Tag Archives: Padres

17 Dec

trade talk

Published reports say San Diego and Tampa Bay are talking about a trade that would send outfielder Wil Myers to the Padres. Such a move would give San Diego, which already has added Matt Kemp, a glut of outfielders and would likely mean yet another trade. Former Ole Miss star Seth Smith of Jackson would probably be “the most attractive and affordable ($6.5 million) piece for most clubs,” according to mlb.com. Smith, in his first year with the Padres after coming over from Oakland, batted .266 with 12 home runs, 48 RBIs and 31 doubles in 2014. The lefty hitter played mostly left field and mostly against right-handed pitching (.240, zero homers in 50 at-bats vs. lefties). Smith is a career .265 hitter with 85 homers in the big leagues since making his debut with Colorado as a September call-up in 2007. P.S. Aaron Holbert will join Phillip Wellman as a four-term manager of the Mississippi Braves when the Double-A club hits the field in 2015. Brian Snitker, Jeff Blauser and Rocket Wheeler all served just one season. … Former M-Braves on the move in recent days include Zeke Spruill (traded by Arizona to Boston), J.R. Graham (a Rule 5 pick by Minnesota), Sean Gilmartin (Rule 5 pick by the New York Mets) and Antoan Richardson (minor league deal with Texas). Graham, who spent the last two (injury-dampened) seasons in Mississippi, will have a solid shot at making the Twins’ roster in the spring.

18 Nov

catching up

With five hits in his last three outings, Anthony Alford appears to be finding his stroke in the Australian Baseball League. The former Mr. Baseball from Petal High is 5-for-12 with a home run, six runs and two RBIs in his last three games for Canberra. For the young ABL season, Alford is at .219. Drafted by Toronto in the third round in 2012, Alford has just 94 minor-league at-bats to date as he had been focused on football, which he has now given up. … Mississippians Hunter Renfroe and Tim Anderson got kudos from mlb.com’s Jim Callis for their work in the Arizona Fall League, which wrapped up last week. Mississippi State product Renfroe, a San Diego prospect, batted .284 with a league-best six homers and 20 RBIs. He also led the AFL in extra base hits, total bases and slugging. Anderson, a Chicago White Sox prospect from East Central Community College, hit .301 with six steals. “(F)ew shortstops can match his tools,” Callis wrote. … Tyrell Jenkins, the 6-foot-4 right-hander acquired by Atlanta from St. Louis in the Jason Heyward deal, posted a 2.22 ERA in the AFL. Jenkins, 22, is a candidate for the Mississippi Braves’ roster in 2015, which will be his sixth pro season. He pitched in high-A ball this past season. … Former M-Braves star Jeff Francoeur will get another shot (how many is that?) at making a big league club next spring, this time with Philadelphia. Francouer had a big year (.289, 15 homers, 69 RBIs) in Triple-A with San Diego in 2014, though he didn’t hit at all in his MLB trial. … Ex-MSU standout Tyler Moore is batting .299 with six homers, 17 RBIs and 19 runs in 22 games in the Dominican Winter League as he attempts to improve his stock in the Washington organization. … Mississippi Gulf Coast CC alumnus Roy Corcoran, 34, is pitching in the Mexican Pacific League. The onetime major leaguer is 2-3 with a 3.66 ERA for Hermosillo. Corcoran, who originally signed with the Montreal Expos in 2001, pitched in independent ball the last two years. His last MLB season was 2009; he has a career 4.17 ERA in 82 games. … Belhaven University is ranked No. 14 in the NAIA preseason poll. The Blazers open the 2015 campaign on Jan. 30 at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson. William Carey also opens that day in Hattiesburg.

11 Nov

transaction watch

Atlanta has been active on the minor league free agent market, snapping up, among others, Jackson native Donnie Veal, ex-Delta State star Eli Whiteside and three players who spent time with the Mississippi Braves this past season: Seth Loman, Emerson Landoni and Cedric Hunter. Veal, a left-hander, and Whiteside, a catcher, have done big-league time, including brief stints in 2014 with the Chicago White Sox and Cubs, respectively. Hunter, who was with the San Diego Padres to open the 2011 season, had a huge year for the Double-A M-Braves. The outfielder batted .295 with 14 home runs, 72 RBIs and 12 steals in 120 games. He might be a darkhorse candidate for the MLB roster in the spring, especially if the Braves trade Justin Upton or Jason Heyward. … Also re-signing with his 2014 organization is Itawamba Community College product Tim Dillard, a veteran big leaguer who pitched in the Milwaukee system last season. … Former M-Braves standout Antoan Richardson was removed from the New York Yankees’ 40-man roster and became a free agent.

