Tag Archives: Ole Miss

30 Jul

bird feed

After a rather weak start to his season that included a stint on the injured list, Jordan Westburg has been coming on strong for Baltimore this month. Former Mississippi State star Westburg, batting leadoff, went 4-for-6 with two doubles, an RBI and four runs to spark the Orioles to a 16-4 win over Toronto in the first game of a Tuesday twinbill. Westburg is batting .337 in July, with seven knocks in his last two games, boosting his season average to .269. He was at .217 when he went on the IL in late April. For the year, the 2024 All-Star third baseman has 11 homers, 24 RBIs and 42 runs in 56 games for the underachieving Orioles. They did sweep first-place Toronto on Tuesday to extend their win streak to five but are just 50-58. In more Bird news: The Orioles called up ex-Ole Miss standout Houston Roth as an extra pitcher on Tuesday, but he did not play. It might be a short-term stay. The right-hander, a 2019 draftee by Baltimore, is having a good year, with a 2.21 ERA, four wins and two saves in 24 relief appearances between Double-A and Triple-A. The O’s also have MSU alum Preston Johnson, a 2022 draftee, at Triple-A Norfolk, though he has not pitched well there since moving up earlier this month. Baltimore promoted Southern Miss product Reed Trimble to Norfolk, but the outfielder didn’t play Tuesday. A 2021 draftee, he is batting .227 with nine homers and 10 steals on the season. Of note: The Orioles drafted — and have signed — two juco pitchers from Mississippi this year: Pearl River Community College ace K.K. Clark and Meridian CC star Conner Gehr. P.S. USM alum Hurston Waldrep, who was reportedly being promoted to Atlanta, instead tossed seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts for Triple-A Gwinnett. He is 7-8, 4.42 ERA. … Former Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz faced four batters and retired one for the Chicago Cubs in their 9-3 loss to Milwaukee. The veteran lefty wasn’t charged with a run but has yielded five over his last seven outings (9.64 ERA) after throwing 26 scoreless innings to begin his Cubs tenure. … Petal High’s Trey Barnes will play in today’s Hank Aaron Invitational, a premier prep showcase event, at Birmingham’s Rickwood Field. A USM commit, Barnes hit .404 with four homers and 29 RBIs as a junior at Petal last season.

29 Jul

on the move

Former Madison Central High standout Braden Montgomery has been promoted to Double-A Birmingham in the Chicago White Sox’s system. The 12th overall pick last year (out of Texas A&M by Boston), the 22-year-old Montgomery, a switch-hitting outfielder, hit .269 with 11 homers, 57 RBIs, 50 runs and 11 stolen bases over two levels of A-ball. He is the ChiSox’s No. 2 prospect and No. 26 overall in the minors, per MLB Pipeline. … Michael Fowler, a Southern Miss product, has signed with the Milwaukee Brewers, the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters announced. Fowler, who only recently joined the Mud-sters’ roster, went 2-1 with a 1.92 ERA in seven games, striking out 15 in 9 1/3 innings. This is his first pro season. … Will Verdung, the MACCC’s player of the year for 2023 at Itawamba Community College, has been placed on the injured list at High-Class A Rome by the Atlanta Braves. The third baseman is batting .279 with no homers and 22 RBIs. Verdung mashed 25 homers in two years at ICC and went deep in his first pro at-bat in 2023 but has hit just two homers since. … Oak Grove outfielder Eric Booth Jr., Magnolia Heights infielder Cole Prosek and Jackson Prep outfielder Kevin Roberts Jr. have advanced to Phase 2 of USA Baseball’s U18 National Team Training Camp in Cary, N.C. There will be a second cut to 20 players, who will compete in the U-18 Baseball World Cup in Okinawa, Japan. … Nick Fortes, just acquired by Tampa Bay from Miami, is in the Rays’ lineup at catcher for tonight’s game at Yankee Stadium, facing New York ace Max Fried.

