Tag Archives: Ole Miss

26 Jul

have a day

Scroll the ‘Sip-centric highlights from Thursday: Start in Low-Class A, where Brennon McNair — former Magee High standout — went 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs, a double and a home run in Columbia’s 4-3 win against Lynchburg. McNair, 21, a fourth-year pro in the Kansas City organization, is batting .207 with six homers, 22 RBIs and five steals. … Also in Low-A, ex-Ole Miss star Kemp Alderman went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Meridian Community College product Davis Bradshaw — who is batting .347 in 13 games — was 1-for-3 in Jupiter’s 7-1 win over Daytona Beach. Alderman, the 2023 Ferriss Trophy winner, is hitting .287 with three homers and 23 RBIs for the Miami affiliate. … In High-A, Southern Miss alum Dustin Dickerson went 2-for-3 with a walk, a run, an RBI and a steal as Quad Cities rallied past Cedar Rapids 5-3. Dickerson, a 2023 draftee by Kansas City, is batting .232 (.363 on-base percentage) with 22 RBIs and 39 runs. … Staying in High-A, Colton Ledbetter, ex-Mississippi State standout, hit his 12th homer in a 5-4 win by Bowling Green (Tampa Bay) vs. Winston-Salem. Ledbetter, also a 2023 draftee, is batting .269. … In Double-A, MSU alum R.J. Yeager — signed by St. Louis as an undrafted free agent in 2022 — hit his 10th homer for Springfield in a 3-2 victory over Corpus Christi. … At Triple-A, ex-Ole Miss star Grae Kessinger, recently demoted by Houston, reached base five times for Sugar Land in an 11-9 loss against Sacramento. Kessinger hit his third homer, walked three times and scored three times. … And in The Show: Brent Rooker continued to rake for Oakland, belting his 24th homer — 441 feet — in the A’s 6-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels. The former SEC player of the year out of MSU is batting .289 with 70 RBIs and has hit .382 with seven homers over his last 15 games. … And MSU alum Nathaniel Lowe went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run as Texas (51-52) won its fifth straight, 2-1 vs. the Chicago White Sox behind Max Scherzer. Lowe is batting .270 with a .361 OBP. P.S. Former Ole Miss standout and ex-big leaguer Chris Ellis was released from Triple-A Reno by Arizona. He was 2-7 with a 9.09 ERA.

24 Jul

duel for the ages

On paper, it was the must-watch pitching matchup of the night in the big leagues. Lance Lynn, 37, the graybeard out of Ole Miss, a veteran of 336 big league starts, against Paul Skenes, 22, the rookie from LSU with the trendy mustache, taking the mound for just 12th time. And it was a great duel — while it lasted. St. Louis ultimately handed Skenes (6-1) his first loss, 2-1 on Tuesday night at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. It was scoreless through four innings. Lynn lasted just one more frame (86 pitches) but left with a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Nolan Arenado homer. The Pirates tied it in the eighth against the St. Louis bullpen, and then the Cardinals pushed across the winning run against Skenes in the ninth. Skenes, frequently hitting 100 mph, went 8 1/3, allowed just four hits and no walks with eight strikeouts. The All-Star Game starter has 97 K’s in his 12 games. Lynn, still pumping his four-seamer up to 95 mph, allowed four hits and three walks and fanned two, including career K No. 2,000. “His competitive nature has allowed him to really accomplish cool things in this game,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol told mlb.com. Lynn’s record this season stays at 5-4 (141-99 career), his ERA dips to 4.17. The Cardinals, running second in the National League Central, moved to 53-48, 2 games better than the third-place Pirates. P.S. On the trade candidate watch: Ex-Mississippi State star Brent Rooker belted his 23rd homer for last-place Oakland, his fifth bomb in his last seven games; he is batting .291. Ocean Springs High product Garrett Crochet worked just four innings (74 pitches) for the Chicago White Sox, allowed two runs and took a loss; he is 6-7 with a 3.07 for the last-place ChiSox.

