Tag Archives: MLB

25 Jun

big league chew

He ranks first in runs, first in home runs, first in RBIs and second in slugging percentage among American League second basemen. Brian Dozier’s 56 runs are tied for the most in the entire AL, and he is second in the league in doubles. Surely, the ex-Southern Miss standout will make his first All-Star Game this year. He had two hits against Chris Sale on Wednesday, scoring a run and knocking in another to help Minnesota to a 6-1 win against the Chicago White Sox. Dozier is batting .261 with 14 homers and 36 RBIs for a good Twins club. … Kendall Graveman, the Mississippi State alum pitching for Oakland, beat Texas to square his record at 4-4 and trim his ERA to 3.86. Graveman is 3-2 with a 2.31 ERA in seven starts since returning from a stint in the minors. … Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton, back in the leadoff spot for Cincinnati, drew a first-inning walk, stole second and third and scored to start the Reds on their way to a 5-2 win at Pittsburgh. Hamilton was hitless in his other four at-bats, dropping his average to .223, but he has 35 steals and 33 runs in 62 games. … Ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College star Jarrod Dyson, whose speed may rival Hamilton’s, stole his eighth bag (in 34 games) for Kansas City in a win over Seattle. … Ole Miss product Lance Lynn (4-4, 3.07) is slated to come off the disabled list and start today for St. Louis against Miami. The Cardinals are 47-24, best record in MLB. … Worth remembering: Wednesday (June 24) was the 53rd anniversary of Silver City native Jack Reed’s only big league homer. It came in the 22nd inning of the New York Yankees’ 9-7 win at Detroit. Reed played parts of three seasons (1961-63) with the Yanks.

24 Jun

it’s a first

Drew Pomeranz, the former Ole Miss standout, achieved a career first on Tuesday night. The left-hander earned career save No. 1 by getting the last five outs in Oakland’s 8-6 win at Texas. He induced ex-Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland to hit into a double play in the ninth and then ended the game with a strikeout. Pomeranz might be best suited for a bullpen role. He began this season in the A’s rotation and was 2-3 with a 4.40 ERA when he went on the disabled list in mid-May. In only two of his eight starts did he go more than 5 1/3 innings. He has worked exclusively in relief since returning and has yielded just two runs in 10 appearances, picking up four holds. Used mostly as a starter in pro ball since Cleveland drafted him fifth overall in 2010, Pomeranz is 11-21 with a 4.20 ERA for his MLB career. P.S. East Central Community College alum Tim Anderson was named MVP of Tuesday’s Southern League All-Star Game. On his 22nd birthday, the Chicago White Sox prospect went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run to pace the North stars to a 9-0 victory at Montgomery, Ala.

21 Jun

good vibrations?

Max Scherzer had a much-celebrated great game for Washington on Saturday. His teammate Tyler Moore had a much-needed good game, which makes two in a row for the former Mississippi State star from Brandon. While Scherzer was firing his first career no-hitter against Pittsburgh, Moore, starting for the second straight day, was going 1-for-2 with a walk and two RBIs in the 6-0 victory. Moore had two hits on Friday, when his average for the year stood at .177. He is now batting .200 with four homers and 13 RBIs. Moore, who gets most of his at-bats as a pinch hitter, has one homer and four RBIs for the month. Moore’s value is in his power. He perhaps could have used a tuneup trip to the minors this season, but he is out of options and the Nationals apparently don’t want to risk losing him by exposing him to waivers. Moore hit 10 homers as a rookie in 2012 but has only 12 over the past three seasons. Washington, pegged by many as a World Series team, is only three games above .500. Maybe Saturday’s emotional win will serve as a jolt, for both the team and Tyler Moore. P.S. Seth Smith, the Ole Miss alum from Jackson, homered for Seattle in a 6-3 win on Saturday, his sixth of the year and first off a left-hander. The lefty-hitting Smith rarely faces lefties (14 ABs in 2015), and Saturday’s bomb was the first allowed this year by Houston’s Dallas Keuchel. … Ex-MSU star Ed Easley, still without an MLB hit (see previous posts), has been sent back to the minors by St. Louis.

