Tag Archives: Southern League

07 Oct

name dropping

Baseball America’s chart of the top 20 prospects in the Southern League is chock-full of familiar names, with the Mississippi Braves and Biloxi Shuckers placing two players each in the rankings. From the M-Braves, outfielder Mallex Smith was No. 16 and right-hander Tyrell Jenkins was No. 20; both finished the season at Triple-A Gwinnett. For the Shuckers, shortstop Orlando Arcia was No. 3 and RH Jorge Lopez No. 7. Lopez was a September call-up by Milwaukee and won his only start. Also rated among the SL’s best was Tim Anderson, the former East Central Community College star who played for the Chicago White Sox’s Double-A club in Birmingham. A shortstop with speed, Anderson was ranked eighth. Northwest Mississippi CC product Cody Reed (Pensacola/Cincinnati) was No. 10; the left-hander was the No. 6 prospect in the Class A Carolina League. … BA’s Matt Eddy didn’t see much he liked from M-Braves third baseman Rio Ruiz, who didn’t make the top 20 list: “He almost literally never pulls the ball, he doesn’t run well at all and is a fringy defensive third baseman.” P.S. Southern Maryland, managed by Jackson’s Stan Cliburn, fell to the Somerset Patriots in the independent Atlantic League Championship Series. Somerset won Game 4 3-1 on Monday to win the series 3-1. Cliburn’s club, the Blue Crabs, won Game 1 7-3 last Wednesday, a victory highlighted by a three-run home run by former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and MLB star Fred Lewis. Lewis got two hits in Game 3 on Sunday and drove in the Blue Crabs’ lone run with a base hit in Game 4.

01 Oct

blast from past

It was an attention-grabber as the words crawled along the bottom of the TV screen on Wednesday night. “The Los Angeles Angels have selected the contract of Jo-Jo Reyes from Triple-A Salt Lake … .” Jo-Jo Reyes? Where’s he been? Left-hander Reyes, Mississippi Braves fans may recall, was an ace for the M-Braves in 2007, going 8-1 with a 3.56 ERA as the team won the first-half championship in the Southern League South. He made his MLB debut with Atlanta that same year and rattled around the big leagues for much of the next four years without great success (12-26, 6.05 ERA in 70 games). He spent all of 2012 in the minors, went to Korea for a time in 2013 and ’14 and began this year in Mexico. The Angels signed him in June and, still only 30 years old, he went 4-5, 4.76 at Salt Lake. Then came Wednesday’s call from the big league club, which is embroiled in a battle to make the postseason. “We need arms,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia told the Los Angeles Times. P.S. Reyes did not pitch on Wednesday, but seven other former M-Braves did, with Williams Perez getting a win and Arodys Vizcaino a save for Atlanta and Randall Delgado a win (his eighth) for Arizona. Charlie Morton, who was on that ’07 M-Braves club with Reyes, started for Pittsburgh in Game 2 of a twinbill and got knocked around by St. Louis in its National League Central Division-clinching victory.

22 Sep

around the horn

Ed Easley, the former Mississippi State star still seeking his first big league hit, might get some opportunities now that St. Louis’ No. 1 catcher, Yadier Molina, is out for an undetermined time with a thumb injury. Easley has played nine pro seasons but has just two MLB at-bats. Tony Cruz is the Cardinals’ interim starting catcher, and they’ve added another backstop in Travis Tartamella. Neither Easley nor Tartamella played in St. Louis’ 2-1 win against Cincinnati on Monday night. … The Reds’ Billy Hamilton reportedly will have season-ending shoulder surgery, putting the ex-Taylorsville High star on the lengthy list of Mississippians whose season was halted by injury. (See Zack Cozart, Aaron Barrett, Kendall Graveman, Desmond Jennings, Jacob Lindgren, Cliff Lee.) … Meridian Community College alum Corey Dickerson, who has done three stints on the DL, went 2-for-3 on Monday to boost his average to .302. He has played just 54 games for Colorado. … Ole Miss product Stuart Turner had an RBI double and scored a run as Chattanooga beat Biloxi 4-0, denying the Shuckers a Southern League championship in their first season. (The Jackson Mets won their first pennant in their seventh season, the Generals in their third and the Mississippi Braves in their fourth.) … Southwest Mississippi CC alum Kade Scivicque and Madison Central High product Spencer Turnbull celebrated a Midwest League championship as West Michigan beat Cedar Rapids 3-2. Turnbull, who started Game 1 of the 5-game series, did not pitch in the clincher. Scivicque was behind the plate, as he was for all of the Whitecaps’ 10 playoff games. Scivicque, drafted in the fourth round by Detroit this June, also was the regular catcher this season for LSU during its College World Series run. … Through the first four scrimmages of State’s fall ball schedule, Brent Rooker is 7-for-12 with two homers, seven RBIs and five runs. The Bulldogs scrimmage again today.