09 Nov

here and there

Hunter Renfroe mashed a grand slam in a televised Arizona Fall League game on Saturday. The former Mississippi State standout and San Diego prospect is batting .271 with five home runs and 19 RBIs in the AFL. … East Central Community College alum Tim Anderson, also playing in the AFL, had another three-hit game on Saturday and is batting .313 with two homers and five stolen bases. The Chicago White Sox prospect missed a big chunk of the 2014 season because of a broken wrist. “I definitely saw some things that helped me become a better ballplayer,” he told mlb.com about his downtime. … Former Petal High star Anthony Alford, understandably rusty, is 2-for-16 with eight strikeouts in the Australian Baseball League, where Toronto sent him to get some work in preparation for his return to the minors in 2015. … Belhaven University senior second baseman Paul Pickerrell has been named to the NAIA preseason All-America team. The Pearl River CC transfer batted .345 with 38 runs and 38 steals for the Blazers in 2014. … Preston Brown threw five scoreless innings and Reid Humphreys, the former Northwest Rankin High star, went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs as the Maroon beat the Gray 8-0 in a Mississippi State fall scrimmage on Saturday. … Hinds CC, the NJCAA Division II runner-up in 2014, will open its 2015 season on Feb. 7 in Raymond against Mineral Area (Mo.) College. The Eagles will play 28 MACJC games next season. With Meridian re-joining the state association, every team in the league will play two games against every other team. There are still North and South divisions, but the playoff qualifying system has been altered slightly.

04 Nov

movin’ on up

Ed Easley’s strong season in Triple-A has been rewarded. The St. Louis Cardinals have added the former Mississippi State standout to their 40-man roster. He is currently one of four catchers, joining Yadier Molina, Tony Cruz and A.J. Pierzynski. Easley, who’ll be 29 in December, has played eight pro seasons but has yet to make the big leagues. He batted .296 with 10 home runs and 43 RBIs in 80 games at Memphis in 2014, his first season in the St. Louis system. There was speculation he might get his first call-up when Molina was hurt late in the season, but it didn’t happen. It appears now that Easley at least will get a fair chance to make the club in spring training. … Meanwhile, another former State star had a monster day in the Arizona Fall League on Monday. Hunter Renfroe, who homered in Saturday’s Fall Stars Game, belted two more (one an inside-the-parker) in Surprise’s 19-6 win against Glendale. Renfroe, San Diego’s first-round pick in 2013, went 3-for-4 with five RBIs, boosting his season stats to .279 with four homers and 13 RBIs. For the record, East Central Community College alumnus Tim Anderson (Chicago White Sox) went 1-for-5 for Glendale and is batting .304.

01 Nov

familiar names

While perusing box scores from the various winter circuits, ran across a couple of names of note in the Puerto Rican (a.k.a. Robert Clemente) League: Angel Rosa and Ramon Castro. Rosa, an Alcorn State alumnus and Puerto Rico native, just finished his second season in the Los Angeles Angels’ system and looks to be making progress. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound shortstop hit .246 with seven home runs, 46 RBIs, 23 doubles and 15 steals in the Class A Midwest League, then batted .348 in 28 games in the high-A California League. Rosa doesn’t show up on the prospect charts, but he certainly is worth keeping an eye on. Castro is on the other side of the hill. The former Jackson Generals catcher, a first-round pick by Houston in 1994, is 38 years old and hasn’t been in an MLB game since 2011. But he is playing winter ball in his home country, showing an admirable love for the game. P.S. The Arizona Fall League’s Fall Stars Game will air tonight at 7 on MLB Network. Daniel Castro, a 2014 Mississippi Braves star, is in the starting lineup for the West, and ex-Mississippi State standout Hunter Renfroe (San Diego Padres) will come off the West’s bench.

29 Oct

star power

Former Mississippi State standout Hunter Renfroe shook out of a slump on Tuesday with a couple of hits, including a home run, in the Arizona Fall League. Renfroe, who had gotten off to a hot start in the AFL, is now batting .232 with two homers and six RBIs in 15 games for Surprise. Renfroe, a fast-rising San Diego Padres outfield prospect, is slated to play in the AFL’s Fall Stars Game on Saturday. “It’s going to be cool,” Renfroe told mlb.com. Also booked for the all-star contest is Daniel Castro, who finished the 2014 season as the Mississippi Braves’ starting shortstop. Castro, from Mexico, is batting .231 for Peoria; he batted .277 in 51 games for the M-Braves. … Tim Anderson, the ex-East Central Community College star now in the Chicago White Sox system, also had a good day in the AFL on Tuesday, going 3-for-4 for Glendale. Anderson, a shortstop, is hitting .309 with a homer and six RBIs. … Itawamba CC product Tim Dillard, in the Milwaukee system in 2014, still has not allowed a run over 9 1/3 innings for Zulia in the Venezuelan Winter League. P.S. Ole Miss has set its rosters for the Pizza Bowl fall ball championship. The series, which is essentially a 16-inning game spread over two days, will be held on Friday and Saturday at Oxford-University Stadium. … In Starkville, junior college transfer Logan Elliott and returning star Ross Mitchell combined on a two-hit, five-inning shutout as State continued its fall ball schedule. The Bulldogs are scheduled to play again on Saturday at Dudy Noble Field.

