Tag Archives: Southern League

30 Aug

tumble

There are slumps, and then there is tumbling into the abyss, which is what the Mississippi Braves seem to be doing. (Think Red Sox of 1978, Cubs of 1969 or Phillies of ’64.) On the morning of Aug. 13, the M-Braves were 30-16, sitting pretty with a 6-game lead in the Southern League South and counting magic numbers. Today, they are 34-28, clinging by their fingernails to a half-game lead in the second-half race over Pensacola, the first-half champ. Worse than that, the M-Braves have actually fallen a half-game behind Biloxi in the overall South standings, which will determine the wild card playoff team should Pensacola also win the second half. What the heck happened? Yes, hot prospect shortstop Dansby Swanson went to Atlanta on Aug. 17, but he wasn’t carrying the team by any means. Can’t blame the funk on that. It just appears the M-Braves’ lack of consistent offensive firepower is catching up to them. They’re ninth in the 10-team league in runs – ahead of only Biloxi, oddly enough – and ninth in on-base percentage. They don’t have a lot of power, nor do they steal many bases. Combine that with a pitching staff that, despite a league-best 3.16 ERA, ranks first in walks and second in hit batsmen and you begin to understand what a tightrope the M-Braves are walking. While dropping 12 of their last 16, the team has lost by such scores as 5-4, 5-1, 1-0, 2-1, 2-1, 6-3, 2-0, 5-0, 3-2 and 3-1. When Ozzie Albies got that desperately needed clutch triple on Sunday at Chattanooga to snap the seven-game losing streak, there might have been reason to think they’d broken their fall. But then the M-Braves got drilled 13-0 by the Lookouts on Monday. They’ll come tumbling home to Trustmark Park on Thursday. Waiting for them will be the Shuckers, who beat the M-Braves five straight in Biloxi last week. A playoff berth will be on the line. If Mississippi-Biloxi isn’t already a rivalry, it should feel like one by the end of that five-game series. P.S. Kade Scivicque, a former All-State catcher at Southwest Mississippi Community College, has been promoted to Mississippi from Class A Carolina. A fourth-round pick from LSU by Detroit in 2015, Scivicque was acquired by Atlanta in the Erick Aybar trade. He was 5-for-28 in eight games at Carolina after hitting .282 with six homers and 41 RBIs in high A-ball for the Tigers.

17 Aug

then came swanson

Brian McCann was the first to get the call. It was June 10, 2005, but it seems like yesterday. McCann jumped from the Double-A Mississippi Braves to Atlanta. “He might be there two weeks; he might be there 20 years,” then M-Braves manager Brian Snitker said. McCann got two hits in his debut, homered in his second game and has been in the big leagues ever since. It was exciting. A similar buzz was generated when the likes of Jeff Francoeur, Martin Prado, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Andrelton Simmons and Alex Wood jumped directly from Pearl to The Show. Now it’s Dansby Swanson’s turn. The former No. 1 pick (in the 2015 draft by Arizona) is expected to make his Atlanta debut at shortstop tonight at Turner Field. If you’re a Braves fan, you’ll be watching. Swanson can play the game. As one MLB Network analyst said recently, he’s not an “aircraft carrier.” But, in the mold of a Martin Prado, he can do a lot of things to win games, something the Braves need help with. Swanson hit .261 with eight homers, 45 RBIs and six steals during his too-short time with the M-Braves. He is smooth on defense. Atlanta might be a couple of years away from contending again, but Swanson, like McCann in his day, is a key building block going forward. … Meanwhile, the team Swanson left behind starts a homestand tonight bearing down on a second-half title in the Southern League South. Swanson’s departure could be a tough break for the M-Braves, reminiscent of the time (1987) when the New York Mets took Gregg Jefferies from the Jackson club just before the Texas League postseason. But the M-Braves still have the player who might fit the bill as their “aircraft carrier.” Outfielder Dustin Peterson, who has been in Pearl all season, is a legit league MVP candidate, batting .292 (.450 slugging percentage) with 11 homers and 81 RBIs. P.S. Kade Scivicque, the ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College standout picked up by Atlanta in the Erick Aybar trade, is a nice addition to the system. A solid defensive catcher with a good bat, Scivicque was playing at high Class A Lakeland for Detroit and should be ready for Double-A soon.