19 Jun

on the dotted line

With the signings on Thursday of Austin Riley by Atlanta and Jacob Taylor by Pittsburgh, the top six Mississippians taken in the 2015 MLB draft reportedly are under contract. Riley, a third baseman from DeSoto Central High taken at No. 41 overall, and Taylor, a right-hander from Pearl River Community College picked in Round 4, join RH Scott Weathersby (Ole Miss, Houston), RH Witt Haggard (Delta State, New York Mets), 1B Sikes Orvis (Ole Miss, Chicago White Sox) and 2B Dalton Dulin (Northwest Mississippi CC, Washington) as major league hopefuls. Most, if not all, of these players will head to the Gulf Coast or Arizona rookie leagues, which start next week. Some others who have signed include Southern Miss RH James McMahon (Colorado), DSU RH Stephen Milligan (Kansas City), Alcorn State OF Earl Burl (Toronto), Mississippi Valley State OF Kalik May (Toronto) and former East Mississippi CC OF LaDarious Clark (Texas). Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, son of Hattiesburg native and ex-big league star Charlie Hayes, has signed with the Pirates; he was the 32nd overall pick out of a Texas high school. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves standout Jordan Schafer has been released by Minnesota. Schafer, the Twins’ opening day center fielder, hasn’t played since mid-May because of a knee injury and was hitting just .217. The recent promotion of top prospect Byron Buxton made him expendable. Schafer arrived in Mississippi as Atlanta’s No. 1 prospect in 2008, was hit with a drug suspension just days into the season and rode a rollercoaster over his career from then on.

18 Jun

aches and pains

One stint on the disabled list was not enough time for Corey Dickerson’s plantar fasciitis to sufficiently heal. The former Meridian Community College star, in the midst of another strong season with Colorado, went back on the 15-day DL on Wednesday. He came off his first trip on June 11. “It won’t get better until it has time to rest,” Dickerson told mlb.com. Dickerson, 4-for-16 without an RBI during his brief return, is batting .299 with five homers and 16 RBIs in 38 games. When he might rejoin the Rockies is unclear. The MLB all-Mississippi injured list now includes Zack Cozart (knee, out for the season), Cliff Lee (flexor tendon, possibly out for good), Desmond Jennings (knee, return uncertain), Aaron Barrett (biceps, return uncertain) and Lance Lynn (forearm, due back next week). P.S. Daniel Castro, who got a hit in his first big league at-bat for Atlanta on Wednesday, joins a lengthy list of former Mississippi Braves shortstops to make The Show. The others: Luis Hernandez, Yunel Escobar, Diory Hernandez, Brandon Hicks, Brent Lillibridge, Tyler Pastornicky, Andrelton Simmons and Ed Lucas. Castro hit .277 for the M-Braves in 2014 and was batting .389 this season when he was bumped up to Triple-A Gwinnett.

17 Jun

pitching in

In a game notable primarily for the eight home runs belted by Baltimore hitters, former Mississippi Braves star Jeff Francoeur made his MLB pitching debut on Tuesday. It was an adventure, to say the least. The erstwhile outfielder threw 48 pitches, 25 for strikes, in two innings of mop-up duty in Philadelphia’s 19-3 loss. He struck out a batter, hit a batter, walked three and gave up a home run. The fact that he was left in for two innings — the bullpen phone was off the hook? — seemed to rile up Phillies second baseman Chase Utley, who reportedly was concerned Francoeur would hurt his arm. Francoeur, who has a cannon, pitched in high school and also threw in eight games in Triple-A in 2014. … Meanwhile, another ex-M-Braves standout, Charlie Morton, who actually pitches full-time, tossed seven shutout innings against the Chicago White Sox to lead Pittsburgh to its sixth straight victory, five of them shutouts. Morton is 5-0 with a 1.62 ERA in five starts for the surging Pirates. Morton was an unspectacular 4-6, 4.29 for the M-Braves in 2007, but he threw a memorable gem in the Southern League playoffs that likely boosted his career. He made the big leagues with Atlanta in 2008, then was traded to Pittsburgh the next year. … Then there’s Craig Kimbrel, the former M-Braves closer who now toils for San Diego. His outing against Oakland on Tuesday was almost as rocky as Francoeur’s. Kimbrel allowed a hit, two walks and the go-ahead run in a 6-5 loss. Though he has 16 saves, Kimbrel’s ERA this season is 3.81; his career mark is 1.63.

