Tag Archives: Rays

04 Mar

making an entrance

Corey Dickerson wasted no time showing his new Tampa Bay teammates what he brings to the table. In his second at-bat of the spring on Thursday, the former Meridian Community College standout launched a jaw-dropping homer at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, Fla. On a 3-2 pitch from Baltimore’s Miguel Gonzalez, the lefty-hitting Dickerson drove the ball over the wall in right-center. It bounced on a rooftop beyond the park and stopped 569 feet from home plate, according to a report. While the homer generated much buzz during and after the game, Dickerson seemed to take it in stride. “I felt like I got a good pitch to hit. I tried to be short to the ball, and it worked out,” he told mlb.com. Dickerson had an injury-curtailed season with Colorado last year – batting .304 with 10 homers in 65 games – and was traded to Tampa Bay for pitcher Jake McGee in January. Part of Dickerson’s mission in 2016 is to show that his power plays outside of Coors Field. He’s off to a good start. … Brian Dozier made his spring debut on Thursday, as well, and went 3-for-3 with two doubles for Minnesota. The Southern Miss product is aiming to build on a 2015 campaign that saw him hit a career-high 28 homers with 77 RBIs and become an All-Star for the first time.

09 Feb

downtime

Having chosen baseball over football as a career, ex-Itawamba Community College star Desmond Jennings has found that injuries can be a problem in the summer game, too. The Tampa Bay outfielder spent chunks of time on the disabled list in 2012 and ’13 and missed most of 2015 with knee ailments and a tooth infection. “I don’t know how much lower you can go from here. It is what it is,” Jennings, who played in just 28 games last year, told mlb.com. Jennings, an Alabama football recruit years ago, was once the heir apparent to B.J. Upton in center field for the Rays, but he was displaced there by Kevin Kiermaier. New acquisition Corey Dickerson, the Meridian CC product, is expected to start in left field, which likely puts Jennings – who recently signed a $3.3M contract for 2016 — on the bench. A trade is possible for the 29-year-old Jennings, who has a .249 career average with 48 homers and 93 steals over parts of six MLB seasons.

29 Jan

no place like home?

For a major league hitter, there’s no place like Coors Field. Corey Dickerson certainly seemed to enjoy playing there, batting .355 with 24 home runs in 122 games at Coors for the Colorado Rockies. Traded by the Rockies to the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, the former Brookhaven Academy and Meridian Community College star is now entering a brave new world. His new home, Tropicana Field, is a much more pitcher-friendly park. The left-handed hitting left fielder is a .249 hitter with 15 homers (in 143 games) away from Coors Field. But the Rays, who gave up reliever Jake McGee to get Dickerson, don’t seem overly concerned. As Matt Silverman, Rays president of baseball operations, told mlb.com: “We believe in the skill set that Corey has and that it will translate to our ballpark and will really play to any ballpark in the league.” The trade also gives Tampa Bay a glut of outfielders, including three others that have played primarily in left: ex-Itawamba CC star Desmond Jennings, Brandon Guyer and Steve Pearce. There has been chatter for weeks that Jennings, coming off two injury-plagued seasons, might be moved. He is a career .249 hitter with 48 homers and 93 steals. P.S. Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton, who had surgery on a torn labrum last fall, recently told mlb.com: “I’m not 100 percent yet, but close to it. We had a schedule to be ready right around spring training. As of right now, we’re on track to make that happen.” Hamilton, perhaps the fastest player in the game, stole 57 bases for Cincinnati but hit just .226 and lost his leadoff role last year. Injuries limited him to 114 games. … There have been reports that Miami is interested in 37-year-old left-hander Cliff Lee, the former Meridian CC standout who missed all of last season with an arm problem.

17 Jan

your name here

Now that he has his name on a street — Dyson Drive — in his native McComb, Jarrod Dyson will seek to get his name penciled in as the Kansas City Royals’ regular right fielder this season. Dyson, who has never had more than 292 at-bats in any of his six MLB seasons, apparently will go into spring training vying for playing time with Paulo Orlando. Dyson signed a one-year deal on Friday for $1.725M, avoiding arbitration. A lefty hitter and a strong defensive outfielder, he batted .250 with 31 runs and 26 steals in 90 games in 2015. Orlando, a right-handed hitter, batted .249 with seven homers and 27 RBIs in 86 games. Speed, of course, is Dyson’s key tool, and pinch-running has been his primary role. He has 146 bags (and 165 runs) in 443 games with the Royals. The Southwest Mississippi Community College product stole three bases and scored one run in the 2015 postseason; the one run proved to be the game-winning run in the decisive fifth game of the World Series. P.S. Former Pillow Academy star Louis Coleman signed a one-year contract with Kansas City for $725,000. The right-handed reliever pitched in just four MLB games last year but has a 3.20 career ERA. … Itawamba CC product Desmond Jennings, who played just 28 games for Tampa Bay in 2015 because of various ailments, signed a one-year, $3.3M contract and avoided arbitration. Jennings, the Rays’ likely left fielder, is a .249 career hitter with 48 homers and 93 steals over five seasons. … Richton native JaCoby Jones and Southwest Mississippi CC alum Kade Scivicque have gotten non-roster invites to the Detroit Tigers’ spring camp.

