Tag Archives: Rangers

14 Jun

fun times

Chris Coghlan is not exactly tearing up the league, but you have to think he’s having fun. The Ole Miss product is part of a Chicago Cubs team that has been one of this season’s most riveting stories. The Cubs have a roster of blossoming young stars and a colorful, well-respected manager. And they are winning, which is something they were not doing when Coghlan joined the club in May of 2014. Those Cubs were stuck in the basement of the National League Central, where they had practically taken up residence. Coghlan, cut loose by Miami after the ’13 season, had signed with Chicago as a minor league free agent. He didn’t make the club out of spring training and was shipped to Triple-A. He got the call to Chicago to take the place of an injured player. Expectations were, uh, muted. But then the young players began to arrive … and to produce. Coghlan got hot, too. He wound up at .283 with nine homers, 41 RBIs and 50 runs in 125 games. The Cubs finished 73-89, their best record since 2010. Excitement grew in the off-season as they signed lefty Jon Lester, then hired Joe Maddon as skipper. Coghlan also was re-signed. The team has ridden the wave to a 33-27 record; they got their MLB-best seventh walk-off win on Saturday, beating Cincinnati 4-3 at Wrigley Field. They’re third in the NL Central, 7 games back of leader St. Louis. Coghlan, a lefty hitter, plays regularly in left field. He is batting just .243 but has hit at a .326 clip over his last 15 games. Eight of his 43 hits are home runs. He has driven in 18 runs, scored 21. Coghlan isn’t old — he’ll turn 30 on June 18 — but in the Cubs’ clubhouse, he may feel that way, surrounded by so many young players: Rizzo, Bryant, Russell, Hendricks, Castro, Alcantara, Soler, et al. Coghlan, drafted out of Ole Miss in 2006, has been in the big leagues, off and on, since 2009, when he was the NL’s rookie of the year for the Marlins. Five years and many injuries later, he was without an MLB job until the Cubs gave him that shot last May. “In six years, I’ve had a full realm,” Coghlan told the Chicago Sun-Times. Part of his role now is to spread that perspective to a young team that appears full of energy and hope. It has to be fun. P.S. Also having a jolly old time: Mitch Moreland and the Texas Rangers, who’ve won 10 of 14 to get to 33-29, nipping at the heels of Houston in the American League West. Former Mississippi State star Moreland, who has been raking since coming off a stint on the disabled list, is batting .310 with eight homers and 30 RBIs. His latest bomb came Saturday, a three-run shot that helped beat Minnesota 11-7 at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

27 May

powering the rangers

Texas is on fire, and Mitch Moreland is providing a lot of the fuel. The former Mississippi State standout from Amory has a 10-game hitting streak going during which he has batted .341 with four home runs and nine RBIs. The Rangers have won seven straight — eight of the last 10 — to reach 23-23 on the year. Since Moreland returned from the disabled list following minor surgery on his left elbow, the Rangers are 9-4. They were 7-7 while their lefty-hitting first baseman was out. Moreland hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning on Tuesday night as the Rangers beat Cleveland 4-3. It was his fifth of the year – the Rangers are 5-0 when he homers — and 70th of his career. He is batting .306 with 18 RBIs. … Pascagoula’s Joey Butler is actually hotter than Moreland, hitting .423 over his last 10 games for Tampa Bay. Butler was 3-for-4 with two runs in a 7-6 loss to Seattle on Tuesday; the Rays have dropped four straight. In 57 at-bats, Butler is hitting .333 with two homers and seven RBIs. He had only 17 MLB at-bats before this season, his eighth in pro ball. He was drafted out of UNO in 2008 by Texas. … Ole Miss product David Goforth got two outs on three pitches in his big league debut for Milwaukee on Tuesday. … Ex-State star Jacob Lindgren, who debuted with two scoreless innings on Monday, became only the second New York Yankees draft pick to make the majors in less than a year. The other was Deion Sanders.

