Tag Archives: Rangers

16 Jul

still raking

Yes, it was Division II juco baseball, and, yes, it was with a metal bat. Still, the .504 batting average posted by Tyreque Reed at Itawamba Community College in 2017 was an eye-popping number. And Reed is proving in pro ball that it wasn’t purely a fluke. The 6-foot-1, 250-pound Houlka native can rake. Reed, now playing at High-A Greenville in the Boston system, went 3-for-3 with two walks, a homer and a career-high five RBIs in a game on Thursday. He is batting .296, slugging .587, with 14 homers and 50 RBIs for the Drive. His slugging percentage ranks second in the High-A East and the homer total is tied for third-most. Over four minor league seasons, Reed is batting .283 with 55 homers. A first baseman/DH, Reed is 24 and no doubt ready to be challenged at a higher level. He’s not rated among the Red Sox’s Top 30 prospects on mlb.com, but the organization reportedly is high on his potential. Boston plucked Reed from the Texas organization in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft in December. The Rangers had drafted him in the eighth round out of ICC in 2017; he hit a homer for them in his first big league spring training game in 2019. “(W)e really believe in the power potential, so we’re excited to bring him into the organization. He’s been someone we’ve kept an eye on even outside of the Rule 5 context,” Boston scouting exec Gus Quattlebaum told bloggingtheredsox.com in December. P.S. Former Ole Miss standout Bobby Wahl, released by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, re-signed with them Thursday to a minor league deal.

12 Jul

minor matters

In his first game since the Chicago Cubs decided to return him to a starting role, Justin Steele threw the first 3 2/3 innings Sunday of a seven-inning no-hitter for Triple-A Iowa. Left-hander Steele, a George County High alum, struck out five and walked two in the 1-0 win against St. Paul. Former Delta State star Trent Giambrone drove in the game’s only run with a walk-off sac fly. Former Mississippi State star Brent Rooker went 0-for-3 for St. Paul, a Minnesota farm team. Steele, a starter most of his lengthy minor league career, made his long-awaited MLB debut this season and had a 2.03 ERA in 11 games for the Cubs before landing on the injured list. … MSU product Ethan Small gave up three hits and two runs but got the last two outs in the All-Star Futures Game on Sunday. Small is now at Triple-A Nashville in Milwaukee’s system. … Ole Miss alum Thomas Dillard belted his 10th homer for High-A Wisconsin in the Brewers’ chain. Former Hattiesburg High star Joe Gray, Jr., was recently promoted to Wisconsin after batting .289 with 12 homers in Low-A ball. Gray is at .158 in six games at the new level. … Ex-Bulldogs standout Justin Foscue, recently back from the IL, put up a 3-for-4 that included his third homer for High-A Hickory in Texas’ system. Foscue, a 2020 draftee, is batting .237. … Ole Miss product Parker Caracci notched his sixth save for High-A Vancouver in the Toronto organization. The Jackson Prep alum has a 2-2 record and 1.50 ERA in 22 games in his second pro season. Toronto picked ex-UM star Gunnar Hoglund in the first round (19th overall) of Sunday’s MLB draft; his pro career will be delayed to 2022 as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. … MSU’s Will Bednar, taken with the 14th overall pick by San Francisco, likely would start his pro career in the Arizona Complex League or at Low-A San Jose.

07 Jul

whatever happened to …

Aaron Barrett, the ex-Ole Miss standout who completed a courageous MLB comeback from injuries two years ago, is still pitching — and coming back from yet another injury. Barrett, 33, is with Washington’s Double-A Harrisburg club, where he has a 3.00 ERA in two appearances. He started this season on the Triple-A injured list following spring knee surgery. Barrett was an effective reliever as a rookie for the Nationals in 2014, putting up a 2.66 ERA. He hurt his arm late in 2015 and missed most of the next three seasons following Tommy John surgery and a career-threatening broken humerus bone. Against all odds, he made it back to Washington in 2019, appearing in three games for the eventual world champion. He didn’t play in the 2019 postseason but threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a roaring crowd at Nationals Park prior to the National League Wild Card Game. Several hours later, the Nationals pulled off a dramatic comeback to beat Milwaukee 4-3. Barrett pitched briefly for the Nats in 2020 and re-signed as a minor leaguer in the off-season. P.S. Blaine Crim’s fast start to his pro career – a .348 average at two levels of rookie ball in 2019 — was derailed by the cancellation of the 2020 minor league season. The former Mississippi College star may be getting back on track. Now at High-A Hickory in the Texas system, Crim hit his eighth home run Tuesday and boosted his average to .269 with 37 RBIs as a middle-of-the-order bat for the Crawdads. Crim was a 19th-round pick in 2019 by the Rangers after winning Gulf South Conference player of the year honors at MC.