14 Jun

fun times

Chris Coghlan is not exactly tearing up the league, but you have to think he’s having fun. The Ole Miss product is part of a Chicago Cubs team that has been one of this season’s most riveting stories. The Cubs have a roster of blossoming young stars and a colorful, well-respected manager. And they are winning, which is something they were not doing when Coghlan joined the club in May of 2014. Those Cubs were stuck in the basement of the National League Central, where they had practically taken up residence. Coghlan, cut loose by Miami after the ’13 season, had signed with Chicago as a minor league free agent. He didn’t make the club out of spring training and was shipped to Triple-A. He got the call to Chicago to take the place of an injured player. Expectations were, uh, muted. But then the young players began to arrive … and to produce. Coghlan got hot, too. He wound up at .283 with nine homers, 41 RBIs and 50 runs in 125 games. The Cubs finished 73-89, their best record since 2010. Excitement grew in the off-season as they signed lefty Jon Lester, then hired Joe Maddon as skipper. Coghlan also was re-signed. The team has ridden the wave to a 33-27 record; they got their MLB-best seventh walk-off win on Saturday, beating Cincinnati 4-3 at Wrigley Field. They’re third in the NL Central, 7 games back of leader St. Louis. Coghlan, a lefty hitter, plays regularly in left field. He is batting just .243 but has hit at a .326 clip over his last 15 games. Eight of his 43 hits are home runs. He has driven in 18 runs, scored 21. Coghlan isn’t old — he’ll turn 30 on June 18 — but in the Cubs’ clubhouse, he may feel that way, surrounded by so many young players: Rizzo, Bryant, Russell, Hendricks, Castro, Alcantara, Soler, et al. Coghlan, drafted out of Ole Miss in 2006, has been in the big leagues, off and on, since 2009, when he was the NL’s rookie of the year for the Marlins. Five years and many injuries later, he was without an MLB job until the Cubs gave him that shot last May. “In six years, I’ve had a full realm,” Coghlan told the Chicago Sun-Times. Part of his role now is to spread that perspective to a young team that appears full of energy and hope. It has to be fun. P.S. Also having a jolly old time: Mitch Moreland and the Texas Rangers, who’ve won 10 of 14 to get to 33-29, nipping at the heels of Houston in the American League West. Former Mississippi State star Moreland, who has been raking since coming off a stint on the disabled list, is batting .310 with eight homers and 30 RBIs. His latest bomb came Saturday, a three-run shot that helped beat Minnesota 11-7 at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

11 Jun

by the numbers

2 – Number of Mississippians in the majors sent to the minors today. Southern Miss alum Scott Copeland, who got his first MLB win for Toronto on Wednesday, was optioned (for the fourth time this year) to Triple-A Buffalo. Ole Miss product David Goforth, who had pitched sparingly for Milwaukee, also was optioned to Triple-A.
2 – Teams (the Chicago Cubs and Toronto) reportedly interested in trading for ex-Mississippi State standout Jonathan Papelbon, who has 12 saves and a 1.13 ERA (plus a lot of attitude) for Philadelphia.
4.5 – Games that first-place Biloxi (36-23) is ahead of the Mississippi Braves (31-27) in the Southern League South standings. The teams play a five-game series starting tonight at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The M-Braves took three of five in the teams’ inaugural series May 6-10, also played at the Tee-Pee. The first half ends June 21.
5 – Number of M-Braves on the SL South All-Star roster when pitcher Jake Brigham was added late Wednesday to a list that already included pitchers Tyrell Jenkins and Jorge Reyes, catcher Chris O’Dowd and outfielder Mallex Smith. Of course, O’Dowd won’t be playing in the June 23 game at Montgomery because he will be serving an 80-game drug suspension also handed down on Wednesday. O’Dowd had been on the inactive list since May 28.
8 – Number of Biloxi Shuckers named to the SL South All-Star team. Included are highly rated Milwaukee prospects Orlando Arcia, a shortstop, and pitcher Tyler Wagner.
8 – Home runs by Chris Coghlan, the former Ole Miss standout whose latest blast on Wednesday helped the Chicago Cubs pound Detroit 12-3.
15 – Days (at least) that ex-Ole Miss star Zack Cozart is expected to be out after hurting his knee on Wednesday. Cozart, on a roll with Cincinnati (.258, nine homers), is likely headed to the 15-day DL, according to various reports. Ex-Rebels ace Lance Lynn, 4-4 with a 3.07 ERA for St. Louis, is having tightness in his right forearm and could also land on the DL.
15 – Hits in his last 10 games for Pascagoula’s Joey Butler, who is batting .324 for Tampa Bay, the best average among regulars on the team.
19 – Number of players plucked out of Mississippi schools in the MLB draft, from DeSoto Central High’s Austin Riley at No. 41 overall to Columbia’s C.J. Newsome at No. 1,136. Ole Miss had four players chosen (Christian Trent was drafted for the second straight year), Southern Miss three (including Ferriss Trophy winner James McMahon), Delta State two and Jackson State, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State one each. Five high schoolers and two junior college players were picked. Of note: Hinds CC, which won 43 games this season and had a plethora of NCAA Division I signees, had no players drafted. Also of note: Former Southeast Lauderdale and East Mississippi CC star LaDarious Clark was picked out of West Florida by Texas in the 12th round.