23 Jul

ode to ‘sport’

Born on this date in 1874 in the Delta town of Austin, Lewis William “Sport” McAllister holds the distinction of being the first Mississippi native to appear on a major league roster in the modern era, which began in 1901. McAllister was a switch-hitter who played every position over a seven-year big league career which launched in 1896 in the National League. He hit .301 for the 1901 Detroit Tigers and .247 for his career. He played many years in the minors after his big league career ended and was head coach at Michigan for a time. McAllister also holds the less-honorable distinction of having played for the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, a team that went 20-134 in the NL and is generally regarded as the worst major league club of all-time. (McAllister’s exploits that season are chronicled in the book “Of Mudcat, Boo, The Rope and Oil Can.”) McAllister died in Michigan in 1962. P.S. The Kansas City Royals (56-45) matched their win total from 2023 with a 10-4 win over Arizona on Monday. Ex-Mississippi State star Hunter Renfroe hit one of the Royals’ three homers — it was his ninth — and MSU product Adam Frazier went 1-for-5 with a run in the leadoff spot. Ex-Ole Miss star James McArthur leads KC with 17 saves but hasn’t pitched during the four-game win streak that has followed the All-Star break. … Grae Kessinger, former Ole Miss standout, was sent back to the minors by Houston. He has appeared in 16 games (15 at-bats) without a hit in two MLB stints this season.

20 Jul

twin valleys

The Chicago Cubs, trying to stay relevant in the playoff chase, sent their hottest pitcher to the Wrigley Field mound on Friday. Visiting Arizona sent Justin Steele to the showers in the fifth inning. Not what the Cubs were expecting. The Diamondbacks, also aiming for a second-half push, rolled to a 5-2 win, stopping Lucedale native Steele’s streak of quality starts at seven. The left-hander allowed five runs in his 4 2/3 innings and fell to 2-4, his ERA rising to 3.07. He had allowed just one run in 16 innings in winning his previous two starts. The Diamondbacks got to him for nine hits, two walks and an HBP. “It’s a good lineup over there,” Steele said in an mlb.com piece. “Obviously — they were in the World Series last year.” The Cubs fell to 47-52, last in the National League Central and 3.5 games back of the wild card cut. … Meanwhile, Chicago’s other team, the White Sox, suffered what was not a wholly unexpected result in their first game after the All-Star break. The worst team in baseball lost at Kansas City 7-1. Former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson, called up from Triple-A Charlotte on Friday, watched from the bench as the ChiSox fell to 27-72. Maybe he can help. The 29-year-old catcher was batting .246 with seven homers and 32 RBIs for the Knights. Now in his eighth pro season, Robinson got into 25 games with Cincinnati is 2022, batting .136 with two homers. P.S. Down in the minors, Mississippi State product Preston Johnson threw two innings as part of a four-man no-hitter by Aberdeen, Baltimore’s High-Class A affiliate. A 2022 draftee, Johnson has a 5.64 ERA this season. … David Fletcher, erstwhile MLB infielder and current Mississippi Braves knuckleballer, notched his first win of the season as Atlanta’s Double-A club rallied to beat Pensacola 5-4. Fletcher (1-2, 4.82) allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings. … Ole Miss alum Josh Mallitz, a right-hander, has signed as an undrafted free agent with San Diego, per Baseball America.

18 Jul

post-draft doodles

Ranked among the Top 200 MLB draft prospects by MLB Pipeline, Hunter Hines was not among the 615 players chosen during the three days of draft. That’s good news apparently for Mississippi State. The slugging first baseman will return to Starkville for his senior season, according to various reports. Hines, 6-foot-3, 210-pound lefty hitter, batted .257 with 16 homers and 56 RBIs for the Bulldogs in 2024, good numbers but a little down from his performance in 2023. He batted .297 with 22 bombs and 61 RBIs as an All-SEC pick that season, then was an All-Cape Cod League pick last summer. With 54 career homers at MSU, Hines will have a shot in 2025 at Rafael Palmeiro’s school record of 67. … Slade Wilks, one of Southern Miss’ all-time sluggers, went undrafted for the second straight year and is out of eligibility at USM. Wilks, a lefty-hitting DH, enjoyed a big senior year, batting .336 with 14 homers and 69 RBIs and finishing his career with a 36-game hitting streak. He even got a hit in his final at-bat in the black-and-gold. He was a third-team All-America selection and a first-team Academic All-American. Wilks stands fifth on USM’s career homer list with 46. … Lewisburg High product Samuel Richardson, who appeared on some draft prospect charts before the season, was not drafted and apparently will play for SEC newcomer Texas next season. … Former Lewisburg High standout Brady Tygart, a junior pitcher at Arkansas, was drafted in the 12th round by Boston and was pegged by MLB Pipeline as one of the “most interesting picks” of Day 3. He was a freshman All-America as the team’s closer in 2022 but had injury issues the last two years. All told, he had a 3.75 ERA in 48 appearances for the Razorbacks. … Alabama senior outfielder T.J. McCants, who played three years at Ole Miss, was also on the “most interesting picks” list after going in the 16th round to the Chicago White Sox. He batted .306 with 15 homers and 14 steals for Bama in 2024. P.S. Alcorn State still does not have a head coach for next season. Former major leaguer Reggie Williams was fired in mid-June after going 16-122 in three seasons in Lorman. The Braves were 6-43 (5-25 SWAC) in 2024.