24 Oct

just looking

While looking forward to tonight’s Game 3 of the World Series — and the possibility that McComb native Jarrod Dyson might be in the starting lineup for Kansas City — it’s worth taking a few moments to look back at some notable anniversaries of Fall Classics in which Mississippians played a role. … It was 30 years ago that the Detroit Tigers, with a pair of Magnolia State natives in their starting outfield, capped a dominating season with a World Series triumph over San Diego. In Game 3, with the series tied, the Tigers capitalized on 11 walks and won 5-2. Sunflower native Larry Herndon (5-for-15 in the Series) went 1-for-4 with an RBI on a walk in that game, and Jackson native Chet Lemon (5-for-17) went 2-for-5 with a run. The Tigers, who started that season 35-5 and won 104 games, took the Series in five games. Lemon, known for his defense in center field, had 15 putouts. … It was 40 years ago that the Oakland A’s beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games for their third straight world championship. That Oakland team included Belzoni native Herb Washington, the ex-track star and so-called designated runner. Washington, who stole 29 bases that season and never batted, made three Series appearances, getting no bags and scoring no runs. He was famously picked off in the ninth inning of Game 2, the only game the Dodgers won. Oakland released him the next year. … And it was 80 years ago that the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers engaged in a rollicking seven-game battle notable in part because the Dean brothers, adopted Mississippian Dizzy and Paul, earned all four of the Cardinals’ W’s. In Game 2, Gulfport native Gerald “Gee” Walker delivered a game-tying pinch single in the ninth inning and the Tigers went on to win in 12. That was Walker’s only hit in the Series.

10 Oct

scatter shots

Hunter Renfroe hit his first Arizona Fall League home run on Thursday night and is now batting .385 with four RBIs in three games. The former Mississippi State star from Crystal Springs, a San Diego outfield prospect, helped Surprise beat Glendale 7-4 in a game in which former East Central Community College standout Tim Anderson made his AFL debut. Anderson, a shortstop in the Chicago White Sox system, went 1-for-5 with four strikeouts for Glendale. Anderson made his Double-A debut with Birmingham at Trustmark Park this summer, going 10-for-22 in five games vs. the Mississippi Braves. … Ole Miss product Lance Lynn will start Sunday’s Game 2 for St. Louis in the National League Championship Series against San Francisco. Lynn got a no-decision in his division series start against the Los Angeles Dodgers, allowing two runs in six innings. A 15-game winner this year, the big right-hander lost his only start against the Giants on June 1, yielding four earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. Giants star Buster Posey went 3-for-3 against Lynn in that game. … Freshman Kyle Watson has made a splash during fall scrimmages at Ole Miss. The former DeSoto Central High standout, an infielder, has three home runs during the first three sets of intrasquad scrimmages. Watson hit .345 in his prep career but belted just one homer, according to his UM bio. The Rebels scrimmage again today and Saturday.

07 Oct

it’s a start

The fast track seems to suit Hunter Renfroe. The ex-Mississippi State standout got off to a smooth start today in the highly competitive Arizona Fall League, going 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI for the Surprise Saguaros. Renfroe, San Diego’s first-round pick in 2013, was bumped up to Double-A at midseason this year and hit .232 with five home runs and 23 RBIs for San Antonio in the Texas League. He batted .295 with 16 homers and 52 RBIs in high-A ball. The Padres need power hitters, and the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Renfroe, a natural right fielder, might not be far away. P.S. Before he became a highly successful high school coach, Jeff McClaskey was a pretty good player. The current Northwest Rankin High coach still holds a share of the career batting average record of .412 at Hinds Community College, which will honor McClaskey on Oct. 23 as part of its new Hall of Fame class. McClaskey played at Hinds in 1982 and ’83 before going on to Delta State, where he played for Boo Ferriss. About to begin his 25th year as coach at Northwest Rankin, McClaskey has 640 wins, 11 district titles and one state championship. … Also entering the HCC Hall is Rick Trusty, who set the Eagles’ single-season batting mark at .463 in 1975 and also hit .412 career. … Former Delta State star Eli Whiteside is a free agent again. The New Albany native, 34, who has bounced around the big leagues since 2005, spent most of this season at Triple-A Iowa in the Chicago Cubs system. He went 3-for-25 in his brief MLB stint.