Tag Archives: Southern League

15 Jun

tenacious oyster

The Biloxi Shuckers’ logo is described in the club’s press notes as a “tenacious oyster,” which might be a bit of a P.R. stretch, but tenacious could certainly be used to describe the team. The Shuckers, playing their inaugural season, clinched the first-half championship in the Southern League South on Sunday — with six games left in the half — by whipping the second-place Mississippi Braves 9-0 at a subdued Trustmark Park. The Shuckers (39-24, best record in the league) won this title despite playing all but five of their 63 games to date on the road. MGM Park in Biloxi didn’t open until June 6. This team (the former Huntsville Stars) is no fluke. The Shuckers have nine players headed to next week’s SL All-Star Game. They feature a bunch of the Milwaukee Brewers’ top prospects, including the No. 1 (outfielder Tyrone Taylor, 3-for-5 with two RBIs on Sunday), the No. 2 (shortstop Orlando Arcia, 2-for-5, two RBIs), the No. 14 (outfielder Michael Reed, 2-for-5, RBI) and the No. 19 (ex-M-Braves outfielder Kyle Wren, 2-for-5, two runs). Starting pitcher Brooks Hall ain’t bad, either. The 6-foot-5 right-hander allowed just two hits over eight innings to run his record to 7-3. He beat Atlanta prospect Jason Hursh (2-5), who took a shutout into the sixth, when the Shuckers erupted for five runs. They scored three more in the seventh and tacked on another in the ninth, long after the M-Braves had raised the white flag. Tenacious, indeed.

11 Jun

by the numbers

2 – Number of Mississippians in the majors sent to the minors today. Southern Miss alum Scott Copeland, who got his first MLB win for Toronto on Wednesday, was optioned (for the fourth time this year) to Triple-A Buffalo. Ole Miss product David Goforth, who had pitched sparingly for Milwaukee, also was optioned to Triple-A.
2 – Teams (the Chicago Cubs and Toronto) reportedly interested in trading for ex-Mississippi State standout Jonathan Papelbon, who has 12 saves and a 1.13 ERA (plus a lot of attitude) for Philadelphia.
4.5 – Games that first-place Biloxi (36-23) is ahead of the Mississippi Braves (31-27) in the Southern League South standings. The teams play a five-game series starting tonight at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The M-Braves took three of five in the teams’ inaugural series May 6-10, also played at the Tee-Pee. The first half ends June 21.
5 – Number of M-Braves on the SL South All-Star roster when pitcher Jake Brigham was added late Wednesday to a list that already included pitchers Tyrell Jenkins and Jorge Reyes, catcher Chris O’Dowd and outfielder Mallex Smith. Of course, O’Dowd won’t be playing in the June 23 game at Montgomery because he will be serving an 80-game drug suspension also handed down on Wednesday. O’Dowd had been on the inactive list since May 28.
8 – Number of Biloxi Shuckers named to the SL South All-Star team. Included are highly rated Milwaukee prospects Orlando Arcia, a shortstop, and pitcher Tyler Wagner.
8 – Home runs by Chris Coghlan, the former Ole Miss standout whose latest blast on Wednesday helped the Chicago Cubs pound Detroit 12-3.
15 – Days (at least) that ex-Ole Miss star Zack Cozart is expected to be out after hurting his knee on Wednesday. Cozart, on a roll with Cincinnati (.258, nine homers), is likely headed to the 15-day DL, according to various reports. Ex-Rebels ace Lance Lynn, 4-4 with a 3.07 ERA for St. Louis, is having tightness in his right forearm and could also land on the DL.
15 – Hits in his last 10 games for Pascagoula’s Joey Butler, who is batting .324 for Tampa Bay, the best average among regulars on the team.
19 – Number of players plucked out of Mississippi schools in the MLB draft, from DeSoto Central High’s Austin Riley at No. 41 overall to Columbia’s C.J. Newsome at No. 1,136. Ole Miss had four players chosen (Christian Trent was drafted for the second straight year), Southern Miss three (including Ferriss Trophy winner James McMahon), Delta State two and Jackson State, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State one each. Five high schoolers and two junior college players were picked. Of note: Hinds CC, which won 43 games this season and had a plethora of NCAA Division I signees, had no players drafted. Also of note: Former Southeast Lauderdale and East Mississippi CC star LaDarious Clark was picked out of West Florida by Texas in the 12th round.

07 Jun

the core four

There is a special group of former Mississippi Braves playing in the big leagues. Call them the Core Four. As the M-Braves celebrate the 10th anniversary of their first season at Trustmark Park, there are four players from the team’s original 2005 roster still in The Show. Each was a star in Double-A, and each is still capable of shining moments. Saturday was such a day for all four. Brian McCann, a perennial All-Star catcher, went 2-for-5 with a home run (No. 9) as his first-place New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-2. Gregor Blanco, who has won two World Series rings in San Francisco, went 1-for-4 with a run to help his second-place Giants beat Philadelphia 7-5. Jeff Francoeur, who made the Phillies’ roster as a minor league free agent this spring, went 2-for-4 with a grand slam (off Madison Bumgarner); he’s at .252 with four homers for the struggling Phils. And Blaine Boyer, who has bounced around the last several years, threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief for first-place Minnesota in a 4-2 loss to Milwaukee; Boyer has a 2.17 ERA. McCann was the first of this foursome to make the big leagues, promoted on June 10, 2005. Boyer and Francoeur followed that summer. Blanco didn’t get up until 2008. Two other original M-Braves, Anthony Lerew and Matt Wright, are still pitching in the independent Atlantic League. … An M-Braves alum of more recent vintage, Christian Bethancourt, hit his first career home run for Atlanta on Saturday, a ninth-inning game-winner in a 5-4 victory against Pittsburgh. P.S. Biloxi won its long-awaited first home game at MGM Park on Saturday, topping Mobile 5-4 in 14 innings. The first-place Shuckers lead the M-Braves, who lost at Montgomery, by 3½ games in the Southern League South. The teams meet in what could be a pivotal five-game series at Trustmark Park June 11-15. The first half ends June 21.

