Tag Archives: Royals

29 Sep

another wow moment

The numbers are in. MLB’s Statcast numbers, that is, on Hunter Renfroe’s ginormous home run, the one that went where no ball has gone before – the roof of the Western Metal Supply Co. building beyond the left-field wall at San Diego’s Petco Park. Statcast put the distance of Wednesday night’s blast at 434 feet and the exit velocity of the ball off the bat at 109 mph. “I think we all know he’s got a ton of raw power. I wasn’t expecting that,” Padres manager Andy Green told mlb.com. Former Mississippi State star Renfroe, 6 feet 1, 220 pounds, now has four homers in 21 MLB at-bats, with 12 RBIs and six runs. No doubt there are some old Copiah Academy fans who are saying today, “Oh yeah, we saw this coming.” Renfroe hit a Mississippi private school-record 20 bombs for Copiah as a senior just six short years ago. He hit 15 homers his junior year at the Gallman school. He started slowly at State but flexed his muscles as a junior in 2013, belting 16 homers (while batting .345) and earning All-America honors. He also won the Ferriss Trophy that year and was drafted in the first round by the Padres. He hit 77 minor league homers before crashing The Show on Sept. 21. Elsewhere in MLB: Ole Miss product Seth Smith drove in two runs to help Seattle crush Houston 12-4 and hang 2 games out of an American League wild card berth. … Jarrod Dyson, the former Southwest Mississippi Community College star, got two hits, two runs and his 29th steal of the year as Kansas City beat Minnesota 5-2. But Ned Yost’s Royals were eliminated from AL wild card contention just the same. … The fingerprints of former Mississippi Braves were all over Atlanta’s 12-2 win against Philadelphia. The incredible Freddie Freeman extended his hit streak to 30 games; rookie Dansby Swanson – who can play a little, too – went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs; Daniel Castro had three hits and three RBIs; Mallex Smith scored a run; John Gant threw a scoreless inning; and Rio Ruiz got his first big league knock, a triple. … And a blast from another past: John Jaso’s cycle was the first by a Pittsburgh player since former Jackson Generals star Daryle Ward turned the trick in 2004. Ward had five career triples.

18 Sep

worth noting

Props to Ned Yost, the onetime Jackson Mets star, for notching his 1,000th win as a big league manager. Kansas City snapped a five-game losing skid on Saturday with a 3-2 win over the Chicago White Sox. The defending world champs remain in the picture in the American League wild card race. Former Southwest Mississippi Community College standout Jarrod Dyson went 2-for-4 with a run for the Royals. … Ex-JaxMets manager Clint Hurdle saw his Pittsburgh Pirates get back to .500 (74-74) with a doubleheader sweep of Cincinnati. The Pirates can’t be counted out in the National League wild card race just yet. … Can’t help but notice what former Mississippi Braves star Jose Peraza has done with the Reds: .326 with two homers, 19 RBIs, 17 runs and 16 steals in 59 games. Injuries to Mississippians Billy Hamilton and Zack Cozart have opened the door for more playing time for Peraza. … Craig Kimbrel, another former M-Braves star playing somewhere other than Atlanta, struck out all four batters he faced on Saturday as Boston beat the New York Yankees for the third straight day at Fenway Park. Kimbrel has 27 saves for the AL East leaders. … Ole Miss alum Drew Pomeranz gets the start tonight for Boston against the Yankees’ CC Sabathia in the ESPN game. Pomeranz is 2-5 with a 4.60 ERA for the Sox; he was 8-7, 2.47 with San Diego. … Atlanta has called up 2015 M-Braves third baseman Rio Ruiz, who becomes the 16th M-Braves alum to make an MLB roster this season. … Ole Miss product Chris Coghlan, trying to secure a spot on the Chicago Cubs’ postseason roster, hit his first homer for the NL Central champs on Saturday – he had five in Oakland – after going 3-for-4 with an RBI on Friday. The lefty-hitting Coghlan played first base on Friday and left field on Saturday; he can also play second and third base. … Former UM standout Seth Smith picked up his 56th RBI – three short of his career-high – in Seattle’s 2-1 loss to Houston in an AL wild card battle. … Hunter Renfroe, the ex-Mississippi State star, drove in two runs to help El Paso beat Oklahoma City 4-3 in 11 innings and claim the Pacific Coast League championship. UM product Auston Bousfield also played for the Chihuahuas. El Paso moves on to the Triple-A championship game.

06 Sep

name-dropping

Here is a name to know today: Alfonso Soriano. He is the only American League second baseman to hit more home runs (39) in a season than Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier has hit in 2016 (38). Here’s another: Davey Johnson. He holds the all-time record for homers in a season by a second baseman (43). And yet another: Mark Trumbo. He is the only player in MLB with more homers (41) this season than Dozier. And still some more: Max Kepler, Justin Morneau, Bob Allison, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva. They are the only players in Minnesota Twins history with a three-homer game, a feat Dozier accomplished on Monday at Target Field. Killebrew holds the Twins’ single-season record with 49 homers, which might seem out of Dozier’s reach until you consider that he has hit 21 bombs in his last 35 games. There’s roughly a month left in the season. Alas, the Twins lost again on Monday, 11-5 to Kansas City, to fall to 51-87. “It would be a lot better if we were on the winning side of it,” said Dozier, who took an awkward curtain call after his third clout. P.S. Jarrod Dyson, the ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College standout, helped fuel the Royals’ win with three hits, three runs and a steal (No. 26). KC, the defending World Series champ, is hanging around in the American League wild card race.

