Reds Archives - Page 2 of 19 - All Mississippi Baseball

23 Aug

triple-a mashers

They played a Triple-A baseball game in Louisville on Tuesday that produced a football-type score and saw a couple of Mississippi products deliver big hits. Biloxi High alum Colt Keith hit his seventh homer, drove in three runs and scored three to help Toledo smack down the host Bats 24-10. Ex-Southern Miss star Chuckie Robinson went 2-for-4 with his 11th homer and drove in five runs for Louisville. Keith, one of Detroit’s top prospects, is hitting .258 and appears on the cusp of a big league call-up, though it might not happen in 2023. Robinson, in his seventh pro season, is having a huge year for Cincinnati’s top farm club, batting .315 with 66 RBIs. He is a .261 career hitter in the minors and hit .136 in 25 games with the Reds last summer. (Former Madison Central standout Spencer Turnbull, on a rehab assignment with Toledo, started and yielded three runs in 3 2/3 innings, running his ERA to 7.71 in four starts for the Mud Hens.) … At Triple-A Round Rock, where the scoring also ran high, Mississippi College product Blaine Crim went 4-for-5 with his 16th homer to power the Express to a 9-6 win over Salt Lake. Crim, in his fourth season in Texas’ system, is batting .296 with 62 RBIs. He has yet to receive an MLB look.

26 Jun

watch for it

A lot of Baltimore Orioles fans, upon hearing the news of the latest call-up, are probably wondering, What took so long? Former Mississippi State star Jordan Westburg, having a terrific season at Triple-A Norfolk, reportedly will join the Orioles on Monday and will be in the lineup against Cincinnati at Camden Yards. The O’s No. 3-ranked prospect, Westburg has played second base, shortstop, third and some outfield this season, batting .295 with 18 homers and 54 RBIs in 67 games. Following Sunday’s 3-2 win against Seattle, second baseman Adam Frazier — another MSU alum — was batting .228, shortstop Jorge Mateo .224 and rookie third baseman Gunnar Henderson .244. Baltimore (47-29) is in second place in the American League East. Westburg, 6 feet 2, 210 pounds, was the 30th overall pick out of Starkville in the 2020 draft. He didn’t hit for a lot of power at State but has belted 60 homers in his three minor league seasons and carries a .285 average. … One has to wonder why Cincinnati hasn’t made room on its roster for former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson. The Reds, in first place in the National League Central but coming off back-to-back losses to Atlanta, are carrying three catchers and none of them is hitting. Robinson is batting .335 for Triple-A Louisville and hit his ninth homer in 52 games on Sunday. He is reputed to be a good defensive catcher. The 28-year-old Robinson got some big league time last season (.136, two homers in 59 at-bats for an awful Reds team) but was waived after the season and re-signed with the club.

23 Jun

there’s a sizzle in cincy

The Atlanta Braves are coming to town this weekend, and Cincinnati — if not all of baseball — is abuzz with anticipation. “You can’t get a ticket, I’ll tell you that,” Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley, the former Mississippi State star, said in a phone interview. “That’s how maddening it is.”
The fresh-faced Reds, picked to finish at the bottom of the National League’s Central Division, enter the weekend series at Great American Ballpark in first place. They’ve won 11 games in a row, one win shy of a record set in 1957. Atlanta, which has the best record in the league, has won eight straight.
“The Braves are the ultimate test,” said Brantley, who brings a keen perspective to what is happening in the Queen City, one of baseball’s great towns, home of a venerable franchise that has won five World Series and featured the legendary Big Red Machine in the early 1970s.
Brantley pitched for the Reds in the mid-1990s and was on the ’95 club that reached the NL Championship Series, losing to the Braves. He has been on the broadcast team since 2007, covering a club that reached the postseason in 2010, ’12 and ’13. He has also seen the team — and the city — endure seven losing seasons in the past nine, including a 62-100 pratfall last year that followed a roster purge.
“I’ve been here a long time,” Brantley said. “I’ve seen the ups followed by the downs, and it gets old. Fans get frustrated.”
But the ’23 Reds have rekindled their enthusiasm — and not just by winning but by how they are winning. “We’ve got a bunch of young kids playing like bandits, playing with their hair on fire,” Brantley said. “That’s attractive to this city. Cincinnati is the birthplace of Pete Rose. Fans see guys playing like he did, they’ll come out in droves.”
Brantley said the feeling around the team in spring training was that they’d be improved from last year’s disaster, but the lead would come from young starting pitchers Graham Ashcraft, Nick Lodolo and Hunter Greene. “That hasn’t happened,” Brantley said. “They’re all on the injured list. And yet, all these kids, position players, have taken off.”
The influx of young talent includes T.J. Friedl and Spencer Steer and Elly De La Cruz, who was just called up at age 21 and has generated a lot of chatter around the game with his jaw-dropping power and speed. “But the kid that’s been the firestarter lately is Matt McLain, the No. 1 pick from UCLA a couple years ago,” Brantley said. “He’s about my size, five-eight. The way he plays the game is incredible to watch. He flies around like he has nothing to lose.”
The team’s chemistry is evident in the clubhouse, Brantley said, with many of the young players taking their cue from second baseman Jonathan India, NL rookie of the year in 2021. “He hasn’t been here long, but longer than most of them. They look to him,” Brantley said.
He believes this run is sustainable, though the true tell will come in late August. “The young guys haven’t played that duration of baseball,” he said. Solidifying the starting rotation, sort of a patchwork of late, also will be key.
For now, the Reds are just riding the wave, and it’s a massive one.
Brantley said the atmosphere reminds him a little of the mid-’90s, when the team of Larkin and Gant and Sanders was creating roars at Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field. “We had a bunch of veterans on that team, and we were pretty good,” he said. “But we didn’t win 11 in a row.”