21 Sep

chasing championships

Ex-Madison Central High star Spencer Turnbull could get the start tonight for West Michigan in Game 5 of the Midwest League Championship Series. Turnbull, an 11-game winner this season, is 1-1 in the postseason, including a loss to Cedar Rapids in Game 1 of the title series. Selected by the Detroit Tigers in the second round of the 2014 draft out of Alabama, Turnbull already is rated their No. 5 prospect by mlb.com. As a junior at Bama, Turnbull went 5-7 with a 2.22 ERA, and he had a 3.54 career ERA there. He was on a state championship team at Madison Central. … Ole Miss alum Alex Presley went 2-for-5 and homered to help Fresno claim the Pacific Coast League pennant with a 7-3 win against Round Rock on Sunday. Presley batted .390 in the postseason for the Grizzlies, Houston’s Triple-A team, which will meet International League champ Columbus (Cleveland) on Tuesday for the Triple-A “national championship.” … Biloxi and Chattanooga will play a fifth and deciding game tonight in the Southern League title series. Former UM standout Stuart Turner is the Lookouts’ catcher, and Jackson native Stu Cliburn is the pitching coach for Minnesota’s Double-A club.

20 Sep

play ball

Yes, there was baseball on Saturday. Even in Oxford and Starkville, where Ole Miss and Mississippi State held scrimmages. There was baseball in Chattanooga, Tenn., where the Biloxi Shuckers moved within one victory of a Southern League championship in their inaugural season. There was baseball in Fresno, Calif., where ex-Ole Miss star Alex Presley, batting .389 in the postseason, had a hit and a run as the host Grizzlies forced a deciding fifth game in the Pacific Coast League finals. There was baseball in Minneapolis, where an error — just the seventh of the year by Southern Miss product Brian Dozier – helped the Los Angeles Angels beat Minnesota 4-3 in the 12th inning. “Bad play by me,” Dozier told The Associated Press. The Twins also lost Game 2 of the twinbill and fell 1½ games behind the Angels for third place in the American League wild card race. There was baseball in Houston, where the Astros, clinging to the second AL wild card, snapped a five-game losing streak by beating Oakland 10-6 with the help of Evan Gattis’ 25th home run. Atlanta fans must wince every time Gattis, the former Mississippi Braves star whose story is such a great one, gets a big hit for Houston, and he’s had a bunch. There was baseball in Detroit, where Southwest Mississippi Community College alum Jarrod Dyson threw out a Tigers runner, Ian Kinsler, at the plate – upon further review – to send the Kansas City-Detroit game into extra innings. Alas, Ned Yost’s scuffling Royals lost the game in 11 on a Kinsler homer. There was baseball in Washington, where the Nationals got a home run from Tyler Moore (No. 5) in a rare start and a save from Jonathan Papelbon (No. 24), both ex-State stars, in a win over Miami. But there isn’t much joy in Washington, home of MLB’s most disappointing team. There was baseball in Tampa Bay, but Itawamba CC product Desmond Jennings didn’t play. Oral surgery has ended his injury-marred season; he played 28 games. There was baseball in Milwaukee, but ex-Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton wasn’t there. He was in Cincinnati, having his injured shoulder examined. MLB’s base-stealing leader (with 57) may be shut down for the year. There was baseball also in Sugar Land, Texas, but Rafael Palmeiro didn’t play for the independent Skeeters. After going 2-for-4 on Friday in his first game in 10 years, the 50-year-old MSU alum got a day off. So, yes, there was baseball on Saturday. And, hey, there will be baseball today, too.