26 Aug

take that

Two days after Billy Hamilton’s jaw-dropping catch, fellow Mississippi native Jarrod Dyson took his turn. Dyson, whose speed rivals Hamilton’s, robbed Miami’s Christian Yelich of a home run with a wall-climbing catch Thursday at Marlins Park, helping resurgent Kansas City snag a 5-2 win. Dyson’s catch, hailed as the first home run-stealing catch at revamped Marlins Park, came in the first inning. Playing center field, the former Southwest Mississippi Community College star from McComb traveled 97.9 feet and reached 19.8 mph, according to Statcast data, and then had to plant a foot in the wall to propel his 5-foot-10 body upward for the catch. Taylorsville native Hamilton, with Cincinnati, traveled farther and ran faster for his diving catch (see previous post), but Dyson’s was impressive in its own right. “I was totally amazed,” Royals manager Ned Yost, the former Jackson Mets catcher, told mlb.com. Dyson, used a lot as a defensive replacement as well as a pinch runner and pinch hitter, has 130 putouts with just one error and eight assists in 70 games in the outfield. “That’s just part of the game right there,” Dyson said. “I’m a guy that doesn’t play every day, so my defense has got to be there every day.” He is batting .244 with 27 runs and 18 steals in 82 games overall. The Royals, who looked lost a few weeks ago, have won 10 of 11 and are just 4 games back in the American League wild card chase and 6.5 games back in the AL Central.

02 Aug

hard knocks

It has been a disappointing season for reigning World Series champion Kansas City, and Desmond Jennings added a little to it on Monday night. Former Itawamba Community College standout Jennings broke up Danny Duffy’s no-hit bid with a leadoff double (on a 1-2 pitch) in the eighth inning. It was the only hit Tampa Bay got against the Royals, who won 3-0 behind Duffy’s 16-strikeout effort. The Royals’ last no-hitter was thrown by Bret Saberhagen in 1991. KC is 50-55, fourth in the American League Central. For the record, it has been a disappointing season for Jennings and the Rays, as well. Jennings, whose 2015 season was wrecked by injuries, was playing his first game since June 30 because of a hamstring issue. A toolsy talent, he is batting .204 with seven homers, 19 RBIs and two steals. Tampa Bay, expected by many to contend for a playoff berth, is an awful 42-62. Meridian CC product Corey Dickerson, acquired from Colorado in the off-season to add some thump to the lineup, has hit 15 homers but is batting just .235. Rotowire.com projected Dickerson as a .286 hitter this season. He hit .304 in 65 games for the Rockies in 2015 and .312 in a full season in 2014. P.S. Orlando Arcia, who led Biloxi to a Southern League division title in 2015, is expected to make his MLB debut tonight as the starting shortstop for Milwaukee. Arcia, rated the No. 13 overall prospect by mlb.com, is batting .268 with eight homers, 53 RBIs and 15 steals for Class AAA Colorado Springs. He hit .307 with eight homers, 69 RBIs and 25 steals for the Double-A Shuckers last season, and he is a top-shelf defensive player.

19 Jul

big ones

Three big home runs were struck by Mississippi-connected players on Monday night, each one big in a different way. At Seattle, former East Central Community College star Tim Anderson belted an upper deck shot for the Chicago White Sox, the fifth homer of the year for the rookie shortstop who has shown surprising power. At Kansas City, Southwest Mississippi CC alum Jarrod Dyson hit a grand slam to cap a seven-run eighth inning for the Royals in a 7-3 win against Cleveland. It was the seventh homer in seven big league seasons for Dyson, known much more for his wheels. “I wasn’t expecting that type of result,” he said before he was doused with ice in a postgame interview. “But I’ll take it.” And then there was the shot struck in Anaheim by ex-Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland. It was career home run No. 100 for the Amory native, who has been with Texas for seven seasons. It was the 12th homer of 2016 but first since June 19 for Moreland, who has been battling a calf injury. The milestone blast puts him eight behind Seth Smith, the Jackson native and ex-Ole Miss standout, on the list of active MLB home run leaders from Mississippi. Vicksburg’s Ellis Burks is the state’s career home run king with 352, followed by Grenada (or Calhoun City) native Dave Parker at 339, Greenville’s George Scott at 271 and Jackson’s Chet Lemon at 215. For the record, Rafael Palmeiro is the all-time MSU alumni leader with 569 bombs; Will Clark hit 284.

