Tag Archives: Ole Miss

10 Sep

fizzling finish

The big game on Monday’s MLB docket was Kansas City-New York, a battle between two playoff-bound clubs at Yankee Stadium. It proved to be a big disappointment for the visiting Royals. The KC bullpen — namely Ole Miss alum James McArthur and Mississippi State product Chris Stratton — imploded, handing the Yankees a 10-4 victory. New York leads the American League East by 1.5 games; Kansas City sits second in the AL Central and the wild card race. A home run by ex-MSU star Hunter Renfroe — his 13th — gave the Royals a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning. In the bottom of the seventh, with one out, McArthur — the team’s former closer — came on to face the top of the New York order. Gleyber Torres singled, Juan Soto walked, Aaron Judge singled in the tying run and Austin Wells hit a three-run bomb: 7-4 Yankees. Down goes McArthur. It was his seventh blown save in 25 chances; his record fell to 5-7 and his ERA jumped to 5.01. “We know that is a big spot in the game,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said in an mlb.com article. “We felt really good about him there. It was just one of those nights he wasn’t able to put them away.” It was still 7-4 in the eighth when Stratton came on. He gave up four hits, a walk and three runs, pretty much ending any hopes the Royals might have had of a ninth-inning rally. Tupelo native Stratton, who won a ring with Texas last year, saw his ERA balloon to 5.34. The Royals get two more cracks in this series at the AL’s top team.

09 Sep

let’s get it started

Nothing like a first-inning home run to energize your team. Jake Mangum, the former Mississippi State standout from Flowood, led off Sunday’s game with a bomb for Durham, sparking Tampa Bay’s Triple-A club to a 15-5 rout of Columbus. It was the fifth homer of the season for minor league veteran Mangum, who went 3-for-6 to lift his average to .323, easily the best in the International League. He has 49 RBIs, 54 runs and 16 steals in 93 games for the Bulls. In the big leagues, Nathaniel Lowe, another MSU alum, went yard in the first frame for Texas, which went on to beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-4. The defending World Series champion Rangers have faded from playoff contention, but Lowe has picked up his game of late: .333 (.431 OBP) over his last 15 games. He is batting .263 (.358 OBP) with 12 homers and 53 RBIs on the year. Down in the Midwest League, ex-Magnolia Heights star Cooper Pratt smacked a first-inning homer — against former Southern Miss ace Tanner Hall — as High-Class A Wisconsin beat Cedar Rapids 10-3. Shortstop Pratt, Milwaukee’s No. 2 prospect, has five homers for the Timber Rattlers and is hitting .221 in 23 games with the team. The second-year pro hit .295 in Low-A before his promotion. P.S. The postseason starts Tuesday for teams in the Class A levels. Pratt’s Wisconsin club will play Quad Cities in the first round of the MWL postseason. Ex-USM star Dustin Dickerson plays shortstop for Quad Cities, a Kansas City affiliate. … Bowling Green, a Tampa Bay affiliate featuring MSU products Colton Ledbetter and Kamren James, faces Rome in the High-A South Atlantic League playoffs. Former Smithville High standout Jared Johnson pitches for Rome, an Atlanta affiliate. … Connor Hujsak, another 2024 draft pick out of State, is an outfielder for Charleston, a Tampa Bay affiliate in the Low-A Carolina League postseason. Southaven native and Northwest Mississippi Community College product Dalton Fowler pitches for the RiverDogs, who’ll face Kannapolis in the first round. Ole Miss alum T.J. McCants plays for the Cannon Ballers (Chicago White Sox). … Tyson Hardin, a 2024 draftee out of MSU, pitches for Carolina, a Milwaukee affiliate that’s also in the Carolina League postseason. … Dakota Jordan, the ex-MSU star from Canton, is on the roster but on the injured list at Low-A San Jose (San Francisco Giants), which is in the California League playoffs. Jordan, a 2024 draftee, was 0-for-7 in two games this season.

