Tag Archives: Ole Miss

25 Aug

details, details …

Sunday stuff: Two more hits and RBIs for Nathaniel Lowe. That’s seven knocks in 16 at-bats with seven RBIs for the ex-Mississippi State star in six games with Boston. The Red Sox lost to the New York Yankees on Sunday and are 3-3 in Lowe’s appearances. … Two more hits, an RBI, a run, three different positions and a win for Kansas City’s Adam Frazier. The former MSU standout is hitting .295 with 14 RBIs and 12 runs in his 29 games for the wild card-chasing Royals, 19-12 since the All-Star break. … Konnor Pilkington, MSU product from Pascagoula, struck out the Philadelphia side in the seventh inning of Washington’s 3-2 loss; he has 18 punchouts in 14 2/3 innings — with a 5.52 ERA — in 16 games this season. … Blaze Jordan, DeSoto Central High product, drove in a run for Triple-A Memphis, his 16th RBI in 17 games since joining the St. Louis affiliate in a trade. He is batting just .129. … In his first week in Double-A, ex-Jackson Prep standout Konnor Griffin batted .286 with four RBIs, four runs and four steals for Pittsburgh’s Altoona club. … Former Southern Miss star Dustin Dickerson scored one run for Northwest Arkansas, but it was the game-winner in a walk-off victory by the Royals’ Double-A club. … MSU product Kamren James hit his first homer of the season and fellow Bulldogs alum Colton Ledbetter added his sixth in a win for Double-A Montgomery, a Tampa Bay affiliate. … Patrick Lee, former William Carey University star, hit his fourth homer for West Michigan, one of six bombs Detroit’s High-Class A club belted in a 16-0 win. … Luke Hill, a 2025 draftee out of Ole Miss, got three more hits and is batting .417 in seven games for Low-A Lynchburg in Cleveland’s chain. He has a homer, four RBIs, five runs and five bags. … Michael Fowler took a loss for Low-A Carolina but still has yet to yield an earned run in five appearances for the Milwaukee affiliate. He pitched for USM and the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters this season before the Brewers signed him on July 29. P.S. Fun flashback: On this date in 1995, former Jackson Mets star Gregg Jefferies hit for the cycle and ex-Jackson Generals ace Jeff Juden threw a complete game and clubbed a grand slam as Philadelphia whipped the Los Angeles Dodgers (and Hideo Nomo) 17-4.

18 Aug

wrigley’s the place

The eyes of the baseball world should be turned this week to Wrigley Field, where National League Central rivals Milwaukee and Chicago, both featuring Mississippi connections, will battle in what could be a pivotal five-game series. The fun starts today with a doubleheader (1:20 and 7:05 CDT). The first-place Brewers, who had a 14-game win streak snapped on Sunday, lead the Cubs by 8 games in the division race. If the Cubbies are gonna make up ground, it’s gotta start this week. Freddy Peralta, a former Biloxi Shuckers star, starts for the Brewers in Game 1. He is 14-5 with a 2.90 ERA but has had issues against the Cubs’ Kyle Tucker (.625), Pete Crow-Armstrong (.556 with a home run) and Michael Busch (two homers). Cade Horton (7-3, 3.07), a revelation as a rookie, goes for the Cubs. The Game 2 starters are TBD for both clubs. (The Cubs have yet to name a starter for Games 4 or 5, either.) Milwaukee’s regular lineup features several alums of the Double-A Shuckers: Brice Turang (who hit .340 with six homers during the 14-game streak), Sal Frelick and Isaac Collins. Brewers catcher William Contreras, a former Mississippi Braves star, is one of the NL’s best. He was a teammate in Atlanta of Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, who also played for the Double-A M-Braves. The slick-fielding Swanson is batting .249 with 18 homers and 10 steals. Brandon Woodruff, a Mississippi State product from Wheeler, is slated to start Tuesday’s game for the Brewers against 2025 All-Star Matthew Boyd, 11-6, 2.46. Since coming off his long stint on the injured list, Woodruff has been sensational: 4-0, 2.06 in seven starts, all Milwaukee wins. Ex-Shuckers ace Jacob Misiorowski (4-1, 3.89), the All-Star rookie, will start Wednesday’s Game 4 for Milwaukee. The Cubs have former Ole Miss standout Drew Pomeranz in their bullpen, and he’s been good. The 36-year-old lefty has a 1.85 ERA in 40 appearances in his first big league work in four years. And, for the record, the Cubs have ex-Madison Central High star Spencer Turnbull warming up at Triple-A Iowa, though the veteran right-hander has not pitched particularly well there: 0-2, 7.13, in four starts. P.S. Anthony Servideo, a third-round draft pick out of Ole Miss in 2020, has been released by Baltimore off of its Double-A Chesapeake roster. He was batting .156 in 95 games.

