Tag Archives: Pirates

14 Mar

if the role fits

Former Mississippi State standout Adam Frazier is getting a lot of at-bats – and hits – while playing a lot of positions for Pittsburgh this spring, tuning up for what is expected to be a role as a super-utility player. Frazier batted leadoff and went 4-for-4 against Atlanta on Monday, raising his Grapefruit League average to .462. He has a homer, seven RBIs and seven runs in 26 ABs. He played center field, the sixth position he has manned this spring. “Anyway to get on the field,” Frazier said in an mlb.com article. “That’s the role I have on this team, I believe.” Frazier, a sixth-round pick in 2013 out of State, rose swiftly in the Pirates’ system and made his big league debut last summer, batting .301 in a reserve role. “We like what he’s doing,” said manager Clint Hurdle, the former Jackson Mets skipper. … Spring cleaning: State alum Mitch Moreland hit his first Grapefruit League homer for Boston on Monday; he’s batting .316 with his new club. … Ex-Ole Miss star Stuart Turner, trying to make Cincinnati’s roster as a Rule 5 draftee, is batting .389, the best average among any catcher in Reds camp. … Oakland has optioned UM alum Bobby Wahl to Triple-A, and San Francisco did the same with State product Chris Stratton. … Picayune High product T.J. House, hit in the back of the head by a batted ball last Friday, is back in Toronto’s camp but not expected to participate in any baseball activities for a few more days. The left-hander is in camp on a minor league contract. … Former Harrison Central High star Bobby Bradley, expected to play at the Double-A level this year, has gotten some ABs with Cleveland’s big league team the last couple of days, going 1-for-4. Bradley, a top prospect at first base, hit 29 homers in A-ball in 2016. … Other minor league players with Mississippi ties who have gotten called to big league camp this month include: Austin Riley (Atlanta), Brandon Woodruff (Milwaukee), Tim Dillard (Milwaukee), Cody Satterwhite (Baltimore), Auston Bousfield (San Diego), Jacob Waguespack (Philadelphia), Ti’Quan Forbes (Texas), Daniel Sweet (Cincinnati), J.B. Woodman (Toronto) and D.J. Davis (Toronto).

03 Mar

yard work

Home runs always get attention, especially in spring training games. Mississippi connections Adam Frazier, Tim Anderson and Anthony Alford made the highlight shows on Thursday, each going yard for the first time. Frazier, the versatile left-handed hitter out of Mississippi State, is having a fine spring for Pittsburgh as he tries to secure a role as a utility player. He is 3-for-8 with two RBIs and two runs in Grapefruit League games; he hit .301 as a rookie for the Pirates last season. East Central Community College alum Anderson, who hit .283 with nine homers and 10 steals as the Chicago White Sox’s rookie shortstop in 2016, is 7-for-12 in Cactus League play. A switch-hitter, he has three RBIs and three runs. Former Petal High star Alford, a top-rated prospect likely bound for Double-A this season, is in Toronto’s camp as a first-time 40-man roster member and has showed out well. He is 3-for-12 with a couple of RBIs. Alford, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound outfielder, is projected to make the big leagues in 2018. He has tremendously exciting potential.

30 Oct

so there’s a chance

A 3 games to 1 deficit is certainly a slippery slope but not the end of the world in the World Series. The Chicago Cubs – and their legion of fans – can find some measure of hope in the fact that five teams have crawled out of that hole to win the championship. The last two times it happened, Mississippi natives were on the winning side. In 1985, Greenville’s Frank White was a key contributor for Kansas City as it rallied past St. Louis in the Series many remember for umpire Don Denkinger’s bad call in Game 6. White batted .250 for the Royals with three doubles, a home run, six RBIs and four runs and had two hits, two runs and two RBIs over the final three games. He also played his usual stellar defense at second base. In 1979, Grenada’s Dave Parker (sometimes listed as being born in Calhoun City) had a big series for Pittsburgh as the “We Are Family” Pirates stormed back to beat Baltimore. Parker, the Bucs’ right fielder, hit .345 with three doubles, four RBIs and two runs in the Series and delivered a key knock in Game 6. The current Cubs do have a Mississippi connection in Ole Miss product Chris Coghlan, though his contributions to this point have been minimal. Maybe that’ll change. For the Cubs, something needs to change.