08 Jun

draft notice

The major league draft often produces surprises, but it’s safe to assume that the Mississippi benchmark set 30 years ago by Will Clark will go unchallenged today. Former Mississippi State star Clark was the second overall pick in 1985 by San Francisco. No Mississippi-connected player before or since has gone No. 1 overall, though the state has had its fair share of first-rounders, including a No. 3 (B.J. Wallace of State by Montreal in 1992), a No. 5 (Drew Pomeranz of Ole Miss by Cleveland in 2010) and two No. 8’s (Kirk Presley of Tupelo High by the New York Mets in 1993 and Paul Maholm of State by Pittsburgh in 2003). Just last year, Blake Anderson, a catcher from West Lauderdale, went in the supplemental phase of Round 1, No. 36 overall to Miami. MSU alum Hunter Renfroe (13th overall) and East Central Community College product Tim Anderson (17th) were first-round picks in 2013, and Stone County’s D.J. Davis (17th) and State’s Chris Stratton (20th) went in Round 1 in 2012. Other first-rounders (including supplemental picks) over the last 30 years include ex-State star Rafael Palmeiro (No. 22 in 1985), Jackson State’s Earl Sanders (1986), Steve Pegues of Pontotoc (1987), Stone County’s Sam Hence (1990), State’s Carlton Loewer (1994), ex-Bulldogs star Eric DuBose (1997), Oak Grove’s Donnie Bridges (1997), Matt Ginter of State (1999), Michael Rosamond of Ole Miss (1999), UM’s Chris Coghlan (2006), Wendell Fairley from George County (2007), State’s Ed Easley (2007), former Rebels star Lance Lynn (2008) and Madison Central’s Ryan Bolden (2010). Lynn, Easley, Coghlan and Pomeranz are currently in the big leagues. The first round of the draft will be televised tonight on MLB Network. No Mississippians are expected to be picked – but you never know. Anderson wasn’t projected to go on the first day last year.

05 Jun

whatever happened to …

Jarrod Dyson still plays for Kansas City, he just doesn’t play very much. The former Southwest Mississippi Community College standout from McComb has appeared in three games since May 17. In 25 games total, Dyson, an outfielder, is batting .219 with five stolen bases and nine runs. Dyson led the Royals with 36 steals in 2014, when he hit .269 in 120 games. He appeared frequently as a defensive replacement (for the since departed Nori Aoki) or pinch runner, but those opportunities have been limited this year. The Royals’ starting outfield of Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain and Alex Rios (recently back from the disabled list) is pretty solid in all phases of the game. KC, the defending American League champ, is currently 30-21, a game back of Minnesota in the Central. P.S. Oakland reportedly has called up switch-pitcher Pat Venditte, who may soon become the first pitcher to throw both right-handed and left-handed in the same MLB game since Jackson Mets alumnus Greg Harris did it in 1995. Harris, who spent 15 years in the majors, got outs with both arms in a game for Montreal in September of his final season. A natural righty, Harris went 14-20 with a 3.29 ERA for the JaxMets from 1977-79.