18 May

worth noting

Dan Jennings, who played at Southern Miss and William Carey, will move from general manager to field manager of the Miami Marlins today, according to numerous reports. Jennings has worked in the Marlins’ front office since 2002. He’ll replace the fired Mike Redmond. Jennings played three years at USM (1979-81) and one year at Carey, graduating from the latter in 1984. He was inducted into WCU’s athletics Hall of Fame earlier this year. Jennings had a brief fling in pro ball as a player and coached high school ball in Alabama before becoming a big league scout. … Former Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland hit his second homer for Texas on Sunday. He is 5-for-20 since returning from the disabled list and is at .288 with 12 RBIs for the season. … Pascagoula’s Joey Butler, who had another hit on Sunday, is batting .300 with two homers and seven RBIs in 13 games for Tampa Bay. He was called up when Itawamba Community College alumnus Desmond Jennings (knee) went on the DL. Jennings reportedly is close to returning to duty. … Billy Hamilton got a day off Saturday and hit in the 8-hole on Sunday for Cincinnati. “You’ve got to roll with it,” the ex-Taylorsville High standout told mlb.com about being dropped from the leadoff spot. He went 1-for-3 and is now at .214 for the year. Ole Miss product Zack Cozart, hitting .300, has moved to the top of the order for Cincy. … Ex-UM star Lance Lynn threw 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run, as St. Louis beat heavy-hitting Detroit 2-1. Lynn (3-3, 2.96 ERA) has won two straight starts. “Lance was great, no question about it,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told mlb.com. … Meridian CC alum Corey Dickerson is playing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot and might be headed for the DL. The Colorado outfielder is batting .309 with five homers and 16 RBIs.

30 Apr

taking off

Matt Lipka has been bouncing around the Atlanta Braves’ minor league system since 2010 with mixed results. He is a career .257 hitter but has hit as high as .288 in a season. He has stolen as many as 37 bags in one year. He has always been regarded as one of the organization’s best athletes, but his progress has been stalled by injuries. Yet Lipka is only 23, and in his second crack at Double-A, he is off to a flying start in what could be a crucial year. The Mississippi Braves outfielder, who goes 6 feet 1, 200 pounds, is hitting .368 with four RBIs and six runs. He takes a 12-game hit streak into tonight’s game at Trustmark Park. Lipka was a prep baseball and football star in Texas who was bound for Alabama before the Braves made him the 35th overall pick in the 2010 draft. He reached Double-A in 2014, but a hand injury ended his time with the M-Braves after 28 games. This year, he has teamed with David Rohm (.296) and Mallex Smith (.322) to give the M-Braves a highly productive outfield. The M-Braves, who have lost five in a row to fall to 9-9, are digging in for a 15-game homestand that starts with a five-game series against old rival Montgomery. P.S. Ex-Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland of the Texas Rangers had minor elbow surgery on Wednesday and will be out up to three weeks, according to reports.

24 Sep

managerial material

If you haven’t noticed, Tim Bogar, the former Jackson Mets shortstop, has done a pretty impressive job as the interim manager in Texas. After a slow start under Bogar, the injury-thinned Rangers have won 10 of 11 and are 11-6 overall since Bogar stepped in for Ron Washington, who resigned on Sept. 5. Surely Bogar, a successful minor league manager, will be considered for the job next season. … Meanwhile, ex-JaxMets catcher John Gibbons will return in Toronto in 2015, according to reports. Gibbons is 154-165 in his second stint with the Blue Jays, who were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Tuesday. Toronto, which faded this year after a great start, hasn’t made the postseason since 1993. … Clint Hurdle, the 1990 Jackson Mets skipper, celebrated the clinching of a second straight playoff appearance on Tuesday after his Pittsburgh club beat Atlanta. … Former JaxMets catcher Ned Yost has Kansas City on the brink of its first playoff berth since 1985 yet still seems to attract more than his share of criticism for his game management. The Royals won their 86th game on Tuesday, matching last year’s total with five games left, and have posted their best back-to-back years since 1979-80. Yost is in his fifth season at the KC helm. … In Minnesota, the last-place Twins have clinched a fourth straight 90-loss season, but former JaxMets shortstop Ron Gardenhire reportedly will return as manager in 2015 – if he wants to. Gardenhire, 56, steered the club to six division titles in a nine-year stretch, but hasn’t sniffed the postseason since 2010, when he was the American League’s manager of the year. … The only question about the future of Buck Showalter, the onetime Mississippi State star, is whether he’ll win AL manager of the year for the job he has done in Baltimore. … Wondering what the shakeup in Atlanta will mean for the minor league field personnel. Aaron Holbert has done a good job as manager of the Double-A Mississippi Braves the last three years and would seem deserving of a promotion. But who knows how much change is coming for the Braves?