14 Jun

beware of dog

The Dogs were out and barking in MLB parks on Tuesday night. Four former Mississippi State Bulldogs enjoyed big nights at the plate, with two of them going head-to-head in a significant American League West clash. Hunter Renfroe hit a go-ahead home run — his 12th — to help the Los Angeles Angels beat AL West-leader Texas 7-3. The Angels have won three in a row and eight of nine to pull within 4.5 games of the Rangers. Nathaniel Lowe went 3-for-5 with his eighth homer for Texas, which has dropped three in a row but still leads second-place Houston by 3.5. The hottest team in the big leagues is the last-place team in the AL West, Oakland, which took down Tampa Bay 2-1 for its seventh straight win. Brent Rooker went 2-for-3 with an RBI double for the A’s; he is hitting .265 with 13 homers for the 19-50 club. The loss by the AL East-leading Rays enabled Baltimore to move within 4 games of the top with an 11-6 victory against Toronto. Adam Frazier went 2-for-5 with his eighth homer and three RBIs for the second-place Orioles, who have won five in a row. Also worth noting: Ex-Bulldogs star and big league pitcher Jeff Brantley, now a Cincinnati broadcaster, has had a lot to bark about lately as the Reds, infused with young talent, have won four straight. They beat Kansas City 5-4 Tuesday and are 33-35, very much back in the race in the National League Central.

24 May

job well done

Operating in the relative obscurity of middle relief, Chris Stratton has been an unsung hero for St. Louis during its recent resurgence. The ex-Mississippi State star from Tupelo worked 1 1/3 clean innings in relief of Adam Wainwright on Tuesday night as the Cardinals beat Cincinnati 8-5. After an awful start, St. Louis has won 12 of 16 to climb to 22-28 and within 5 games of first place in the National League Central. Seven of Stratton’s eight appearances in May have been scoreless, covering 12 1/3 innings. He relieved Wainwright in the sixth with the tying runs on base and got a strikeout to end the inning. The 32-year-old right-hander is in his second season with the Cardinals; he was 5-0 with a 2.78 ERA for the club last year after arriving in a trade with Pittsburgh. … Stratton was one of four Mississippians in MLB who had notable appearances on the bump Tuesday. MSU product Kendall Graveman recorded his fourth save for the improving Chicago White Sox as they beat Cleveland; he has four saves and a 0.00 ERA over his last seven appearances. Former Ole Miss standout Mike Mayers allowed one run in 4 2/3 innings and struck out eight in Kansas City’s win against Detroit. The veteran Mayers was making his second appearance and first start since being summoned from Triple-A last week. J.P. France, an MSU alum, worked 5 2/3 innings for Houston and allowed just one earned run in taking a tough-luck loss against Milwaukee. France, a rookie, is 1-1 with a 3.43 ERA in four big league starts. P.S. Southern Miss product Matt Wallner was recalled from the minors by Minnesota and was hit by a pitch in his lone at-bat Tuesday. … Down on the farm, ex-USM star Chuckie Robinson homered twice for Cincinnati’s Triple-A Louisville team and is batting .348 with five home runs and 23 RBIs in 115 ABs this season. Robinson, a catcher, made his MLB debut in 2022 but hasn’t gotten a call this season.