18 Aug

a new frontier

Having handled both levels of Class A ball with aplomb, Konnor Griffin will get a shot at Double-A, generally considered the big jump in the minor leagues. Former Jackson Prep standout Griffin, only 19 and the No. 1-rated prospect in the minors, will suit up for Altoona in the Eastern League, presumably as soon as Tuesday, when the Pennsylvania-based Curve hosts Reading. “He fills up the box score,” Pittsburgh Pirates GM Ben Cherington said on a recent radio show. “You look at the box score, and he’s doing this, this and this. And that’s not even counting his defense … .” Griffin, who has played shortstop and center field in his first pro season, is batting .332 overall with 16 homers, a .510 slugging percentage, a .938 OPS and 59 stolen bases. He went 2-for-5 Sunday to boost his average at High-A Greensboro to .324. Of note: On the Reading roster is Bryson Ware, a Germantown High product in his third year in the Philadelphia system. He hit his first Double-A homer Sunday and is batting .280 in six games. P.S. The official “dog days of summer” may be over, but don’t tell Jordan Westburg and Adam Frazier, a pair of old Bulldogs from Mississippi State who enjoyed a mighty fine Sunday. Westburg had a four-hit, five-RBI game for Baltimore in a 12-0 win vs. Houston; he is batting .277 with 15 homers and 34 RBIs. Frazier went 2-for-4 with a homer for Kansas City in a 6-2 victory vs. the Chicago White Sox; he is batting .329 with two bombs, 13 RBIs and 11 runs in 23 games for the Royals since arriving in a July trade. … MSU alum Nathaniel Lowe is reported to be close to signing with Boston; the veteran first baseman, hitting .216 with 16 homers, was released last week by Washington. … In the minors: Ex-Ole Miss star Tim Elko homered for the fifth time in six games for Triple-A Charlotte (Chicago White Sox) and now has 24 homers with the Knights. Former Southern Miss standout Matthew Etzel, in his second Triple-A game for Jacksonville (Miami), went 3-for-4 with a steal and two runs, including the game-winner in a 6-5 victory vs. Norfolk.

17 Aug

in the spotlight

Will Warren and Garrett Crochet, a couple of Mississippi high school grads now pitching in the American League East, will go to the mound today with something to prove. Warren, ex-Jackson Prep standout, starts for the New York Yankees at St. Louis. The rookie right-hander has been a reliable rotation piece for the Yankees, with a 7-5 record and 4.34 ERA. On the road, however, Warren has wobbled: 1-2, 6:48 ERA, in 12 starts. He is also 1-3, 6.06, in day games. Game time at Busch Stadium is 1:15. The Yankees, who have won the first two against the Cards, are 66-57, third in the AL East and barely hanging on to third in the wild card race. So, every game is a big one. Warren will face a sub-.500 Cardinals club that likely will trot out some of the same players he faced last year, when he gave up four runs in five innings and took a loss. … Crochet, the former Ocean Springs standout, gets the call for Boston against Miami at Fenway Park. Considered a Cy Young Award candidate, Crochet ranks among the Al leaders in wins (13), ERA (2.48), strikeouts (188) and, perhaps most notably, innings (152 1/3). He is coming off his shortest — and worst — start of the season: four innings, five runs in a loss at Houston. In just his second season as a starter, the 26-year-old left-hander already has exceeded his innings total from last year with the Chicago White Sox. The Red Sox, sitting in second place in the AL East and tied for first in the wild card, no doubt want to keep Crochet as fresh as possible for the postseason. Can he give them enough length today to beat a fading Marlins team? P.S. Milwaukee won its franchise-record 14th straight on Saturday, getting a three-run pinch-hit homer in the 11th inning from Andruw Monistereo (Biloxi Shuckers 2022) to top Cincinnati 6-5. … Ex-Ole Miss star Ryan Rolison notched his first career win, benefiting from Colorado’s six-run eighth inning in a 10-7 victory against Arizona. Rolison pitched a clean top of the eighth, trimming his ERA to 7.41 for the 34-89 Rockies. … Former Mississippi Braves lefty Joey Wentz, another member of Atlanta’s patchwork rotation, got his second straight win for the Braves, tossing six innings (three hits, one run) in a 10-1 romp past Cleveland. The well-traveled Wentz is 2-2, 2.60, in seven games for the Braves, his third MLB team this season.