06 Sep

that empty feeling

There is no game tonight at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Had the Mississippi Braves won the second half in the Southern League South, they would be playing Mobile at the TeePee in Game 3 of the division series. But two losses in the final series at Huntsville cost the M-Braves dearly, as Jacksonville ended the season with 10 straight wins and finished a game up in the SL South. It is disappointing that the M-Braves didn’t make the playoffs, but this was not a disappointing season. Not in the least. Manager Aaron Holbert’s club had the league’s best overall record: 83-56. They led the league in batting (.266) and stolen bases (141), finished second in ERA (3.37) and were tied for third in runs (609). Even attendance was up: an announced 3,152 per game. The M-Braves had six players on the final roster who batted .280 or better, led by Jose Peraza, a fast-rising prospect at second base who batted .335 and stole 25 bases in 44 games. Outfielder Cedric Hunter, a one-time big leaguer, surely re-opened some eyes by batting .295 with 14 home runs and 72 RBIs. Kyle Kubitza, another good prospect at third base, hit .295 with eight homers, 55 RBIs and 21 steals. And jack-of-all-trades Barrett Kleinknecht, a.k.a. Klank, hit .280 with nine homers and 38 RBIs. Pitching prospect Jason Hursh, Atlanta’s No. 1 pick in 2013, went 11-7 with a 3.58 ERA. Aaron Northcraft went 7-3, 2.88 before a midseason promotion to Triple-A Gwinnett. Williams Perez, Mitch Atkins and Greg Ross were also outstanding as starters. Shae Simmons was a lights-out closer (0.78 ERA, 14 saves) before he was promoted to Atlanta at the end of May. Several others in the bullpen stepped up, including Ryne Harper, John Cornely and Brandon Cunniff. This was a very good team, fun to watch. Such a shame they didn’t get to keep playing. P.S. Tim Bogar joined the ranks of former Jackson Mets now managing in the majors when he took over in Texas for Ron Washington, who surprisingly resigned on Friday. Bogar played shortstop for Our Jackson Mets in 1989, hitting .266 with four homers and 45 RBIs. The other former OJMs now managing are Ned Yost in Kansas City, John Gibbons in Toronto and Ron Gardenhire in Minnesota. Pittsburgh’s Clint Hurdle managed the JaxMets in 1990. Bogar, who was Washington’s bench coach, was a highly successful minor league manager, but his MLB debut didn’t go so well: The lowly Rangers (53-88) lost to Seattle 7-5.

30 Aug

into the fire

Former Pillow Academy standout Louis Coleman is back in The Show, and he’s back at the best of times. Coleman rejoins the vaunted Kansas City bullpen in the heat of a title race; the first-place Royals lead Detroit by a half-game in the American League Central. And Cleveland, which beat KC 6-1 on Friday, isn’t out of it. Coleman worked a scoreless inning against the Indians in his first MLB appearance since July 12. Maybe that’s a good sign. The lanky right-hander, a Greenwood native who starred at LSU, pitched well for the Royals in 2011 and ’12 and was great last year, with an 0.61 ERA in 29 2/3 innings. But he has had problems in 2014, which he has spent bouncing between KC and Triple-A Omaha. His big league ERA is 7.15. In 22 2/3 innings, Coleman has yielded 31 hits (five homers) and 14 walks. His Omaha numbers have been much better: 3.86 ERA, seven saves in nine chances. Ned Yost and the Royals would surely love to see Coleman recapture that 2013 magic down the stretch. P.S. Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton swiped two bags on Friday and now has 53, one short of tying Cincinnati’s rookie record (see previous post). … Ole Miss product Phil Irwin, who was in the minors, has been released by Texas. He made one MLB appearance this season after making one last year with Pittsburgh.

