Tag Archives: Orioles

26 Jul

not to be overlooked

Matthew Etzel might be the least-heralded of the three prospects Tampa Bay got from Baltimore in a Friday trade, but the Southern Miss product is more than a throw-in. Etzel, batting .297 in 113 minor league games, was shipped to the Rays along with Mac Horvath and Jackson Baumeister for big league pitcher Zach Eflin. A 10th-round pick last year, Etzel already had reached Double-A in the O’s system and was batting .261 with two homers and 10 steals at Bowie. Tampa Bay has assigned him to Montgomery of the Double-A Southern League. Etzel hit .307 and swiped 31 bases at High-Class A Aberdeen to start 2024. “The hit tool itself is really elite,” a Tampa Bay minor league coach recently told Baseball America. Etzel, 22, a lefty-hitting outfielder who goes 6 feet 2, 211 pounds, batted .317 with seven homers and 23 steals in his one year at USM.

21 Jul

family affair

On a three Dog night in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday, only Jordan Westburg came away feeling any joy. Ex-Mississippi State star Westburg and the Baltimore Orioles celebrated an 8-4 win against Texas, handing former Bulldogs Nathaniel Lowe and Justin Foscue another hard loss. Westburg, a teammate of Foscue’s in Starkville, went 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs as the Orioles, first in the American League East, won their 60th game. The Rangers, defending World Series champs, dropped their second straight to the O’s out of the All-Star break and fell to 46-52, 6 games back of surging Houston in the AL West. Lowe and rookie Foscue — recalled from the minors on Saturday — each had a hit and scored a run in the Rangers’ second inning, when they cut a 4-0 deficit to 4-2. It got no closer. Foscue was hitting .241 with three homers and 15 RBIs at Triple-A Round Rock; Saturday was his first MLB game since April 7, when he went on the injured list. Westburg, a 2024 All-Star, is batting .273 with 16 homers for a Baltimore club that leads the majors in bombs. For the record, Brent Rooker, another ex-State star, hit his 22nd homer Saturday for Oakland and leads all Mississippians (native or school alum) in homers this season. (Rooker reportedly is a hot trade candidate.) DeSoto Central High product Austin Riley belted his 13th homer for Atlanta. Of note: Former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson went 1-for-3 in his 2024 big league debut for the Chicago White Sox.

20 Jul

twin valleys

The Chicago Cubs, trying to stay relevant in the playoff chase, sent their hottest pitcher to the Wrigley Field mound on Friday. Visiting Arizona sent Justin Steele to the showers in the fifth inning. Not what the Cubs were expecting. The Diamondbacks, also aiming for a second-half push, rolled to a 5-2 win, stopping Lucedale native Steele’s streak of quality starts at seven. The left-hander allowed five runs in his 4 2/3 innings and fell to 2-4, his ERA rising to 3.07. He had allowed just one run in 16 innings in winning his previous two starts. The Diamondbacks got to him for nine hits, two walks and an HBP. “It’s a good lineup over there,” Steele said in an mlb.com piece. “Obviously — they were in the World Series last year.” The Cubs fell to 47-52, last in the National League Central and 3.5 games back of the wild card cut. … Meanwhile, Chicago’s other team, the White Sox, suffered what was not a wholly unexpected result in their first game after the All-Star break. The worst team in baseball lost at Kansas City 7-1. Former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson, called up from Triple-A Charlotte on Friday, watched from the bench as the ChiSox fell to 27-72. Maybe he can help. The 29-year-old catcher was batting .246 with seven homers and 32 RBIs for the Knights. Now in his eighth pro season, Robinson got into 25 games with Cincinnati is 2022, batting .136 with two homers. P.S. Down in the minors, Mississippi State product Preston Johnson threw two innings as part of a four-man no-hitter by Aberdeen, Baltimore’s High-Class A affiliate. A 2022 draftee, Johnson has a 5.64 ERA this season. … David Fletcher, erstwhile MLB infielder and current Mississippi Braves knuckleballer, notched his first win of the season as Atlanta’s Double-A club rallied to beat Pensacola 5-4. Fletcher (1-2, 4.82) allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings. … Ole Miss alum Josh Mallitz, a right-hander, has signed as an undrafted free agent with San Diego, per Baseball America.

