Tag Archives: Ole Miss

19 Jul

big ones

Three big home runs were struck by Mississippi-connected players on Monday night, each one big in a different way. At Seattle, former East Central Community College star Tim Anderson belted an upper deck shot for the Chicago White Sox, the fifth homer of the year for the rookie shortstop who has shown surprising power. At Kansas City, Southwest Mississippi CC alum Jarrod Dyson hit a grand slam to cap a seven-run eighth inning for the Royals in a 7-3 win against Cleveland. It was the seventh homer in seven big league seasons for Dyson, known much more for his wheels. “I wasn’t expecting that type of result,” he said before he was doused with ice in a postgame interview. “But I’ll take it.” And then there was the shot struck in Anaheim by ex-Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland. It was career home run No. 100 for the Amory native, who has been with Texas for seven seasons. It was the 12th homer of 2016 but first since June 19 for Moreland, who has been battling a calf injury. The milestone blast puts him eight behind Seth Smith, the Jackson native and ex-Ole Miss standout, on the list of active MLB home run leaders from Mississippi. Vicksburg’s Ellis Burks is the state’s career home run king with 352, followed by Grenada (or Calhoun City) native Dave Parker at 339, Greenville’s George Scott at 271 and Jackson’s Chet Lemon at 215. For the record, Rafael Palmeiro is the all-time MSU alumni leader with 569 bombs; Will Clark hit 284.

15 Jul

in the system

After a fairly dominant tour of the Double-A Southern League, former Ole Miss standout Chris Ellis has found the going a little tougher at the Triple-A level. Ellis, slated to start tonight for the Gwinnett Braves, is 1-3 with a 6.05 ERA in five starts, though he did post five scoreless innings in his previous outing. The tall right-hander was 8-2, 2.75 for the Mississippi Braves before a June promotion. Ellis was acquired by Atlanta from the Los Angeles Angels in the Andrelton Simmons trade in the off-season; he is rated the Braves’ No. 12 prospect by mlb.com. Ellis is among five Mississippi-connected players in Atlanta’s system, though none are currently in Pearl. Also at Gwinnett is Southern Miss alum Bradley Roney, who also has hit some turbulence. Roney has a 4.67 ERA in 12 relief appearances, with two wins and two saves. Roney also started 2016 with the M-Braves and had a 2.82 when he was moved up. The third Mississippian on Gwinnett’s roster is Tyler Moore, the big league veteran out of Mississippi State who has been on the disabled list since May 5. He is batting .242 with one homer in 16 games. At Class A Carolina, former Murrah High star Zack Bird has struggled, putting up a 7.82 ERA with more walks than strikeouts in 22 appearances. He made three starts for the M-Braves last summer after he was acquired from the L.A. Dodgers but finished 2015 on the DL. Bird is currently rated Atlanta’s No. 15 prospect; that’s not going to hold up. This brings us to former DeSoto Central star Austin Riley, who is having a positive experience at low-A Rome. Only 19 and in his first full pro season, Riley is batting .259 with six home runs and 37 RBIs in 82 games. The third baseman, drafted 41st overall in 2015, already is rated Atlanta’s No. 6 prospect. His arrival in Pearl, possibly in 2018, is something to look forward to.

14 Jul

touching the bases

With the trade winds starting to intensify in the major leagues, it looks as if ex-Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz will soon be on his way to a new club. MLB.com reports there is a lot of interest in the San Diego left-hander, who just appeared in his first All-Star Game. Boston, Baltimore, Texas, the New York Mets and Miami are among the teams that could be in the bidding. Former Mississippi Braves Arodys Vizcaino (now Atlanta’s closer) and Yunel Escobar (the Los Angeles Angels’ third baseman) are also mentioned as hot commodities. … Former Mississippi State standout Hunter Renfroe went 0-for-2 in the Triple-A All-Star Game in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday night. His Pacific Coast League team, which also included former Mississippi Braves reliever James Hoyt, lost to the International League 4-2. Former Jackson Mets star Wally Backman managed the PCL stars. … Jackson native and ex-big leaguer Stan Cliburn managed the Freedom Division to a 3-1 win in the independent Atlantic League’s All-Star Game on Wednesday night at Lancaster, Pa. Cliburn’s Southern Maryland team won the Freedom Division title in 2015, which earned him the managerial honor, though he now skippers the New Britain Bees, who play in the Liberty Division. … Former Ole Miss star J.B. Woodman, the first position player picked out of the state in this year’s MLB draft, is heating up after a chilly start to his pro career. Woodman, a lefty-hitting outfielder with Toronto’s short-season Class A Vancouver team, has hit .290 with eight RBIs over his last 10 games. His average has jumped some 70 points in that span. … Alex Gunn, a Clinton High and Hinds Community College product, got the win in his first appearance for the Arizona Diamondbacks’ rookie Arizona League team. Signed late last week out of the independent American Association, Gunn went 5 2/3 innings, yielding four hits, two walks and two earned runs on Wednesday. Gunn, who also pitched at the University of Memphis, was 2-0 with a 3.37 ERA this season for the Gary South Shore RailCats. … Pearl River CC product Zach Clark has signed with Milwaukee, which drafted the shortstop/outfielder in the 19th round last month. Clark, who had been an Alabama commit, batted .325 with 11 homers and 41 RBIs for the Wildcats.