07 Sep

celebrating the seventh

The date Sept. 7 marks a special occasion for several Mississippians who have played in the major leagues down through the years. Six Magnolia State products debuted on this date between 1959 and 2010, two of them — Don Kessinger and Jarrod Dyson — going on to have outstanding careers. In 1959, Clarksdale native Fred Valentine broke in with Baltimore, going 0-for-3 in his debut. The outfielder would play parts of seven years in the big leagues, batting .247 with 36 homers. Jim Miles debuted in 1968, pitching one inning (three runs allowed but a strikeout of Mickey Mantle) for Washington. The Grenada native, who played at Northwest Mississippi Community College and Delta State, made 13 appearances for the Senators over two years. Jackson native John Scott, an outfielder, played his first game in 1974 for San Diego, going 0-for-1. He spent three seasons in The Show but played 13 years in pro ball all told, including stints in Japan and Mexico. Edwin Maysonet, a Puerto Rico native who starred at DSU, debuted in 2008 for Houston and went 0-for-1. An infielder, he played three years in MLB, batting .265. That brings us to Kessinger and Dyson. Ex-Ole Miss star Kessinger was 1-for-2 in his 1964 debut with the Chicago Cubs. The slick-fielding shortstop played 16 years in the majors, making six All-Star teams and batting .252 while banging out 1,931 hits. McComb native Dyson’s story is rather remarkable. Drafted in the 50th round out of Southwest Mississippi CC by Kansas City in 2006, the speedy outfielder made The Show in 2010. He drew a walk as a pinch hitter and scored a run in that first game. He played 12 seasons in the majors, won a ring with the 2015 Royals and stole 266 bases, third all-time among Mississippi natives. … On Sept. 7, 2011, ex-Itawamba CC standout Desmond Jennings hit the only walk-off homer of his seven-year career with Tampa Bay. Jennings — the Double-A Southern League MVP in 2009 — hit 55 career MLB homers, seven as a leadoff batter. … On a somber note, Potts Camp native Bob Boyd died on this date in 2004. Nicknamed “The Rope” for his hitting talent, Boyd batted .298 over an 11-year big league career, including two Negro League seasons.

04 Sep

three things

1) With a 3-for-5 performance on Tuesday, Jake Mangum boosted his average to .322, which leads the Triple-A International League. The former Mississippi State and Jackson Prep standout has 13 hits in his last six games, including a five-hit game last week, for Durham, Tampa Bay’s top affiliate. Switch-hitter Mangum, 28, homered Tuesday, his fourth of the year. Over five pro seasons, all in the minors, Mangum is batting .296 with 22 homers and 77 stolen bases. He is not on Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster.
2) Nick Fortes, Ole Miss alum, continues to swing a hot bat for the lowly Miami Marlins. Fortes had three hits in a win on Sunday, went 1-for-3 in a loss on Tuesday and is batting .326 over his last 30 games. The 27-year-old catcher, who got off to a frigid start in 2024, is batting .225 with three homers, 11 doubles and 22 RBIs in 91 games for a 51-87 team.
3) The postseason is here in the independent American Association. Ex-Ole Miss star Thomas Dillard is one of the big bats in the lineup for Cleburne, which finished with the best record (60-40) in the 12-team league. The Texas-based Railroaders open the Miles Wolff Cup playoffs tonight at Chicago, one of four first-round series. Dillard, a longtime Milwaukee minor leaguer, hit .260 with 16 homers and 62 RBIs for the Railroaders; he blasted 39 homers in the indy Atlantic League in 2023 and 12 for Double-A Biloxi in 2022. Cleburne, managed by former big leaguer Pete Incaviglia, also features ex-Mississippi Braves pitcher Beau Burrows.

02 Sep

small consolation

History will show that Ocean Springs native Garrett Crochet was the losing pitcher in the 2024 Chicago White Sox’s franchise-record 107th loss. From the Small Consolation Dept.: History will also show that Crochet tied an American League record by striking out the first seven New York Mets batters he faced in Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Guaranteed Rate Field. To be sure, there have been positives for Crochet in what has been an abject disaster of a season for his team. Starting for the first time since his college days at Tennessee (2018-20), the 25-year-old left-hander made the AL All-Star team in his fourth big league campaign. He has a 3.61 ERA (but just a 6-10 record) and ranks third in the league with 188 strikeouts. He won five times in a seven-game stretch in May and June, earning AL pitcher of the month honors for June. He celebrated his last win on June 7; that’s how bad the ChiSox have been. Sunday’s strikeout streak “was cool,” Crochet said in an mlb.com piece. “Sadly, I kind of wasted a lot of pitches in that time. So it kind of ate into my pitch count ….” Now on a strict pitch limit, he threw 56, one of which Francisco Lindor smacked out of the park, the lone run Crochet allowed in 3 1/3 innings. Former Southern Miss star Chuckie Robinson was behind the plate for Crochet’s stint. … For the record, Gulfport native Bill Melton was on the 1970 White Sox team that lost 106 games, hitting 33 home runs. P.S. Ex-Mississippi State standout Justin Foscue, back in the big leagues with Texas, started at first base Sunday, walked and scored a run in the Rangers’ win over Oakland. … Ole Miss product Lance Lynn’s rehab start with Triple-A Memphis didn’t go too well: five runs, eight K’s in 3 2/3 innings; he has been on St. Louis’ injured list since July 31. … With MLB rosters expanding to 28 this month, it would be nice to see Colorado give a call to Hunter Stovall, the former State star who has been in the system since 2018. The 5-foot-6 second baseman, who hit a walk-off homer on Saturday at Triple-A Albuquerque, is batting .280 with six homers, 35 RBIs and 11 steals. He isn’t on the 40-man roster, so his chances of a promotion are slim. … Southern Miss product Matthew Etzel, who has scuffled at Double-A Montgomery since being traded by Baltimore to Tampa Bay, banged out four hits on Sunday to lift his average to .242 with four homers and 13 RBIs in 27 games. He is batting .278 with 10 homers and 45 steals overall in his first full pro season.