15 Aug

big knocks

Continuing his second-half revival, Michael Harris II doubled in the tying run and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning Thursday night as Atlanta beat the New York Mets 4-3. The Braves have won six of eight, showing some signs of life in what’s been a rough year. It was looking like a lost year — offensively — for former Mississippi Braves star Harris before he made some swing adjustments and turned things around in mid-July. Since the All-Star break, the lefty-hitting center fielder is batting .381 with seven homers, 16 RBIs and 18 runs. He has 14 hits in his last seven games and is batting .250 for the year with 13 homers, 60 RBIs and 14 steals. And he still knows no peer with his glove. Called up from the Double-A M-Braves after just 43 games at that level in 2022, he won National League rookie of the year that season and has been highly productive before hitting a wall to start 2025. … There were several others with Mississippi ties who got big knocks in clutch situations on Thursday:
Biloxi High alum Colt Keith, on his 24th birthday, drove in the tying run for Detroit in the sixth and scored the winner in the 11th as the Tigers beat Minnesota 4-3; Keith, a second-year big leaguer, is batting .260 with 10 homers and 37 RBIs.
Justin Foscue, former Mississippi State star, delivered the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning double as Triple-A Round Rock (Texas system) knocked off Sacramento 3-2; Foscue is batting .260 with 12 homers, 49 RBIs.
Cooper Pratt, Magnolia Heights product, hit a three-run homer in a five-run seventh inning that propelled Double-A Biloxi (Milwaukee) to a 14-8 win over Columbus; Pratt is batting .238 with seven homers, 51 RBIs, 25 steals.
Connor Hujsak, ex-MSU standout, drove in the tying run in the seventh inning — and threw out the potential winning run at the plate in the 10th — as Low-Class A Charleston (Tampa Bay) beat Hickory 2-1 in 10; Hujsak is batting .227 with five homers, 45 RBIs.
Andrew Fischer, an Ole Miss alum making his pro debut, drove in two runs in the eighth — on his third hit — that put High-A Wisconsin (Milwaukee) ahead in an 8-6 victory against Great Lakes.

14 Aug

positive signs

Blaze Jordan, the former DeSoto Central High star, hit his first home run for Memphis — 13th overall in 2025 — as part of a 2-for-5, four-RBI performance in the Triple-A Redbirds’ 14-5 win Wednesday night against Charlotte. Jordan, recently traded to St. Louis by Boston, has four hits in his last two games after a sluggish start for Memphis. His homer came against erstwhile big leaguer Bryse Wilson. Jordan, the Cardinals’ No. 18 prospect, is batting .292 with 71 RBIs on the year. … Madison Central alum Braden Montgomery, the No. 1 prospect in the Chicago White Sox’s system, went 2-for-4 with a double for Birmingham and boosted his average for the Double-A club to .278 in 14 games. He is hitting .271 with 12 homers and 61 RBIs over three levels in his first pro season. … Mason Nichols, a 2025 draftee out of Ole Miss and a Jackson Prep grad, threw a clean inning in his pro debut for Low-Class A Charleston in the Tampa Bay chain. He worked the sixth and got a hold in the RiverDogs’ 3-2 win against Hickory. … Ex-Mississippi State star Brandon Woodruff tossed four scoreless innings in a scheduled short start as Milwaukee won its 12th straight, 12-5 over Pittsburgh. The Brewers are 7-0 in Woodruff’s starts; his ERA is 2.06. … Nathaniel Lowe, an MSU product, belted his first career grand slam, a first-inning bomb that helped propel Washington to an 8-7 win at Kansas City. The scuffling Lowe, who has 16 homers on the season, had not hit one since July 19 and is batting just .091 in August. … Former State standout Jake Mangum, also battling a slump, had an RBI knock, stole a base — his 17th — and scored during Tampa Bay’s four-run first inning against the A’s (and fellow Bulldogs alum J.T. Ginn). The Rays rolled on to an 8-2 victory at West Sacramento. Rookie Mangum is batting just .163 in his last 15 games but is at .275 overall. … And in the wild, wild Pioneer League, Kellum Clark, an MSU product from Brandon, went 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs to pace Rocky Mountain to a 16-1 win vs. Oakland. Clark is batting .386 with nine homers, 50 RBIs and 50 runs in 40 games in the independent league. He was released by the New York Mets last year after two seasons in their system.

