Tag Archives: Padres

31 Aug

clutch

Virtually every game played in the American League these days is meaningful, with implications in the division races, the wild card race and/or the best record races. Key situations are magnified, clutch performers identified. Mississippians stepping up on Wednesday included two of the usual suspects: Mitch Moreland and Brian Dozier. Moreland, the ex-Mississippi State standout from Amory, hit a go-ahead pinch home run in the seventh inning for Boston, propelling the AL East leader to a 7-1 win at Toronto. He added a two-run single in the eighth inning, and now has 18 homers and 63 RBIs on the year. He is hitting .346 over his last 27 games and .257 on the year. “He’s in a good place,” Red Sox manager John Farrell told The Associated Press. Dozier, the former Southern Miss star from Fulton, went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and a run in Minnesota’s 11-1 romp past the Chicago White Sox. The Twins moved within a game of AL wild card leader New York (and 7 back of Cleveland in the Central). Dozier, batting .263, has 74 RBIs and 75 runs; that’s 149 runs accounted for in 124 games. He also has 26 homers and 14 steals. He’s in a pretty good place, too. Meanwhile, State alum Kendall Graveman, starting for an Oakland team reduced to a spoiler role, got rocked by the Los Angeles Angels, who are third in the wild card scramble. Graveman yielded three homers and five runs all told over five innings in a 10-8 loss. He got a no-decision but saw his ERA rise to 4.54. P.S. In a Pacific Coast League game that mattered (certainly to him), Hunter Renfroe blasted his third homer in nine games for El Paso. The ex-State star has 12 RBIs and a .526 average since San Diego sent him down to Triple-A.

25 Aug

three stars

Time to play three stars again, a minor league version.
Austin Riley: The former DeSoto Central High standout is crushing it for the Double-A Mississippi Braves. He had two hits on Thursday at Chattanooga, extending his hitting streak to 10 games and raising his average to .305 in 37 games. He is batting .457 during his streak. The 20-year-old third base prospect has six homers and 20 RBIs for the M-Braves and 18 homers on the season. He has 50 career home runs in three pro seasons. Riley still needs to polish up his defense, but his star is definitely rising.
Brent Rooker: The Mississippi State product, drafted 35th overall by Minnesota in June, went 2-for-4 with his ninth home run in 35 games for Class A Fort Myers. Rooker is now batting .274 at the high-A level after hitting .282 with seven bombs in 22 games in rookie ball. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound outfielder should make Double-A next year.
Hunter Renfroe: The MSU and Copiah Academy alum went 3-for-4 and is now 7-for-12 in three games at Triple-A El Paso since his demotion by San Diego. Renfroe, who had 20 homers for the Padres, hasn’t gone yard for the Chihuahuas yet but has three doubles, a triple and five runs. Surely the woeful Padres will bring him back in September.

22 Aug

minor matters

It’s safe to assume Hunter Renfroe is on a mission to get back to the big leagues, and he is certainly off to a good start. Renfroe, the Mississippi State product from Crystal Springs, went 3-for-5 with a double and a triple Monday in his first game with Triple-A El Paso. The rookie outfielder was sent down by San Diego after hitting .230 with 20 home runs and 125 strikeouts through 111 games. … Ex-Petal High star Anthony Alford is on a similar mission. Alford, who got a brief call-up with Toronto in May, doubled, homered and stole a base Monday for Double-A New Hampshire. Alford is hitting .371 over his last 10 games and .322 for the season, with five homers, 23 RBIs and 15 bags. … Bobby Bradley, the former Harrison Central star and a top Cleveland prospect, also had a day: a double, a homer and four RBIs for Double-A Akron. Bradley, a lefty-hitting first baseman, has hit at a .389 clip over his last 10 games, raising his average to .246 with 21 homers and 82 RBIs. Not yet on the Indians’ 40-man roster, the 21-year-old Bradley may be a year away from the big leagues. … Ole Miss alum J.B. Woodman, a Toronto prospect in just his second pro season, went 2-for-5 with two doubles on Monday for Class A Lansing and is hitting .342 over his last 10 games. He’s at .255 with six homers and 42 RBIs this season.

