Tag Archives: MLB

17 Aug

numbers to crunch

1 – RBI by Walker Robbins, the George County High star who went 2-for-3 with a triple in Sunday’s Perfect Game All-American Classic in San Diego. He drove in the only run the West team scored.
2 – Saves, in two opportunities, for Mississippi State alumnus Jonathan Papelbon over the 19 days he has been with slumping Washington, which has lost six straight and eight of 10.
3 – Place in the Southern League South standings held by the Mississippi Braves. The M-Braves are 27-22 with three straight losses headed into a five-game homestand that starts Tuesday against Birmingham.
4 – Triples this season by ex-Ole Miss star Seth Smith, who got his latest on Sunday for Seattle. He has zero stolen bases.
5 – Home runs over five consecutive games by Harrison Central product Bobby Bradley, who has 25 bombs for the season at Class A Lake County in Cleveland’s system.
6 – Runs allowed, in 3 1/3 innings, by ex-State star Kendall Graveman on Sunday in Oakland’s 18-2 loss to Baltimore. Graveman, 6-9, saw his ERA rise to 4.27.
7 – On-base streak for former Ole Miss standout Alex Yarbrough, who is batting just .241 with a .277 OBP for Salt Lake in his first Triple-A campaign in the Los Angeles Angels’ organization. “I think it’s big to finish strong in the last month,” Yarbrough, a .282 career hitter in the minors, told the Orange County Register.

11 Aug

medical report

Itawamba Community College product Desmond Jennings, who last played in a big league game on April 26, might be activated by Tampa Bay for tonight’s game with Atlanta, reports say. Jennings, recovering from a knee injury, hit just .143 in 21 at-bats on a rehab assignment for Triple-A Durham. The Rays’ opening day center fielder, he batted .222 in 18 games before the injury. For his MLB career, over parts of six years, Jennings is batting .248 with 47 homers, 166 RBIs and 93 steals. … Injuries have been a big story for Mississippians in the majors in 2015. Meridian CC alum Cliff Lee (flexor tendon) hasn’t thrown a pitch for Philadelphia and may yet retire. Corey Dickerson, another MCC product, had made three trips to the disabled list, playing in just 43 games for Colorado after his breakout 2014 campaign. Ex-Ole Miss star Zack Cozart (knee) went out for the season in mid-June; he was hitting .258 with nine homers for Cincinnati. Aaron Barrett, another former Rebel, is currently on the DL (elbow), his second stint, for Washington. Picayune High alum T.J. House, who began this year in the Cleveland rotation, went on the DL in May, went to the minors and then went out in early June with a shoulder injury. He hasn’t pitched since. And former Mississippi State standout Jacob Lindgren (elbow) has been shelved since mid-June; he made his big league debut with the New York Yankees in May, was sent down and then shut down following surgery.

11 Aug

deja vu

This had a familiar ring: Jose Peraza, in his major league debut on Monday night, got a triple for his first hit. Last summer, June 19 to be exact, Peraza, in his Double-A debut with the Mississippi Braves, also smacked a triple. This is not a fluke; he is very fast. Peraza, a second baseman who was Atlanta’s top-rated prospect entering this season, made his MLB debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who got him in a trade just before last month’s deadline. He is a nice addition to the fantasy team of former M-Braves who aren’t playing for Atlanta. At catcher, there’s Brian McCann, who has 18 homers for the New York Yankees. At first base, Evan Gattis (17 homers, 60 RBIs for Houston). At shortstop, Yunel Escobar (.309 for Washington). At third base, Martin Prado (.268 for Miami). In the outfield, Jason Heyward (.286, nine homers for St. Louis), Gregor Blanco (.286 for San Francisco) and Jeff Francoeur (.273, 10 homers for Philadelphia). Starting pitcher: Charlie Morton (Pittsburgh) or Alex Wood (another new Dodger), each of whom has seven wins. Closer: Craig Kimbrel (32 saves for San Diego). Feeling nostalgic?

