Pirates Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

05 Feb

in the spotlight

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College is off to a 6-1 start under first-year coach Zach Allen. The Bulldogs swept Reid State Technical College 18-8 and 4-2 on Tuesday in Perkinston as Kaden Irving banged out four hits, including a homer and a triple, drove in three runs and scored five. Irving, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound first baseman from Gautier, is batting .579 with nine steals, nine RBIs and 13 runs. Dom Jackson, who hit 13 homers last season, already has three in 2025. Six different pitchers have recorded a win, including Samuel Marsh and Tyler West in Tuesday’s sweep. The Bulldogs have missed the NJCAA Division II Region 23 postseason the past two years. … Holmes CC is 4-0, led by former Brandon High star Xavier Myles, who is hitting .571 (8-for-14) with a homer and seven RBIs. … Northwest is also 4-0, fueled by Rob Hayes (Southaven), who is 7-for-12 with two homers and eight RBIs. … Second-ranked East Central, coming off a juco World Series appearance, opens Thursday against South Arkansas in Decatur. … Pearl River’s Max Miller (Vancleave) was named the MACCC pitcher of the week after working 3 1/3 hitless innings with seven strikeouts while recording a save and a win for the No. 5 Wildcats (3-1). P.S. Former Jackson Prep standout Konnor Griffin, yet to make his pro debut, has been given a non-roster invite to Pittsburgh’s major league spring camp. Griffin was the ninth overall pick in the 2024 draft. David Mershon, drafted out of Mississippi State by the Los Angeles Angels last summer, is going to that club’s big camp; he batted .254 in 29 games in Double-A last summer.

28 Jan

circling back

Adam Frazier, the ex-Mississippi State standout, is off the free agent market, having reportedly agreed to sign with his original MLB team, Pittsburgh. A nine-year veteran, Frazier spent the first 5 1/2 years of his career with the Pirates, making the All-Star Game in 2021. The 32-year-old utility man has bounced around ever since, playing for four other teams, three of which made the postseason. The left-handed hitter batted just .202 for Kansas City in 2024 but has a .264 career mark with 60 homers and 55 steals. … With the gates of spring training camps soon to swing open, three other notable Mississippi products, each a big league veteran, remain unsigned. Pitchers Spencer Turnbull, Lance Lynn and Kendall Graveman would seem to be attractive, reasonably priced options for teams that still have holes to fill. Former Madison Central High star Turnbull, 32, has a 4.26 ERA in six big league seasons, working primarily as a starter, and made just $2 million last year with Philadelphia. He posted a 2.65 ERA in an injury-shortened 2024 season but is reportedly healthy now. Ole Miss alum Lynn, 37, had a 3.84 ERA in 23 starts last season with St. Louis, where he was on a one-year, $11M deal. Lynn has 143 career wins dating to 2011, when he helped the Cardinals win the World Series as a rookie. Ex-State star Graveman, 34, missed all of 2024 following shoulder surgery last off-season. A nine-year vet, he has a career ERA of 3.95, working strictly as a reliever since 2020. He was effective in middle relief for Houston in 2023. P.S. Former Mississippi College standout Blaine Crim, who batted .277 with 20 homers and 86 RBIs for Texas’ Triple-A team in 2024, has received a non-roster invite to the Rangers’ camp. The Gulf South Conference’s player of the year in 2019, the righty-hitting first baseman has batted .295 in his minor league career with 103 homers in 562 games. … MLB Pipeline gave 70-grade arm tools (on the 20-80 scouting scale) to 2024 draftees and Magnolia State prep products Konnor Griffin (Pittsburgh system) and Braden Montgomery (Chicago White Sox).

17 Sep

on this date

On Sept. 17, 1984, Reggie Jackson hit the 500th home run of his Hall of Fame career. But forget that. In the same game, for the same team, Jackson native and former Forest Hill High star Stewart Cliburn made his major league debut. Cliburn pitched the last two innings of California’s 10-1 loss to Kansas City at Anaheim Stadium. The right-hander worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning, striking out the first batter he faced (Greenville native Frank White), then coughed up three runs in the ninth. Cliburn, 27 at the time, pitched in two more seasons for the Angels, posting a 3.11 ERA in 85 appearances overall. In 1985, he was a key reliever for the club, notching nine wins and six saves for a 90-72 team that finished 1 game out of first in the American League West. Cliburn was drafted out of Delta State by Pittsburgh in 1977 and labored in the minors for seven seasons before California gave him a call-up in ’84. Since his playing days ended, Cliburn has worked as a pitching coach at various levels and is currently with the Chicago Dogs of the independent American Association. His twin brother Stan, who also reached the big leagues as a catcher, is the manager of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the indy Atlantic League; he got his 2,000th managerial win this season.

