Tag Archives: Ole Miss

25 Jan

going camping

Mississippi will be well-represented in the Chicago White Sox’s spring training camp in Arizona next month. Three minor leaguers — Tim Elko, Jacob Gonzalez and Braden Montgomery — with state ties and strong credentials have been invited as non-roster players to Glendale, where they’ll hook up with Louisville native and ex-big leaguer Marcus Thames, the White Sox’s hitting coach. Elko, 26, a 10th-round pick off Ole Miss’ 2022 national title team, has batted .288 with 51 homers as a pro, reaching the Triple-A level last summer. The big first baseman also played well in the Arizona Fall League — four bombs in 11 games — and was selected by USA Baseball for the Premier 12 team that played in an international tournament last fall. Gonzalez, national freshman of the year at Ole Miss in 2021, was a first-round pick by the ChiSox in 2023 and is currently rated their No. 15 prospect by MLB Pipeline. A middle infielder, Gonzalez reached Double-A in 2024 and hit .225 with five homers, 42 RBIs and 10 steals for Birmingham in the Southern League. Montgomery was Mississippi’s Gatorade player of the year at Madison Central High in 2021 and starred at Stanford and Texas A&M before Boston picked him 12th overall in the 2024 draft. The switch-hitting outfielder, who has yet to make his pro debut, was one of the prospects Chicago acquired from Boston in the recent Garrett Crochet trade. Montgomery, 21, is the ChiSox’s No. 5 prospect. The ChiSox need all the help they can get. The team went 41-121 last season, worst record in modern MLB history. Thames, who starred at East Central Community College before launching a 10-year major league career, is entering his second season as Chicago’s hitting coach, having been retained by new manager Will Venable. P.S. Montgomery checked in at No. 55 on MLB Pipeline’s new list of the Top 100 minor league prospects entering the 2025 season. Konnor Griffin, the mega-star out of Jackson Prep, is No. 43; the shortstop/outfielder was the ninth overall pick last July by Pittsburgh and has yet to make his pro debut. Cooper Pratt, the ex-Magnolia Heights standout, is No. 57 on the list; the 2023 draftee is in Milwaukee’s system.

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.

08 Jan

planning ahead

There is no certainty that Brandon Woodruff will be in Milwaukee’s starting rotation by Opening Day, but the ex-Mississippi State standout from Wheeler is planning on it. “(M)y mindset is to get ready for that,” Woodruff said in a recent Brewers Beat article. The big right-hander, 31, who missed all of the 2024 season following shoulder surgery, reportedly is throwing two short bullpen sessions a week at home in Mississippi and will be evaluated by Brewers staff next week in Arizona. He admitted he still has a ways to go in the rehab process before adding, “But gosh, I feel good.” That’s great news for Brewers fans. Woodruff, a former Biloxi Shuckers ace, is 46-26 with a 3.01 ERA and two All-Star Game nods in his Milwaukee career. He appeared in just 11 games in 2023 when the shoulder issue cropped up. He had surgery in October 2023, essentially knocking him out for 2024. He was non-tendered by Milwaukee after the ’23 season, then re-signed on a two-year deal ($17.5 million) last February. Milwaukee won the National League Central last season and, especially with a Woodruff bump, should be in the hunt again in 2025. P.S. Squeezed off Houston’s 40-man roster, Grae Kessinger has been moved to Arizona, which traded Tuesday for the former Ole Miss star. Kessinger, 27, played in 49 games as a reserve infielder with the Astros the past two seasons. He had a good year in Triple-A in 2024.

07 Jan

he’s in the money

Brent Rooker has performed like a superstar the past two seasons and now he’s getting paid like one. Rooker, national player of the year at Mississippi State in 2017, reportedly has been given a 5-year, $60 million contract extension by the (no longer Oakland) A’s. It’s the third largest contract in A’s history, per MLB Network, and includes an option that could push the value to $90 million. Rooker, 30, made $750,000 in 2024, when he batted .293 with 39 homers and 112 RBIs and won a Silver Slugger at DH in the American League. He has belted 69 homers in two seasons with the A’s, who gave him his first regular work after he had bounced around other organizations for three seasons. Armed with his new contract, Rooker will also have a new home in 2025; the A’s, ultimately bound for Las Vegas, will play at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, Calif., for the foreseeable future. The team went 69-93 last season but has a good, young core that includes ex-State star J.T. Ginn and Ole Miss product Gunnar Hoglund on its pitching staff and ex-Mississippi Braves standout Shea Langeliers behind the plate.