02 Aug

hard knock life

It has been a season of hard knocks for many Mississippi-connected pitchers in the big leagues. Former Mississippi State standout Paul Maholm is the latest to suffer misfortune; he tore an ACL trying to make a play at first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night and has landed on the disabled list, possibly done for the year. He wasn’t having a very good year, either: 4.84 ERA in 30 games. Cliff Lee, the Meridian Community College product with Philadelphia, also may be done for the year with his latest elbow problem. On Friday, Washington sent Ole Miss alum Aaron Barrett to the minors. Barrett has a 3.21 ERA overall but an ugly 9.45 over his last 10 appearances since being called for a controversial balk and altering his mechanics (see previous post). Ex-UM star Drew Pomeranz of Oakland broke his right (non-throwing) hand punching a chair on June 16 and is now in the minors despite his 2.91 ERA. Former Picayune High standout T.J. House has been up and down a dizzying number of times for Cleveland. The lefty (4.50 ERA) is back on the Indians’ roster today to start against Texas. Louis Coleman, the Pillow Academy product, has put up a 7.48 ERA in a couple of stints with Kansas City and is now back in the minors. And Ole Miss alum Phil Irwin got one start for Texas last month, yielded three runs in four innings and was shipped out again.

18 Jul

the first four

Blake Anderson, the first of the four Mississippi natives picked in the first two rounds of last month’s MLB draft, got his first professional hit on Thursday. Anderson, the former West Lauderdale catcher picked 36th overall by Miami, snapped an 0-for-21 start with a single for the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Marlins. Jacob Lindgren, from the Kiln by way of Mississippi State, has put up a 1.29 ERA in six appearances at three levels for the New York Yankees, who drafted the left-hander 55th overall. Lindgren is currently at high Class A Tampa in the Florida State League. Ti’Quan Forbes, the star shortstop from Columbia who was taken 59th overall by Texas, is batting .242 with six RBIs and 15 runs in the rookie Arizona League. And ex-Madison Central High standout Spencer Turnbull, picked 63rd out of Alabama by Detroit, has a 6.75 ERA in three starts for Connecticut in the short-season Class A New York-Penn League.

15 Jul

trend spotting

In 1994, Buck Showalter won the American League manager of the year award with the New York Yankees. In 2004, the former Mississippi State standout won the award again with the Texas Rangers. So now it’s 2014, and at the All-Star break, Showalter has his Baltimore Orioles in first place in the AL East, defying preseason predictions that had the O’s finishing closer to the bottom in a strong division. Could another manager of the year award be in the offing? The Orioles have a nice array of hitters — Adam Jones, Chris Davis, Nick Markakis, Manny Machado, et al. — but could use some pitching help, especially if they hope to make any noise in October. What Showalter surely would like more than a managerial award is to make the postseason — and then make a playoff run. Despite a .517 winning percentage over 16 seasons as an MLB skipper, Showalter, 58, has made just three playoff appearances (1995 Yankees, ’99 Arizona Diamondbacks and ’12 Orioles) and never seen his club get past the division series. That’s a trend he’d like to buck. His best team might have been the ’94 Yankees, who were 70-43 when the season was halted by the players’ strike. The core of that team won the World Series in 1996, but Showalter had moved on by that time, fired after the ’95 season. He was also canned in Texas in 2005, one year after winning the managerial award there. Showalter is in his fifth season in Baltimore, which is longer than he stayed at any of his previous three stops. Maybe this is his team and this is his time. P.S. Zack Cozart isn’t hitting much for Cincinnati. The Ole Miss product is batting .233 with two homers, 22 RBIs and 30 runs in 90 games. But the reason the playoff-hungry Reds keep him in the lineup can be seen in another set of numbers. Cozart, in his third season as Cincy’s shortstop, has a .982 fielding percentage (seven errors in 393 chances) and leads all National League shortstops with a 2.2 Defensive Wins Above Replacement rating. Former Mississippi Braves star Andrelton Simmons, by comparison, has a 1.4 DWAR for Atlanta.