24 Jun

the next challenge

Former Mississippi State star Ethan Small, having proved himself in Double-A (see previous post), will get the challenge of the next level tonight when he starts for Triple-A Nashville against visiting Charlotte. Milwaukee’s 2019 first-round pick went 2-2 with a 1.97 ERA for the Biloxi Shuckers with 67 strikeouts in 41 1/3 innings. Brewers farm director Tom Flanagan told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “(H)e’s kind of forced our hand to where he’s just dominated the last several outings. It made the decision really easy to get him to Triple-A and let him continue to develop there.” Small, a left-hander, is the top-rated pitching prospect in the Brewers’ organization and their No. 4 overall, per MLB Pipeline. P.S. Former Mississippi prep stars Demarcus Evans and Garrett Crochet have tantalizing stuff that has given MLB hitters fits much of this season. Lately, however, the pendulum has swung. On Tuesday, Petal High product Evans was knocked around for four runs in 2/3 of an inning in Texas’ loss to Oakland. The 24-year-old right-hander has been touched for seven earned runs in his last three appearances and seen his ERA jump to 8.68 in nine games overall. Crochet, an Ocean Springs product, had an even rougher outing Tuesday: four runs allowed without retiring a batter in the Chicago White Sox’s loss against Pittsburgh. The 22-year-old lefty has coughed up runs in his last three appearances and seen his ERA rise to 2.78 over 21 games. By cosmic coincidence, Evans and Crochet debuted on the same day – Sept. 18 – last season. Hitters had to adjust to the new guys with the big arms. Now the young pitchers might have to do some adjusting. Evans’ adjustments will come at Triple-A Round Rock, as he was optioned out on Wednesday.

16 Jun

highs and lows

Tuesday was a good day for Bobby Bradley. The ex-Harrison Central High star went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs in Cleveland’s 7-2 win over Baltimore, boosting his average to .440 (11-for-25) since his call-up on June 5. “In my head, this is 12-year-old All-Stars, as fun as we can get, just playing some summer ball,” Bradley said in an mlb.com article. These are meaningful games for the second-place Indians, who are trying to keep pace with division-leader Chicago in the American League Central. Bradley has contributed three homers and 10 RBIs – and has struck out just four times. These results are much-improved over his 2019 MLB trial, when he batted .178 with one homer and fanned 20 times in 45 at-bats. Bradley, 25, won home run crowns in four different leagues en route to the majors. The Indians would love to see him tap into that power this summer – and keep having fun, of course. … Tuesday was a bad day for Demarcus Evans. The former Petal High star yielded a walk-off grand slam to Jose Altuve in Texas’ 6-3 loss in 10 innings to Houston. After Mississippi State product Nate Lowe had given the Rangers a 3-2 lead with an RBI knock in the top of the 10th, Evans failed to retire a batter in the bottom half. He walked two prior to Altuve’s bomb. Evans, 24, making his seventh big league appearance this season – and 11th overall – suffered his second blown save and saw his 2021 ERA jump from 2.16 to 5.40. P.S. Down on the farm, Ole Miss alum Nick Fortes hit a walk-off two-run homer for Pensacola in a 5-4 win against Montgomery in the Double-A South. Fortes, a catcher/DH, is batting .284 with two homers and 12 RBIs for the Miami affiliate. … Tonight at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Mississippi State product Konnor Pilkington will go to the bump for Birmingham against the Mississippi Braves. Pilkington, a former East Central High star, is 1-1, 2.60 ERA in six starts for the White Sox’s Double-A club.

26 May

welcome back

Back in the big leagues for the first time since last September, Petal’s Demarcus Evans looked ready for duty on Tuesday night. The 24-year-old right-hander struck out four of the seven batters he faced, including Justin Upton and Anthony Rendon, and walked just one in two innings of scoreless relief for Texas in its 11-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. Punchouts are kind of a thing for Evans, who has averaged 13.9 per nine innings over a minor league career that began in 2015. Evans debuted in the majors in 2020, famously yielded a homer to the first batter he saw — guy named Albert Pujols — but didn’t allow another run over four innings. A lat strain set the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Evans back in spring training. He tuned up at Triple-A Round Rock this month, recording 16 K’s in 7 2/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA. Injuries to a couple of Texas pitchers opened the door for Evans’ return. He might just stick.

