Tag Archives: Rangers

09 Jun

what’s going on

It ain’t Red Sox-Yankees (also happening on this sports-packed weekend), but Counter Clocks-Blue Crabs is a burgeoning rivalry that should get the attention of Mississippi baseball aficionados. The Lexington Counter Clocks, managed by Biloxi native Barry Lyons, and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, managed by Jackson native Stan Cliburn, are slated for a three-game Atlantic League series at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, Md., beginning tonight. It is the first meeting this season of the two former big league catchers. Lyons is in his first year with the Counter Clocks, while Cliburn is a veteran of the independent league. Cliburn’s club leads the APBL North Division with a 21-13 record. Lyons’ team is 16-20, third in the South. The Blue Crabs’ top hitter is former Ole Miss standout Braxton Lee, batting .349. Ex-Rebels star Thomas Dillard is batting .235 with six homers and 17 RBIs for the Counter Clocks. … On the MLB docket, the two best teams record-wise, Tampa Bay and Texas, open a compelling three-game set tonight at Tropicana Field. On the undercard in this series is the first meeting as opposing players for the Brothers Lowe, former Mississippi State star Nathaniel of the Rangers and Josh of the Rays. A bunch of family and friends are expected to attend. … The Mississippi Braves and Biloxi Shuckers continue their Southern League series tonight at Pearl’s Trustmark Park. The Milwaukee-affiliated Shuckers have won two of the first three in the six-game set and lead the season series 7-5. … The NCAA Super Regionals begin tonight — Tennessee-Southern Miss starts Saturday — and one of the most interesting matchups is South Carolina-Florida, a longtime SEC rivalry. Both teams feature a Southern Miss transfer: Will McGillis is the Gamecocks’ usual leadoff batter and Hurston Waldrep is one of the Gators’ top starting pitchers. … The Cape Cod League, the best of the college summer loops, begins its centennial season Saturday. There are a handful of Mississippi products on the current rosters, including Mississippi State’s Ross Highfill and K.C. Hunt with Falmouth, State’s Hunter Hines with Yarmouth-Dennis and Ole Miss’ Mason Nichols with Hyannis. There is a lot of roster movement during the season, so there may be more Mississippians arriving later.

06 Jun

handing out awards

The big prize was, of course, the regional championship, which Southern Miss secured on Monday by overpowering Penn 11-7 at Auburn, Ala. Fittingly, Dustin Dickerson, the junior shortstop from Laurel, was the winner of the Auburn Regional’s Most Outstanding Player award. He went 8-for-22 with four home runs and eight RBIs. He belted a huge three-run shot in Monday’s finale. The Golden Eagles dominated the all-tournament team, with six players making the list: Tanner Hall, Rodrigo Montenegro, Nick Monistere, Danny Lynch and Carson Paetow in addition to Dickerson. (Somehow, there just wasn’t room on the 11-man squad for Tate Parker, Will Armistead or Justin Storm.) USM (45-18) now waits to learn if it will be rewarded with a Super Regional at Taylor Park, where it set attendance records this year. … Elsewhere in the NCAA Tournament, former Madison Central star Braden Montgomery was named to the Stanford Regional all-tourney team; he homered for the Cardinal in Monday’s clincher. Former USM pitcher Hurston Waldrep, now at Florida, made the Gainesville Regional all-tourney team for the champion Gators, and USM alum Will McGillis, a grad transfer at South Carolina, made the all-tournament team for the Columbia Regional champion Gamecocks. … In MLB, Mississippi State alum Nathaniel Lowe was the star of the day for Texas, smacking a walk-off single as the red-hot Rangers beat St. Louis 4-3. It was the fourth career walk-off hit for Lowe, who went 2-for-5 to raise his average to .283. … Former State standout Justin Foscue, now in the Rangers’ minor league chain, and USM product Matt Wallner, a Minnesota prospect, were named to MLB Pipeline’s Prospect Team of the Week on Monday. Foscue posted a 1.521 OPS for Triple-A Round Rock last week. Wallner batted .423 with three homers for Triple-A St. Paul; he was also named the International League’s player of the week. … Colt Keith, the former Biloxi High star, was named the Double-A Eastern League’s player of the month for May after hitting .374 with five homers and 27 RBIs for Erie in the Detroit organization. … On the local front, Mississippi Braves outfielder Landon Stephens and left-hander Luis De Avila were selected as the Farm Bureau player and pitcher of the week after the Double-A club’s series at Birmingham. The M-Braves begin a six-game series against rival Biloxi tonight at Trustmark Park in Pearl.