29 Sep

another wow moment

The numbers are in. MLB’s Statcast numbers, that is, on Hunter Renfroe’s ginormous home run, the one that went where no ball has gone before – the roof of the Western Metal Supply Co. building beyond the left-field wall at San Diego’s Petco Park. Statcast put the distance of Wednesday night’s blast at 434 feet and the exit velocity of the ball off the bat at 109 mph. “I think we all know he’s got a ton of raw power. I wasn’t expecting that,” Padres manager Andy Green told mlb.com. Former Mississippi State star Renfroe, 6 feet 1, 220 pounds, now has four homers in 21 MLB at-bats, with 12 RBIs and six runs. No doubt there are some old Copiah Academy fans who are saying today, “Oh yeah, we saw this coming.” Renfroe hit a Mississippi private school-record 20 bombs for Copiah as a senior just six short years ago. He hit 15 homers his junior year at the Gallman school. He started slowly at State but flexed his muscles as a junior in 2013, belting 16 homers (while batting .345) and earning All-America honors. He also won the Ferriss Trophy that year and was drafted in the first round by the Padres. He hit 77 minor league homers before crashing The Show on Sept. 21. Elsewhere in MLB: Ole Miss product Seth Smith drove in two runs to help Seattle crush Houston 12-4 and hang 2 games out of an American League wild card berth. … Jarrod Dyson, the former Southwest Mississippi Community College star, got two hits, two runs and his 29th steal of the year as Kansas City beat Minnesota 5-2. But Ned Yost’s Royals were eliminated from AL wild card contention just the same. … The fingerprints of former Mississippi Braves were all over Atlanta’s 12-2 win against Philadelphia. The incredible Freddie Freeman extended his hit streak to 30 games; rookie Dansby Swanson – who can play a little, too – went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs; Daniel Castro had three hits and three RBIs; Mallex Smith scored a run; John Gant threw a scoreless inning; and Rio Ruiz got his first big league knock, a triple. … And a blast from another past: John Jaso’s cycle was the first by a Pittsburgh player since former Jackson Generals star Daryle Ward turned the trick in 2004. Ward had five career triples.

21 Sep

in focus

Adam Frazier was a catalyst for Pittsburgh in a 6-3 win at Milwaukee on Tuesday night that kept the Pirates’ faint playoff hopes alive. The Mississippi State alum, batting leadoff and playing left field, went 3-for-5 and scored twice. He led off the game with a single off Matt Garza and scored the first run as the Pirates took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Frazier doubled and scored in the fifth, when Pittsburgh again scored twice to go up 5-2. Frazier, a versatile rookie who doesn’t play regularly, is batting .351 with two homers, nine RBIs and 17 runs in 55 games. Pittsburgh, managed by former Jackson Mets skipper Clint Hurdle, is 75-75, 4.5 games out in the National League wild card chase with four teams ahead of it. P.S. Ex-State star Hunter Renfroe, the Pacific Coast League MVP, reportedly has been called up by the San Diego Padres and could make his MLB debut tonight against Arizona at Petco Park. … T.J. House, the Picayune High product, has been designated for assignment by Cleveland, which needed to clear a roster spot for prospect Adam Plutko. Left-hander House spent most of 2016 in Triple-A, appearing in just four big league games. House, who’ll be 27 later this month, was 5-3 with a 3.98 ERA for Columbus and pitched even better after he moved to the bullpen in July. He is 5-7, 4.44 over parts of three MLB seasons. He’ll pitch again, somewhere.

29 Aug

k-rations

Jonathan Holder was almost perfect on Sunday. The right-hander out of Mississippi State, pitching for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, faced 13 batters and struck out 12 of them. He registered the save in a 3-1 win that clinched an International League playoff berth for SWB, a New York Yankees affiliate. Gulfport native Holder, a sixth-round pick by the Yankees in 2014, put up a 2.20 ERA at Double-A Trenton with 10 saves in 11 chances. He has been even better for SWB, going 6-for-6 in save opps with an 0.89 ERA, 35 strikeouts and no walks in 20 1/3 innings. Punchouts are not Holder’s forte, or so he says. “Getting swings and misses is a plus, but letting hitters get themselves out is my game plan,” he told milb.com. For the record, he has 225 K’s in 219 2/3 career innings. Holder is not on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, but he has positioned himself for a possible September call-up. P.S. Pittsburgh sent former State star Adam Frazier down to rookie-level Bristol on Sunday. Why Bristol? Because, according to mlb.com, Frazier can be recalled as soon as Bristol’s season ends, which is Thursday. The versatile Frazier is hitting .321 with a home run and seven RBIs in 39 games with Pittsburgh, which is still chasing a wild card in the National League.