13 Jul

coast to coast …

A visit to Hawaii is one thing, but a trip to the MLB All-Star Game, your first as a player, is a different level of paradise. After learning he had made the National League team as an injury replacement, former Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz was forced to cancel a few plans he had made for the break. “My fiance and I were supposed to go to Hawaii to plan our wedding, but … whatever,” he told mlb.com, reportedly with a laugh. “It was a good excuse.” Pomeranz, now with San Diego, pitched a scoreless fourth inning in the NL’s 4-2 loss Tuesday night at Petco Park. He retired Salvador Perez, Jose Altuve and Mike Trout sandwiched around a Jackie Bradley single. “It’s pretty special to have your first one (All-Star Game) anywhere, but even more so here,” he said after the game, played before a crowd of 42,386. Pomeranz, in his first season with the Padres, has an 8-7 record and a 2.47 ERA in 17 starts with 115 punchouts. … In another televised game on Tuesday, played on the Atlantic coast before a much smaller crowd, Southern Miss’ Kirk McCarty delivered a gem for Orleans of the Cape Cod League. The left-hander tossed 6 2/3 shutout innings against Falmouth, allowing just three hits with five walks and five strikeouts. He got a no-decision but lowered his ERA to 1.98 in five games in the college summer league. His Firebirds won the game 2-1 (on a walk-off homer) before 1,381 at Eldredge Park in Orleans, Mass. … And on yet another coast, the Gulf, Lucas Sims of the Mississippi Braves notched his first Southern League win of the year Tuesday with a strong outing at Mobile. Sims worked 6 2/3 and yielded one run on six hits and two walks with seven K’s in a 2-1 victory before an announced 718 at Hank Aaron Stadium. Sims, Atlanta’s top pick in the 2012 draft and No. 10 prospect, started the season with the M-Braves before getting a promotion to Triple-A Gwinnett, where he went 2-6, 7.56 and got sent back on June 17. He is 1-2, 2.95 in seven starts for the M-Braves.

11 Jul

all-star flashbacks

Seventy years ago, in Boston’s Fenway Park, Waynesboro native Claude Passeau of the Chicago Cubs received the considerable honor of starting for the National League in the All-Star Game. Five years earlier, at Detroit’s Briggs Stadium, in his first All-Star outing, Passeau had yielded six hits and five runs over 2 2/3 innings, including the famous walk-off home run by Ted Williams. In the 1946 game, the last of Passeau’s four All-Star appearances, he pitched better, allowing just two hits over three innings. But one of those hits was a two-run homer by Charlie Keller, which propelled the Americans to a 12-0 victory. Passeau again took the loss. Thirty years ago, in the 1986 Midsummer Classic at the Astrodome in Houston, Greenville’s Frank White hit a home run for the AL squad (off former Jackson Mets star Mike Scott of the Astros) in a 3-2 win over the Nationals. Grenada’s Dave Parker and Jackson native Chris Brown each went 1-for-2 for the NL. In the 1996 game, Vicksburg’s Ellis Burks had a hit in two trips as the NL took a 6-0 win at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. And 10 years ago, Weir’s Roy Oswalt made the second of his three All-Star Game appearances, working a 1-2-3 third inning in a game the NL would lose, 3-2, at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. … The last time the All-Star Game was played in San Diego, in 1992 at Jack Murphy Stadium, former Mississippi State star Will Clark hit a three-run homer off former Jackson Mets ace Rick Aguilera. But it wasn’t enough for the Nationals, who lost 13-6 to the Ken Griffey Jr.-led AL team. P.S. In Fayetteville, N.C., tonight, Ole Miss’ Brady Feigl will start in the Coastal Plain League All-Star Game. Feigl, who got some freshman All-America notice as a reliever this past season, is 2-1 with a 1.90 ERA as a starter for Asheboro in the college summer league. … Ex-UM star Alex Presley went 1-for-3 on Sunday in a Class A-level game in the Detroit system. Presley elected free agency after being designated for assignment last month by Milwaukee. On a minor league contract with Detroit, he’ll likely be in Triple-A Toledo soon.