17 Sep

farm livin’

Houston and Texas are slugging it out for first place in the American League West in Arlington, with the Rangers, now up 1½ games, landing most of the big punches through three games of the four-game series. Meanwhile, down on the farm, the Triple-A affiliates of both clubs are facing off for the Pacific Coast League pennant. No doubt former Ole Miss standout Alex Presley would rather be with the Astros, but playing for a championship with Fresno can’t feel too bad. Especially when you’re hitting .481 in the postseason, with four RBIs, four runs and three steals through six games. Presley and the Grizzlies squared the PCL finals at 1-all with a 3-1 win at Round Rock on Wednesday night. Presley, 30, who has spent parts of six years in the majors – eight games with Houston this year – batted .292 this season with three home runs, 49 RBIs and 15 steals for Fresno. The lefty-hitting outfielder might get another call from the Astros before it’s all said and done in the AL West. … Someday, perhaps, Biloxi Shuckers fans will sit at the bar and recall the days of Orlando Arcia, much like old Jackson Mets fans might remember Lee Mazzilli. Arcia, a 21-year-old shortstop, went 2-for-3 with a homer as host Biloxi beat Chattanooga 7-1 at MGM Park in the opener of the Southern League Championship Series. He is hitting .625 with three bombs, nine RBIs and six runs in four postseason games after batting .307 with eight homers and 69 RBIs during the inaugural season of Shuckers baseball. Mazzilli was the first MLB star to emerge from Jackson’s old Double-A club back in the mid-’70s. Arcia, Milwaukee’s top prospect, may well become the first ex-Shucker to do so.

15 Sep

minor matters

Biloxi will host the first two games of the Southern League Championship Series, facing Chattanooga in a showdown of two star-studded teams. Orlando Arcia, Milwaukee’s No. 1 prospect, hit .615 with two homers and six RBIs in the Shuckers’ South Division series win over Pensacola. Adam Brett Walker II, a top 10 prospect in Minnesota’s system, hit 31 homers this year and added two more in Chattanooga’s North Division series win against Montgomery. Ole Miss product Stuart Turner, a catcher who hit .223 with four homers this season, also starts for the Lookouts. The title series begins Wednesday at MGM Park. … Former Ole Miss star Alex Presley batted .556 in four games for Fresno (Houston) as the Grizzlies advanced to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League finals. … Helping West Michigan (Detroit) get to the Class A Midwest League finals were former Madison Central High star Spencer Turnbull, a prospect pitcher, and Southwest Mississippi Community College alum Kade Scivicque, a catcher in his first pro season. … Southern Miss product Scott Copeland, who made five trips up and down from the minors for Toronto this season, has been designated for assignment by the Blue Jays. Copeland was 1-1 with a 6.46 ERA in five MLB games and 11-6, 2.95 at Triple-A Buffalo.

10 Sep

playoff fever

The Biloxi Shuckers have Pensacola’s Blue Wahoos right where they want them. The Southern League playoff format gives the Shuckers home field for the first two games of the best-of-5 South Division series, meaning the Shuckers can only clinch the series on the road. Remember, this is a team that played its first 54 games on foreign ground and still won the first-half championship handily. They even clinched the title on the road, at Trustmark Park in Pearl. A league championship would be frosting on what already has been a remarkable inaugural year for the Shuckers, a Milwaukee affiliate that moved from Huntsville. Jorge Lopez (12-5, 2.26 ERA), the SL pitcher of the year, will start tonight’s opener for Biloxi at MGM Park. In Game 2 on Friday, Cody Reed, the Northwest Mississippi Community College alum, will start for Pensacola (Cincinnati affiliate). Reed went 6-2 with a 2.17 ERA in eight starts for the Blue Wahoos and is the reigning SL pitcher of the week. In two starts from Aug. 31-Sept. 7, he was 2-0 with 14 shutout innings and 17 strikeouts. P.S. In the Pacific Coast League playoffs on Wednesday night, ex-Ole Miss star Alex Presley went 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run to pace Fresno (Houston) past El Paso 9-1. Mississippi State product Hunter Renfroe was hitless in four trips for El Paso (San Diego). … Former State standout Adam Frazier was 1-for-4 with a run as Altoona (Pittsburgh) beat Bowie 8-7 in the Eastern League playoffs. Frazier was second in the EL in hitting this year with a .324 average. … In the Midwest League playoffs: Ex-Madison Central star Spencer Turnbull (11-3, 3.01 during the regular season) worked six strong innings (two runs, seven K’s) as West Michigan (Detroit) topped Fort Wayne 5-2. Southwest Mississippi CC alum Kade Scivicque was behind the plate for West Michigan and went 0-for-4. The Bray brothers from Vancleave (see previous post) were on opposing sides again as Peoria (St. Louis) defeated Kane County (Arizona) 2-1. Colin went 0-for-4 for KC; Tyler did not pitch for Peoria. And Stone County High alum D.J. Davis put up a 1-for-5 with a run scored for Lansing (Toronto) in a 6-5 victory over Great Lakes. Davis, a first-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2012, hit .282 with seven homers, 59 RBIs, 77 runs and 21 steals.