04 Jun

power rangers

For Nathaniel Lowe, the ex-Mississippi State slugger, it’s gotta be fun showing up for work each day. He checks in to a Texas Rangers lineup that ranks first in MLB in runs, first in batting average and first in on-base percentage and stands first in the American League West at 37-20. In a 16-6 home win over Seattle on Saturday, Lowe cranked out three of the Rangers’ 19 hits and hit one of their four home runs. The Rangers have scored 10 or more runs 15 times and 15 or more five times. Lowe, who has six bombs on the year along with a .281 average and 35 RBIs, typically bats third, behind Marcus Semien (.304, nine homers) and Corey Seager (.340, 10 homers) and in front of Adolis Garcia (.257, 14 homers) and Josh Jung (.285, 12 homers). “It’s a deep lineup. These guys throw out at-bats throughout the order,” manager Bruce Bochy told The Associated Press. A 2016 draftee out of MSU by Tampa Bay now in his fifth big league campaign, Lowe won a Silver Slugger for the Rangers in 2022 when he belted 27 homers. That team finished a fairly miserable 68-84. This year has been much more fun. P.S. East Central, behind the pitching of Brason Owenby (five shutout innings), and Amory, riding the arm of Jackson Howell (6 1/3, two runs), won MHSAA state championships on Saturday in Classes 5A and 3A, respectively. Perhaps it was no great surprise that great pitching performances were abundant in the games last week at Trustmark Park: Landon Harmon, East Union (five-inning perfect game); Cayden Baker, Lewisburg (6 2/3, one run); JoJo Parker and Eli Love, Purvis (combo four-hitter); T.J. Dunsford, East Central (two-hitter); Cole Tingle, Resurrection Catholic (two-hitter); Talon Haley, Lewisburg (six innings, three hits); Ben Basil, East Union (6 1/3, no earned runs); and Gavin McCoy, Saltillo.

01 May

tales of the west

Three former Mississippi State hombres are certainly stirring things up out West. In Oakland, Brent Rooker emerged as an American League player of the month candidate for April despite toiling for the worst team in the West Division. In Texas, Nathaniel Lowe has helped the Rangers ride into first place in the division, and in Los Angeles, Hunter Renfroe has added punch to an Angels team lurking 2.5 games back of the Rangers. Rooker hit his ninth home run of 2023 on Sunday as Oakland beat Cincinnati 5-4. With a .417 average, five homers and 11 RBIs in his last seven games, Rooker is batting .353 for the year and has driven in 22 runs in just 68 at-bats for the 6-23 A’s. “That kind of production for a month’s worth of games is probably past even my expectations of myself, so that’s been a pleasant surprise for me,” Rooker said, in understated fashion, in an mlb.com story. Lowe also went yard on Sunday, taking Nestor Cortes deep for his fourth homer of the season — 60th career — in the Rangers’ 15-2 rout of the ailing New York Yankees. Lowe is hitting .257 with 19 RBIs for the 17-11 Rangers. Renfroe, hitting cleanup for L.A. behind superstars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, went 1-for-4 Sunday as the Angels (15-14) beat Milwaukee 3-0. Renfroe has seven homers — matching Trout and Ohtani — and is batting .259 with 20 RBIs, which leads the team. (Back East, another ex-Bulldogs batslinger, Adam Frazier, hit his third homer of the year Sunday for Baltimore, which stands 19-9, second in the AL East.)

15 Apr

not to be overlooked

The return of Seiya Suzuki to the lineup and the return of Cody Bellinger to Dodger Stadium generated much of the buzz for the Chicago Cubs on Friday night. But when the game was done, Justin Steele deserved his share. The former George County High star shackled the Los Angeles Dodgers over seven innings as the Cubs took an 8-2 victory. “Steely looked phenomenal, really pounded the zone. Thought he was dominant,” Cubs manager David Ross told the Chicago Sun-Times. Steele allowed just three hits and a walk while striking out eight. “I was just sticking to my strengths,” said Steele, who commanded his four-seamer and slider well all night. The left-hander improved to 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in three starts. Now entering his fourth MLB season, Steele (career ERA: 3.32) is an emerging ace for the Cubs as they look to contend in the National League Central. … Also earning shout-outs in MLB: DeSoto Central alum Austin Riley, who hit career home run No. 100 (in his 464th game) as Atlanta pounded Kansas City. Riley’s third homer of the season was one of five the first-place Braves hit at Kauffman Stadium. … Ex-Mississippi State star Nathaniel Lowe drove in three runs and extended his hit streak to nine games to help first-place Texas take down Houston in an American League West clash. Lowe has 13 RBIs, tied for sixth in the AL.

