Tag Archives: Rangers

14 Aug

blast from past

Way back in 2014, he was a full-blown star at Columbia High and then a second-round draft pick by the Texas Rangers. On Tuesday, Ti’Quan Forbes was back on a ballfield in Mississippi, playing third base and banging out a couple of hits for the Double-A Birmingham Barons against the M-Braves at Trustmark Park in Pearl. He’s come a long way – but still has a ways to go on the big league highway. Forbes was the state’s Mr. Baseball as a rangy — and toolsy — shortstop at Columbia. He has filled out to 6 feet 3, 220 pounds and moved to third base but has yet to develop the power expected at that position. Batting .245 this year, his first in Double-A, Forbes has three home runs and a .332 slugging percentage in 103 games. He has a .251 career average and just 24 homers over six seasons, 11 of those bombs coming in A-ball in 2017. That was the year he was traded, in August, from Texas to the Chicago White Sox. His defense has been solid – 15 errors in 94 games at third this year – but the bat needs to perk up. Even though he is only 22 – he turns 23 on Aug. 26 – time may not be on his side much longer.

07 Aug

starry, starry night

A couple of Mississippi products took star turns on Tuesday night in Boise, Idaho, when the Pioneer League and Northwest League All-Stars faced off in the annual clash of rookie-level circuits. Former Mississippi College standout Blaine Crim went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and earned Top Star honors for the NWL squad. He was upstaged a bit by Sam McWilliams, a Meridian Community College alum from Magee who hit a two-run homer, one of the four homers mashed by Pioneer stars in their 11-7 victory. “It was great to be here with the best guys around the league and just have fun for a night,” Crim told milb.com. “Definitely worth the trip.” Crim, the Gulf South Conference player of the year in 2019, was a 19th-round pick by Texas in June and is having an excellent season at Spokane. The first baseman/DH is hitting .341 with four homers and 24 RBIs. McWilliams, a 19th-round pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018 off a loaded MCC club, is batting .291 with 11 homers and 29 RBIs at Ogden. A second baseman, he hit .276 in the Arizona League last season. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves Cristian Pache and Drew Waters, both promoted to Triple-A Gwinnett on Monday, made smashing debuts on Tuesday, Waters going 3-for-5 with an RBI and Pache 2-for-5 with an RBI. Pache is the Braves’ No. 1 prospect, Waters No. 2.

22 Jul

around the horn

JaCoby Jones came off the injured list on Friday and looked to be in fine form on Sunday, making two outstanding catches in center field and hitting a home run in Detroit’s 4-3 win against Toronto. Ex-Richton High star Jones’ homer, his 10th, came off former Ole Miss pitcher Jacob Waguespack. Jones, who missed 11 games with a back injury, is batting .252 (.295 over his last 30 games). … The day after Jones was activated, Madison Central alum Spencer Turnbull, a member of the Tigers’ rotation, went on the 10-day IL with a back problem. … Also hitting the IL is former Wheeler High and Mississippi State standout Brandon Woodruff, who had to leave Milwaukee’s game on Sunday with an oblique injury. That’s a blow for the playoff-contending Brewers. Woodruff, an All-Star this year, is 11-3 with a 3.75 ERA. … MSU product Mitch Moreland reportedly will be activated from the IL this week by Boston. He has played three straight days at first base for Triple-A Pawtucket on a rehab assignment. He went 0-for-9 in those three games. … Ex-Ole Miss star Lance Lynn, the first pitcher in MLB to reach 12 wins this season, suffered a second straight loss on Sunday when Houston beat his Texas club 5-3. Lynn, who fanned 12 in seven innings, is 12-6, 3.93. … A prolonged slump coupled with the return of Ender Inciarte will cut into Austin Riley’s playing time in Atlanta. The DeSoto Central product, who sat out Sunday, is batting .170 over his last 15 games. He is at .248 with 16 homers on the season. … Current DeSoto Central star Blaze Jordan and Columbia Academy’s Slade Wilks are scheduled to play in today’s Under Armour All-America Game at Wrigley Field in Chicago. MLB Network will televise the game live at 2 p.m. Both Jordan (a State commit) and Wilks (Southern Miss) are on the rosters for the Perfect Game All-American Classic to be played Aug. 11 at Petco Park in San Diego.

