Tag Archives: Ole Miss

01 Jul

touching the bases

Jackson native and ex-big leaguer Stan Cliburn will manage in the independent Atlantic League’s All-Star Game on July 13 in Lancaster, Pa. Cliburn’s Southern Maryland team won the Freedom Division title in 2015, which earned him the managerial honor even though he now skippers the New Britain Bees, who play in the Liberty Division. (So, yes, he’ll be managing against some of his own players.) … Jones County Junior College alum Mason Irby will play on the NJCAA National Team in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan. Irby, a Southern Miss signee from Meridian, batted .387 with eight homers and 76 RBIs for the NJCAA Division II national champion Bobcats. He is a first-team NJCAA All-America pick and an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove recipient as an outfielder. The NBC World Series will be held July 29-Aug. 13 at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. … Hunter Renfroe, the former Mississippi State slugger, has been chosen for the Triple-A All-Star Game, set for July 13 in Charlotte, N.C. The San Diego Padres prospect, who leads all of Triple-A with 18 home runs, already is slated to appear in the All-Star Futures Game on July 10 in San Diego. … Also on the Pacific Coast League team for the Triple-A Game are former Biloxi Shuckers star Orlando Arcia and ex-Mississippi Braves Gorkys Hernandez and James Hoyt. Onetime Jackson Mets shortstop Wally Backman is the PCL manager. Stu Cliburn, Stan’s brother and another Forest Hill High alum, is the pitching coach for the International League team; he is with Rochester in the Minnesota system. … Something about summer ball seems to suit Mississippi State’s Brent Rooker. Playing for Brewster in the Cape Cod League, Rooker is batting .391 with eight RBIs through 11 games. Rooker, who was drafted last month but apparently will return to the Bulldogs, was MVP of the New England Collegiate Baseball League last summer, when he batted .360 with 11 bombs. He’ll be in Omaha on Sunday for the College Home Run Derby, along with Ole Miss’ Colby Bortles. … Also in the Cape, Southern Miss’ Kirk McCarty is 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA for Orleans. … The North Delta Dealers have had the best hand in the Cotton States League to date, winning nine of their first 10 games in the New Albany college summer loop. East Mississippi Community College’s Garrett Ainsworth is 1-0 with a save in 7 1/3 innings, while John David Kubiszyn (Auburn) is batting .462 with three homers for the Dealers.

30 Jun

starting line

Dakota Hudson, whose name just keeps popping up on All-America teams, has yet to pop up in a pro box score. The first Mississippian picked in the 2016 draft (34th overall), the right-hander out of Mississippi State has signed with the St. Louis Cardinals and is on their Gulf Coast League roster. So is Walker Robbins, the Cardinals’ fifth-round pick out of George County High. Robbins is off to a 2-for-12 start. Ole Miss alum J.B. Woodman, picked in the second round by Toronto, is hitting .138 in eight games at the short-season Class A level. Playing in that same league (Northwest), ex-Delta State star Trent Giambrone (Chicago Cubs, 25th round) homered on Wednesday; he is 3-for-8 as a pro. Also in the great Northwest is Southern Miss alum Jake Winston (Arizona, 17th round), who got a win on Wednesday and has a 3.00 ERA in five appearances. UM product Errol Robinson (Los Angeles Dodgers, sixth round) is off to a .212 start (with four RBIs and four runs) in rookie ball. Ex-USM standout Chuckie Robinson (Houston, 21st round) is 3-for-15 on a short-season A club, while fellow former Golden Eagle Tim Lynch (New York Yankees, ninth round) — the noted former baseball autograph hound – is 4-for-15 in rookie ball.

29 Jun

fast company

Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva are iconic figures in Minnesota Twins history. Killebrew is in the Hall of Fame, and Oliva ought to be. Brian Dozier, the former Southern Miss star from Tupelo, took the legends down a peg on Tuesday. Dozier hit a pair of home runs in the Twins’ win against the Chicago White Sox, extending his streak of games with an extra base hit to nine. That’s a Twins record, surpassing the mark long held by Killebrew (from 1970) and Oliva (1969) that Dozier had equaled on Sunday. Dozier has a 10-game hit streak during which he has batted .439 with five homers. For the year, he is at .259 with 12 home runs and 36 RBIs. P.S. Ole Miss alum Alex Presley, batting .198 this season, has been designated for assignment by Milwaukee. The lefty-hitting outfielder’s playing time has been dwindling, and he was in a 2-for-22 skid. Presley, 30, in his 11th pro season, is a .253 career hitter in the big leagues.