06 Aug

the heat is on

Be careful what you wish for? Jonathan Papelbon got his wish: a trade to a contending team. Strangely enough, the Washington Nationals are 3-5 since the Mississippi State alum joined the team and have lost five of six. They are just 55-51 now and have dropped 2 games behind the surging New York Mets in the National League East. Can’t blame Papelbon for any of this; he is 2-for-2 in saves with the Nationals and has yielded just one earned run in three appearances. He never got up on Wednesday. The Nats had a 2-1 lead on visiting Arizona in the sixth inning, but with Ole Miss product Aaron Barrett on the hill, the game slipped away. Barrett got just one out, allowing four hits and three runs (plus an inherited runner scored), and he committed a costly throwing error. Down 11-2 in the ninth, Washington resorted to using outfielder/first baseman Tyler Moore on the mound, and the ex-State star got the last two outs. Crazy. … Also on the skids is Minnesota, which has lost four in a row and 13 of 18. The Twins (54-53) are 9.5 games behind first-place Kansas City in the American League Central and 2 games out of the wild card picture. The Twins’ slump coincides with the struggles of former Southern Miss star Brian Dozier, the team catalyst who is batting .180 with six runs over his last 15 games. … On the flip side, Texas is sizzling (again), and former Bulldogs standout Mitch Moreland continues to swing a hot bat. The Rangers (54-53) beat Houston 4-3 on Wednesday to complete a sweep of their AL West rival and move within 5 games of the first-place Astros. Moreland went 2-for-4 with an RBI in Wednesday’s win, Texas’ seventh in eight games. He is batting .318 with six RBIs over his last seven games and is at .287 with 16 homers and 57 RBIs for the year. P.S. Props to Jeff Francoeur, the former Mississippi Braves star who ought to get consideration for comeback player of the year. Frenchy hit his 10th homer of the season for Philadelphia on Wednesday and is batting .276 with 35 RBIs in 214 at-bats.

03 Aug

here and there

The list of Mississippians to play for the Mississippi Braves will grow tonight when Jackson native Zack Bird makes his Double-A debut at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Former Murrah High star Bird joins a group that includes Jay Powell, Michael Rosamond, John Thomson, Van Pope and Brent Leach. Powell (West Lauderdale High), Rosamond (Madison Central), Pope (Terry) and Leach (Brandon) were prep and college stars in the state. Thomson, a Vicksburg native who appeared with the M-Braves on two different major league rehab assignments, went to high school in Sulphur, La. A number of Mississippi natives also played for Jackson’s old Texas League franchise, including Murrah product Fletcher Thompson, the second baseman for the 1993 pennant-winning Generals. Bird, acquired last week from the Los Angeles Dodgers, was 5-7 with a 4.75 ERA in 19 games (17 starts) at the high Class A level this season. … The Tippah Tribe beat the Tupelo Thunder 5-1 on Sunday in New Albany to claim the Cotton States League championship. Northwest Mississippi Community College alum Stephen Sexton and Bryan Ray Jr. homered for the Tribe. … Former Southern Miss star Brian Dozier matched his career-high for homers with No. 23 for Minnesota on Sunday; the Tupelo native, now in his fourth MLB season, has 70 career homers. … Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton is 51-for-58 on steal attempts this season for Cincinnati, an 88 percent success rate. His 2014 rate was 71 percent; he was thrown out an MLB-high 23 times while stealing 56 bases. … McComb native and Meridian CC alum Corey Dickerson is back on Colorado’s disabled list, his third trip of the year, this time due to broken ribs. He has played just 43 games, hitting .315 with five homers. … Former Itawamba CC standout Desmond Jennings is 1-for-5 in two rehab games at Triple-A Durham. Out since April with a knee problem, he figures to rejoin the Tampa Bay club sometime soon. … Last but hardly least, ex-Richton High star JaCoby Jones hit three homers for Erie on Sunday, his third game with Detroit’s Double-A club since he was traded last week (for Joakim Soria) by Pittsburgh. Jones, a shortstop, had 10 homers in A-ball this season and 23 in 2014.