19 Jul

running on schedule

The projected MLB arrival time (per MLB Pipeline) for Petal’s Demarcus Evans is 2020. The big right-hander, pitching at Double-A Frisco in the Texas system, appears to be running on schedule. Evans, 22, has not allowed an earned run in nine straight appearances and has a 1.40 ERA over 15 games since being promoted from Class A Down East in late May. He posted an 0.81 and six saves for Down East. On Thursday night, Evans worked a clean ninth inning in a 4-2 win over Tulsa to notch his first Double-A save. He has 33 strikeouts and 13 walks in 19 1/3 innings. The 6-foot-4, 270-pound Evans, a 25th-round draft pick out of Petal High in 2015, throws what is described as an exploding fastball and a quality curve. He has averaged 13.7 K’s per nine innings in his five-year pro career. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him move up to Triple-A before this season ends. P.S. Playing shortstop for Tulsa in that Texas League game was Errol Robinson, the former Ole Miss star. He had two hits, including a homer, and boosted his average to .318 for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ affiliate. (He did not face Evans.) Robinson started this season in Triple-A but struggled (.220) and was sent down in late June to Tulsa, where he has begun to perk up.

16 Jul

in time of need

Milwaukee needs a stopper to step up, and it’s Brandon Woodruff’s turn. The Mississippi State alum from Wheeler goes to the bump tonight against first-place Atlanta, aiming to stop the skidding Brewers’ 1-5 tumble. He would seem to be the right guy to do it. Woodruff, whose last appearance was in the All-Star Game a week ago, is 10-3 with a 3.67 ERA. He has faced the Braves once before, on May 19 in Atlanta, when he threw eight strong innings but got a no-decision in a game the Brewers won 3-2 in 10. He yielded six hits – including homers by Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna – with six strikeouts and no walks. Milwaukee has lost eight of 10 to fall to 48-47, third in the National League Central. The Braves, who’ve won eight of 10 and are comfortably atop the NL East, will throw rookie and former Mississippi Braves righty Bryse Wilson. P.S. Ex-Ole Miss star Lance Lynn, who is an MLB-best 12-4, 3.69, gets the start tonight for Texas against visiting Arizona, and another former Rebel, Jacob Waguespack, will start for Toronto against Boston at Fenway Park. It’ll be the third career appearance for Waguespack (1-0, 5.00), who beat the Red Sox on July 3 with a solid five-inning effort.

12 Jul

back to it

It’s a good bet that Adam Frazier did not want to break for the All-Star Game — and not because he wasn’t invited to the event. Frazier, a Mississippi State alum, was on fire at the plate in the days leading up to the break. The Pittsburgh second baseman had 18 hits in seven games from July 1-7, raking at a .600 clip that raised his average to .287. He scored 11 runs and drove in seven and was named the National League’s player of the week for his efforts. Frazier will hit the restart button today when the Pirates play National League Central rival Chicago at Wrigley Field. The lefty-hitting Frazier figures to be in the lineup, probably leading off, against Cubs righty Yu Darvish. … On the other hand, Billy Hamilton, the former Taylorsville High standout, was playing like someone who needed the All-Star break. The Kansas City center fielder, batting .217 for the year, hit .198 with just four RBIs and five runs in his previous 30 games. Renowned for his speed, he has just 16 steals in 78 games. It might not be a good sign for Hamilton that the Royals have called up prospect Bubba Starling, a center fielder in the minors. The Royals host Detroit today. P.S. Ole Miss product Lance Lynn earned his MLB-leading 12th win on Thursday, throwing seven innings (with 11 punchouts) in Texas’ 5-0 victory vs. Houston. Lynn is 5-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his last five starts. … Ex-Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland went 0-for-4 in his rehab debut with Triple-A Pawtucket. The Boston first baseman has been on the injured list for all but one game since May 25. He is batting .225 with 13 homers.