21 Apr

puttin’ on the hits

In his second stint at Low-Class A Kannapolis, Tim Elko looks like he might be ready for the next step on the minor league ladder. The former Ole Miss slugger went 4-for-4 with two home runs on Thursday and is batting .413 with four homers and 16 RBIs for the Cannon Ballers. He also has a five-hit game during his current six-game hitting streak. A 10th-round pick by the Chicago White Sox last summer, Elko is, at 24, one of the oldest players on the Kannapolis roster. After mashing a school-record 24 homers and leading the Rebels to the national championship last year, Elko enjoyed a solid pro debut, hitting .240 with five homers between rookie ball and Kannapolis. Back with the Cannon Ballers to start this season, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound first baseman/DH is showing better plate discipline (seven walks, 17 strikeouts in 53 plate appearances). The White Sox’s High-A affiliate is in Winston-Salem. … Colt Keith, the former Biloxi High star, put up a 3-for-3 on Thursday for Double-A Erie in Detroit’s system. The 21-year-old Keith, the Tigers’ No. 4 prospect (per mlb.com), is batting .304 with a homer and seven RBIs in his first taste of the Double-A level. He is a lefty hitter who has played third and second base in his three pro seasons. … Southern Miss product Chuckie Robinson extended his hitting streak to 11 games Thursday with a knock for Triple-A Louisville in the Cincinnati system. Robinson, 28, a catcher, is batting .415 with two homers, seven RBIs and four steals in 12 games for the Bats. He got a call-up with the Reds last season, hitting a pair of homers in 25 MLB games. P.S. Ex-Delta State star Trent Giambrone, who got some big league time with the Chicago Cubs in 2021, has signed with York of the independent Atlantic League. Jacques Pucheu, a former West Harrison High and East Mississippi Community College pitcher, has signed with Southern Maryland of the Atlantic League, which starts its season next week.

12 Dec

land of the free

The market for free agent Mississippians — and there are a bunch of them — has not been very active. Jonathan Holder signed a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Angels and Chuckie Robinson re-upped as a minor league signee with Cincinnati. Anthony Alford, who started last season in Pittsburgh and ended it in Korea, re-signed with his KBO team, the KT Wiz. There has been scant news on possible destinations for major league free agents Corey Dickerson, Adam Frazier and Billy Hamilton. Frazier, in particular, should be attractive. He’s a lefty hitter who can play multiple positions. An All-Star in 2021, the Mississippi State alum scuffled at his last two stops — San Diego and Seattle — but at age 31 he can certainly rebound. McComb native Dickerson is 33 and a career .281 hitter; he’ll land somewhere. Taylorsville’s Hamilton, 32 and limited to pinch-running and defensive-sub duties of late, might have run out of opportunities. Minor league free agents with state ties include Ti’Quan Forbes, Trent Giambrone, Wyatt Short, Delvin Zinn, Zac Houston, Dalton Moats, Cody Reed, Jack Kruger and Demarcus Evans. Also out there are Mike Mayers, Bobby Bradley and Chris Ellis, each of whom spent time in the majors in 2022. Spring training isn’t that far away.