29 Jul

trade breeze

A pair of former Mississippi college standouts will trade places today in a deal that will soon be overshadowed when the trade winds pick up in MLB. Tampa Bay, in need of a defensive-minded catcher, is acquiring former Ole Miss star Nick Fortes from Miami, sending ex-Southern Miss star Matthew Etzel, a third-year minor league outfielder, to the Marlins. The Rays are 54-53 after beating the New York Yankees on Monday and are hanging on the fringe of the American League wild card race. Fortes, in his fifth big league season, was batting .240 with two home runs and 10 RBIs in 59 games as a part-timer for Miami. He’ll join a Rays team that includes Mississippi State alum Jake Mangum and share catching duties with Matt Thaiss, a .219 hitter. Etzel is currently on the injured list at Double-A Montgomery. He is batting .230 with five homers, 34 RBIs and 17 steals. Originally drafted by Baltimore in 2023 and traded last summer, the speedy Etzel is a .267 career hitter with 83 steals. He’ll likely go to Double-A Pensacola and join a club that includes Ole Miss product Kemp Alderman. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves star Michael Harris II, in the throes of a tough offensive year, was named the National League player of the week. He batted .478 with six extra-base hits, including two homers and two triples, last week. … A host of former Biloxi Shuckers started for Milwaukee on Monday in an 8-4 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs that moved the Brewers a game up in the NL Central. Shuckers alum Sal Frelick, batting leadoff, went 2-for-4 with a walk, a homer and two runs as the Brewers overcame a ragged start by ex-Shuckers star Jacob Misiorowski. … Former Jackson Prep star Konnor Griffin, currently in High-Class A for Pittsburgh, is now Baseball America’s No. 1 overall prospect; MLB Pipeline previously ranked Griffin No. 1.

27 Jul

for the win

Despite surrendering two home runs in the first inning, Garrett Crochet notched his 12th win for Boston on Saturday, going six innings in a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The big lefty from Ocean Springs is having a superb season, but he is likely to come up short of being the first Mississippi native to win 20 games since Roy Oswalt in 2005. Crochet is 12-4 over 22 starts. With just 46 games left in the ’25 campaign, he may not get enough opportunities even for eight more wins. Oswalt won his 20 in 2005 over 35 starts; the Kosciusko native also won 20 in 2004 in 36 appearances, 35 of them starts. In the era of the five-man (or more) rotation, 20 wins just isn’t the hallmark it used to be. For the record, the record for wins in a single season by a Mississippi native is 25, by Boo Ferriss for the Boston Red Sox in 1946. He made 40 appearances, 35 starts. Reb Russell won 22 with the Chicago White Sox in 1913. He made 52 appearances, 36 starts. Guy Bush won 20 (in 41 games) for the Chicago Cubs in 1933, and Claude Passeau got 20 (in 46 games) with the Cubs in 1940. Among pitchers from Magnolia State schools, Cliff Lee (Meridian Community College) won 22 — along with a Cy Young Award — for Cleveland in 2008, and Hall of Famer William Foster (Alcorn State) got 21 wins for the Negro League Chicago American Giants in 1927. P.S. Colorado optioned ex-Ole Miss standout Ryan Rolison (7.43 ERA as a 27-year-old rookie) back to Triple-A. … The White Sox have promoted Jacob Gonzalez, former first-round draft pick out of Ole Miss, to Triple-A Charlotte from Double-A Birmingham. He hit .244 with six homers and 47 RBIs for the Barons. He played second base Saturday for Charlotte and went 0-for-4. … Luke Hill, a fourth-round pick out of Ole Miss earlier this month, has signed with Cleveland; the bonus figure has not been reported. Hill was UM’s leading hitter in 2025 and a second-team All-SEC shortstop.

26 Jul

change of sox?