10 Jul

oh, by the way …

Somewhat lost in the shuffle of All-Star week is the Triple-A All-Star Game, which is set for tonight (8 p.m., MLB Network) in El Paso, Texas. It’s worth noting here because there are two Mississippi-connected players on the International League roster: Mississippi State product Brent Rooker and ex-Mississippi Braves slugger Travis Demeritte. Rooker, a third-year pro in the Minnesota Twins system, is batting .286 with 14 homers and 47 RBIs for Rochester. One of the highest rated prospects in this game (No. 7 by mlb.com), he could get a big league call-up later this summer. Demeritte, now with Gwinnett in Atlanta’s chain, is batting .301 with 18 homers and 64 RBIs. He hit 32 homers during two otherwise lackluster seasons in Pearl. The IL’s pitching coach is Jackson native and former big leaguer Stu Cliburn, who has been in Rochester for several years. P.S. In the lone MLB game on Thursday night’s slate, Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn will shoot for the American League lead in wins when he takes the mound for Texas against visiting Houston. Lynn, in his first year with the Rangers, is 11-4, 3.91 ERA. He is an impressive 93-61 career.

28 May

lights out

It would appear that Demarcus Evans has conquered the Carolina League. The large right-hander from Petal has an 0.81 ERA with six saves in eight chances and a 4-0 record for high Class A Down East in the Texas system. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 12 appearances and hasn’t yielded a hit in nine of the last 10. In 22 1/3 innings, Evans has 40 strikeouts, though his walk total is a tad high at 17. This is the 22-year-old Evans’ fifth year in pro ball and second as a full-time reliever. He was 9-for-9 in saves with a 1.77 ERA at the low-A level in 2018. He got a hit a little in the Arizona Fall League but has certainly redeemed himself this season. Reports say he has an exploding fastball and an excellent curve. A promotion to Double-A can’t be far off.

22 May

heavy lifting

At 6 feet 5, 280 pounds, Lance Lynn looks like a guy who could do some heavy lifting. On Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas, the former Ole Miss star did just that, throwing 120 pitches over seven innings to carry Texas to a 5-3 victory against Seattle. Making his 200th career big league start, the 32-year-old Lynn allowed just five hits, one walk and two runs while fanning 11. He took a shutout into the seventh, and Rangers manager Chris Woodward let him work out of a jam to finish that inning. Lynn is now 6-3, 4.67 ERA, and has won four of his last five starts, going seven innings – a rarity in today’s game — in four of those appearances. “If (Woodward had) told me I was going back out for the eighth, I would have done it,” Lynn told mlb.com. “That’s just who I am … .” Gotta like that attitude. P.S. Three Mississippians went yard on Tuesday. Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland hit his 13th for Boston, ex-Southern Miss standout Brian Dozier hit No. 7 for Washington and Richton’s JaCoby Jones got his fourth for Detroit.

08 Apr

big bang

For Mitch Moreland, it was a milestone home run. For his Boston team, it was a lot more than that. Moreland, the former Mississippi State standout from Amory, blasted his 150th career homer on Sunday, a seventh-inning shot that lifted the Red Sox to a 1-0 win at Arizona in the finale of a brutal road trip. The defending world champs went 3-8 against Seattle, Oakland and the Diamondbacks. Their home opener is Tuesday vs. Toronto. “It’s going to be nice to get back home and get in front of our fans and get rolling,” Moreland told mlb.com. Unlike so many of his teammates, Moreland is off to a good start. He is batting .258 with club-leading numbers of three homers, nine RBIs and a .645 slugging percentage. Now in his 10th MLB campaign and third with Boston, Moreland made his first All-Star Game last year in addition to winning his first ring. He has 40 homers for Boston – plus one in last year’s World Series – plays a Gold Glove-caliber first base and has become a key part of an elite team. Moreland hit his first big league homer for Texas on Aug. 13, 2010, against Boston’s Josh Beckett. His 150 total puts him ninth on the career list of Mississippi natives; Bill Melton and Frank White are tied for seventh at 160.