28 Jun

luminosity

Mississippi State product Hunter Renfroe, Dansby Swanson of the Mississippi Braves and recently promoted Biloxi Shuckers standout Josh Hader have been named to the All-Star Futures Game, set for July 10 at Petco Park in San Diego. MLB Network will televise the game (at 6 p.m. CDT) as part of All-Star Weekend. … Fan voting for the July 12 MLB All-Star Game ends on Thursday; the teams will be announced next Tuesday (on ESPN). Ole Miss alumni Zack Cozart (Cincinnati) and Drew Pomeranz (San Diego) have outside chances at being selected to the National League squad, though both face very strong competition at their spots, shortstop and starting pitcher. Former M-Braves Julio Teheran, Freddie Freeman and Arodys Vizcaino are also regarded as viable candidates. … Former Jackson State coach Bob Braddy formally enters the National College Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday when the organization holds its Night of Champions in Lubbock, Texas. Braddy, one of the nicest people you could hope to meet, won a SWAC record 824 games at JSU and claimed 12 conference titles in 24 years with the Tigers. He steered more than 50 players into pro baseball, several reaching the big leagues, including Dave Clark, Oil Can Boyd, Wes Chamberlain and Marvin Freeman. JSU’s field is named in Braddy’s honor. He is still involved in youth baseball in Jackson. … In Omaha on Sunday, Ole Miss’ Colby Bortles and State’s Brent Rooker will take part in the TD Ameritrade College Home Run Derby. The event will be aired on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m.

26 Jun

lightning strikes

If he could bottle it, he surely would. Former Ole Miss standout Drew Pomeranz had quite the day for San Diego on Saturday. Seven shutout innings on the mound at Cincinnati. Two hits, including his second career home run, at the plate. Pomeranz, who goes 6 feet 6, 240 pounds, is reputed to be a batting-practice masher. “I’m 5 o’clock lightning, for sure,” he told The Sports Xchange. It’s the potential lightning in his left arm that rates the attention, however. Pomeranz is having the best season of his career, and the trade rumors are circling overhead. He is 7-7 with a 2.76 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 88 innings for the Padres, who are going nowhere this year. There are a number of clubs, Baltimore and Miami among them, said to be interested in acquiring Pomeranz. The fifth overall pick by Cleveland in 2010, Pomeranz already has been dealt three times: from the Indians to Colorado, then to Oakland, then to San Diego. He is only 21-31, 3.77 career, having split time as a starter and reliever while teasing with his potential. He appears finally to have caught on to something in 2016. Maybe he can bottle it.

25 Jun

random numbers

1 – Big league hits for Adam Frazier, the former Mississippi State standout who got his first knock in his first at-bat for Pittsburgh on Friday night.
1 – Professional hits for Walker Robbins, the ex-George County High star who singled in his first game with the Gulf Coast League Cardinals.
4 – Hits in eight at-bats for Joey Meneses in his first two games with the Mississippi Braves. The native of Mexico was hitting .342 at Class A Carolina.
1,000 – Career wins in MLB for Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle, the former Jackson Mets manager who won 73 games with the Double-A club back in 1990.
3,315 – Attendance on Friday at Biloxi’s MGM Park, where former Jackson Mets star Darryl Strawberry threw out the first pitch. He was in town for a speaking engagement.
12 – Combined runs scored by Montgomery and Biloxi in the first inning of the Southern League game, won by the Biscuits 10-9.
13 – Home runs by Corey Dickerson, the Meridian Community College product who went deep for Tampa Bay on Friday. He leads all Mississippians in the majors in homers; Zack Cozart and Mitch Moreland have 11 each.
3 – Home runs allowed in two MLB starts by Cody Reed, the Northwest Mississippi CC alum now with Cincinnati.
15 – Strikeouts by Cody Reed in his 12 innings in the big leagues.
3.56 – ERA of Cleveland’s pitching staff, which leads the American League. Former Ole Miss standout Mickey Callaway is the pitching coach for the Indians, who have won seven straight and lead the AL Central.

23 Jun

heat check

Brian Dozier appears to be over his slump. The former Southern Miss standout, whose average had dipped below .200 in late May, has hit .375 over his last 15 games with two homers, six RBIs and 12 runs. The Minnesota Twins second baseman is at. 244 for the season with eight homers and 28 RBIs, a little off his All-Star production from 2015 but trending in the right direction. … A number of other Mississippians are producing some hot stuff with the bat: At Triple-A El Paso, ex-Mississippi State star Hunter Renfroe hit his 17th homer on Wednesday and has three in his last six games. He is batting .314 for San Diego’s top farm team. … MSU alum Adam Frazier, at Triple-A Indianapolis (Pittsburgh), is batting .393 in June with 14 runs and 10 RBIs. He is at .333 for the year. … At Double-A Arkansas (Los Angeles Angels), Ole Miss product Alex Yarbrough is batting .357 over his last 10 games, boosting his average to .272. He is bidding to get back to Triple-A, where he began the season. … Southwest Mississippi Community College alum Kade Scivicque has hit .359 over his last 10 games for Class A Lakeland in Detroit’s system. The second-year pro, a catcher, is batting .276. … Miciah Heard, a Blue Mountain College player from Thaxton, is off to an 11-for-22 start in the Cotton States League, the New Albany-based college summer circuit. Heard, a .314 hitter for BMC, has 13 steals, nine runs and five RBIs in six games for the Tallahatchie Rascals. … Not exactly hot but glad to be back on the field is Anthony Alford, the former Petal High star. Alford, who suffered a concussion on June 10, played Wednesday for Class A Dunedin, going 0-for-3. The highly regarded Toronto prospect is batting .200 in an injury-wracked campaign.