04 Dec

odds and ends

Joey Butler, the former Pascagoula High standout, has lost his roster spot with Tampa Bay, but Rays officials reportedly want to keep the outfielder/DH in the organization. Butler hit .276 with eight home runs and 30 RBIs in 88 games in 2015, getting his first extended playing time in MLB at age 29. He was designated for assignment on Thursday after the Rays acquired Hank Conger. … Will anyone take a chance on 37-year-old free agent Cliff Lee, the Meridian Community College alum who missed all of the past season with a shoulder injury? Left-hander Lee, who has 143 wins, a 3.52 career ERA and a Cy Young award on his ledger, hasn’t pitched in a big league game since July 31, 2014. Philadelphia cut him loose after last season, but he has been medically cleared to pitch again. … The next Mississippian to make The Show could well be Mississippi State alum Hunter Renfroe, who reached Triple-A in the San Diego system in 2015 and hit .333 with six bombs in 21 games. Speculation is that Renfroe, now rated the No. 3 prospect in the Padres’ system by Baseball America, will get a shot in right field in San Diego at some point in 2016. … Three former Mississippi Braves pitchers recently signed minor league contracts: Todd Redmond with Baltimore, Paul Clemens with Miami and Scott Diamond with Toronto. Mike Minor, non-tendered by Atlanta, probably will land somewhere, as well.

28 Oct

there and here

Though you won’t find his name on the top prospect charts, former Mississippi State standout Adam Frazier would seem to be a player on the rise. Currently playing in the talent-laded Arizona Fall League, the left-handed hitting shortstop is hitting .333 (8-for-24) for Glendale. Batting leading on Tuesday, he went 2-for-3 with an RBI, two runs and a steal. Frazier, 23, hit .324 at Double-A Altoona in Pittsburgh’s system this season, his third pro campaign, and made the Eastern League’s midseason All-Star Game. He is at .291 for his career with a .353 on-base percentage. … Richton High product JaCoby Jones, a shortstop prospect in Detroit’s system, has been playing some third base in the AFL. “I love short,” Jones told the Detroit Free Press. “I played there all my life … . But if third base is where my future’s at, I’ll start getting better at it.” The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Jones is batting .364 to date for Scottsdale. … Of Atlanta’s top 10 prospects on Baseball America’s recently revealed chart, it’s possible none will be in Pearl to start the 2016 season. No. 1 Hector Olivera already has made the big league club, three of the others were in low Class A in 2015 and three more were just drafted in June. (One of those, Austin Riley, the former DeSoto Central High star, checks in at No. 5 after a strong debut season at the lowest levels of the system.) Max Fried pitched in low A in 2014 and missed all of last season with an injury; it seems unlikely the Braves would start him in Double-A. Mallex Smith opened 2015 in Mississippi but finished at Triple-A Gwinnett, and Lucas Sims went 4-2, 3.21 for the M-Braves and is a candidate to be promoted next spring. However, there could be an influx of talent to Mississippi from just outside the BA top 10: Johan Camargo, Connor Lien, Dustin Peterson and Rob Whalen, to name a few. All played at high A Carolina last season. … Former Jackson Generals pitching coach Jim Hickey has signed an extension with Tampa Bay to remain the Rays’ pitching coach through 2018. He has been with the club since 2007. … Ex-Jackson Mets star Dave Magadan, who “parted ways” with Texas after three years as hitting coach, is expected to land another job in the big leagues sometime soon. In a published report, Magadan said he would like to get closer to his Florida home. … East Central Community College product Marcus Thames has been mentioned as a candidate for hitting coach with the New York Yankees. He was the Triple-A hitting coach in their system in 2015. The Yanks are one of four teams Thames played for in his 10-year MLB career.

30 Sep

whatever happened to …

Joey Butler was hitting .347 on June 13. A few days later, the Pascagoula native hit his sixth home run in just his 40th game of the season with Tampa Bay. On July 1, he broke up a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning. And, well, there are few highlights since. Butler, a 29-year-old rookie who had cups of coffee with Texas and St. Louis before this season, is still on the Rays’ roster. But his productivity and playing time have been in a slow fade. He got just eight hits in July, five in August and is 1-for-9 in September. He was even sent back to Triple-A for a time. All in all, Butler has had a good year, batting .269 with six homers, 24 RBIs and five steals in 86 games. He is said to be a great guy in the clubhouse. And the team (76-81) was 31-28 in his starts, which is something the Rays might want to remember as they plan for 2016. P.S. Former Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton had shoulder surgery on Tuesday and now faces 4-6 weeks of rehab. Reports say he will work on “hitting and bunting” this off-season in California. In his second full season with Cincinnati, Hamilton hit .226 (.274 on-base percentage) with an MLB-best 57 stolen bases.