30 Dec

position switch, take two

Prior to last season, the Detroit Tigers gave raw rookie Colt Keith a big contract — which could be worth some $80 million — and a new position to play. The former Biloxi High standout, a third baseman in high school and the minors, switched to second base for his MLB debut — and handled the move with aplomb. Keith has been named the second baseman on Baseball Digest’s MLB Rookie All-Star Team for 2024, joining the likes of Paul Skenes, Jackson Merrill, Colton Cowser and Jackson Chourio on the venerable magazine’s honored list. Mississippi’s 2019 Gatorade player of the year, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Keith batted .260 with 13 homers and 61 RBIs in 148 games for the Tigers, who made the postseason. What’s next for Keith? Well, the Tigers will ask him to switch positions again in the spring, moving to first base to accommodate the arrival of free agent signee Gleyber Torres. Expect Keith, 23, to make a smooth adjustment, just as he did last spring. P.S. Waiting to see what’s next for Grae Kessinger, the Oxford native and ex-Ole Miss star who was designated for assignment by Houston last week. Kessinger could return to the Astros’ system if he clears waivers or he could wind up somewhere else as a minor league free agent. The 27-year-old infielder has been in pro ball since 2019, with 49 games in the big leagues. In 23 games with the Astros in 2024, he was 0-for-21. He batted .262 in Triple-A. … Entering the final day of the Mexican Pacific League regular season, Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton leads the winter league with 38 stolen bases. The former big leaguer — who has 838 steals overall in pro ball — is batting .246 for Jalisco. Ex-Gulfport High standout Bobby Bradley, also an ex-big leaguer, is tied for third in the MPL with 10 homers for Navojoa.

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.

23 Nov

here and there

Ethan Small, the former first-round MLB draft pick out of Mississippi State, is looking for a new team after San Francisco did not offer the left-hander a contract for 2025. Originally drafted by Milwaukee in 2019, Small made just four big league appearances with the Brewers in 2022 and ’23 before being traded to the Giants last February. He was shelved with an injury much of the season, posting a 4.85 ERA in 14 appearances in the minors. The 27-year-old Small was among a wave of players cut loose by MLB clubs on Friday. He has worked as both a starter and reliever in the minors with some success in both roles (3.22 career ERA). The former SEC pitcher of the year will land somewhere next season; lefties are always in demand. … Ole Miss product Kemp Alderman was ranked No. 21 in MLB Pipeline’s list of the top 30 prospects in the recently concluded Arizona Fall League. Alderman, a Miami farmhand, hit .306 with six homers in nine games in the AFL — he left the league early to get married — and was pegged as the All-AFL designated hitter. He batted .242 with eight homers in 2024, his first full minor league season. … Former UM slugger Tim Elko has struggled at the plate for Team USA in the World Baseball Premier 12 tournament. Elko is 0-for-9 with seven strikeouts for the American side, which is 4-4 overall in the international competition heading into tonight’s bronze medal game vs. Venezuela in Tokyo. Elko batted .289 with 18 homers and 73 RBIs between Double-A and Triple-A for the Chicago White Sox this season and also played well in the AFL before being recruited to Team USA. … Former big leaguer Billy Hamilton, the ex-Taylorsville High standout, continues to lead the Mexican Pacific League in stolen bases with 21 through 34 games. Hamilton, 34, is batting .257 with 10 extra-base hits and 23 runs for Jalisco. He last played in the majors in 2023. … Brennon McNair, the Magee High alum now in the Kansas City Royals’ system, is 4-for-21 with a homer, three RBIs and three steals in six games for Brisbane in Australia’s winter league. … Banks Tolley, ex-St. Andrew’s High star, has signed with Schaumburg of the independent Frontier League after playing briefly in the league last summer. At Appalachian State last season, Tolley was a third-team All-America pick by d1baseball.com. The Mississippi Mud Monsters, a Frontier League newcomer for 2025, have yet to announce any signees (or a manager) for their inaugural season.

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.