18 Aug

playing the market

From the You Never Know Department: In the 2015 MLB draft, Pittsburgh picked Pearl River Community College right-hander Jacob Taylor, considered by some the best prospect in Mississippi that year, in the fourth round. In the 25th round, Texas took Demarcus Evans, a right-hander from Petal High. Taylor, who was committed to LSU, signed with the Pirates for a reported $500,000. Evans, bound for Hinds CC, inked with the Rangers for $100,000, a nice sum for a 25th-rounder. Some 14 months later, the Pirates still can’t be sure what they have in Taylor. The Rangers, on the other hand, must be thrilled with their investment in Evans. Such is the nature of baseball – and the draft. Taylor has pitched in just three official minor league games. In August of last year, two months after the draft, he made his pro debut in the Gulf Coast League and left after two innings. He went on the disabled list with an elbow injury, then had Tommy John surgery a short time later. Taylor, 21, made his 2016 debut, also in the GCL, on Aug. 3, faced three batters and left after yielding a three-run homer. He didn’t pitch again until Monday, when he worked 2 2/3 innings and allowed another homer, though he did fan four batters. Taylor was All-State at Picayune High in 2013 and was a good if not great player at PRCC, posting a 3.14 ERA as a freshman and a 3.90 as a sophomore while also playing some outfield. He is 6 feet 3 with an upper 90s fastball and may yet do great things in pro ball. But at the moment, Evans has passed him on prospect road. At Petal, Evans could be dominant, fanning almost two batters per inning as a senior, and he is tapping into that same power as a pro. Pitching at short-season Class A Spokane, the 6-4, 240-pound 19-year-old struck out eight batters in a start on Tuesday and has 17 K’s in 13 2/3 innings. He fanned 44 in 29 innings in the rookie Arizona League. Evans’ walk totals are a little high, but batters have hit just .180 against him and his ERA at Spokane is 1.98. Not yet a ranked prospect, he is certainly one to watch.

03 Aug

alumni news

Though is his team is stuck in last place, Southern Miss product Brian Dozier is on a roll. Dozier hit his 20th home run of the year on Tuesday and extended his hitting to streak to 11 games as Minnesota beat American League Central leader Cleveland 10-6. The second baseman also had eight assists and two putouts. Dozier is batting .259, having lifted his average 26 points during the streak, and has 57 RBIs. He has reached the 20-homer plateau for the third straight year. … He is called “that little scamp” in one Pittsburgh Pirates-devoted blog. It’s a compliment, actually, and it rather fits Adam Frazier. The former Mississippi State standout, who goes 5 feet 10, 175 pounds, pestered the Atlanta Braves all night on Tuesday, helping the Pirates to a 5-3 victory at Turner Field. The Athens, Ga., native went 2-for-4, drove in two runs and stole a base. He got the Pirates’ first hit in a 13-pitch at-bat in the fifth inning against Mike Foltynewicz and added a two-run single in a pivotal four-run sixth inning. For the season, the versatile rookie is batting .367 with a homer, six RBIs, seven runs and four steals in 24 games. … Not only did Zack Cozart not get traded, he received one of the prime lockers in the Cincinnati clubhouse. The ex-Ole Miss star, rumored to be headed to Seattle on Monday, is staying put – for now – and was moved into the double-wide locker formerly occupied by the traded Jay Bruce. “I’ve got some big shoes to fill. That’s for sure,” Cozart told the Dayton Daily News. The highly respected Cozart, who missed Tuesday’s game with a minor injury, is batting .266 with 15 homers as one of the Reds’ steadiest performers in a rough season. P.S. Prepare to add Rob Whalen to the list – now well over 100 — of Mississippi Braves alums to make the majors. The right-hander, who went 7-5 with a 2.49 ERA for the M-Braves before moving to Triple-A Gwinnett, is slated to start for Atlanta tonight against Pittsburgh.

22 Jul

staying power

Adam Frazier is showing some staying power with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Mississippi State alum was never a highly rated prospect in the Pirates’ system — No. 27 by both mlb.com and Baseball America entering 2016 — but here he is batting .333 with six runs and three RBIs in 18 games since getting his first big league call-up last month. Frazier, playing second base, hit leadoff for the first time on Thursday and went 1-for-4 with an RBI in the Pirates’ 5-3 win over Milwaukee. Drafted in the sixth round out of State in 2013, Frazier batted .299 with a .363 on-base percentage in the minors. At 5 feet 10, 175 pounds, the lefty-hitting Frazier doesn’t hit for a lot of power or steal a ton of bases, but he brings versatility and a bulldog (Bulldog?) mentality to the park everyday. He might prove a valuable piece the rest of the way as Clint Hurdle’s Pirates, currently 49-46 and third in the National League Central, battle for a playoff berth.

06 Jul

tip your cap

Having been released by Pittsburgh, Ed Easley may have seen his playing career reach the end of the line. The Mississippi State product was batting .174 as a 30-year-old catcher getting limited playing time at Triple-A Indianapolis. Easley has played 10 years in pro ball and appeared in four MLB games, all last year with St. Louis, going 0-for-6. But don’t get the wrong idea. If indeed it is over, Easley’s career is one worth celebrating. After his senior season at Olive Branch High in 2004, he was the state’s Mr. Baseball, Gatorade player of the year and a Louisville Slugger All-America pick. At MSU, he was All-SEC and won the Ferriss Trophy and the Johnny Bench Award that goes to the nation’s best catcher in 2007. Arizona drafted Easley 61st overall in ’07, and he has batted .260 with 43 home runs in 770 minor league games. He has 683 minor league hits, including a single in what may have been his last game, on June 29.