22 Jun

where you lead

Scoring first is a big deal in the big leagues — or at any level of the game, really. The team that scores first wins a large percentage of the time. On Tuesday, three Mississippi-connected players in MLB, all batting leadoff, scored the first run of their game, all in the first inning. It worked out well for two of the three. Tim Anderson, the rookie out of East Central Community College, led off the game with a home run – his first — for the Chicago White Sox. They beat Boston 3-1 at Fenway Park. Anderson, 2-for-4 on Tuesday, is batting .292 with seven runs in 11 games. Ole Miss product Zack Cozart walked to start the game for Cincinnati. He would score on a three-run homer by Jay Bruce, and the Reds went on to derail Texas 8-2 at Globe Life Park. Cozart went 2-for-4, including his 11th home run, drove in three runs and scored three. He is batting .284. At Wrigley Field, ex-Ole Miss star Chris Coghlan, getting a look in the leadoff spot for the Chicago Cubs, singled off St. Louis’ Adam Wainwright in the bottom of the first. He would come around to score, but the Cubs couldn’t hold that lead, falling 4-3. Coghlan, 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs, is batting .294 (.455 on-base percentage) with seven runs in 10 games since the Cubs reacquired him from Oakland. He was batting .146 (with five homers) for the A’s. P.S. Former Hillcrest Christian and Ole Miss standout Cody Satterwhite is now on the roster of the Hanshin Tigers in Japan but has yet to pitch. Satterwhite was released earlier this month by the Los Angeles Angels so he could sign with Hanshin. The right-hander, 29, had a 1.50 ERA in 25 innings at Triple-A Salt Lake in his seventh pro season.

20 Jun

on a scale …

Good: Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier hit his eighth home run of the year on Sunday, helping Minnesota beat the New York Yankees 7-4.
Better: Ex-Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz scattered six hits (three of them homers) and fanned seven over six innings to lead San Diego to a 6-3 win over first-place Washington. With six wins already, Pomeranz has set a career-high in his sixth MLB season.
Best: Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland hit his 11th homer, a 456-foot blast, to help Texas win at St. Louis 5-4. The Rangers, at 45-25, trail only the Chicago Cubs (47-20) in wins.
And the bad news: On the same day that fellow former Mississippi Braves Julio Teheran (one-hitter) and Freddie Freeman (4-for-5, RBI) starred in a 6-0 win against the New York Mets, Mallex Smith suffered a fractured left thumb that likely will sideline the rookie outfielder until late July. Smith is batting .237 with three homers, 21 RBIs and 14 steals.

18 Jun

listen up

Listened to Cody Reed’s MLB debut on XM; there is such an old-fashioned comfort in listening to baseball on the radio. … Among the five batters the former Horn Lake High and Northwest Mississippi Community College standout faced in the first inning were George Springer, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Carlos Gomez. At Minute Maid Park in Houston. Welcome to The Show, indeed. … None of those four got a hit, but Marwin Gonzalez, the second batter in the Astros’ lineup, hit a home run to put Reed and Cincinnati in an early 2-0 hole. … The Houston broadcasters discussed Reed’s lucky glasses – the ones he has worn since 10th grade – and marveled at the action on his slider. “A lot to like” and “flashing brilliance” were among the comments during the game. … The Reds battled back against Dallas Keuchel, the 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner. Ex-Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton, who made what was described as a sensational catch in center field in the second inning, drove in a run in the fifth on a ground out. … Ole Miss product Zack Cozart made it 2-2 with his 10th homer of the season in the sixth. … It was still knotted at 2-all in the bottom of the seventh when Evan Gattis, the former Mississippi Braves slugger, crushed a Reed fastball for a two-run bomb. … Reed finished the seventh and was done for the day. The left-hander fanned nine, walked three and yielded just six hits. He was on the hook for the loss before Adam Duvall hit a game-tying homer in the ninth. Still – from the sound of things – Reed proved he is ready for the big leagues.