28 Aug

into the wild

Joey Butler celebrated his return to The Show with a couple of hits, a game-tying RBI and the go-ahead run in Tampa Bay’s 5-4 win over Minnesota, which had won six straight. Pascagoula native Butler was recalled by the Rays on Thursday when Itawamba Community College alum Desmond Jennings went back on the disabled list. The Twins, along with the Rays two of the eight American League teams (excluding current division leaders) within 5 games of a wild card, got a 1-for-3 effort from ex-Southern Miss star Brian Dozier, who scored his 87th run. … In another battle of AL playoff contenders, Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland went 1-for-4 with an RBI (No. 67) to help Texas to a 4-1 victory over Toronto, the AL East Division leader managed by former Jackson Mets catcher John Gibbons. … Former State star Buck Showalter’s Baltimore club, another playoff hopeful, fell to AL Central leader Kansas City 5-3. Southwest Mississippi CC’s Jarrod Dyson had a tough day for ex-JaxMets star Ned Yost’s Royals: 0-for-4 with an error (just his second of the year). … In the slightly less crazy National League, Washington, which was supposed to run away with the East Division title, kept pace (though still 6.5 games out) with the first-place New York Mets by holding off San Diego 4-2. Former State standout Jonathan Papelbon notched his fourth save for the Nationals but yielded a run, a hit, a walk and a balk in his one inning. … Ex-JaxMets skipper Clint Hurdle’s Pittsburgh Pirates grinded out a 2-1 win over Miami and tightened their grip on the first NL wild card spot. The Chicago Cubs lost 9-1 to San Francisco, another postseason contender, and dropped 4 games back of the Bucs, who are trying to keep NL Central leader St. Louis in range. … September is coming, and it’s only going to get better for MLB fans.

21 Aug

back on the beam

Quietly, Desmond Jennings is making a nice comeback with Tampa Bay. While Chris Archer’s one-hit, 11-strikeout shutout was one of the buzz-generating stories in baseball on Thursday, much less attention was devoted to the hit that drove in the only run the Rays would score in the victory over Houston. Jennings, the ex-Itawamba Community College star, delivered the big run in the fourth inning with a two-out single off Collin McHugh. Jennings is 8-for-22 (.364) with two RBIs in six games since he returned from the disabled list, where he had been stuck since late April with a nagging knee problem. Jennings, batting .253 for the year, is now playing left field with defensive stalwart Kevin Kiermaier seemingly entrenched in center. Jennings has posted double-digit homer and steal totals each of the previous four seasons, and his contributions down the stretch could be important for a Rays team that is 60-61 and lurking on the fringe of wild card contention. He is also arbitration-eligible after this season. P.S. Pascagoula’s Joey Butler, sent down by Tampa Bay when Jennings was activated, is 6-for-14 with a homer in five games at Triple-A Durham. Butler, who got an opportunity with the Rays when Jennings went out in April, batted .278 with six homers and 22 RBIs in his 74 big league games.

15 Aug

hot spots

Matchups of playoff contenders are abundant in the big leagues this weekend, and a bunch of Mississippians are in the middle of things. One of the hottest spots on Friday was U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, where the Cubs beat the White Sox 6-5 thanks in large part to two home runs by former Ole Miss star Chris Coghlan. Coghlan hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the third inning and a game-tying solo shot in the fifth, both off Jeff Samardzija. Coghlan now has 13 homers on the year for the hard-charging Cubs. At Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, ex-Itawamba Community College standout Desmond Jennings went 3-for-4 with an RBI in his first game since April, but his Tampa Bay team fell to surging Texas 5-3. Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland was 1-for-4 for the Rangers. At San Francisco’s AT&T Park, fading Washington lost to the Giants 8-5 with ex-State stars Tyler Moore (an HBP in his one at-bat) and Jonathan Papelbon (two hits and a run allowed in the eighth inning) tasting more frustration. The day’s best game was at Rogers Centre in Toronto, where the New York Yankees stopped the Blue Jays’ 11-game win streak with a dramatic 4-3 win. No Mississippians played in the game, but veteran umpire Andy Fletcher, an Ole Miss grad who lives in the Magnolia State, was behind home plate. P.S. Milwaukee has recalled right-hander David Goforth, a Meridian native and former Ole Miss standout. He has a 4.15 ERA in six MLB appearances this year.