28 Aug

a bit of deja vu

Kemp Alderman’s pro career may be following the same path as his career at Ole Miss, where he started slowly before erupting in his final two years. The Decatur native and former Newton County Academy star hit his first home run for High-Class A Beloit on Tuesday, a game-winning shot to right-center field against Peoria. Alderman has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games for the Sky Carp and is batting .256 with nine RBIs and seven runs in 22 games since moving up. He hit .270 with five homers and 30 RBIs in 33 games in Low-A ball this year after batting just .205 with a single bomb in 34 games at that level in his pro debut. Alderman started quietly as a freshman at Ole Miss, rarely playing, then hit .286 with 11 homers for the 2022 College World Series winner. In 2023, he put up one of the best seasons in school history, winning the Ferriss Trophy and earning second-team All-America recognition while batting .376 with 19 homers and 61 RBIs. Miami drafted him in the second round — 47th overall — last summer. At 6 feet 3, 250 pounds, the 22-year-old outfielder has been compared to ex-Mississippi State star and current big league slugger Hunter Renfroe, who has 189 career MLB bombs. Alderman has that kind of power potential, and it is starting to show. Alderman is ranked as the Marlins’ No. 13 prospect by MLB Pipeline. P.S. Ole Miss alum James McArthur threw two hitless innings, MSU product Chris Stratton worked a clean ninth and former Bulldogs standout Adam Frazier scored a run as Kansas City beat Cleveland 6-1 and moved into a tie for the American League Central lead.

27 Aug

just stuff

Nick Sandlin, former All-America pitcher out of Southern Miss, made his first pro start on Monday for Cleveland and fared well: two strikeouts, two walks and a foul out in his one inning. However, the Guardians lost the game to visiting Kansas City and then lost again in the nightcap as their lead in the American League Central slipped to 1 game over the Royals. Sandlin was a lockdown reliever for two years at USM, moved to the rotation for his junior year (2018) and went 10-1 with a 1.06 ERA. He won the Ferriss Trophy, C-USA’s pitcher of the year award and a national player of the year honor. The Guardians drafted him and moved him back to the bullpen, and the right-hander has a 3.26 ERA in 198 MLB games. … Kansas City played without Mississippi State products Hunter Renfroe (on the injured list), Adam Frazier (sitting with a .211 average) and Chris Stratton (5.23 ERA), and ex-Ole Miss standout James McArthur (no longer closing) worked one scoreless inning in Game 1. Frazier is in the lineup tonight for Game 3 of the big series. … Colt Keith has eight RBIs in his last four games, all wins by Detroit. The rookie out of Biloxi High is batting .266 with 12 homers and 52 RBIs. … Ex-USM star Matt Wallner homered in the ninth inning of Minnesota’s loss to Atlanta. His 10th blast of the season was his first off a left-hander (Dylan Lee). … Justin Steele, former George County High standout, is back on the bump today for the Chicago Cubs against Pittsburgh. Steele (4-5, 3.07, overall and 2-0, 1.66, in August) has had problems with Pittsburgh’s Connor Joe, batting .538 with a homer in 15 plate appearances vs. the left-hander, per Baseball Reference’s Matchups to Watch. … Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn, on the IL (knee injury) since July 31 for St. Louis, is expected to make a rehab start this week with Triple-A Memphis. Lynn (6-4, 4.06) threw about 75 pitches in a live practice session Monday, reports said. … Ex-DeSoto Central star Blaze Jordan, out since Aug. 10 after getting hit in the face by a pitch, was activated today by Double-A Portland. The Boston Red Sox’s No. 26 prospect is hitting .253 with seven homers and 51 RBIs. … Mississippi Braves right-hander Lucas Braun was named to MLB Pipeline’s Prospect Team of the Week after allowing just one run with 20 strikeouts over 13 2/3 innings in two starts last week. Atlanta’s No. 21 prospect is 3-1 with a 2.36 ERA in 10 Double-A starts.