03 Jul

rise and fall

The hard fall of Tim Anderson created a loud thud on Tuesday when the former batting champion and All-Star shortstop was designated for assignment by one of the worst teams in baseball. East Central Community College alum Anderson, a .278 career hitter, was batting .214 with no homers for Miami. Fittingly, he struck out Sunday in his final at-bat with the Marlins, giving him 68 strikeouts in 234 ABs this season. He was on a one-year, $5M contract after being cut loose by the Chicago White Sox following a poor 2023 season. Speculation is Anderson, 31, will be released; he may well get another shot somewhere. … Grae Kessinger, ex-Ole Miss star, was recalled from Triple-A by Houston and was in uniform for the Astros’ game at Toronto on Tuesday, though he did not play. Kessinger, 0-for-11 in MLB ABs this year, was batting .283 with two homers and 11 RBIs at Sugar Land. … Ex-Mississippi State star Jordan Westburg, now with Baltimore, apparently will fall short of beating out Jose Ramirez for the starting nod at third base for the American League in fan balloting for the All-Star Game. Voting ends today. … MSU product Nathaniel Lowe, who had just two homers as of June 25, has hit four in his last seven games, including two in Texas’ 7-0 victory against San Diego on Tuesday. (It was his bobblehead night.) He averaged 21 homers over the previous three years for the Rangers. … Former Ole Miss standout Anthony Servideo was sent back to Double-A Bowie from Triple-A Norfolk by Baltimore. Servideo, a third-round pick in 2020, was batting .212 in 14 games for the Tides; he was hitting .196 for Bowie when he was promoted to fill a roster need. … Cleveland sent Southern Miss product Nick Sandlin (5-0, one save, 3.49 ERA) on a rehab assignment to Triple-A Columbus. He worked a scoreless inning Tuesday. The reliever has been on the injured list since June 17. … Ole Miss alum Dylan DeLucia was promoted from rookie ball to Low-Class A Lynchburg by Cleveland. He made two appearances in the Arizona Complex League, his first outings since being drafted in 2022. He did not pitch Tuesday. … Former Magnolia Heights star Cooper Pratt, Milwaukee’s No. 4 prospect (see previous post), cracked MLB Pipeline’s new Top 100 minor league prospects list at No. 96. Pratt is in A-ball. USM alum Hurston Waldrep, who already has debuted with Atlanta this season, is No. 70, up from 72 in the previous ranking.

02 Jul

whatever happened to …

Reed Trimble, the oft-injured ex-Southern Miss star, is having a terrific season at High-Class A Aberdeen in the Baltimore system. The switch-hitting outfielder, 24, is batting .296 with two homers, seven doubles, three triples, 16 RBIs, 16 runs and 13 steals in 40 games. On Monday, he flashed his all-around skills against Greensboro, going 2-for-4 with a homer, a double, a steal, two RBIs and three runs. Drafted 65th overall by the Orioles in 2021 — after hitting .345 with 17 homers for USM — Trimble has been on and off the injured list many times over four pro seasons. He has played in just 104 games, hitting .245 overall, but may be finding his stride this summer. … Drafted 570th overall by San Diego in 2022, former Tishomingo County High standout Spence Coffman is blossoming in his third tour of the Arizona Complex League. Coffman, 20, a shortstop, ranks among the league leaders with a .326 average and 14 steals. He has driven in 21 runs and scored 22 for the Padres’ rookie-level club. … Drafted 60th overall in 2018 (by Milwaukee) and released last month (by Kansas City), Joe Gray Jr. has landed in the independent Atlantic League, where he is batting .250 in nine games for Gastonia. P.S. Ole Miss alum Andrew Fischer — who reportedly has entered the transfer portal (again) — is among the top sluggers in the Cape Cod League with three homers and 12 RBIs for Brewster. Fischer hit 20 homers for the Rebels in 2024 after transferring in from Duke. Other notables in the Cape: Southern Miss’ Davis Gillespie is hitting .276 with four runs for Bourne; Ole Miss’ Campbell Smithwick is batting .304 for Chatham; and Mississippi State’s Gavin Black has a 0.00 ERA with 10 strikeouts over 8 1/3 innings for Wareham. … The Tupelo Thunder has bolted to a 9-2 start in the Cotton States League, led by two-way standout Hayden Roberts. The Itawamba Community College product from Belden leads the New Albany-based college summer league in hitting at .545 and has 12 RBIs and 12 runs. He also has a 2-0 record and 2.33 ERA in four starts on the mound. Left-hander Chris Robinson, a former Eupora High star, is 3-0, 2.21, in four starts for the Thunder.