17 Jul

there and here

Down in Mexico on Tuesday night, Harrison Central High product Bobby Bradley took a star turn, hitting a game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth for Tijuana, which went on to win the Mexican League game 3-2 over Saltillo. Former big leaguer Bradley is batting .281 with 12 homers and 48 RBIs in his first season in Mexico. He hit 17 homers in 97 MLB games with Cleveland between 2019-22 and has 228 in his pro career. … Over in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, Southern Miss alum and ex-big leaguer Kirk McCarty is 2-2 with a 1.37 ERA in four starts for CTBC Brothers. The little left-hander from Hattiesburg took a loss despite allowing just one run in eight innings on Sunday. … Back in the USA, in the MLB All-Star Game, Ocean Springs High product Garrett Crochet threw a scoreless inning (striking out Home Run Derby champ Teoscar Hernandez) and Mississippi State product Jordan Westburg went 0-for-1 as a late sub at second base in the American League’s 5-3 win in Arlington, Texas. … Jurrangelo Cijntje, the (situational) switch-pitcher from Mississippi State, reportedly has signed with Seattle for $4.9 million. He was the 15th overall pick on Sunday. … Ex-MSU star Ethan Small made a rehab appearance — his first of 2024 — with San Francisco’s Arizona Complex League team, allowing a run in his one inning. Lefty Small, a first-round pick in 2019, has four MLB appearances on his resume, all with Milwaukee. … Up in the Cape Cod League, Ole Miss’ Campbell Smithwick went 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs for Chatham in a win vs. Falmouth on Tuesday and is batting .375 in 15 games in the college summer loop. Southern Miss’ Josh Och notched a save on Tuesday, his second in three scoreless appearances for Hyannis. Also in the Cape: USM’s Davis Gillespie, playing for Bourne, is at .283 with a homer in 14 games. Jones College alum Beau Bryans, who signed with Alabama in the fall, is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA over 15 innings for Bourne. Mississippi State alum Cam Schuelke, a 19th-round draft pick by Cleveland on Tuesday, is 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA for Cotuit, and Ole Miss’ Patrick Galle is 2-0 with a save despite a 7.59 ERA for Wareham. … Jacques Pucheu, a Gulfport native and East Mississippi CC product, has been selected to the American Association All-Star Game. The left-hander is 5-3 with a 4.33 ERA for Cleburne in the independent league. Also on the Cleburne club is ex-UM star Thomas Dillard, batting .282 with 10 homers. Delta State product Trent Giambrone, now with Kansas City in the AA, is batting .292 with four homers. … Ex-Pontotoc High and Itawamba CC standout Delvin Zinn, who scuffled in the AA this season, has found a comfort zone in the indy Frontier League, hitting .318 with 10 steals in 19 games for Evansville. … Ex-Ole Miss star Errol Robinson, in his eighth pro season, has been released by Baltimore; he was hitting .208 at Triple-A Norfolk.

16 Jul

it’s a wrap

Three more Mississippi State pitchers and five from Ole Miss were picked in rounds 11-20 of the MLB draft. The total number drafted from state schools over the three days was 21, eight of them Bulldogs pitchers. MSU’s Tyson Hardin (Milwaukee), Tyler Davis (Kansas City) and Cam Schuelke (Cleveland) went on Day 3, along with outfielder Connor Hujsak (Tampa Bay) and shortstop David Mershon (Los Angeles Angels). Ole Miss draftees included third baseman Ethan Lege (Pittsburgh) and pitchers Connor Spencer (Oakland), Xavier Rivas (New York Yankees), Cole Tolbert (Boston), Hunter Elliott (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Kyler Carmack (Philadelphia). Southern Miss outfielder Dalton McIntyre went to Atlanta. Only one high school player — Jackson Prep’s Konnor Griffin, the ninth overall pick — was drafted this year, and none were picked from the state’s non-Division I schools or junior colleges.