20 Aug

one step back

The San Diego Padres finally decided to hit the reset button on Hunter Renfroe, sending the struggling Mississippi State product back to the minors on Saturday. Renfroe, a highly touted prospect and the Padres’ opening day right fielder, has experienced many peaks and valleys this season. To wit: 20 home runs and 24 doubles with a .230 average, 125 strikeouts and 26 walks. “Sometimes it’s the absolute best thing you can do for a guy,” Padres manager Andy Green told the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Padres also want Renfroe to work on his defense while at Triple-A El Paso. It’s unclear whether Renfroe will return to the big league club in September, when rosters expand. P.S. There already has been a lot to absorb in the MLB Transactions page this weekend. On Friday, St. Louis recalled ex-Ole Miss star Mike Mayers from Triple-A Memphis. He pitched that night against Pittsburgh, yielding four earned runs in 2/3 of an inning, and then was optioned back to Memphis on Saturday. Thanks for playing. … Detroit recalled Richton’s JaCoby Jones from Triple-A Toledo on Friday. Jones, who was the Tigers’ opening day center fielder, started on Saturday and went 1-for-2, “boosting” his average to .151 in 23 MLB games spread over three stints with the Tigers this season. Jones was scuffling before he was hit in the face by a pitch in late April and sent back to the minors. He was hitting .243 with nine homers and 12 steals for Toledo. … Former Picayune High star T.J. House was called up by Toronto on Saturday. The left-hander, 5-7 with a 4.44 ERA in 27 games for Cleveland from 2014-16, was 9-11, 4.72 at Triple-A Buffalo. … Also on Saturday, Seattle placed Southwest Mississippi Community College alum Jarrod Dyson on the 10-day disabled list. Dyson was hitting .340 this month and is at .255 with 28 stolen bases, 56 runs and 30 RBIs in 109 games on the season, his first with the Mariners.

25 Jul

going roof

Hunter Renfroe went where no man has gone before last September when he blasted a home run onto the roof of the iconic Western Metal Supply Co. Building beyond the left field wall at Petco Park in San Diego. On Monday night, the Mississippi State alum did it again. Renfroe’s seventh-inning shot, the first of two homers he hit in a 5-3 loss to the New York Mets, came off Jacob deGrom and travelled an announced 431 feet. “I’m proud of both of them,” Renfroe, speaking of his roof bombs, told The Associated Press. Renfroe now has 19 homers on the season, one more than fellow Mississippi native Corey Dickerson. Renfroe has 23 homers in his 101 MLB games and an even 100 as a pro. He hit 77 in 438 minor league games after the Padres drafted him in the first round in 2013.

21 Jul

back with a blast

Hunter Renfroe announced his presence with authority for San Diego on Thursday night. In his first at-bat since coming off the disabled list, the former Mississippi State star from Crystal Springs hit a home run at San Francisco. Renfroe’s 17th homer, which came off Madison Bumgarner no less, moves the rookie slugger into a tie with Meridian Community College alum Corey Dickerson for the lead in the All-Mississippi Home Run Derby. Renfroe, who was on the 10-day DL with a neck problem, had not homered since June 29. All-Star Dickerson, who has been fighting a slump, last went deep on June 24 for Tampa Bay. The home run race has tightened up during that time. Ex-Southern Miss star Brian Dozier now has 15, MSU product Mitch Moreland 12 and former Ole Miss standouts Zack Cozart and Seth Smith 11 each. Renfroe, described by cbssports.com as a “low-end fantasy asset,” is hitting just .231 but has 41 RBIs and 35 runs in 86 games. Dozier is the top RBI man among state players with 47. Dickerson has 42, as does Moreland. P.S. USM product Taylor Braley made his pro debut Thursday, pitching a scoreless inning for the Gulf Coast League Marlins. Braley, a two-way star for the Golden Eagles, was drafted as a pitcher in the sixth round by Miami last month. Also appearing in that rookie league game for the Marlins was Blake Anderson, the converted catcher out of West Lauderdale High who has now worked two innings as a pitcher (see previous post).