09 Aug

in a good place

It’s too soon to start calculating magic numbers out at Trustmark Park, but there is some magic in the air. The Mississippi Braves (28-16) have won six straight games, the last four at home against Mobile. They entered the current series tied with the BayBears for first place in the Southern League South. Suddenly, it’s a 4-game spread. (Third-place Jacksonville is 7 back.) Dominant pitching and just enough hitting has been the M-Braves’ formula against Mobile, which has scored only six runs in the four games, three of them decided by one run. In Friday’s opener, it was Max Povse with the quality start and Dustin Peterson with the game-turning eighth-inning homer. On Saturday, Jed Bradley had a stellar start and Carlos Franco a key two-run double. On Sunday, Wes Parsons and a passel of relievers (Caleb Dirks, Evan Phillips, David Peterson) owned the bump and Franco again provided the big hit. Lucas Sims took the ball on Monday and worked seven strong. A.J. Minter and Steve Kent closed. Franco – reigning SL player of the week — and Dustin Peterson drove in the runs in the 2-1 win. Sean Newcomb, Atlanta’s No. 3 prospect, starts tonight’s series finale. Ready the brooms. The M-Braves last made the playoffs in 2013, as a wild card. They’ve won two half-season division titles in their 12 seasons at the TeePee, the last in 2008, when they won the SL pennant, as well. Yes, with almost a month left in the season, it’s too soon to start rambling on about playoffs. But Luis Salazar’s club certainly is in a good place. P.S. While Biloxi is 18-26 and well off the M-Braves’ pace in the SL South, former Mississippi State star Brandon Woodruff has been one of the best pitchers in the league of late. He is 5-1 with an 0.41 ERA in his last seven starts for the Shuckers, 7-6 with a 2.87 ERA overall.

06 Aug

tool time

So, Pacific Coast League managers and coaches really like ex-Mississippi State star Hunter Renfroe. He was rated the Most Exciting Player, the Best Hitter and the Best Outfield Arm in the Triple-A league in Baseball America’s recently released poll on the top tools in the minors and majors. Renfroe is hitting .321 with 27 home runs, 93 RBIs and 16 outfield assists for El Paso; he is expected to be a September call-up by San Diego. Ole Miss alum Stuart Turner, now in the Minnesota system, was rated the Best Defensive Catcher in the Double-A Southern League, and Harrison Central High product Bobby Bradley (Cleveland) got the nod as the Best Power Prospect in the Class A Carolina League. The Mississippi Braves’ infield got a lot of love from Southern League managers and coaches. Dansby Swanson was rated the Best Defensive Shortstop, Ozzie Albies the Best Defensive Second Baseman and Johan Camargo — who has played second, short and third — the Best Infield Arm. In addition, Albies was tagged the Most Exciting Player. Not surprisingly, McComb’s Jarrod Dyson (Kansas City) and Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton (Cincinnati) were ranked Fastest Baserunner in the AL and NL. … On the subject of standout tools, former M-Braves star Jeff Francoeur doesn’t show up in the NL poll for Best Outfield Arm, perhaps because he doesn’t play everyday. But he gunned down a runner for Atlanta on Friday night and now has seven assists for the season and a remarkable 133 in his 12 big league campaigns. P.S. Wondering how former Ole Miss star Mike Mayers has fared since returning to Triple-A after his rocky MLB debut? Not that great. Mayers has yielded 10 runs in 14 2/3 innings over three starts (two losses) for Memphis; he is now 3-4 with a 3.36 ERA. Mayers made an emergency start for St. Louis on July 24 and gave up nine runs in 1 1/3 innings. Think the Cardinals miss Lance Lynn, the UM product out for the season after Tommy John surgery? Lynn won 60 games over the previous four seasons, making 126 starts overall and registering more than 175 innings in each year.