16 Jul

of local interest

One player who cut his teeth in the minors in Mississippi will throw the first pitch in tonight’s MLB All-Star Game and another will catch the much-anticipated first offering from Paul Skenes in the bottom of the first inning. There’s a former Mississippi prep standout and another who starred in college in the Magnolia State on the American League squad. Corbin Burnes, who pitched for Double-A Biloxi in 2017, will start for the AL at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. William Contreras, who caught for the Mississippi Braves in 2019, is the NL’s starting catcher. Former M-Braves star Freddie Freeman (class of 2009) is a reserve on the NL roster. Ocean Springs High alum Garrett Crochet likely will pitch for the AL at some point, and ex-Mississippi State star Jordan Westburg — who finished second in the fan voting at third base — is a reserve infielder for the AL. Those two are among the 39 first-time All-Stars. “It means just as much to (my family) as it does to me because they’re the ones who sacrificed so much through my youth and amateur baseball career,” Westburg, a Texas native, told masnsports.com. There are other reasons to watch the 94th Midsummer Classic (7 p.m., Fox), of course: rookie sensation Skenes, Aaron Judge, Home Run Derby champ Teoscar Hernandez, Gunnar Henderson, Elly De La Cruz, Mason Miller, Jose Ramirez … to name a few. For the Mississippi baseball aficionado, there are several All-Star anniversaries of note. In 1934, in the second All-Star Game 90 years ago, adopted Mississippian Dizzy Dean made the first of his four appearances, pitching three innings (one run) in the NL’s loss at the Polo Grounds. In 1974, Don Kessinger, former Ole Miss player and coach, made the last of his six All-Star appearances, going 1-for-1 with an RBI for the NL squad. (Kessinger turns 82 on Wednesday.) In 1984, Jackson native Chet Lemon played in his third and final All-Star Game, going 1-for-2 (and getting picked off) for the AL. In 1994, ex-MSU standout Will Clark played in his sixth and last Midsummer Classic, going 2-for-2 for the NL team. Clark was 5-for-13 in his All-Star career. In 1999 — 25 years ago — MSU product Rafael Palmeiro went 1-for-2 with an RBI for the AL stars at Fenway Park, where the All-Century Team (with Ted Williams) was honored pregame. In 2004, Gulfport native Matt Lawton went 1-for-2 for the AL in the second of his two All-Star Games. The only other time the Texas Rangers hosted the All-Star Game was in 1995, when former State standout Buck Showalter, then with the New York Yankees, managed the AL team in a 3-2 loss. P.S. Purvis High’s Jacob Parker hit a literal last-second blast to earn a tie for the title in the high school home run derby final held at Globe Life on Monday night. The State commit hit 24 homers (with a metal bat) in the preliminary round on Saturday.

15 Jul

caught in a draft

Dakota Jordan, widely expected to go in the first round of the MLB draft, slipped to the fourth, picked by San Francisco at No. 116 overall. The Mississippi State product from Canton, a draft-eligible sophomore at age 21, batted .354 with 20 homers and 72 RBIs this season and won the Ferriss Trophy as the state’s top college player. Scouting reports rave about Jordan’s bat speed but note concerns over his strikeout rate (35 percent in 2024) and defense (not his arm strength). And despite possessing good speed, he stole just three bases for the Bulldogs in 63 games. … All told, nine players from state schools have been drafted through 10 rounds, five of them MSU pitchers. Going in the second round on Sunday night was State pitcher Khal Stephen, 59th overall to Toronto. Today, in addition to Jordan, the Bulldogs’ Nate Dohm went in the third round to the New York Mets; MSU’s Brooks Auger in the sixth to the Los Angeles Dodgers; Southern Miss’ Niko Mazza in the eighth to the Giants; Ole Miss’ Jackson Ross in the ninth to Washington; and MSU’s Colby Holcombe in the ninth to Toronto. … There were 14 players picked from state colleges or high schools in 2023, led by Ole Miss’ Jacob Gonzalez at 15th overall. Gonzalez already has reached Double-A in the Chicago White Sox’s system. … Konnor Griffin of Jackson Prep, picked ninth overall Sunday by Pittsburgh, is the only high school player drafted from the state so far. Rounds 11-20 are today. The track record for high school players from Mississippi going straight to pro ball isn’t particularly good. … With switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijnjte going 15th overall on Sunday to Seattle, MSU has now had 13 players drafted in the true first round (not counting supplemental picks) since 1965, according to an mlb.com article. Will Clark went No. 2 in 1985, the highest any player from Mississippi has been drafted.