08 Sep

worth noting

In three starts against the Chicago Cubs this season, Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn is 0-3 and has yielded 12 runs in 14 1/3 innings. The St. Louis Cardinals right-hander, 11-6 against everybody else, lasted just 1 2/3 innings against the Cubbies on Monday, giving up seven hits, two walks and six runs in a 9-0 loss. Lynn was pitching on nine days rest. … Former Pillow Academy (and LSU) star Louis Coleman was back in the big leagues on Monday, working a clean inning for Kansas City. It was the first MLB appearance of the year for Coleman, who had eight wins, nine saves and a 1.69 ERA at Triple-A Omaha. His career ERA with the Royals is 3.23 over parts of five seasons. … Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton, the big league steals leader with 54, is expected to be activated today by Cincinnati. He has been out since Aug. 19 with a shoulder injury. Hamilton went 3-for-11 with four runs in a three-game rehab assignment with Double-A Pensacola. … Former Mississippi State standout Jacob Lindgren’s season officially ended when the New York Yankees put the lefty reliever on the 60-day disabled list. Lindgren had elbow surgery in mid-June; he had a 5.14 ERA in seven games as a rookie for the Yankees. … The Double-A Mississippi Braves, who missed the Southern League postseason, finished 69-67 overall and 36-32 in the second half, a game back of Pensacola. Emerson Landoni was the top hitter among players on the final roster with a .297 average. Kevin Ahrens had nine homers and 64 RBIs, Matt Lipka 16 steals. Mallex Smith, promoted at midseason, hit .340 with 23 steals in 57 games. Greg Ross led the team in wins with seven and in ERA (among SL qualifiers) with a 3.99. Tyler Jones posted 16 saves. … Biloxi will host Pensacola on Thursday and Friday in the first two games of the SL South Division best-of-5 series. … East Central Community College product Tim Anderson led the SL (and all of Double-A) with 49 stolen bases.

07 Sep

three’s company

Brian Dozier, the ex-Southern Miss star, hit his 27th home run and scored his 92nd run for Minnesota, which lost to Houston 8-5 on Sunday. Dozier is batting .242 with 69 RBIs and 10 steals. Jarrod Dyson, the Southwest Mississippi Community College product, hit a home run, his second, and got an infield hit in Kansas City’s 7-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Dyson is batting .258 with 27 runs and 23 steals. Chris Coghlan, the former Ole Miss standout, went 1-for-4 with a run in the Chicago Cubs’ 6-4 win over Arizona, a game most notable for Kris Bryant’s 495-foot homer. Coghlan is hitting .247 with 15 homers, 36 RBIs, 53 runs and 11 stolen bases. There is a common thread for these three players other than their Mississippi connection. Each one is filling the stat sheet for a team that was not forecast to contend in 2015 but is doing so. The Royals and Cubs appear to be postseason locks, and the Twins are hanging around in the jumbled American League wild card race. There are three compelling MLB series starting today, and all three of the aforementioned players, plus a couple more Mississippians, will be involved. Dyson’s Royals host Dozier’s Twins; Coghlan’s Cubs visit St. Louis, where today they’ll face UM product Lance Lynn (11-8, 2.80 ERA), who’ll make his first start since hurting his ankle on Aug. 29; and Washington, with Mississippi State alum Tyler Moore back on duty, hosts the New York Mets. P.S. The Mississippi Braves were eliminated from Southern League postseason contention on Sunday when they lost at Jacksonville and Pensacola beat Mobile.