31 Jul

buzz, buzz, buzz

Halfway through the second half of the Southern League season, the Mississippi Braves sit in first place in the South Division. A walk-off win on a Levi Hyams base hit in the 12th inning on Saturday pushed the M-Braves’ record to 21-14, a game clear of the pack in the race for the second-half title. The M-Braves have won eight of their last 10. … Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland hit his second career game-ending home run on Saturday to give Texas a 2-1 win over Kansas City. It was his 17th homer of the year. … Former State star Jonathan Papelbon reportedly has said he is “on board’ with Washington’s acquisition of Mark Melancon, who’ll displace Papelbon (and his 4.41 ERA) as the Nationals’ closer. Papelbon’s role going forward is unclear. … Don’t look now, but former Jackson Mets catcher John Gibbons has his Toronto Blue Jays in first place in the American League East. The Jays beat Baltimore 9-1 on Saturday, the fifth straight loss for the Orioles, managed by ex-State standout Buck Showalter. The teams, separated by a half-game, play again today at Rogers Centre. … Boston’s trade for Ole Miss alum Drew Pomeranz hasn’t helped its cause in the AL East thus far. Pomeranz took another loss on Saturday (against the Los Angeles Angels) and is 0-2 with a 7.53 ERA in three starts for the BoSox. He was 8-7, 2.47 for San Diego, a non-contender. … Tim Anderson, the former East Central Community College star, seems to do something good every day for the Chicago White Sox. The rookie went 3-for-5 on Saturday and scored twice, including the game-tying run in the ninth inning of a 6-5, 10-inning victory against Minnesota. Anderson is batting .275 with five homers, 12 RBIs, four steals and 25 runs in 43 games. Would love to see him in a 30-yard (90 feet) race against Billy Hamilton and Jarrod Dyson. … San Diego has cleared outfield space with the trades of Melvin Upton and Matt Kemp, but reports are that the Padres will wait until September to call up ex-State standout Hunter Renfroe, who is hitting .322 with 25 homers in Triple-A. … Seattle apparently is interested in acquiring Ole Miss product Zack Cozart from Cincinnati. The veteran shortstop is batting .267 with 15 homers. … For those wondering about impact bats in Atlanta’s minor league system, note that former DeSoto Central High star Austin Riley is batting .263 with 10 home runs and 50 RBIs in 93 games at low Class A Rome.

13 Jul

coast to coast …

A visit to Hawaii is one thing, but a trip to the MLB All-Star Game, your first as a player, is a different level of paradise. After learning he had made the National League team as an injury replacement, former Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz was forced to cancel a few plans he had made for the break. “My fiance and I were supposed to go to Hawaii to plan our wedding, but … whatever,” he told mlb.com, reportedly with a laugh. “It was a good excuse.” Pomeranz, now with San Diego, pitched a scoreless fourth inning in the NL’s 4-2 loss Tuesday night at Petco Park. He retired Salvador Perez, Jose Altuve and Mike Trout sandwiched around a Jackie Bradley single. “It’s pretty special to have your first one (All-Star Game) anywhere, but even more so here,” he said after the game, played before a crowd of 42,386. Pomeranz, in his first season with the Padres, has an 8-7 record and a 2.47 ERA in 17 starts with 115 punchouts. … In another televised game on Tuesday, played on the Atlantic coast before a much smaller crowd, Southern Miss’ Kirk McCarty delivered a gem for Orleans of the Cape Cod League. The left-hander tossed 6 2/3 shutout innings against Falmouth, allowing just three hits with five walks and five strikeouts. He got a no-decision but lowered his ERA to 1.98 in five games in the college summer league. His Firebirds won the game 2-1 (on a walk-off homer) before 1,381 at Eldredge Park in Orleans, Mass. … And on yet another coast, the Gulf, Lucas Sims of the Mississippi Braves notched his first Southern League win of the year Tuesday with a strong outing at Mobile. Sims worked 6 2/3 and yielded one run on six hits and two walks with seven K’s in a 2-1 victory before an announced 718 at Hank Aaron Stadium. Sims, Atlanta’s top pick in the 2012 draft and No. 10 prospect, started the season with the M-Braves before getting a promotion to Triple-A Gwinnett, where he went 2-6, 7.56 and got sent back on June 17. He is 1-2, 2.95 in seven starts for the M-Braves.

08 Jul

going forward

The Mississippi Braves go for a fourth straight win tonight at Trustmark Park. It would match the team’s longest streak of the season, previously accomplished in early May. They’re 8-6, first by a game in the Southern League South second-half standings. They’re 6-3 at home; they had a losing record at the TeePee in the first half. Maybe things are starting to click. Leadoff batter Ozzie Albies fueled Thursday night’s 3-2 victory over Montgomery with a couple of hits, two runs and a steal. He is batting .397 and is 15-for-32 since he came back from Triple-A Gwinnett to play second base. Jacob Schrader smacked his team-leading ninth homer on Thursday, and the M-Braves also got a nice start from Lucas Sims and a ninth save from Madison Younginer. There’s a lot to like here. Uber-prospect Dansby Swanson is batting .417 over his last 10 games. Connor Lien is hitting .286 with four steals in 10 games since coming off the disabled list. Dustin Peterson has rather quietly driven in 54 runs, third in the league, with seven homers. Rob Whalen has been a steady starter, and Sean Newcomb, who goes tonight against the Biscuits, is brimming with potential. Left-hander Newcomb, 6 feet 5, 255 pounds, acquired from the Los Angeles Angels in the Andrelton Simmons deal, is 4-5 with a 4.14 ERA. A strong finish from Atlanta’s No. 2-rated prospect would certainly help the team’s title chase.