16 Jun

trophy tracker

Once Brent Rooker formally signs with the Minnesota Twins and joins a team in their system, he’ll become the fifth Ferriss Trophy winner active in pro ball. Three are in or have been in the big leagues. Drew Pomeranz (Boston), the 2010 winner, and 2013 winner Hunter Renfroe (San Diego) are currently in The Show, and 2012 winner Chris Stratton (San Francisco) has been up but is back in Triple-A. Ed Easley (2007), now retired, is the only other winner to make the big leagues. The award has been given out each year since 2004. Auston Bousfield, the 2014 winner following a brilliant junior season at Ole Miss, has reached Triple-A but currently finds himself at Double-A San Antonio in the Padres’ organization. Bousfield’s team, managed by former Mississippi Braves manager Phillip Wellman, won a first-half title in the Texas League on Thursday, but Bousfield hasn’t had a lot to celebrate personally this year. He is batting .217 and has spent a chunk of time on the disabled list. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound outfielder batted .170 in 71 games for the Missions in 2016 and .204 in 38 games at Triple-A El Paso. Bousfield was drafted by the Padres in fifth round in 2014 and enjoyed an excellent first pro summer, batting .301 with three homers and 13 RBIs in the Northwest League. He was named a short-season All-Star by Baseball America. He is now trying to recapture that form.

14 Jun

caught in draft

The MLB draft isn’t done yet, but the most intriguing pick from Mississippi may already have been made. The San Diego Padres took Vijay Miller, a right-handed pitcher – and a quarterback, from East Mississippi Community College in the 14th round. Miller was a two-way star at Itawamba AHS before heading to EMCC, a.k.a. Last Chance U. As a freshman last fall, he threw for 599 yards and six touchdowns as the Lions’ No. 2 quarterback. On the diamond, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Miller went 5-0 with a 3.97 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings. The Padres obviously like what they saw.

16 May

making adjustments

Home runs in back-to-back games, including a walk-off for San Diego on Monday night, is a good sign for Hunter Renfroe, who has been struggling of late. Here’s another: The Mississippi State product from Crystal Springs has walked nine times in his last nine games. He walked twice in his first 30 games this season. Being more selective should translate to being more productive. “He’s making an adjustment back to the league right now and that’s really good to see,” Padres manager Andy Green told The Associated Press. Renfroe’s homer on Monday – on a 3-2 pitch in the 10th inning against Milwaukee’s Oliver Drake – was his seventh of the season and first career walk-off. “That’s pretty special,” Renfroe said. He lifted his average, which had dipped to .200 a few days ago, to .217, and he now has 17 RBIs. He has fanned 43 times in 143 at-bats. In his 11-game MLB debut in 2016, he hit .371 with four homers and five punchouts in 35 at-bats. P.S. Ex-East Central Community College star Tim Anderson (see previous post) was back on the Chicago White Sox’s bench on Monday and is expected to be back in the lineup tonight against the Los Angeles Angels.

16 Mar

spotlight on …

In Goodyear, Ariz., Cincinnati and San Diego hooked up in a wild Cactus League game on Wednesday that saw several Mississippians make an imprint. For the Padres, former Mississippi State star Hunter Renfroe hit his first homer of the spring, a two-run shot in the first inning against Northwest Mississippi Community College alum Cody Reed. Renfroe, expected to be the Padres’ opening day right fielder, is hitting .278 this spring. Lefty Reed, battling for a job on the Reds’ staff, went 3 2/3 innings and allowed four hits, a walk and three runs while punching out seven. His CL ERA is now 4.91. The Reds rallied to win the game 8-7 as Billy Hamilton, Zack Cozart and Stuart Turner chipped in with noteworthy contributions. Taylorsville’s Hamilton, batting just .233 this spring, went 3-for-3, stole two bases, scored a run and drove in one. Ole Miss product Cozart, a .360 hitter, went 2-for-3 with his first CL homer, and ex-Rebels star Stuart Turner, in camp as a Rule 5 draftee, boosted his average to .450 with a pair of hits. P.S. Greenwood native Louis Coleman, yet another Mississippian with the Reds, made his spring debut on Tuesday and threw a clean inning. He had been shelved by a minor arm problem.