13 Aug

straw’s record falls

There’s a new king of Queens: Darryl Strawberry, Jackson Mets star of 1982, has been displaced as the New York Mets’ all-time home run leader by Pete Alonso, who hit No. 253 — and then 254 — on Tuesday night in a romp against Atlanta. Strawberry’s record stood for almost 35 years. The biggest star to come out of the JaxMets’ 16-year run at Smith-Wills stadium, “Straw” hit a franchise record 34 bombs for the Texas League club in ’82. He was in New York the next year, won rookie of the year honors and stayed with the team until 1990, hitting 252 bombs over those nine seasons. For the record, the most homers by a Jackson Generals alum in a Houston Astros uniform is 326 by Lance Berkman. That ranks second on the Astros’ all-time list behind Jeff Bagwell. Berkman hit 24 homers for the 1998 Gens and made The Show the next year. Mississippi Braves alum Freddie Freeman hit 271 homers for the Atlanta Braves, ranking sixth all-time on their impressive list. (Hank Aaron, of course, is far-and-away No. 1.) Freeman hit just two homers in 41 games for the M-Braves in 2009, playing hurt part of that time. … Brandon Woodruff will start today for Milwaukee, which pounded Pittsburgh — and Paul Skenes — 14-0 Tuesday for its 11 straight win. Former Mississippi State and Wheeler High star Woodruff is 4-0 since coming off the injured list on July 6, and the Brewers are 6-0 in his starts and 25-4 since he returned after a year on the shelf. Interesting to note that back in early April, Milwaukee was No. 22 in USA Today’s MLB power rankings. The Brewers are now No. 1 — with the best record in the majors. It’s been that kind of magical run for this club, which features several Biloxi Shuckers alumni, Woodruff among them. P.S. Down on the farm: Brewers No. 3 prospect Cooper Pratt, a Magnolia Heights grad, homered and delivered a walk-off single in the ninth as Biloxi beat Columbus 7-6 at Keesler Federal Park. Pratt, who has faced some challenges in Double-A, is batting .237 with six homers, 48 RBIs and 24 steals. … Ex-Ole Miss star Tim Elko homered twice for Triple-A Charlotte (Chicago White Sox system) and now has 25 on the year, including four in the big leagues. … Landon Tomkins, a Northwest Rankin and Hinds Community College product, got a win in relief in his Double-A debut for Altoona (Pittsburgh). … Luke Hill, 2025 draftee out of Ole Miss, got a hit in his first pro game with Low-Class A Lynchburg (Guardians).

12 Aug

prospecting

Major league clubs that went prospecting in Mississippi in the July draft turned up some intriguing talent. Nine players picked in this year’s draft have landed on the Top 30 prospect list in their respective organizations; MLB Pipeline has updated its rankings to include new draftees. JoJo Parker, drafted eighth overall out of Purvis High, is No. 2 on Toronto’s list, and Southern Miss alum Jake Cook (third round) checks in as the Blue Jays’ No. 11. J.B. Middleton, the 2025 Ferriss Trophy winner at USM and a second-round pick, is No. 6 on Colorado’s chart. Landon Harmon, former East Union High ace and a third-round pick, is No. 6 on Washington’s list, and ex-Lewisburg High star Talon Haley, a 12th-rounder, was slotted in at No. 14 on the Los Angeles Angels’ list. Mason Morris, Luke Hill, Nick Monistere and Pico Kohn also cracked the new Top 30s. … A pair of first-rounders from the 2024 draft, Jackson Prep’s Konnor Griffin and Madison Central alum Braden Montgomery, are ranked No. 1 in the Pittsburgh and Chicago White Sox systems, respectively. Griffin is the overall No. 1 minor league prospect. Cooper Pratt, a 2023 draftee out of Magnolia Heights, is up to No. 3 on Milwaukee’s chart. Dakota Jordan, a Jackson Academy and Mississippi State product drafted in 2024, remained No. 6 in San Francisco’s system. … Of note: Liam Doyle, who pitched at Ole Miss before transferring to Tennessee, is ranked second on St. Louis’ list; he was the fifth overall pick in July. P.S. A pair of Mississippi high school products went to the bump as starters in the big leagues on Monday. Only one got a good result. Will Warren (Jackson Prep) threw 6 2/3 strong innings for the New York Yankees to beat Minnesota 6-2; Warren is 7-5 with a 4.34 ERA. Garrett Crochet (Ocean Springs) was pulled after four innings — his shortest stint of the year — and took a loss as Boston fell to Houston 7-6. Crochet (13-5, 2.48) yielded a season-high five runs. … Ex-MSU standout Adam Frazier, a trade acquisition last month by Kansas City, went 3-for-4 with an RBI in the Royals’ 7-4 win against Washington on Monday and is batting .333 with nine RBIs and eight runs in 18 games for his new club. K.C. is 59-60 and hanging around in the American League wild card battle.