01 Jul

reunited

Well, that worked out nicely. Atlanta reunited infield prospects Dansby Swanson and Ozzie Albies on Thursday, and the pair combined for seven hits to spark the Double-A Mississippi Braves to a 6-5 win at Jackson (Tenn.). Swanson, the Braves’ No. 1 prospect (as rated by mlb.com), played shortstop and hit third. Albies, the No. 3 prospect, played second base and hit leadoff. The two, both shortstops by trade, had played in tandem in big league spring training games, one at short and the other at second. Albies, only 19, began the season as the M-Braves’ shortstop and batted .369 before he was promoted to Triple-A Gwinnett in late April. Swanson, who started the year at Class A Carolina, moved to Mississippi when Albies left. After a hot start at Gwinnett, Albies cooled off and was hitting .248 through Wednesday. With a 3-for-5 on Thursday, he picked right up where he left off. Swanson, who started hot with the M-Braves, had seen his average drop to .235 before a recent surge. He is now at .267, having hit .385 over his last 10, including the four-hit game on Thursday. They may be the middle infield of the future in Atlanta but for now Albies and Swanson have brightened the outlook for the M-Braves in the second half of the Southern League season. The club is 4-3 and in first place in the South Division. P.S. The third shortstop prospect on the Mississippi roster, No. 24 Johan Camargo, played third base on Thursday and went 1-for-3. He is hitting .254 with four homers and 22 RBIs while playing mostly second base.

25 Jun

random numbers

1 – Big league hits for Adam Frazier, the former Mississippi State standout who got his first knock in his first at-bat for Pittsburgh on Friday night.
1 – Professional hits for Walker Robbins, the ex-George County High star who singled in his first game with the Gulf Coast League Cardinals.
4 – Hits in eight at-bats for Joey Meneses in his first two games with the Mississippi Braves. The native of Mexico was hitting .342 at Class A Carolina.
1,000 – Career wins in MLB for Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle, the former Jackson Mets manager who won 73 games with the Double-A club back in 1990.
3,315 – Attendance on Friday at Biloxi’s MGM Park, where former Jackson Mets star Darryl Strawberry threw out the first pitch. He was in town for a speaking engagement.
12 – Combined runs scored by Montgomery and Biloxi in the first inning of the Southern League game, won by the Biscuits 10-9.
13 – Home runs by Corey Dickerson, the Meridian Community College product who went deep for Tampa Bay on Friday. He leads all Mississippians in the majors in homers; Zack Cozart and Mitch Moreland have 11 each.
3 – Home runs allowed in two MLB starts by Cody Reed, the Northwest Mississippi CC alum now with Cincinnati.
15 – Strikeouts by Cody Reed in his 12 innings in the big leagues.
3.56 – ERA of Cleveland’s pitching staff, which leads the American League. Former Ole Miss standout Mickey Callaway is the pitching coach for the Indians, who have won seven straight and lead the AL Central.

23 Jun

second chances

To win a second-half title in the Southern League South, the Mississippi Braves need to:

a. Score more runs;
b. Hit more home runs;
c. Win more home games.

Any of the three would help, but obviously it’s not that simple. The M-Braves went 34-35 in the first half, ending up third, 6 1⁄2 games behind champion Pensacola. Pitching never seems to be a problem at Trustmark Park, a notorious pitcher’s yard. The M-Braves’ staff ERA of 3.13 is second in the league. They’ve allowed the fewest homers and are tied for the most strikeouts. Having lost ace Chris Ellis, the former Ole Miss star, to promotion, keeping up those numbers might be tougher in the second half. But there are still plenty of prospect-type arms around. Scoring, not preventing it, has been the issue for Luis Salazar’s team. They’re 25-6 when they score four runs or more. But they average just 3.6 runs per game, tied for last with Biloxi. They’re last in on-base percentage, last in steals and seventh (of 10) in homers. They’re 21-6 when they hit a homer — they just don’t hit many, especially at the TeePee. Dustin Peterson and Jacob Schrader have 14 of the club’s 37 bombs. Where would the boost in offense come from? It would help if top prospect Dansby Swanson would get hot again; he’s down to .242. A little more all-around production from Johan Camargo, Carlos Franco, Levi Hyams or Dian Toscano might go a long way, too. And then there’s the new guys, just added to the roster today: catcher Joe Odom and first baseman Joey Meneses up from Class A Carolina, outfielder Connor Lien off the disabled list where he spent most of the first half. Lien was a Carolina League All-Star in 2015. Odom was batting .292 with eight homers and 29 RBIs for the Mudcats this year, and Meneses was at .342 with five homers and 31 RBIs. Here’s a big thing: The team was 16-19 at home in the first half; that’s gotta change if they hope to contend. By contrast, Pensacola went 25-11 at home.