31 Jul

target practice

Seth Smith likes to hit at Target Field in Minnesota. On Thursday, the Ole Miss alum from Jackson belted his fourth home run in 11 career games there, a first-inning blow that gave Seattle a lead on the Twins. Of course, Brian Dozier, the ex-Southern Miss star, likes to hit at Target Field, too. He smacked his 33rd career homer there, a leadoff shot that propelled the Twins to a five-run first inning and a 9-5 victory. Dozier, the All-Star, now has 22 homers for the season (10 at home) for Minnesota, which appears headed for an American League playoff berth that no one predicted in preseason. Seattle, on the other hand, was pegged by many to win the AL West but has had a rough go of it. At 46-57, the Mariners are a distant fourth in the division. Smith, in his first season with the M’s, has played well enough: His .263 average is right at his career mark, and he’s got nine homers and 28 RBIs in 270 at-bats. Wonder if he is on the trading block? … On a small ball note: Billy Hamilton, the Taylorsville Tornado, swiped two more bases on Thursday, running his season total to 49, 16 more than the next best in baseball. He also scored three times in Cincinnati’s 15-5 win against Pittsburgh, but his runs total of 47 ranks just 68th in MLB.

30 Jul

’round and ’round

This trade deadline stuff will make your head spin: Former Mississippi Braves Alex Wood, Luis Avilan and Jose Peraza are gone from Atlanta’s roster, shipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a trade that brought in Cuban third baseman Hector Olivera – and his $37M contract. Hard to figure where Atlanta is going with all of this, isn’t it? … Also joining the Braves organization is former Murrah High star Zack Bird, a ninth-round pick by the Dodgers in 2012 who has a 16-35 record and 4.74 ERA in four years in the low minors. The 6-foot-4 right-hander was in the Class A California League at the time of the deal. He could make it to the Double-A M-Braves sometime in the near future. … One small save for Washington, one giant (well, sorta) save for Mississippi State product Jonathan Papelbon. In his first appearance for the Nationals today, Papelbon worked a 1-2-3 ninth, punching out Michael Morse for the final out in a 1-0 win over Miami. It would have been a thing had Papelbon blown his first save try with the Nats, don’t you think? … Meanwhile, ex-M-Braves ace Matt Harrison, trying to battle back this season from injuries (see previous posts), is off to Philadelphia as part of the blockbuster deal that sent Cole Hamels to Texas. “He’s got a long track record of great success. It’ll be huge for us,” Rangers first baseman and MSU alum Mitch Moreland told mlb.com about Hamels. … And this just in, former Richton High star JaCoby Jones has been dealt from Pittsburgh to Detroit in exchange for closer Joakim Soria. Jones, 23, a shortstop, was just recently promoted to Double-A, which had sparked speculation a deal might be in the works with him.

30 Jul

a kind of hush

The Washington Nationals’ clubhouse did not explode on Wednesday. Jonathan Papelbon showed up in the visitors’ digs at Miami’s Marlins Park, and everybody said all the right things, at least publicly, about the team’s addition of a new closer. “To me it’s all about winning and being in a place I’m happy,” former Mississippi State standout Papelbon said in a Washington Post story. Papelbon wasn’t happy in Philadelphia, where he was 17-for-17 in save chances for a last-place club. The Nationals’ former closer, Drew Storen, did not sound happy in comments he made on Tuesday after the trade news broke. But he pitched — and pitched well — in the eighth inning of a 7-2 win over the Marlins that boosted the first-place Nats to 53-46, 2 games ahead of the New York Mets in the National League East. Papelbon did not get in the game. Washington GM Mike Rizzo said Tuesday that the Nationals aren’t worried about the possible side effects of adding the sometimes prickly Papelbon to their clubhouse, calling him “a winner.” “He excels in pressure situations, and that’s his personality,” Rizzo told espn.com. So … all was quiet on the Papelbon front, which was a theme for the day among Mississippians in the majors. Eight hitters went a combined 3-for-19 with one run. And Ole Miss alum Drew Pomeranz, making a relief appearance for Oakland, faced three batters and didn’t retire any of them. All three scored, and his ERA jumped to 4.08.