Give a tip of the cap today to Marcus Thames, the Louisville native who serves as hitting coach of the Chicago White Sox. The ChiSox went into the All-Star break with the worst record in the American League and woeful offensive numbers. They’ve come out of the break looking like the ’27 Yankees: an MLB-best 61 runs in a 6-1 surge. On Friday, sparked by a bunch of rookies, the White Sox blasted the crosstown-rival Cubs 12-5, racking up a season-high 18 hits at Rate Field. Their reported plan was to sit on and attack Shota Imanaga’s fastball; they knocked him out in the fourth inning while building a 9-0 lead. Thames, in his second year with the team, deserves a little credit here. He endured the 2024 disaster that cost manager Pedro Grifol his job and was retained by new manager Will Venable for the 2025 rebuild. Thames, a former MLB slugger and a veteran hitting coach, said in a TV interview before the All-Star break that the key to being a good coach is “all about building relationships.” He told The Chicago Sports Network he just wanted to “make sure our guys understand their strengths.” That seems to be happening. “We were on a mission when we came back (from the break),” rookie Chase Meidroth told mlb.com. Every starter had a hit on Friday. Rookie Edgar Quero had four knocks and Meidroth had three, including a first-inning homer off Imanaga. Colson Montgomery, yet another first-year player, also took Imanaga deep. The White Sox are too far back to make a playoff run, but they might be a fun team to watch as a spoiler down the stretch. P.S. Austin Riley returned to Atlanta’s lineup Friday but couldn’t help the Braves pull out of their tailspin. The former DeSoto Central High star went 0-for-4 in an 8-3 loss at Texas that dropped Atlanta 14 games under .500. … Jacob Waguespack, an Ole Miss alum, was designated for assignment by Tampa Bay; the onetime big leaguer was on the injured list at Triple-A Durham, where he had pitched well (0.46 ERA in 15 games). He has not made an MLB appearance this season.

24 Jul

hot topics

Landon Harmon, the touted right-hander from East Union High, has signed with the Washington Nationals for $2.5 million, according to several reports. He was taken in the third round, 80th overall; the slot value for that pick was $1.01M, per mlb.com. His pitch repertoire will need some polish, according to Baseball America’s pre-draft scouting report: “While Harmon’s fastball is one the better pitches in this class, his secondaries need more refinement.” Harmon was a Mississippi State signee and is the second high-profile MSU recruit to sign with an MLB club, joining eighth overall pick JoJo Parker from Purvis. Parker’s twin brother Jacob also was drafted (19th round) but has chosen to attend MSU. All told, five prep players from the state were drafted this year. Talon Haley (12th round), a pitcher from Lewisburg, signed with the Los Angeles Angels, and Jay McQueen (20th round), an outfielder from Brandon, reportedly has inked with Texas, though that has not been confirmed on mlb.com. … Konnor Griffin, the No. 9 overall pick in 2024 out of Jackson Prep, is rated the No. 1 overall prospect in the minors in MLB Pipeline’s updated Top 100 rankings. He entered his first pro season ranked No. 43; he is batting .324 with 13 homers and 42 steals at two levels of A-ball in Pittsburgh’s organization. Braden Montgomery (Madison Central alum) is No. 27, Cooper Pratt (Magnolia Heights) No. 38 and Jurrangelo Cijntje (MSU) No. 71. … MSU is ranked No. 4 in Baseball America’s first 2026 college poll. The magazine’s story hails the arrival of new coach Brian O’Connor and several portal additions plus the return of Ace Reese, SEC newcomer of the year in 2025. Ole Miss is No. 24, thanks in part to the return of Judd Utermark, Austin Fawley and Hunter Elliott.