14 Sep

welcome back … ?

The Pittsburgh Pirates and fans at PNC Park gave Adam Frazier a warm “welcome back” on Friday night. The Pirates played a video tribute to their former star on the stadium scoreboard and the crowd gave him a standing ovation before his first at-bat. “Appreciate them doing that,” the Mississippi State product said in a postgame interview. “Then you gotta lock back in, that’s all I was trying to do right there … .” He did, helping visiting Kansas City — fighting for a playoff berth — roll to an 8-3 victory. Frazier scored twice and hit his fourth home run as the Royals improved to 81-67, second in the American League wild card standings. Frazier was drafted by the Pirates in 2013 and spent his first six MLB seasons in a Pittsburgh uniform. He was traded in mid-2021, which was the last time he played at PNC. He has bounced to four other teams the past four years. A .264 career hitter, Frazier’s first year in KC hasn’t been great — .205, four homers, 20 RBIs, 32 runs over 244 at-bats — but he plays hard and plays anywhere in the field he is needed. He also has postseason experience — with Baltimore in 2023 and Seattle in 2022. P.S. Saucier native Brandon Parker, back near his old stomping grounds at Biloxi’s Keesler Federal Park, homered for the second straight night as the Mississippi Braves beat the Shuckers 7-0 in a Double-A Southern League game. Parker has eight homers on the season. At Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Perkinston, Parker belted 38 homers in two seasons, setting the school record with 24 as a freshman in 2018. … Ole Miss alum T.J. McCants doubled home the winning run in the 11th inning as Low-Class A Kannapolis beat Charleston 2-1 to advance to the Carolina League Championship Series. McCants, who finished his college career at Alabama in 2024, hit .230 with two homers and four steals this season for the Chicago White Sox affiliate.

29 Aug

‘the bethancourt game’

The Chicago Cubs scored 11 runs over the final three innings to overcome a seven-run deficit and beat Pittsburgh 14-10 Wednesday at PNC Park. Amazing. More amazing might be the fact that Christian Bethancourt — remember him, Mississippi Braves fans? — drove in six runs in those last three frames and seven all told. “This will be remembered as ‘The Bethancourt Game,'” Cubs broadcaster Jim Deshaies said. Bethancourt, batting ninth on Wednesday, went 3-for-5 with a 431-foot two-run homer in the seventh, a two-run double in the eighth and a go-ahead two-run single in the ninth. The 32-year-old catcher, signed by the Cubs after being released by Miami, is hitting .407 with three homers in 11 games. “I don’t know how you can play better than he’s played,” manager Craig Counsell told mlb.com. “(E)very time he’s in there, there are extra-base hits, there are RBIs, throwing out runners.” The well-liked Panama native, whose pro career began in 2008 in Atlanta’s system, has had quite the odyssey. His transactions page on mlb.com could be published as a novella. He’s been everywhere, man. He has played for six different MLB teams, wearing seven different numbers, and passed through several other organizations. He has played in the Dominican Summer League and the Dominican Winter League. He has played in the Arizona Fall League’s Fall Stars Game and the All-Star Futures Game. He has played in Korea and in the Caribbean Series (earlier this year, in fact). He even tried pitching, including 11 MLB appearances (9.31 ERA). He arrived in Mississippi in 2012 as a top Braves prospect and had a tough year. He returned to Double-A in 2013 and was a Southern League All-Star. He made his big league debut that fall. Bethancourt has played in almost 1,500 pro games and in 415 big league games. He’s had some moments but never a day like Wednesday, a day Cubs fans will always remember: “The Bethancourt Game.”