10 May

here and there

William Carey University earned a bid to the NAIA national tournament by winning its first Southern States Athletic Conference championship on Sunday. Blake Freeman hit a pair of three-run homers and John Snyder delivered some clutch relief pitching to pace the Crusaders past Faulkner 11-7 Sunday at Mobile, Ala. Carey (34-10) won four straight in the SSAC Tournament, beating top seed Loyola (New Orleans) twice. The NAIA field will be announced Thursday; the Opening Round is set for May 17-20. … Delta State, 2-0 in the GSC Tournament, plays Alabama-Huntsville today in Oxford, Ala., for a berth in championship series. … In the junior college playoffs, Meridian, Itawamba, East Central and Hinds advanced to the NJCAA D-II Region 23 Tournament, which will start May 17 at Pearl River’s Herring Park. PRCC, the MACCC regular season champion, and LSU-Eunice are also in the six-team field. … MUW (20-9) will play in the USCAA Small College World Series in Dubois, Pa., beginning May 17. … The Texas Rangers claimed former Mississippi State catcher Jack Kruger off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels. He goes on the 40-man roster and will likely be assigned to Triple-A Round Rock. Kruger made one appearance, on defense, for the Angels before being squeezed out of a roster spot because of a trade.

22 Apr

you’re up one day …

A snapshot into the mercurial life of a major league relief pitcher: On Tuesday in Anaheim, former Ole Miss pitcher Mike Mayers was summoned from the Los Angeles Angels’ bullpen in the seventh inning with one out and a Texas runner at third. In his first game in a week, he struck out the first batter, but the second, Joey Gallo, a lefty slugger facing a shift, laid down a squeeze bunt up the third-base line for a hit. The runner scored, cutting the Angels’ lead to 3-2. After he struck out ex-Mississippi State standout Nate Lowe to end the inning, Mayers barked at Gallo, apparently miffed about the bunt. Mayers worked a 1-2-3 eighth, trimming his ERA to 0.93, and the Angels won the game 6-2. On Wednesday, Mayers was summoned in the eighth with one out, a runner on first and the Angels again up 3-1. Gallo was the first batter. He walked on a 3-2 pitch. The next batter, Adolis Garcia, hit a three-run bomb. Lowe followed with another homer. Mayers trudged off, his ERA suddenly swollen to 3.72, and the Angels lost the game 7-4. Mayers has had a good year to date. He has a win, two holds and a save. He had allowed only one homer in his first eight appearances. Then came Wednesday. His next appearance will be interesting to watch.

19 Apr

three stars

When you put the ball in play, something good might happen. Something did for Mitch Moreland and the Oakland A’s on Sunday. The Mississippi State product’s hard-hit liner in the bottom of the ninth got past Detroit’s third baseman and scored the game-winning run, notching the eighth straight win for the A’s, who began the season 1-7. Moreland hasn’t yet found his groove with the A’s, who signed the 12-year veteran as a free agent in the off-season. Used primarily as a DH, he is batting just .206 with five RBIs and has yet to homer or double. But A’s manager Bob Melvin felt confident in sending the left-handed hitter up as a pinch hitter against Tigers lefty Gregory Soto with the game on the line. “It was a little unorthodox with the left-on-left pinch hitter there, but Mitch has been around,” Melvin told mlb.com. “He’s smart in what he’s looking for. He was just trying to shoot it the other way where there were some holes open.” … Nate Lowe, another ex-State standout, got a walk-off hit for Texas in a 1-0, 10-inning win vs. Baltimore. It was the second walk-off RBI of Lowe’s career and gives him 16 RBIs, second in the American League. After a sizzling start, Lowe is hitting just .230 for the Rangers, who acquired him from Tampa Bay in the off-season. … East Central Community College product Tim Anderson hit the first pitch of the first game of a twinbill out of Fenway Park, propelling the Chicago White Sox to a 3-2 win over Boston. It was the ninth career leadoff homer for Anderson, who is batting .310.

07 Apr

have a day

Mississippi State product Nate Lowe hit two home runs and picked up four RBIs as Texas whipped Toronto 7-4 Tuesday night in the big leagues. Lowe is hitting .381 with three homers and 14 RBIs for his new club.
Itawamba Community College’s Lane Domino banged out seven hits, including three homers, to pace the 11th-ranked Indians’ sweep of a doubleheader against Coahoma in Fulton.
Northwest Rankin High’s Ryan Herbison hit two homers, including a grand slam, as the Cougars beat region rival Brandon 16-10 in Class 6A.
William Carey University’s Sloan Dieter homered, drove in six runs and scored four to spark the Crusaders to a twinbill sweep of Southeastern Baptist in Hattiesburg.
Pearl River CC’s Landon Gartman threw a seven-inning complete game, allowing three hits, no walks and fanning 12, to help the No. 2 Wildcats beat No. 7 Meridian 4-1 and earn a split of their MACCC doubleheader in Poplarville.
Nine MSU pitchers threw one inning each and struck out a combined 17 batters as the Bulldogs beat Southern University 15-1 in Starkville. Mikey Tepper and Eric Cerantola each K’d the side.