Tag Archives: Rangers

11 Jul

whatever happened to …

Antoan Richardson, who had a couple of good years with the Mississippi Braves, is playing — and playing well — at Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre in the New York Yankees system. The personable Richardson, a 5-foot-8 Bahamas native and Vanderbilt alum, is batting .262 with 17 RBIs, 27 runs and 20 stolen bases (in 20 attempts) over 62 games. The injury-ridden Yankees might yet have a need for the speedy, switch-hitting outfielder. Richardson, in his 10th pro season, played parts of the 2010 and ’11 seasons with the M-Braves, batting .279 with 24 bags in 2010 and .283 with 17 the next year. He also got a big league cup of coffee in 2011, going 2-for-4 (with a steal) in nine games for Atlanta. He was originally a 35th-round pick by San Francisco. P.S. Ex-Pillow Academy star Louis Coleman is back in the big leagues with Kansas City, and Ole Miss alum Phil Irwin is back in Triple-A, shipped out by Texas after his one start.

08 Jul

number crunching

1 — Major league starts by Phil Irwin, the Ole Miss alumnus who’ll make his second tonight for Texas against Houston. It’ll be his Rangers debut.
4 — Hits by Ole Miss product Chris Coghlan (now batting .252) and RBIs by Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton (34 for the season) in Monday’s Chicago Cubs-Cincinnati game, won by the Reds 9-3.
4 — Runs allowed (in three games) by former UM standout Aaron Barrett since a controversial balk call against him on June 30. Barrett, pitching for Washington, had yielded just five runs in 30 previous appearances.
5 — Number of Mississippi Braves alums slated to play in All-Star games next week: Current M-Brave Jose Peraza (Futures); Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman, Craig Kimbrel and Julio Teheran (MLB); and Gwinnett’s Phil Gosselin (Triple-A).
5 — Home runs in 2014 for ex-Rebels star Alex Presley, who hit his latest Monday to help Houston stop a seven-game losing streak with a 12-7 victory over Texas.
9 — Consecutive seasons of at least 20 saves for former Mississippi State star Jonathan Papelbon, who reached that number Monday in Philadelphia’s 3-2 win against Milwaukee.
10 — Starts by Meridian Community College product Cliff Lee (4-4, 3.18), who won’t make another for the Phillies until after the All-Star break. He has been on the disabled list since May 19.

09 Jun

numbers of note

2 — Number of home runs this season for Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton, who hit his latest on Sunday in Cincinnati’s 4-1 win over Philadelphia. Hamilton is batting .253 with 23 stolen bases.
3 — Months former Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland is expected to miss after having ankle surgery. “It’s to the point where I’m hurting the team …,” the Texas Rangers first baseman told ESPNDallas.com about his decision to go under the knife. Moreland is batting .246 with two homers; he hit 23 bombs in 2013.
12 — Hits, in nine MLB games, for Tommy La Stella, the former Mississippi Braves standout now starting at second base for Atlanta. La Stella, a .340 hitter in Pearl last season, is batting .400.
14 — Runs scored by the M-Braves in their victory over Chattanooga at Trustmark Park on Sunday. The M-Braves are 1½ games out of first in the Southern League South with six to play.
16 — Hits this season for Ole Miss freshman Colby Bortles, who delivered his latest on Sunday, a two-run, eighth-inning single that helped the Rebels beat Louisiana-Lafayette 5-2 in their NCAA Super Regional. Game 3, with a College World Series trip on the line, is tonight at 6.
35 — Number of Mississippi-connected players picked in the MLB draft, from West Lauderdale High catcher Blake Anderson at No. 36 overall to Gulfport High third baseman Daniel Keating at No. 1181.
38 — Points lost off his batting average since May 21 by Ole Miss product Seth Smith. Smith, batting .301 with six homers and 21 RBIs for San Diego, is 7-for-34 (.206) over his last 10 games with just one RBI.