14 Aug

checking the charts

There are lofty expectations for three recent Mississippi high school players of the year. In MLB Pipeline’s new Top 100 minor league prospects list released on Tuesday, Konnor Griffin (Jackson Prep) is ranked No. 55, Braden Montgomery (Madison Central) No. 59 and Cooper Pratt (Magnolia Heights) No. 62. Griffin, drafted ninth overall by Pittsburgh last month, is rated the Pirates’ No. 2 prospect, despite not having played a pro game. He was the national prep player of the year for 2024. Montgomery, drafted 12th overall in July out of Texas A&M by Boston, is already No. 4 in the Red Sox’s system; he hasn’t yet been assigned to a team either as he recovers from an ankle injury. Pratt was drafted last year and is now Milwaukee’s No. 2 prospect; he is batting .287 with four homers, 39 RBIs and 27 steals over two levels of Class A ball. … Roughly two dozen players with Mississippi ties appear in the Top 30 rankings of individual MLB clubs. Of note: Southern Miss alum Hurston Waldrep, who already has some big league time in his second pro season, is Atlanta’s No. 3. … Dakota Jordan, former Jackson Academy star drafted out of Mississippi State in July, checks in at No. 5 in San Francisco’s chain. … Jurrangelo Cijntje, the switch-pitcher drafted 15th overall out of MSU, is rated Seattle’s No. 7. … Former Jackson Prep standout Will Warren, who has made two appearances with the New York Yankees this season, is the No. 5 prospect in that system. P.S. USM product Matthew Etzel, Tampa Bay’s No. 25 prospect, hit his first two homers for Montgomery in Tuesday’s 18-5 blowout of Pensacola in the Double-A Southern League. Etzel is batting .278 with eight homers and 42 steals overall in 2024, having been traded by Baltimore to the Rays last month. … East Union High’s Landon Harmon, the Class 2A Mr. Baseball this past season, is slated to participate in today’s MLB-sponsored High School All-America Game at Petco Park. … Mike Cubbage, former major league infielder who managed the 1986 Jackson Mets to a division title in the Texas League, has died at age 74.

31 Jul

lightning strikes twice

Deadline trades — and there were a slew of them this week — can be risky, but they can also make a big difference in a team’s championship chase. To wit: Former Meridian Community College standout Cliff Lee was involved in deadline deals in back-to-back seasons that proved very rewarding. Both times the lanky left-hander helped his new club reach the World Series. In 2009, the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies traded four prospects to Cleveland for Lee, the 2008 Cy Young Award winner, and an outfielder. Lee went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA as the Phillies won the National League East. In the postseason, he was 4-0 with a 1.56 and beat the New York Yankees twice in the World Series. Alas, the Phils fell in six games. In 2010, Lee had moved on to Seattle. That July, Texas sent three prospects along with big leaguer Justin Smoak to the Mariners to get Lee for the stretch run. He went 4-6 with a 3.98 ERA for the Rangers, 2-1 with a 1.93 in four September starts, helping them win the American League West. In the 2010 postseason, Lee posted a 3-2, 2.78, ledger as Texas reached the World Series. Both of his losses came in the Series, won by San Francisco. … Lee won 143 games in a 13-year big league career and was 7-3 with a 2.52 ERA in 11 postseason starts. He did not win a ring, however. P.S. At a press conference in Pittsburgh today, Jackson Prep alum Konnor Griffin formally signed with the Pirates for a $6.5 million bonus, the highest for a Mississippi-connected player in the bonus pool era (since 2012) of the MLB draft. The consensus national high school player of the year was the ninth overall pick. “The (Pirates) team is on a great track right now hopefully getting to the playoffs,” Griffin said at his signing. “There are a lot of great things I’m seeing here.” If Griffin, an outfielder/shortstop, plays this season, it’ll likely be at Low-Class A Bradenton. The rookie league season has ended. … Former Jackson Prep standout Will Warren was optioned back to Triple-A by the New York Yankees after making an impressive MLB debut at Philadelphia on Tuesday (see previous posts). … Lance Lynn, the 37-year-old right-hander out of Ole Miss, went on the injured list with knee inflammation today, a day after notching his sixth win for St. Louis against Texas. Lynn (6-4, 4.06 ERA) is 2-0 in his last three starts while allowing just three runs in 16 innings for the Cardinals, who are still in the National League wild card race.

24 Jul

duel for the ages

On paper, it was the must-watch pitching matchup of the night in the big leagues. Lance Lynn, 37, the graybeard out of Ole Miss, a veteran of 336 big league starts, against Paul Skenes, 22, the rookie from LSU with the trendy mustache, taking the mound for just 12th time. And it was a great duel — while it lasted. St. Louis ultimately handed Skenes (6-1) his first loss, 2-1 on Tuesday night at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. It was scoreless through four innings. Lynn lasted just one more frame (86 pitches) but left with a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Nolan Arenado homer. The Pirates tied it in the eighth against the St. Louis bullpen, and then the Cardinals pushed across the winning run against Skenes in the ninth. Skenes, frequently hitting 100 mph, went 8 1/3, allowed just four hits and no walks with eight strikeouts. The All-Star Game starter has 97 K’s in his 12 games. Lynn, still pumping his four-seamer up to 95 mph, allowed four hits and three walks and fanned two, including career K No. 2,000. “His competitive nature has allowed him to really accomplish cool things in this game,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol told mlb.com. Lynn’s record this season stays at 5-4 (141-99 career), his ERA dips to 4.17. The Cardinals, running second in the National League Central, moved to 53-48, 2 games better than the third-place Pirates. P.S. On the trade candidate watch: Ex-Mississippi State star Brent Rooker belted his 23rd homer for last-place Oakland, his fifth bomb in his last seven games; he is batting .291. Ocean Springs High product Garrett Crochet worked just four innings (74 pitches) for the Chicago White Sox, allowed two runs and took a loss; he is 6-7 with a 3.07 for the last-place ChiSox.