30 Jun

stuff happens

Things have not gone according to plan for Jarrod Dyson. He was supposed to play every day in 2016 as Kansas City’s right fielder. The former Southwest Mississippi Community College star, entering his seventh MLB season, deserved that shot. Everybody said so. Then Dyson got hurt (strained oblique), on his first at-bat of spring training. The Royals’ season was well underway when he returned. He got his start the latter part of April and hit .303 for the month. But then he began to slump. By mid-May he was at .215, and Paulo Orlando was hitting. Even when left fielder Alex Gordon went down with injuries, Dyson’s playing time wasn’t regular as rookie Brett Eibner stepped in. Now center fielder Lorenzo Cain is hurt. Dyson started in center on Wednesday – his 38th start — and went 2-for-4 with two walks in the 3-2, 12-inning win over St. Louis. He still sees a fair amount of playing time in his old role: pinch runner/defensive replacement/pinch hitter. And maybe that suits both him and the defending world champion Royals (41-36), who have rebounded from their sluggish start. Dyson, in 127 at-bats, is hitting .260 with 16 runs, 12 steals and seven assists in 51 games. P.S. Billy Hamilton’s season has run a little off-kilter, as well. On Wednesday, the former Taylorsville High standout was struck in the face by a deflected ball in the outfield and had to leave Cincinnati’s game. Reports seemed to indicate he is fine, though it would not be a surprise if he missed today’s game. Hamilton, batting .255, was on the concussion disabled list from June 10-16 and also missed three days while on the bereavement list. He had a shoulder injury at the end of 2015 that impacted his spring training work.

30 May

first things first

For a hitter, this number isn’t good: .222. “You can’t really focus on the numbers,” Mitch Moreland told The Associated Press after Sunday’s game in Arlington, Texas. OK, but there are a few worth mentioning. Ex-Mississippi State star Moreland’s sixth home run of the season, which sailed an estimated 440 feet into the upper deck at Globe Life Park, helped spark Texas to a 6-2 win against Pittsburgh and moved the Rangers into first place in the American League West. Watch out for this team, especially if Moreland is heating up. The lefty-hitting first baseman snapped a 1-for-27 slump with a home run on Saturday. He now has 21 RBIs and 18 runs in 45 games. Moreland is coming off a season in which he hit .278 with 23 homers and 85 RBIs (and earned AMB’s Cool Papa Bell Award). Here’s another number of note: $5.7M, which is the contract Moreland agreed to for 2016; he’s a free agent after this year. … Also bolting into first place on Sunday was Ned Yost’s Kansas City Royals, who now lead the AL Central. The defending world champs, who’ve won 12 of 17, rallied to top the Chicago White Sox 5-4, with McComb’s Jarrod Dyson scoring the go-ahead run in a three-run eighth. Dyson, coming back from a spring training injury, is batting .264 with 12 runs, eight steals, seven RBIs and five outfield assists in 30 games. He does a lot of little things you gotta love.

30 Apr

mr. 100

The 100th home run of Seth Smith’s big league career will certainly be memorable. The former Ole Miss standout from Jackson hit the milestone bomb on Friday night, giving Seattle a 1-0 win over visiting Kansas City. It was the only hit the Mariners got. The victory went to Seattle ace Felix Hernandez and was the 145th of his career, which matches Jamie Moyer for the most in franchise history. The left-handed hitting Smith went deep against righty Kris Medlen, the former Mississippi Braves star, in the sixth inning. The ball just got over the wall in right field at Safeco Field and was just out of the reach of the Royals’ Jarrod Dyson, the Southwest Mississippi Community College product from McComb. Smith’s first career homer came in 2008 with Colorado. He has also homered for Oakland and San Diego. And if you were wondering, 91 of his homers have come against right-handers.

18 Apr

on this date

On this date 70 years ago, Clay Hopper, a veteran minor league skipper from Greenwood, managed his first game with the Montreal Royals, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ top farm team. Playing at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, N.J., the Royals won 14-1, taking the first step toward winning the International League pennant. Of course, Hopper’s Royals debut was overshadowed more than a little bit by another: Jackie Robinson’s. In his first game in so-called organized baseball, Robinson went 4-for-5 with a three-run homer, four runs and two steals. He would go on to win the IL’s Most Valuable Player award and then break the color barrier in the major leagues in 1947. Hopper, who played at Mississippi A&M (State) under Dudy Noble, had asked in spring training of 1946 that Robinson not be assigned to his Montreal club but was overruled. From most accounts, Hopper and Robinson got along fine. Hopper won the IL manager of the year award and was named minor league manager of the year by The Sporting News following that ’46 campaign. He managed another 10 years in the minors and made the IL’s Hall of Fame in 2009, some 33 years after his death. P.S. The Kansas City Royals reportedly are considering keeping outfielder Jarrod Dyson in the minors a while longer as he rehabs from an oblique strain suffered in his first at-bat of spring training. The McComb native and former Southwest Mississippi Community College star is batting .250 with three steals and six runs in six games at Triple-A Omaha.