08 Jul

hot topics

Heading into Sunday’s All-Star Futures Game in San Diego, Hunter Renfroe has the look of a future big league All-Star. The Mississippi State alum from Crystal Springs hit his 21st home run of the season on Thursday for Triple-A El Paso in the Padres’ system. Over his last 10 games, the outfielder is hitting .457 with four homers and 13 RBIs. He’s at .335 for the year. Surely he’ll be playing big league games in Petco Park in the near future. … Ex-Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz, bidding to be a late pick for the MLB All-Star Game, allowed two hits over seven shutout innings for the Padres on Thursday to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. Pomeranz is 8-7 with a 2.47 ERA for a last-place club. … About the only thing that could cool off Seth Smith was a day off. Seattle rested the UM product on Thursday (against Kansas City lefty Danny Duffy). Over his last seven games, Smith batted .385 with five homers and 14 RBIs. … Mason Robbins is making a case for promotion in the Chicago White Sox’s system. The former Southern Miss standout from Leakesville had a three-hit game on Thursday for Class A Winston-Salem, boosting his average over his last 10 games to .390 and his season number to .306. The lefty-hitting outfielder, in his third pro season, has two homers, 21 doubles, 33 RBIs and 26 runs in 69 games. … In the Cape Cod Baseball League, Mississippi State’s Brent Rooker and Jake Mangum rank in the top five in batting. Rooker leads the summer circuit with a .386 average for Brewster, while Mangum is fifth at .344 for Bourne.

06 Jul

smash and dash

The home run is all the rage again in the big leagues, but speed still has its place. Zack Cozart and Billy Hamilton demonstrated the value of the smash and the dash elements in Cincinnati’s 9-5 win against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday. Ole Miss product Cozart belted his 13th home run – two shy of his career-high – and Taylorsville’s Hamilton swiped three bases – he’s got 22 all told — and scored from second base on a passed ball as the last-place Reds took down the mighty Cubs at Wrigley Field. Hamilton scored the game’s first run in the first when he walked, stole second and came home as a John Lackey pitch got past catcher David Ross; it helped that Lackey, perhaps forgetting who was running, was slow to cover the plate. Cozart hit his homer in the second inning, a two-run shot that made it 4-0. (Cozart tied Corey Dickerson and Brian Dozier for the lead in the all-Mississippi home run derby, each with 13. Mitch Moreland has 11 and Seth Smith 10.) In the fourth, Cozart led off with a double – his 22nd – went to third on a bunt by Hamilton and scored on a sac fly by Joey Votto, putting Cincy up 6-4. In the seventh, Hamilton legged out a bloop double, stole third and scored on a Votto hit to make it 7-5. Cozart (.269) and Hamilton (.244), batting 1-2 in the lineup, combined for four hits, four runs and two RBIs. P.S. Props to former Mississippi Braves Julio Teheran and Craig Kimbrel for making the All-Star Game.