21 May

could be worse

The Philadelphia Phillies put Cliff Lee, the ex-Meridian Community College ace, on the 15-day disabled list today with what was described as a mild elbow strain. Not good for a 35-year-old pitcher, but not the worst case scenario. There were some concerns that he might be headed for Tommy John surgery. Left-hander Lee, who last pitched on Sunday, is 4-4 with a 3.18 ERA. P.S. Ole Miss product Drew Pomeranz won his third straight start for Oakland on Tuesday as the A’s beat Tampa Bay 3-0. How’s this for consistency? Since moving to the rotation, lefty Pomeranz has worked five scoreless innings in each of his three starts. He is 4-1 with a 0.94 ERA for the season. … Mitch Moreland is heating up in Texas. The former Mississippi State standout is 4-for-11 with a homer in his three starts at first base (his former position) in place of the injured Prince Fielder and is batting .345 over his last 10 games. For the year, the Amory native is batting .294 with two homers and 15 RBIs.

07 May

doing it all

Mitch Moreland got a hit in his first major league at-bat in 2010. On Tuesday night, the former Mississippi State standout made another debut and enjoyed another thrill. Moreland, an outfielder/DH for Texas, pitched in an MLB game for the first time, throwing a clean inning during the Rangers’ 12-1 loss at Colorado. Moreland, who went 3-0 with two saves and a 3.20 ERA as a junior at MSU in 2007, said pitching in the majors was a dream. “I’ve begged skip (Ron Washington) for years in situations like that,” the left-hander told mlb.com. Moreland, who last pitched in low-A ball (two innings) in 2008, threw 10 of 15 pitches for strikes and reportedly hit 94 mph on the gun. He also singled as a pinch hitter before he took the mound. P.S. Pittsburgh has recalled Ole Miss product Phillip Irwin, a right-hander who made one start early last season for the Pirates.

03 Apr

tale of two dogs

Mitch Moreland was diplomatic in his comments after his Texas team rallied to beat Philadelphia and closer Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth inning on Wednesday night. “That’s a good team over there and Papelbon has definitely had a lot of success,” Moreland told mlb.com. Moreland — like Papelbon, a former Mississippi State star — had one of the four hits and scored one of the three runs the Phillies right-hander allowed in a jolting 4-3 loss. There is some serious heat on Papelbon, who is in the third year of a 4-year, $50 million contract with Philly. He blew seven of 36 save chances last year, his ERA over the last couple months jumped over 4.00 and his velocity reportedly was down. He got just one out Wednesday and wound up walking in the winning run. “One of the strong points of my game is being able to bounce back …,” Papelbon told mlb.com. Stay tuned. P.S. Ex-Ole Miss star Lance Lynn, who won 15 games for St. Louis last season, starts today against Cincinnati and ex-Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton, 0-for-8 in two games so far.

01 Apr

eye openers

Desmond Jennings went 2-for-4 with a couple of runs and made a sensational catch in center field for Tampa Bay on Monday. But the ex-Itawamba Community College standout was the exception to the rule for Mississippians in the majors on opening day for most of the clubs. Meridian CC product Cliff Lee got a win for Philadelphia – but he allowed 11 hits and eight runs in five innings. Mississippi State alum Jonathan Papelbon did pitch a clean ninth in the 14-10 win over Texas. Former Bulldogs star Mitch Moreland went 0-for-3 for the Rangers. Southern Miss product Brian Dozier was 0-for-4 leading off for Minnesota in a 5-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox. And in Cincinnati, ex-Ole Miss standout Zack Cozart was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton 0-for-4 with four K’s in his debut as the Reds’ new leadoff batter. The Reds lost to St. Louis 1-0.

21 Nov

who’s on first?

The somewhat surprising acquisition of the high-priced Prince Fielder by Texas doesn’t necessarily mean Mitch Moreland’s days as a Ranger are done. Fielder, acquired from Detroit for second baseman Ian Kinsler, will be the Rangers’ starting first baseman, taking the position former Mississippi State standout Moreland has held for three seasons. But, Texas GM Jon Daniels told mlb.com, “Mitch is still in our plans.” Moreland, a left-handed hitter (like Fielder), can play the outfield and DH. For what it’s worth, he is a better defensive first baseman than Fielder. Moreland batted just .232 in 2013, though he did belt a career-high 23 home runs. Texas apparently wanted more power from that spot. For his career, Moreland, who debuted in 2010, is hitting .253 with 63 homers and 186 RBIs. There were reports earlier this month that some teams had expressed an interest in Moreland, so it wouldn’t be a shock to a see him moved despite what the Texas GM said on Wednesday.