17 Jun

powering up

The projected home run tally for Jordan Westburg this season was 11, according to Lindy’s Baseball 2024 Preview. Forget that. A month before the All-Star break, the former Mississippi State star already has hit 11. He reached that mark on Sunday with a blast against Zack Wheeler, one of four homers Baltimore hit against the Philadelphia ace in an 8-3 victory. Second-year big leaguer Westburg is hitting .278 with 42 RBIs, 37 runs and six steals in 66 games; he is going to get some consideration for the American League All-Star team. In the All-Mississippi Home Run Derby for 2024, Westburg stands second to Brent Rooker, the ex-MSU standout who has hit 13 bombs for Oakland. To this point in 2024, the once-promising derby competition is a two-horse race. Austin Riley, the DeSoto Central High product, led all MLB Mississippians (native or school alum) with 37 homers in 2023. Rooker followed with 30, and three others hit double figures. Lindy’s projected Riley to hit 35 in 2024, and he may be starting to perk up after a tough start. He has six, one each in Atlanta’s last three games. Riley’s homer on Sunday came hours after he learned that his personal hitting coach Mike Brumley had died in a car accident; Riley pointed and looked to the sky as he rounded first base. “He was in the back of my mind really all day,” Riley said in an mlb.com piece. No other Mississippi product has more than six homers this season. MSU alum Hunter Renfroe, tied with Riley at six, was just starting to slug for Kansas City when he went on the injured list with a foot injury. He hit 20 homers last season and was projected at 17 for 2024. Nathaniel Lowe, another State alum, has hit just two for Texas. He hit 17 last year and 27 in 2022. His power outage is a concern for the defending but fading World Series champs. Colt Keith, the Detroit rookie from Biloxi High, hit 27 in the minors last year and was projected to go deep 10 times for the Tigers this season; he has three. Former Southern Miss star Matt Wallner hit 14 for Minnesota in 2023 and was projected for 16 this year. He has 17 — but 16 of those have come in the minors, where he is today. P.S. The Chicago White Sox added USM product Chuckie Robinson to their 40-man roster on Sunday but did not call him up to the big leagues. Robinson, a catcher who got some big league time with Cincinnati two years ago, is hitting .228 with six homers and 25 RBIs at Triple-A Charlotte.

29 May

star quality

Don’t look now, but Jordan Westburg is putting up numbers worthy of All-Star consideration. After a 2-for-3, two-RBI performance for Baltimore on Tuesday, the Mississippi State product is batting .291 with 34 RBIs, ranking second among American League third baseman in both categories. (Westburg also has played second base and shortstop, but his primary spot has been the hot corner.) Over 51 games, the second-year big leaguer is tied for third among AL third baseman with 28 runs and is fourth in homers (eight), on-base percentage (.351) and OPS (.859). Westburg, named AL player of the week in mid-April, currently has a five-game hit streak with eight hits during that span. It doesn’t hurt his cause that the Orioles are 34-19, second in the AL East to New York. Westburg, 25, was a first-round pick out of MSU in 2020 and debuted with the O’s last summer, batting .260 with three homers in 68 games. P.S. Ex-Ole Miss standout Gunnar Hoglund improved to 6-2 after throwing 5 1/3 shutout innings Tuesday for Double-A Midland against Corpus Christi. Hoglund leads the Texas League in wins and has a 3.76 ERA over 10 appearances (nine starts) for the Oakland affiliate. The 6-foot-4 right-hander was a first-round pick by Toronto in 2021 — after going 10-5, 3.68, in three seasons in Oxford — and was acquired from Oakland in 2022 in the Matt Chapman trade.