11 Aug

transaction watch

Veteran big leaguer Kendall Graveman, a Mississippi State product, has been designated for assignment by Arizona. The 34-year-old Graveman, coming off 2024 shoulder surgery, has a 7.13 ERA in 19 games this season. He has a 4.03 ERA in 299 career MLB games and posted a 1.64 in nine games for Houston in the 2021 postseason. … Houston Roth, a former Ole Miss star, was designated for assignment by Baltimore, removing the minor league right-hander from the 40-man roster. He got a brief call-up to the big club but never made an appearance. He has a 2.08 ERA, five wins and two saves in 26 relief appearances between Double-A and Triple-A this season. If he clears waivers, it’s likely the Orioles will want to keep him in their system. … Luke Hill and Will McCausland, 2025 draftees out of Ole Miss, have been assigned to Low-Class A Lynchburg in the Cleveland organization. Infielder Hill was a fourth-round pick, righty McCausland a seventh-rounder. (Most of this year’s draft picks have been sent to spring training facilities and will take part in Instructional League next month.) … Logan Forsythe, a D’Iberville native who spent a couple of years at Mississippi State, is now on the roster at Low-A Augusta in the Atlanta chain. The right-hander was drafted this year out of Louisiana Tech. … Southern Miss alum Matthew Etzel was activated from the injured list on Saturday at Double-A Pensacola and went 0-for-3 in his first game. He was traded by Tampa Bay to Miami in July for Ole Miss alum Nick Fortes. Etzel is a .267 career hitter with 84 steals in three seasons. … Bryson Ware, a Germantown High product who also passed through Pearl River Community College and Auburn en route to pro ball, recently was promoted to Double-A Reading by Philadelphia. He is 5-for-14 in three games, though all five hits came in one game last Saturday. The third baseman was batting .229 with eight homers in High-A ball this season. Ware’s brother Conner, also a Germantown and PRCC alum, was drafted out of LSU this year — and signed — by the New York Mets. P.S. Former USM standout Landon Harper was named the Double-A Southern League’s pitcher of the week (Aug. 4-10) after throwing a seven-inning one-hitter on Aug. 7 for Columbus. Harper had a perfect game for 6 2/3 innings and is now 3-6 with a 3.67 ERA in his second Double-A season. He joins a lengthy list of Mississippians to win POW awards this season (see previous posts).

10 Aug

worth noting

Hurston Waldrep sure knows how to capture the moment. Last Sunday, the ex-Southern Miss and Mississippi Braves standout was the winning pitcher for Atlanta in the historic Speedway Classic. On Saturday, he threw six strong innings to get his second career MLB win in the first game of a twinbill, which also happened to be the debut for Jen Pawol, the first woman to umpire an MLB regular season game. (She’ll be behind the plate today.) Waldrep is 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA and — probably? — has earned a spot in the Braves’ rotation. … Former M-Braves Michael Harris II and Drake Baldwin combined for eight hits and eight RBIs as the Braves swept Miami on Saturday at Truist Park. … M-Braves alum William Contreras and ex-Biloxi Shuckers star Brice Turang homered — 10th of the season for each — and Milwaukee beat the New York Mets for its eighth straight win. … Jacob Gonzalez, former Ole Miss All-American, homered for the second straight day and went 2-for-3 with two walks and three RBIs to power Triple-A Charlotte (Chicago White Sox system) to a victory. … Chuckie Robinson, Southern Miss product, put up a 2-for-4 — eight hits in his last five games — scored twice and threw out a base-stealer for Triple-A Oklahoma City (Los Angeles Dodgers) in a win against El Paso. … K.C. Hunt, ex-Mississippi State standout, threw six shutout innings for his seventh win as Double-A Biloxi (Milwaukee) beat Knoxville. … Konnor Griffin, the No. 1 prospect out of Jackson Prep, banged out three hits and scored three times as High-Class A Greensboro (Pittsburgh) rang up 27 runs against Asheville. … Emaarion Boyd, the speedster from South Panola, stole his 40th bag, drove in a run and scored one for High-A Beloit (Miami) in a 2-1 victory against Quad Cities. P.S. Kevin Roberts Jr., a Meridian native now playing at Jackson Prep, will play in the MLB-sponsored High School All-American Game on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The game features players, many of them top draft prospects, from the prep class of 2026. A Florida commit, Roberts hit .406 for Prep in 2025.