26 Jul

fun facts

Did you know that Rust College has produced one and only one professional baseball player? His name is Otis Edwards; he played one season in the minors in 1991. Stumbled across this fascinating bit of data on the wonderful web site baseball-reference.com. Atop the list of most pro players produced by a Magnolia State college is Mississippi State, with 196, including 49 major leaguers. Ole Miss is second (at 193 and 48), Southern Miss third (109/23) and Jackson State fourth (62/9). The rest: Delta State 47/10, William Carey 39/1, Mississippi Valley State 21/0, Alcorn State 16/1, Mississippi College 15/7, Belhaven 10/0 and Millsaps 8/4. More on Edwards: Undrafted out of NCAA Division III Rust, he signed with Cleveland and played 29 games at the rookie and short-season Class A levels, batting .152 with seven RBIs, eight runs and three steals. He also pitched a scoreless inning for Burlington of the rookie Appalachian League. The one Carey player to make The Show? John Stephenson, the ex-Crusaders coach. The one Alcorn player? Al Jones, a pitcher in the mid-1980s. … Stumbled across a couple more interesting items in the July/August issue of Baseball Digest. To wit: Don Kessinger was a six-time All-Star and a career .252 hitter with 1,931 hits over 16 years in the majors. But as a pinch hitter, he was 0-for-37, the worst drought of any player in MLB history with at least 20 pinch-hit appearances. Kessinger did draw four walks as a pinch hitter, but still, it makes you wonder, when he reached 0-for-36, why in the world did his manager send him up there again? Also on the list of pinch-hit futility: former Jackson Mets standout Stanley Jefferson, who was 1-for-32. Then there’s this: The dubious distinction of worst-hitting Gold Glove winner in any season belongs to Greenville native George Scott. “Boomer” hit .171 as the Boston Red Sox’s first baseman in 1968, his third year in the big leagues. Scott, a career .268 hitter with 271 home runs, won eight Gold Gloves over his lengthy career. P.S. The current issue of Sports Illustrated (July 27) has a cool photo essay and brief article on the Anderson Monarchs’ Civil Rights Barnstorming Tour that made a stop for a game at Jackson State’s Braddy Field last month. The 23-day, multi-state trip was a living history lesson for the Philadelphia (Pa.) area youth team, which included 2014 Little League World Series star Mo’ne Davis. It’s unclear whether any of the pictures were taken in Mississippi.

25 Jul

noteworthy

Chris Coghlan set a career-high with his 10th homer on Friday for the Chicago Cubs, but the former Ole Miss standout is a long way back in the all-Mississippi home run derby. The leader, Southern Miss product Brian Dozier, shows no signs of powering down. He yanked his 21st of the year on Friday, a second-deck shot at Target Field in Minnesota. Second on the list is Mitch Moreland, the ex-Mississippi State star, who has 16 for Texas. … Several clubs are asking about Moreland’s availability in a trade, reports say. The left-handed hitting first baseman, having a big year, is making an affordable $2.95M; he is eligible for arbitration in 2016. The Rangers reportedly are not eager to deal him. … MSU product Jonathan Papelbon, who is on the trading block but with no apparent takers, notched save No. 17 (in 17 opportunities) for Philadelphia. … Meridian Community College alum Corey Dickerson returned to the Colorado lineup on Friday and banged out two hits in his first game since June 16 (plantar fasciitis). He is hitting .308 with five homers in 39 games. … Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton grounded into a double play on Friday, just the fourth time in 250 career MLB games that he has been doubled up. … Ex-State star Tyler Moore picked up a couple of RBIs for Washington, giving him 22 for the season in 139 at-bats, but he still hasn’t homered since June 12. … Pascagoula’s Joey Butler has gone 23 days without an RBI for Tampa Bay; he has 21 in 64 games. … Ole Miss alum Alex Presley was outrighted to the minors by Houston. There had been speculation that the lefty-hitting outfielder might be traded when the Astros designated him for assignment a week ago.