13 Jul

pre-draft doodles

Mississippi may never have been considered a motherlode of baseball talent, but pro scouts have been mining for nuggets here since the first MLB draft. Joe DeFabio of Delta State was the 20th overall pick in 1965, and players from the state have been drafted in the first round virtually every year since. Four with state ties are projected in various mock drafts to go in Sunday’s Round 1, which, counting supplemental picks, goes 39 deep. Jackson Prep’s Konnor Griffin and former Madison Central High star Braden Montgomery, who played at Texas A&M this season, are generally regarded as top 10 prospects. Mississippi State’s Dakota Jordan and Jurrangelo Cijnjte are also expected to go in Round 1. … The highest any player from the state has been chosen is No. 2, Will Clark taken out of MSU by San Francisco in 1985. The state also has produced two No. 3’s (Ted Nicholson of Oak Park in Laurel by the Chicago White Sox in 1969 and B.J. Wallace of State by Montreal in 1992), a No. 5 (Drew Pomeranz of Ole Miss by Cleveland in 2010) and three No. 8’s (Donny Castle of Coldwater High by Washington in 1968, Kirk Presley of Tupelo High by the New York Mets in 1993 and Paul Maholm of State by Pittsburgh in 2003). Dave Clark of Jackson State was No. 11 by Cleveland in 1983. … Last year, 14 players were drafted out of Mississippi, including No. 15 Jacob Gonzalez from Ole Miss by the White Sox. In 2022, 23 players from Mississippi schools were selected over the 20 rounds of the draft, Landon Sims of MSU going 34th overall. … Back in 2018, Baseball America conducted a survey of which state produced the most pro talent per capita and Mississippi ranked fourth, with 149 high school alums appearing on affiliated rosters from 2011-17. … In Baseball America’s 2024 Draft Preview skill rankings, Griffin — the No. 1 high school athlete — is No. 2 in power, No. 2 in defense (outfield) and No. 4 in speed among all draft-eligible prep players. Montgomery — a touted prep draft prospect when he was at Madison Central — ranks No. 3 in power and as the No. 5 athlete among the college class. Jordan is No. 5 in power. … In Lindy’s 2024 Baseball preview magazine, Lewisburg High’s Samuel Richardson, a third baseman, was rated the No. 35 draft prospect, but he appears to have slipped off the radar over the course of the season. … Quite a few of the state’s best all-around athletes have chosen football over baseball: See Senquez Golson, A.J. Brown, Jerrion Ealy, Anthony Alford (who later returned to baseball and spent some time in the big leagues). Also on that list is Steve McNair, a relative unknown baseball talent when a Seattle scout first saw him in 1991. Dan Jennings, a former William Carey player, happened upon a game at Mount Olive and was mesmerized by the home team’s shortstop. “This is my day. The baseball gods are smiling on me,” he told espn.com in a story a few years ago. The Mariners drafted McNair in the 35th round and offered $15,000 plus college tuition. He chose to play football at Alcorn State — and, yes, the rest is history. … Charlie Condon, the Golden Spikes Award winner from Georgia, is a possible No. 1 overall pick (Cleveland has the choice) — and, yes, there is a Mississippi connection. Georgia’s hitting coach, who has helped Condon blossom from an unrecruited prep player to a college star, is Will Coggin, a former Mississippi State player and assistant coach. Coggin coached Brent Rooker and Jake Mangum, among other draftees, in Starkville. … A name to watch for in the later rounds of the draft, according to an MLB Pipeline article, is Landon Hairston, an Arizona high school outfielder. He is the son of ex-big leaguer Scott Hairston, who is the son of ex-big leaguer Jerry Hairston Sr., who is the son of ex-big leaguer Sam Hairston, a Crawford native who starred in the Negro Leagues in the 1940s.