24 May

comin’ on strong

In the Baltimore Orioles’ loaded minor league system, it ain’t easy to stand out, especially for a player not ranked among their top prospects. But there at High-Class A Aberdeen goes Matthew Etzel, putting up eye-catching numbers. The Southern Miss product, a 10th-round pick by the Orioles in 2023, is hitting .293 with four homers, 23 RBIs, 20 steals, six doubles, two triples, 26 runs and a .392 on-base percentage. The lefty-hitting outfielder — 6 feet 2, 211 pounds — ranks in the top 11 in five offensive categories in the South Atlantic League. You won’t find Etzel’s name on MLB Pipeline’s chart of the Top 30 Baltimore prospects, four of whom rank in the top 22 on the overall minor league prospect chart. But his star is rising. He typically bats cleanup and plays center field for the IronBirds. “He is super exciting, definitely under the radar,” Aberdeen hitting coach Zach Cole recently told Orioles Beat. “He’s a guy that could climb the system pretty quick.” Etzel batted .317 with seven homers, 51 RBIs and 23 steals for USM’s Sun Belt Conference championship team in 2023, his only year in Hattiesburg after transferring from a Texas juco. P.S. Etzel’s alma mater rallied to win, 6-5 over Troy, in the SBC Tournament on Thursday and gets today off in Montgomery, Ala. … Jackson State won big again — 11-6 over Bethune-Cookman — in the SWAC Tournament in Atlanta and plays again today against the BCU-Texas Southern winner. … Mississippi State, afer losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC tourney, tackles top-seeded Tennessee in an elimination game today at Hoover, Ala. … Congrats to MHSAA state champions Brandon (Class 7A) and East Webster (3A), both of which completed sweeps on Thursday at Trustmark Park in Pearl.

23 Apr

attention, please

Jordan Westburg might not be the first name that comes to mind when one thinks of the star-studded Baltimore Orioles lineup, but the former Mississippi State standout certainly grabbed some attention last week. Westburg batted .478 with two doubles, a triple, two homers and eight RBIs in the week that ended Saturday and was named the American League’s Player of the Week on Monday. The second-year big leaguer, who has started at three different positions this season, is batting .320 with five homers, 18 RBIs and 14 runs in 21 games for the O’s, who lead the AL East with a 15-7 record. He even got some MVP votes in an mlb.com poll announced Monday. Westburg saw a nine-game hit streak end on Monday, when he went 0-for-3 with a walk in a 4-2 victory at the Los Angeles Angels. He had five multi-hit games during that hit streak. A first-round pick in 2020, Westburg batted .260 with three homers and 23 RBIs in 68 games after a midseason call-up in 2023. P.S. The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, featuring Rust and Tougaloo, begins with four games Wednesday at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson. Fifth-seeded Rust opens the double-elimination event against Southern-New Orleans at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Tougaloo, the 6-seed, opens against Dillard (Fla.) at 4 p.m. The top seed is Wiley (Texas), which went 18-3 in the NAIA league. Second-seeded Talladega (Ala.) finished 17-3. Third-seeded Dillard enters the tourney with a 10-game win streak.

04 Apr

just stuff

Brock Wilken, Wake Forest’s all-time home run leader and now Milwaukee’s No. 7 prospect, smacked a two-run homer to power the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers to a 7-0 win Wednesday night in an exhibition game against Pearl River Community College at MGM Park. The Shuckers open the Southern League season Friday at home against Montgomery. … Former Shuckers star Jackson Chourio hit his first big league homer for the Brewers in a loss, the team’s first, against Minnesota. The highly touted Chourio is off to a .350 start in his rookie campaign. … The Norfolk Tides, Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate, banged out 29 hits in a 26-11 win against Charlotte in game highlighted by Heston Kjerstad’s 10-RBI effort and Kyle Stowers’ three homers. Ole Miss alum Errol Robinson, a minor league vet in his first year in the Orioles’ system, contributed a little: one hit and two runs. He is batting .316. … Hunter Renfroe, ex-Mississippi State star, got his first hit of 2024 — he is now 1-for-19 — and picked up an assist on a sensational throw from right field, but his Kansas City club lost to Baltimore. … East Central CC alum Tim Anderson went 0-for-2 and ex-Ole Miss standout Nick Fortes 0-for-3 as Miami fell to 0-7 with a 10-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. Anderson, a free agent signee, is batting .231 with one RBI, no homers and no steals. Fortes is batting .083. … MSU product Brent Rooker went 0-for-4 in Oakland’s loss to Baltimore and is at .100 on the season for the 1-6 A’s. … Former State standout Justin Foscue, recalled from the minors on Tuesday by Texas, has yet to make his MLB debut. The Rangers are off today, host Houston this weekend.