05 Jul

whatever happened to …

Silento Sayles, the prep stolen base king from Port Gibson High, is batting .171 with two steals in 13 games at short-season Class A Mahoning Valley in the Cleveland system. Sayles started his third pro season in low-A ball and was batting .182 when he was moved down. For his career, he has 33 stolen bases in 49 tries over 151 games. He bagged a record 103 his senior year in high school. … Spencer Turnbull, the former Madison Central star and Detroit’s No. 6 prospect, has made two injury rehab starts in the Gulf Coast League. Turnbull went 11-3 with a 3.01 ERA at Class A West Michigan last season; he has been on the disabled list all season. … Bobby Wahl, the Ole Miss product who spent some time in Oakland’s big league camp this spring, has a 2.86 ERA and two saves in 21 games at Double-A Midland, where he had a 4.18 and four saves in 2015. … Zack Bird, the Murrah High alum who made three starts for the Mississippi Braves last summer, is at Class A Carolina in the Atlanta system. He is 2-1, 7.47 in 19 games, all but one in relief. … LeDarious Clark, the ex-East Mississippi Community College star from Meridian, has been on the disabled list at Class A Hickory in Texas’ system since early June. Clark is batting .219 in 42 games. He exploded into pro ball last summer and wound up at .276 with eight homers, 24 RBIs and 29 steals at the short-season Class A level. … Jacob Lindgren, the former Mississippi State and St. Stanislaus star who made The Show with the New York Yankees last season, has been on the disabled list at Class A Tampa since late April. Lindgren had elbow surgery last summer. … Tim Dillard, the former Itawamba Community College standout, is on the temporary inactive list at Triple-A Colorado Springs in the Milwaukee system. Dillard, 32, a onetime big leaguer, has a 7.11 ERA in his 14th pro season. … James McMahon, the 2015 Ferriss Trophy winner from Southern Miss, retired after his one tour of pro ball. He posted a 6.44 ERA in 19 games at the rookie level for Colorado. … Melvin Rodriguez, the 2015 SWAC player of the year from Jackson State, was released by Washington in the spring; he hit .200 in short-season Class A last summer. P.S. Though Cody Reed’s ERA sits at 9.00 after four starts for Cincinnati, reports are the Reds will keep the Northwest Mississippi Community College alum in the big leagues. Reed, a highly regarded left-hander, has been knocked around twice by the Chicago Cubs, including on Monday (five hits, three walks, two HBPs and four earned runs in four innings). “I think I’m a lot better than what I’m doing,” he told mlb.com. … Welcome back: Jonathan Papelbon, the former Mississippi State star, returned from the disabled list and pitched a scoreless inning for Washington on Monday, and Picayune’s T.J. House was recalled by Cleveland. Lefty House, who made 22 starts for the Indians in 2014-15, had a 4.45 ERA at Triple-A Columbus but put up a 2.16 in seven outings after moving to the bullpen in mid-June.

04 Jul

streak show

Whatever the Baltimore Orioles’ plan was for pitching to Seth Smith during the four-game series at Seattle, they need to rip it up and try something different. Smith, the ex-Ole Miss star, homered in all four games at Safeco Field, including hitting his first career grand slam on Sunday as the Mariners finished off a sweep. Smith said he made some minor adjustments in his swing recently and is on a 17-for-44 tear ever since. He is batting .280 with 10 homers and 38 RBIs for the surging M’s. … Southern Miss product Brian Dozier tripled on Sunday for Minnesota, extending his on-base streak to 25 games. Dozier is batting .380 with 19 RBIs over that span and has boosted his numbers to .262 with 11 homers, 41 RBIs. He just might make another All-Star Game. … Mississippi State alum Adam Frazier got his first career double and triple for Pittsburgh, helping the Pirates beat Oakland 6-3 for their fourth straight win. Frazier is 7-for-14 in seven games since his call-up. … Tim Anderson, the former East Central Community College star, had two more hits for the Chicago White Sox in a win over Houston. Anderson, batting .300, has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games and 17 of 22 since he was called up. … Enduring a different kind of streak is ex-State standout Mitch Moreland, who has been stuck on 99 career home runs since June 19, a span of 12 games for the Amory native. He is batting .229 with 11 homers and 34 RBIs for Texas.

02 Jul

timing is everything

If you’re going to watch Seth Smith play, you should catch him at home, at Seattle’s Safeco Field, and against a right-hander, which he faces almost exclusively. And catch him when he’s hot, of course, like now. The former Ole Miss standout from Jackson homered for the second straight game on Friday as the Mariners beat American League East leader Baltimore for the second straight time at Safeco. The lefty-swinging Smith is batting .362 over his last 15 games and has six hits in his last three games. For the year, he is at .272 with eight homers and 30 RBIs. At home, he is hitting .298 with six homers, and against right-handers, he’s batting .284 with all eight of his homers and 27 of the RBIs. The Mariners face Buck Showalter’s Orioles again tonight at Safeco, and Baltimore’s scheduled starter is right-hander Tyler Wilson. Seattle is 41-39, battling to keep AL West leader Texas in its sights. The M’s trail the Rangers by 10½ games. P.S. East Central Community College product Tim Anderson got some love on MLB Network’s Quick Pitch show today for drawing the first walk of his big league career on Thursday. It came in his 86th plate appearance for the Chicago White Sox. Anderson did not walk in Friday’s game – or get a hit – but the rookie leadoff man is batting .300 with three homers, 14 runs, five RBIs and a couple of steals while also playing some sharp shortstop over 20 games. The White Sox apparently are pleased. “He’s quiet, but there’s a confidence and a drive,” ChiSox manager Robin Ventura told CBSChicago.com.