24 Jul

striking it rich

The Pioneer League appears to be a great place to go searching for hits. That’s certainly been the case for a trio of Mississippians who have found their way to the independent league in the Great Northwest. Christopher Sargent, former Southern Miss slugger who went undrafted in 2024, is batting .395 for the Ogden Raptors with 21 homers and 56 RBIs in 54 games. His batting average ranks just seventh in a league that features five .400 hitters, including a .484 at the top. Spence Coffman, 21, former Tishomingo County star who was released by San Diego in April, is hitting .394 for the Grand Junction Jackalopes; he has six homers and 51 RBIs in 38 games. Kellum Clark, 24, the ex-Mississippi State standout from Brandon released by the New York Mets last fall, has been with the Rocky Mountain Vibes for 22 games and is raking at a .424 clip. He has seven homers and 34 RBIs. Bradley Pelle, undrafted out of NCAA Division III Millsaps this year after winning SAA player of the year honors, is 1-for-5 in two games for Ogden. Give him time. Sargent surely must be on the radar of some MLB clubs. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound first baseman hit 51 homers in three seasons at USM, though he batted just .249. With Ogden in 2024, he belted 19 bombs, drove in 95 runs and batted .316. Clark, a .270 hitter in three years at MSU, batted just .213 in two years in the low minors with the Mets. Coffman hit .260 over three years, playing mostly in rookie ball, in the Padres’ chain. P.S. The Greensboro Grasshoppers, Pittsburgh’s High-Class A club, have one of the best overall records (64-27) in the minors as well as one of the best players, former Jackson Prep standout Konnor Griffin, their shortstop/center fielder. Another Mississippi product also has played a key role for Greensboro: reliever Landon Tompkins, a Hinds Community College and Northwest Rankin alum in his third pro season. Tomkins, who has been with the Grasshoppers all season, is 5-2 with a 1.99 ERA, nine holds and six saves. He threw two scoreless innings for the W in a 3-1 victory vs. Brooklyn on Wednesday night. … Aiden Moffett, former Taylorsville High standout who pitched at LSU and Texas, has signed as an undrafted free agent with the Chicago Cubs. The 6-3 right-hander, lightly used at his college stops, pitched in the MLB Draft League earlier this summer and put up a 2.61 ERA in eight appearances. … Kevin Graham, a member of Ole Miss’ national title team, has been released by Arizona; he was a .221 hitter in four minor league campaigns.

23 Jul

where ya been?

Back in the big leagues for the first time in two years, Konnor Pilkington threw two perfect innings in relief for Washington and got a win, his first since 2022. The Pascagoula native and ex-Mississippi State standout, called up from Triple-A Rochester on Tuesday, worked the fifth and sixth innings of the Nationals’ 6-1 win against Cincinnati. “It’s special,” Pilkington told mlb.com. “I was very excited, to say the least.” Mixing a mid-90s fastball with a slider and changeup, the East Central High grad struck out the side in the sixth. “That’s Konnor with a K, boys and girls,” said a Nats broadcaster. “What a Nationals debut for this lefty.” He became the 28th Mississippian (native or school alum) to play in a big league game in 2025. Pilkington was a third-round draft pick back in 2018 by the Chicago White Sox, who traded him to Cleveland at the deadline in 2021. He went 1-2 with a 3.88 ERA in 15 games for the Guardians in 2022, made just one MLB appearance in ’23 and spent all of last season in the minors. He became a minor league free agent last fall and signed with Washington. He had a 2.59 ERA, four wins, two saves and eight holds in 36 games for Triple-A Rochester. Pilkington was an ace starter at State, going 14-12, 3.47, with 260 strikeouts over three seasons. P.S. Brandon native J.T. Ginn, another MSU product, made his first start since late May for the A’s and, opposing Texas and Jacob deGrom, threw five innings of one-run ball. He has a 4.50 ERA over 12 games. … Austin Riley, the former DeSoto Central High star, apparently won’t be activated by Atlanta until later in the week. The veteran third baseman was eligible to come off the injured list on Tuesday. … The Chicago Cubs assigned Spencer Turnbull, ex-Madison Central standout, to Triple-A Iowa. A recent free agent signee, he pitched in rookie ball on Saturday. … Righty Mason Morris, third-round pick out of Ole Miss, has signed with Cincinnati for $897,500, per mlb.com.

