Tippah County and North Delta taking two from Hill Country. Houston Green, an Itawamba Community College alum, drove in two runs for Tallahatchie to back the three-hit pitching of Jake Thomas and Sam Brumbaugh in their 5-1 win. The Rascals are 4-0-1. Green is 6-for-12 on the young season, and Thomas is 2-0 with a 1.12 ERA. For North Delta, Eli Akins, a Delta State alum, threw a one-hitter in a 2-0 win against Hill Country after Connor Edge (ICC) tossed a three-hitter and Hayden Short knocked in three runs in the Dealers’ 10-1 victory in the opener.
P.S. Madison Central High product Spencer Turnbull has been added to Toronto’s active roster. The veteran right-hander, a recent free agent signee, had a 2.65 ERA in 17 games for Philadelphia before a lat injury in June ended his 2024 season. He has a 4.26 career ERA over 78 games. … Braden Montgomery, another Madison Central alum, had a four-hit game Sunday for High-Class A Winston-Salem and boosted his average there to .263. Montgomery is a highly rated prospect in the Chicago White Sox’s chain.

08 Jun

game of adjustments

Konnor Griffin, a year removed from Jackson Prep, has made a remarkably smooth transition to pro ball. Playing at the Low-Class A level, the ninth overall MLB draft pick from 2024 is batting .338 with nine home runs, 36 RBIs, 49 runs and 26 steals through 50 games for the Pittsburgh affiliate. He was 3-for-5 with an inside-the-park homer on Saturday, ripping around the bases when two outfielders had a tough time picking up his shot to the wall in right-center. He’s making this look easy, which it is not. As he moves up the minor league ladder, Griffin will encounter speed bumps. It’s inevitable. He’ll have to make adjustments. Baseball is a game of adjustments. It’s a trite phrase — but very true. Many a highly regarded Mississippi prospect has scuffled at various levels of the game. Some adjust, some can’t. Injuries can be a factor. Gunnar Hoglund, a first-round pick out of Ole Miss in 2021, made the big leagues with the A’s last month. He is 1-3 with a 6.40 ERA and on the injured list, where he has spent time before. When he returns, some adjustments will be necessary. Former Mississippi State standout Jake Mangum finally made the majors this year in his sixth pro season. He hit .311 for Tampa Bay in April, went on the IL and is just 5-for-29 since he returned. “There are good days and bad days,” he told forbes.com in a recent interview. “When you fail, don’t be too hard on yourself.” In other words, reevaluate and forge ahead. Will Bednar, a first-rounder out of State in 2021, is in Double-A with San Francisco. He has a 9.56 ERA. Landon Sims, the 34th overall pick from MSU in 2022, is making the big adjustment to Double-A in the Texas system. He has a 4.91 ERA in 20 games. Ex-Ole Miss star Jacob Gonzalez was the 15th overall pick by the Chicago White Sox in 2023. He reached Double-A in 2024 but struggled there. Back at that level this year, he appears to have figured some things out. He is batting .257 with four homers and 21 RBIs. Tough times have shadowed former Southern Miss star Reed Trimble, who has battled injuries since being drafted 65th overall in 2021. He is at Double-A in Baltimore’s system, hitting .069 in 10 games. He is at .237 in 153 minor league games. Also on the Orioles’ Chesapeake roster is Ole Miss product Anthony Servideo, a third-rounder back in 2020. He is batting .171 for his career, having reached Triple-A for a time in 2024. The game ain’t easy. But if they keep giving you a uniform, you keep grinding, looking for the right adjustments.