20 Aug

tagging up

Atlanta’s season of woe continued on Monday when Austin Riley was placed on the injured list with a fractured hand. The former DeSoto Central High star was batting .256 with 19 home runs and playing Gold Glove-level defense — did you see the play he made on Friday? — for a wounded Braves team (66-58) that is still very much in the playoff hunt in the National League. It has been a painful year generally for Mississippians in the majors. Riley joins Jordan Westburg, Dakota Hudson, Kendall Graveman, J.P. France, Brandon Woodruff, Spencer Turnbull, Lance Lynn and Jacob Waguespack on the injured list. In addition, Nathaniel Lowe, Justin Steele, Justin Foscue, Hurston Waldrep, Ethan Small, Hunter Renfroe and Nick Fortes have done time on the IL. … Fortes, an Ole Miss product, came off the IL on Sunday for Miami and recorded the final out in a 8-9-4-2 double play, the first in the big leagues in the modern era. He also homered on Monday — his third — and is batting .388 over his last 15 games. … Foscue, back in the minors, had a four-hit, four-RBI game for Triple-A Round Rock on Saturday. Rated Texas’ No. 7 prospect, the ex-Mississippi State star is batting .277 with five homers for the Express; he is 2-for-19 in his limited MLB time this year. … Biloxi High alum Colt Keith, 23, not that far removed from his youth league days, went 3-for-4 with a game-tying run in Detroit’s 3-2 win over the New York Yankees in Sunday’s Little League Classic at Williamsport, Pa. … Ex-State standout Hunter Renfroe went 0-for-24 over a six-game stretch before going 3-for-9 on Saturday and Sunday for Kansas City in back-to-back wins against Cincinnati. … Belated kudos to former Biloxi Shuckers standout Weston Wilson, who became the first Philadelphia Phillies rookie to hit for the cycle when he did so last Thursday. Wilson, who played in Biloxi in 2018-19, homered in his first big league at-bat for the Phillies last August. … The Mississippi Braves pounded Biloxi 11-1 on Sunday at Keesler Federal Park (formerly MGM Park) as Keshawn Ogans hit his first homer of the season for the M-Braves. The M-Braves won five of six in the series. Atlanta’s Double-A team, which is moving to Columbus, Ga., in 2025, starts its next-to-last homestand Tuesday at Trustmark Park vs. Chattanooga.

16 Aug

slamming the door

Former Southern Miss standout Ryan Och shared in a bit of history with the San Antonio Missions on Thursday. The left-hander, in his fourth season in the San Diego system, got the last four outs (on 11 pitches) in a three-man no-hitter, the 16th in San Antonio’s long minor league history. Och has a 3.10 ERA in 12 appearances for the Double-A Missions and a 4.02 with two saves overall in 2024. He was a key bullpen arm for USM in 2021, posting an 8-0 record with a 1.27 ERA and a ton of strikeouts for a 40-21 team that reached the title game of the Oxford Regional. San Diego drafted Och in the seventh round that summer. In 59 career pro games, he has a 3.77 ERA and 141 strikeouts in 88 1/3 innings. … In Thursday’s game, an 8-0 win for the Missions against Amarillo, Ole Miss alum Kevin Graham went 0-for-3 (three strikeouts) for the Sod Poodles, an Arizona affiliate. (He didn’t face Och.) Graham, who played on UM’s 2022 national title team, is batting .222 in his first Double-A campaign.

13 Aug

what might have been

There were no box scores in the newspapers on this date 30 years ago. The MLB players’ strike started on Aug. 12, 1994, and the season never resumed. No playoffs. No World Series. Zip. Perhaps no team was more devastated by the strike and its fallout than the Montreal Expos, a club loaded with talent — including former Ole Miss star Jeff Fassero – that had the best record (74-40) in MLB. Left-hander Fassero, in his fourth big league season, was 8-6 with a 2.99 ERA when the season was halted. He was part of a staff that included Pedro Martinez, Ken Hill and John Wetteland. The lineup featured Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom, Moises Alou and Cliff Floyd. Felipe Alou was the manager. They were good. Their fans were left to wonder what might have been for a club that only once had made the postseason since its birth in 1969. Some say the lost season was the beginning of the end for the Expos in Montreal, where they never drew well. Ownership began to purge the roster in 1995. Fassero left after the ’96 season. The franchise shifted to Washington in 2005. Fassero pitched 16 years all told in the majors, winning 121 games and striking out 1,643 batters. A fine career. He pitched for three teams that made the postseason, though it’s safe to say none were as talented as the ’94 Expos. P.S. Will Wagner, son of former Jackson Generals standout Billy Wagner, went 3-for-4 in his big league debut Monday for Toronto.