22 Jul

names to know

Brandon Woodruff: The Mississippi State product from Wheeler threw six commanding innings for Milwaukee on Monday, driving the Brewers to a 6-0 win at Seattle. Milwaukee has won 11 straight, taken over first place in the National League Central and claimed the best record in the majors (60-40). In his third start since coming off the injured list, Woodruff (2-0) limited the Mariners to two hits, walked none and struck out five. He has a 1.65 ERA on the season with 23 K’s and no walks in 16 1/3 innings.
Reed Trimble: The ex-Southern Miss star from Tupelo takes a 20-game on-base streak into Double-A Chesapeake’s contest tonight at Altoona. He was batting .119 when his streak began; he is hitting .283 in July and .211 with seven homers and 10 steals overall for the Baysox, a Baltimore affiliate. The 65th overall pick in the 2021 draft, the 25-year-old outfielder has battled injuries ever since.
J.B. Middleton: The 2025 draftee out of USM reportedly has signed with Colorado for $2.07 million. A first-team All-America selection and the state’s Ferriss Trophy winner, he was the 45th overall pick, the highest any Golden Eagles pitcher has ever been picked. Middleton is the third player drafted on Day 1 this year from a Mississippi school confirmed to have signed, joining JoJo Parker and Jake Cook.
Banks Tolley: The former St. Andrew’s standout from Madison is one of the leading hitters for Schaumburg, which hosts the Mississippi Mud Monsters tonight to start a Frontier League series. Tolley is hitting .318 with eight homers and 36 RBIs in 44 games for the independent club. He led St. Andrews to a state title in 2018, starred at Meridian Community College for two years, played a reserve role on Ole Miss’ 2022 national title team and got All-America recognition at Appalachian State in 2024.

17 Jul

meanwhile …

While the major and minor leagues were on hiatus for the All-Star break, there were pro games on Wednesday night in the MLB Partner leagues, aka independent ball. A host of Mississippians took the field in American Association games, with former Ole Miss catcher Hayden Dunhurst enjoying the brightest moment. He went 3-for-4 with a double and a run in Lake Country’s 8-0 win against Gary SouthShore. He also called pitches for Luke Hansel’s five-hitter. (Former big leaguer Cody Reed of Horn Lake pitches out of the bullpen for Gary SouthShore but didn’t work on Wednesday.) Ole Miss product Taylor Broadway, who has a 4.45 ERA in 21 games as a reliever for Cleburne, was in the lineup Wednesday as the DH — for the first time — and went 1-for-5 in the Railroaders’ 13-4 win over Kane County. Former Hattiesburg High star Joe Gray Jr. had a hit for Milwaukee — which only had five — in an 11-1 loss to Chicago; Gray is hitting .238 with three homers and 15 RBIs since the Milkmen picked him up on waivers in late May. (Southern Miss alum J.C. Keys pitches for Chicago but didn’t get in Wednesday’s game.) Ex-Mississippi State standout and onetime big leaguer Jacob Robson was 1-for-4 for Winnipeg in a 3-2 loss to Sioux Falls; he has hit seven homers for the Goldeyes. West Point native Steffon Moore threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in his second appearance for Kansas City, which lost to Fargo-Moorhead 4-2. Jackson State alum Jaylyn Williams, a .298 hitter for the Monarchs, was 0-for-4 on Wednesday. (Ex-Itawamba Community College star Kyle Crigger, 5-4 with 3.05 ERA for F-M, did not pitch.) … In the Frontier League All-Star Game, the Atlantic team beat the Midwest 5-4. Travis Holt of the Mississippi Mud Monsters had a hit for the Midwest. P.S. Three Mississippi high school players are among the 88 invited by USA Baseball to the Under-18 National Team Training Camp in Cary, N.C: Oak Grove outfielder Eric Booth, Magnolia Heights infielder Cole Prosek and Jackson Prep outfielder Kevin Roberts Jr. Phase 1 of the camp starts Friday. Forty players will advance to Phase 2.