15 Jul

the road ahead

There have been a handful of highly touted Mississippi high school players picked in the first round of the MLB draft over the years. Jackson Prep alum Konnor Griffin — named the national player of the year by both Baseball America and Gatorade — is the latest, the ninth overall pick by Pittsburgh, the first high school player off the board in 2024. MLB Pipeline hails Griffin’s five-tool potential and notes that “his makeup is as impressive as his physical ability.” Baseball America rates Griffin as the best athlete among the prep draft class. Still, projecting pro success for high school kids is difficult. There are no sure things. Of all the high school players ever picked out of Mississippi in the first round, only three reached the big leagues, and only one of those enjoyed any real success. Yes, pro baseball is hard.

Way back in 1969, Ted Nicholson (pictured) of Oak Park in Laurel was drafted third overall — behind Jeff Burroughs and J.R. Richard — by the Chicago White Sox. He didn’t get out of A-ball in a brief pro career interrupted by military duty. In 1993, Kirk Presley, a dominant pitcher at Tupelo High, went eighth overall to the New York Mets. Injuries ended his career in A-ball. It happens. Quite often. Three high schoolers who did make the majors are Donny Castle, the eighth pick out of Coldwater in 1968 by Washington; Steve Pegues, drafted 21st out of Pontotoc in 1987 by Detroit; and Austin Riley, technically a supplemental first-rounder at No. 41 in 2015 out of DeSoto Central by Atlanta. Riley is a success story, an example that it can be done. He has been an All-Star and an All-MLB pick, claimed two Silver Sluggers and won a World Series. Castle reached the majors in 1973, getting 13 at-bats for Texas. It took Pegues seven years to reach the big leagues, and he lasted just 100 games, batting .266 over two MLB seasons. Again, pro baseball is hard. Blake Anderson, Ryan Bolden, Donnie Bridges, D.J. Davis, Wendell Fairley and Sam Hence — all terrific high school players — were first-round (or supplemental first-round) picks from the ‘Sip in recent years. None completed the journey to the majors. J.T. Ginn was the 30th overall pick from Brandon High in 2018 but didn’t sign. He went to Mississippi State for two years, got hurt, got drafted again (second round) and is now in Triple-A with Oakland, no longer a top prospect. Griffin, assuming he takes the pro money over his commitment to LSU, will likely start his journey in rookie ball, the first of the five minor league levels. It’s a long, hard road to The Show, even for special talents like Griffin. P.S. Braden Montgomery, a Madison Central High alum who played at Texas A&M this season, was chosen 12th overall by Boston, and Mississippi State product Jurrangelo Cijntje went 15th to Seattle. MSU’s Dakota Jordan, a Jackson Academy alum, was projected as a first-rounder but was not among the 39 Round 1 draftees.

27 Jun

hello and good-bye

From the That’s Just Too Weird file: On this date in 2003, Matt Miller, Leland native and Delta State alum, made his major league debut for Colorado. Also on this date in 2003, former Southern Miss star Kevin Young played the last game of his MLB career for Pittsburgh. As fate would have it, the Rockies were playing the Pirates at PNC Park that day. And in the sixth inning, Miller came on in relief. The third batter he faced was Young, pinch-hitting for the Bucs. It was his final AB. Miller struck him out, his first career K. Miller would go on to make 99 more MLB appearances, posting a 2.72 ERA. (He is also the answer to a great trivia question: Who threw the last pitch of the 25-year Texas League era at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium? Miller recorded the final out for Tulsa against the Generals on Sept. 4, 1999.) Young, one of the best players to come out of USM, played 12 years in the majors, all but one with the Pirates, for whom he debuted in 1992. He batted .258 with 144 homers, second only to Brian Dozier (192) among USM alums in the majors.