Tag Archives: Puerto Rican Winter League

13 Dec

spotlight on …

Anthony Calarco, former Ole Miss standout and the 2025 Frontier League MVP, is playing in the Puerto Rican (Roberto Clemente) Winter League, hitting .233 with a pair of homers for Ponce. Calarco batted .347 with 24 homers, 116 RBIs, 34 doubles and 82 runs for Schaumburg in the indy Frontier League. The lefty-swinging first baseman had a huge series for the Boomers when they played the Mississippi Mud Monsters at Trustmark Park in early August. After four years at Northwestern, Calarco batted .274 with five homers in 48 games for Ole Miss in 2023. He played that summer in affiliated ball in the Texas system, then spent 2024 with Schaumburg. (Former St. Andrew’s High star Banks Tolley, who was also with Schaumburg in 2025 — hitting .313 with 12 homers — has re-signed with the club.) P.S. Ryan Rolison was not in limbo for long. The Ole Miss product was claimed off waivers by the Chicago White Sox on Friday after being designated for assignment by Atlanta (see previous post). … Billy Hamilton, former Taylorsville High star, has swiped seven bases in 25 games in the Mexican Pacific League and is sitting at 860 bags for his long pro career that dates to 2009. Hamilton, 35, is batting .241 for Jalisco in his second season in the MPL. … Bobby Bradley, ex-Harrison Central standout, is currently on the reserve list with Mexicali in the Mexican Pacific League. The power-hitting first baseman, 29, batted .273 with just one homer in 16 games for the Aguilas after hitting one homer in 20 games for Tucson before changing teams. … Gorkys Hernandez, who played for the Mississippi Braves way back in 2009, is leading the Venezuelan Winter League in hitting at .377 through 46 games with Aragua. The 37-year-old Hernandez has a .471 OBP and 12 steals. … Rufus Lewis, a two-time All-Star in the Negro Leagues, was born on this date in Hattiesburg (or Johnstons Station, per other sources) in 1919. Lewis won Game 7 of the 1946 Negro League World Series for Newark.

05 Dec

to do list

Having chosen a nickname and a logo, released a schedule for 2025 and named a general manager, the Mississippi Mud Monsters’ next — and perhaps most-anticipated — task is putting together a team, starting with the hiring of a field manager. Andrew Seymour, who spent the previous six seasons as GM of the Palm Beach Cardinals, a Class A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, has taken the administrative reins as GM of the Mud Monsters, who’ll begin play in the independent Frontier League next May at Pearl’s Trustmark Park. Frontier League teams, of which there are 18, have been announcing player signees for 2025 since their season ended in mid-September. Banks Tolley, ex-St. Andrew’s High and Appalachian State star, signed with Schaumburg of the FL last month after playing briefly in the league last summer. It’s likely the Mud Monsters will attempt to recruit players with ties to baseball-rich Mississippi. (Incidentally, Tyreque Reed, a Houlka native who played at Itawamba Community College and several years in the minors, led the Frontier League in hitting this past season with a .341 average for Washington. He is not currently listed on the Wild Things’ roster. Ex-Belhaven All-America pitcher Brett Sanchez played for the FL’s Joliet team in 2024.) The Mud Monsters’ first home game is set for May 8 against the Florence Y’alls. P.S. Catching up with: Former William Carey star Patrick Lee, who played in the Detroit system in 2024, is in the Puerto Rican (Roberto Clemente) Winter League, batting .278 in seven games with five runs and four steals for San Juan. … Harrison Central High alum and ex-big leaguer Bobby Bradley has hit four homers in 19 games for Navojoa in the Mexican Pacific League. He has five homers and 20 RBIs all told in the MPL this winter after hitting 13 in the summer Mexican League. … Former Magee High standout Brennon McNair, a Kansas City prospect, is hitting .205 with two homers, five RBIs and three steals for Brisbane in the Australian Baseball League. … The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, now called the HBCU Athletic Conference, will not play its season-ending tournament at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium in 2025, ending a three-year run there. Tougaloo and Rust are members of the NAIA-level league.

04 Dec

keep on rakin’

A month into the Puerto Rican Winter League season, former Delta State standout Trent Giambrone is leading the circuit in home runs. Giambrone has hit three homers in 21 games for first-place Criollos de Caguas and is batting .200 with three doubles, a triple and 10 RBIs. The 29-year-old infielder, who had a cup of coffee with the Chicago Cubs in 2021, played in the independent Atlantic League this past season and hit .287 with 22 homers and 72 RBIs. Drafted by the Cubs in 2016 after a highly decorated college career at Jones County Junior College and NCAA Division II DSU, the 5-foot-8 Giambrone batted .233 with 62 homers and 72 RBIs in six minor league seasons and went 2-for-13 for the Cubs in ’21. He became a minor league free agent after the 2022 season.

17 Dec

hits keep comin’

Blaine Crim keeps hammering home this fact: He can hit. The former Mississippi College star is leading the Puerto Rican (Roberto Clemente) Winter League in batting with a .400 average. Through 22 games, the 24-year-old Texas Rangers minor leaguer has two homers, eight doubles, 21 RBIs and 13 runs for Mayaguez. Crim, an Alabama native, hit .350 over four years at NCAA Division II MC, where he was the Gulf South Conference player of the year in 2019. Drafted in the 19th round by the Rangers, the right-handed hitting first baseman has a .314 average in two pro seasons. He was the rookie Northwest League MVP in 2019, when he hit .335 with eight homers in 53 games. Playing at the High-A and Double-A levels in 2021, Crim hit a combined .296 with 29 homers and 80 RBIs. He ought to get a look in the big league spring camp, whenever that might open.