08 Dec

change of address

Add Jake Mangum’s name to the list of former Mississippi State outfielders changing teams this off-season. Miami has acquired Mangum from the New York Mets to complete an earlier trade. The 26-year-old Jackson Prep alum is a .284 career hitter over three minor league seasons with 13 homers (in 807 at-bats) and 45 steals. A switch hitter with center-field skills, he hit .333 in Triple-A in 2022, missing some time with a back injury. “He’s got a lot of tools,” Marlins general manager Kim Ng told mlb.com. “(P)retty happy about it.” Mangum was eligible to be taken in Wednesday’s Rule 5 draft since he was not on the Mets’ 40-man roster but wasn’t selected. He isn’t on Miami’s 40-man either but likely will get a shot at making the big league team in spring training. P.S. In other news: Justyn-Henry Malloy and Jake Higginbotham, both of whom played for the Double-A Mississippi Braves in 2022, were dealt to Detroit on Wednesday for big league reliever Joe Jimenez. … Former Jackson Generals manager Rick Sweet was named the winner of Minor League Baseball’s Mike Coolbaugh Award, given “to an individual who has shown outstanding baseball work ethic, knowledge of the game and skill in mentoring young players on the field.” Sweet, the Gens’ skipper in 1991-92, managed Milwaukee’s Triple-A club in 2022. … Chuckie Robinson, the former Southern Miss star who made his MLB debut with Cincinnati in 2022, re-signed as a minor league free agent with the Reds. … MSU product Jonathan Holder, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2020, signed a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Angels. The injury-plagued right-hander pitched limited innings in the Chicago Cubs’ system the past two seasons. … Former Northeast Mississippi Community College standout Tyler Samaniego was named as the relief pitcher on Pittsburgh’s 2022 Organization All-Star team by milb.com. Other Organization All-Stars from Mississippi named thus far include Mangum (Mets), Blaze Jordan (Boston), Matt Wallner (Minnesota), Colt Keith (Detroit) and Jordan Westburg (Baltimore). … MLB, in association with the players association and Ken Griffey Jr., will hold the first HBCU Swingman Classic next summer as part of the All-Star Game festivities in Seattle. Fifty players from NCAA Division I HBCUs will be invited for what is described as an “All-Star experience.”

05 Oct

into the wild

Nine hits, two walks, seven runs in 2 2/3 innings — not what ex-Mississippi State standout Dakota Hudson was looking for in his last regular season outing for St. Louis. It remains to be seen what role Hudson might have in the Cardinals’ postseason, which begins Friday in the Wild Card Series against Philadelphia at Busch Stadium. But Tuesday’s outing against lowly Pittsburgh didn’t help his cause. Hudson had pitched quite well in his previous two outings after a stint in the minors. He now sits at 8-7 with a 4.45 ERA in 27 appearances. The Cardinals, National League Central champs, did rally to win Tuesday’s game, 8-7 in 10 innings. Chris Stratton, another former State star, pitched the final two innings and got the win. He has been outstanding as a middle reliever for the Cardinals, going 5-0 with a 2.78 since joining the club at the trade deadline. St. Louis also has Meridian Community College product Corey Dickerson, a lefty-hitting outfielder, on its roster heading into the postseason. In fact, there is a Mississippi connection in each of the four best-of-3 Wild Card Series, which were officially set after Tuesday’s games. In the other NL series, New York Mets manager Buck Showalter, a former State standout, leads his club against visiting San Diego. In the American League, Cleveland, which hosts Tampa Bay, has former Southern Miss pitchers Nick Sandlin and Kirk McCarty on its current roster and MSU alum Konnor Pilkington in reserve. And Seattle, which travels to Toronto, suits up ex-Bulldogs standout Adam Frazier, a second baseman. P.S. Atlanta — and DeSoto Central High product Austin Riley — won its fifth straight NL East title on Tuesday and awaits the winner of Philadelphia-St. Louis. … USM alum Chuckie Robinson hit the second home run of his career for Cincinnati. Robinson, a catcher, is batting .136 in 25 games.

01 Sep

when september begins

September call-ups aren’t what they used to be. MLB teams can add only two players to their active roster starting today, not the dozen or so — a lot of them rookies — that many used to bring up for the final month. That’s a shame in a way. A lot of careers were launched by young players who got a chance as a September addition. A handful of Mississippi products have debuted on Sept. 1 over the years. To wit: Luther Hackman, the big right-hander out of Columbus, started and went six innings, allowing five runs, for Colorado in 1999. The next year, former Mississippi State star Matt Ginter debuted for the Chicago White Sox with a scoreless inning. Nettleton’s Bill Hall got the call in 2002 from Milwaukee and went 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter. Fred Lewis, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product from Hattiesburg, smacked an RBI double (off Rich Hill) as a pinch hitter for San Francisco. And in 2010, Itawamba CC alum Desmond Jennings started in center field and went 0-for-3 for Tampa Bay. … Among today’s call-ups is 31-year-old Billy Hamilton, the former Taylorsville High standout who was added by Minnesota. The Twins are the 11th different big league club he has signed with since 2018, his third this year. Hamilton, an intriguing September call-up by Cincinnati back in 2013, is a .239 career hitter, but he can steals bases — he’s the all-time Mississippi-born leader — and play center field with the best of ’em.