31 Mar

opening acts

One of the most disappointing MLB teams in 2022, the Chicago White Sox needed to get off to a good start this season. With the aid of Mississippi products Tim Anderson and Kendall Graveman, they did exactly that on Thursday, beating the world champion Houston Astros 3-2. Anderson, former East Central Community College star, went 2-for-4 with a walk and a run — both in a ninth-inning rally — and Mississippi State product Kendall Graveman earned the win after throwing a scoreless eighth inning. Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn, like Anderson and Graveman a star in the WBC, gets the start for the ChiSox today at Minute Maid Park. Elsewhere on Opening Day, MSU alum Adam Frazier, in his Baltimore debut, went 2-for-4 with three runs and a stolen base as the Orioles beat Boston 10-9. Ex-Bulldogs standout Nathaniel Lowe had a hit, an RBI and a run, all in a nine-run fourth inning that propelled Texas past Philadelphia 11-7. Austin Riley, the former DeSoto Central High star, went 0-for-2 with three walks and an RBI in Atlanta’s 7-2 victory against Washington. Meridian CC product Corey Dickerson was 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter in his Nationals debut. Hunter Renfroe was 0-for-4 (with a nice catch in right field) for the Los Angeles Angels and fellow former State standout Brent Rooker 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter for Oakland in the A’s 2-1 surprising win. P.S. The exhibition game between the Double-A Mississippi Braves and Jackson State scheduled for April 5 has been cancelled, reportedly due to concerns about field conditions at Trustmark Park in Pearl. (Tuesday night’s Southern Miss-Ole Miss game was cancelled in the fourth inning because recently installed infield sod was not holding up, and Belhaven University’s weekend series against Covenant College has been moved to Holmes Community College’s field in Goodman.) The M-Braves-JSU game — billed as the Hank Aaron Tribute Game by the Hank Aaron Sports Academy — was originally slated for Smith-Wills Stadium, home of the Double-A Jackson Mets and Generals from 1975-99. It would have been the first such contest between JSU and a Jackson-area pro team since 1991, when the Generals — a Houston affiliate — beat Jackson State 6-3 in an April exhibition at Smith-Wills. The M-Braves, Atlanta’s Double-A club now in its 19th year at Trustmark Park, open their Southern League season April 7 at home against Biloxi. The Shuckers, Milwaukee’s Double-A club, have slated an exhibition vs. Pearl River Community College on April 5 at MGM Park.

29 Mar

mlb role-playing

Austin Riley is the 3-hole hitter and third baseman for Atlanta, picked by some experts as the 2023 World Series favorite. That’s a key role, perhaps the most important role held by any Mississippi product heading into the new MLB season that launches Thursday. Here are some others of note: Kendall Graveman, the ex-Mississippi State star, is penciled in as the closer for the Chicago White Sox, who are looking to rebound from a disappointing 2022 season. Graveman, replacing Liam Hendriks (cancer treatment) as the bullpen stopper, has a 4.04 career ERA with 16 saves in 28 opps since converting from starter to reliever in 2020. … Nathaniel Lowe, a former State standout, is the first baseman and a middle-of-the-order hitter for Texas, which has spent a lot of money of late and expects to contend for the postseason. Lowe had a breakout year in 2022 (.302, 27 homers, .850 OPS). … Louisville native and former East Central Community College slugger Marcus Thames is the new hitting coach for the Los Angeles Angels. With a lineup featuring Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and MSU alum Hunter Renfroe, the Angels are fairly desperate to make the playoffs in Ohtani’s potential walk year. Thames worked with the New York Yankees previously, so he knows pressure. … Buck Showalter, the State star of yesteryear, is entering his second season as manager of the New York Mets, another big spender with World Series aspirations. Showalter won manager of the year honors in 2022 — his fourth such honor — but saw his club fall short — again — in the playoffs. … That brings us back to Riley, the ex-DeSoto Central High standout and Mississippi Braves alumnus. He batted .273 with 38 homers and 93 RBIs last season — finishing sixth in MVP voting and winning All Mississippi Baseball’s Cool Papa Bell Award — and will be counted on for similar numbers this year. P.S. Roster news: Former MSU standout Brent Rooker has made Oakland’s opening day roster. The outfielder/DH, who has 10 MLB homers on his ledger, got very limited at-bats with San Diego and Kansas City last year. Cut from the A’s active roster was Ole Miss alum Chad Smith, who debuted with Colorado last season. Right-hander Smith, a 2016 draftee by Miami, posted a 7.50 ERA in 15 games for the Rockies in 2022. Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton did not make the Chicago White Sox’s roster. The veteran outfielder was in spring camp as a minor league invitee. … Pitchers Taylor and Tyler Rogers of the San Francisco Giants are the 10th set of twins to play in the majors and may soon become the fourth set to play for the same team in the same game. They opposed each other in a game last April but are now teammates with the Giants. Among the 10 sets of twins to reach the majors are Jackson natives Stan and Stewart Cliburn. Stan, a catcher, played for the California Angels in 1980 and Stewart, a pitcher, was with the team in 1984-85 and ’88. Both were with the Angels’ Triple-A club in 1986-87, though Stewart was injured during that time. Their dream of becoming the first twins to serve as batterymates in the majors never materialized.

02 Mar

prospecting

Having played just 11 games in pro ball, Emaarion Boyd is already a hit with the folks who do the prospect ratings. The former South Panola High standout, an 11th-round pick by Philadelphia in the 2022 draft, is pegged as the Phillies’ No. 12 prospect in MLB Pipeline’s new Top 30 rankings for 2023. Boyd projects as a center fielder and “speedy table-setter.” A right-handed hitter and thrower, Boyd batted .361 with eight stolen bases and seven runs in his debut season, playing at the two lowest levels of the Philly system. At age 19, he lists at 6 feet 1, 177 pounds. He’s one of three 2022 draftees out of the state to appear in the prospect rankings to date. (Only the National League East and Central and American League East had been released as of Wednesday.) Ex-Mississippi State catcher Logan Tanner, a second-round pick, jumps into Cincinnati’s rankings at No. 19, and former Southern Miss left-hander Dalton Rogers is Boston’s 25th-best prospect. Jordan Westburg (MSU) is Baltimore’s No. 5; Blaze Jordan (DeSoto Central) Boston’s No. 11; Will Warren (Jackson Prep) the New York Yankees’ No. 9; Colby White (MSU) Tampa Bay’s No. 27; and Ethan Small (MSU) Milwaukee’s No. 14. White is on the Rays’ 40-man roster, and Small made his MLB debut last season. P.S. Mississippi College product Blaine Crim hit his first spring training home run for Texas against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday. Crim, who reached Triple-A in 2022 and has 61 career homers in three seasons, is in Texas’ camp as a non-roster invitee.

04 Jan

high praise

Though he hasn’t yet cracked the Texas Rangers’ Top 30 prospects chart, former Mississippi College star Blaine Crim isn’t being overlooked in the organization. “He’s what we call ‘a Rangers player,'” Texas player development director Josh Bonifay told milb.com. “He works extremely hard, he’s dedicated to his craft … .” Crim, a 19th-round pick in 2019, batted .293 with 24 home runs and 96 RBIs in 2022, playing at the Double-A and Triple-A levels. He was pegged by milb.com as the first baseman on the Rangers’ Organization All-Star team. Mississippi State alum Justin Foscue was named the second baseman on that team. Crim, now 25, has hit everywhere he has been. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound right-handed hitter batted .350 for his career at NCAA Division II MC and is a .305 hitter in pro ball. He won the batting title in Puerto Rico’s winter league after the 2021 season. He’s one to watch this year. … Foscue, the 14th overall pick in 2020, also drew praise from the Rangers’ farm director. “He knows who he is. And he executes his plan, man,” Bonifay told milb.com. Rated the Rangers’ No. 5 prospect, Foscue hit .288 with 15 homers and 81 RBIs at Double-A Frisco, helping the club win a Texas League championship.

18 Dec

transaction watch

News that ex-Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton, Mississippi’s all-time MLB stolen base leader, has signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox rates some attention, but an under-the-radar signing of another South Mississippi product might be more intriguing. Petal High alumnus Demarcus Evans, a big man with a big fastball, was plucked off the minor league market by the New York Yankees. Evans pitched rather ineffectively (4.75 ERA) in the big leagues for Texas in 2020-21 (yielding a homer to Albert Pujols on the second pitch of his career) but had good numbers in the minors on his way up. He spent all of last season at Triple-A Round Rock and registered a 1.00 ERA with four saves over his last 18 games. The 6-foot-5 right-hander, only 26, became a six-year free agent after the season. Control is an issue for Evans, but if the Yankees can straighten him out, he might be a factor in their bullpen next season. He has been assigned to the Triple-A roster. … The well-traveled Hamilton, 32, played sparingly in 2022 for Miami and Minnesota but showed he can still run. With the White Sox in 2021, he hit .220 with nine bags in 71 games for a playoff team. He has 324 career stolen bases. P.S. Former Ole Miss slugger Thomas Dillard, who hit 12 homers (with a ton of strikeouts) at Double-A Biloxi last season, was released by Milwaukee. Pearl River Community College product Dexter Jordan, who played two seasons of rookie ball with Houston, also has been released.