05 Jun

good stuff

The 200th minor league appearance for Jake Brigham was no doubt the best. The Mississippi Braves right-hander took a perfect game into the ninth inning and wound up with a one-hit gem as the M-Braves beat Jackson (Tenn.) 8-1 Thursday night at Trustmark Park. “I’ve never done that before,” the 27-year-old Brigham told milb.com. It was his second career complete game and first since 2010, when he threw a shutout in the Class A South Atlantic League while in the Texas organization. Brigham was drafted by the Rangers in 2006 and also has pitched in the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh organizations, reaching the Triple-A level. Atlanta signed him in the off-season, and he has been a dependable member of an improving rotation. Brigham is 5-2 with a 3.42 ERA. The team also has a 3.42 ERA, third in the Southern League, and two other regular starters are in the top 20 in the SL in ERA: Victor Mateo at 2.74 and Tyrell Jenkins at 2.86. Highly rated Jason Hursh, who has begun to round into form, has a 5.61. The M-Braves (29-23) will throw Jorge Reyes against Jackson in tonight’s series finale. Reyes is 5-2 with a 1.36 while working mostly in relief.

03 Jun

touching the bases

Mallex Smith, the Mississippi Braves’ 5-foot-9 center fielder and leadoff batter, did a lot of little things that helped the team sweep a Tuesday doubleheader against Jackson (Tenn.) at Trustmark Park. Smith made three sensational catches in Game 1, lending support to the strong pitching of Victor Mateo and Mike Nesseth in a 3-0 win. In Game 2, Smith went 1-for-1 with two walks, two runs and a stolen base in a 5-2 victory. Smith, one of Atlanta’s top prospects, is leading the Southern League in hitting at .340 and has 18 steals and 28 runs in 43 games. The M-Braves are 28-22, second in the SL South, and will have ace Tyrell Jenkins (4-2, 3.00 ERA) on the mound and possibly rehabbing big leaguer Joey Terdoslavich in the lineup tonight against the Generals. …. Former East Central Community College standout Tim Anderson suffered a left shoulder injury in an outfield collision while playing for Birmingham of the SL on Tuesday. There was no immediate word on the severity of the shortstop’s injury. Anderson, one of the Chicago White Sox’s top prospects, is batting .316 with 22 RBIs, 19 steals and 31 runs. He recently had a 4-hit, 3-steal game and also hit for the cycle in a game last month. … Ex-Alcorn State star Corey Wimberly is on a tear in the Mexican League, raising his average to .329 with 16 steals and 39 runs in 42 games for Yucatan. Wimberly, a switch-hitting center fielder, is in his 11th pro season. … Pillow Academy product Louis Coleman is 3-1 with four saves and a 1.54 ERA at Triple-A Omaha in Kansas City’s organization. Coleman, who has a 3.25 career MLB ERA, is no longer on the Royals’ 40-man roster. … Ole Miss alum Cody Satterwhite, pitching at Triple-A Las Vegas in the New York Mets’ system, has registered six scoreless outings in his last seven, trimming his ERA to 6.38. He has a win and two saves. … Mississippi Gulf Coast CC product and former big leaguer Fred Lewis, with Southern Maryland in the independent Atlantic League, is batting .224 in 33 games. He has been out of the lineup for over a week. … Ex-UM star Drew Pomeranz is eligible to return today to the Oakland A’s active roster. He is 2-3 with a 4.40 ERA in eight starts; reports say he may be moved to the bullpen. … Meridian CC alum Corey Dickerson (Colorado) and Itawamba CC product Desmond Jennings (Tampa Bay) remain on the disabled list with no clear indication of when they might come off. … Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton continues to lead the majors in stolen bases. He got No. 22 on Tuesday night but was also picked off during Cincinnati’s 5-4 loss to Philadelphia.

27 May

change in the wind

Maybe Jason Hursh has started to turn it around. Maybe the Mississippi Braves right-hander will take another step in the right direction tonight at Trustmark Park when he faces Pensacola in the opener of an 11-game homestand. Hursh, Atlanta’s first-round pick in 2013 and a highly rated prospect, has had a rough go in his second tour of Double-A ball. Through nine starts, Hursh is 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA. He has worked only 39 2/3 innings, with 25 strikeouts and 21 walks. The Oklahoma State alum went 11-7, 3.58 for the M-Braves in 2014. “(A) little adversity sometimes helps,” Hursh told milb.com recently. Maybe. For sure, Hursh’s last two outings have been solid. He beat Pensacola on May 16, throwing six shutout innings. He went 6 1/3 against Jacksonville last Thursday, allowing 10 hits but just two runs in a no-decision. Hursh, 23, is in a big group of young arms the Braves are counting on to emerge in their rotation over the next couple of years. But he needs to step it up. Refining his off-speed pitches (curveball and changeup) are the keys to his advancement, according to mlb.com’s preseason scouting report. Hursh will take the hill tonight for an M-Braves team that went 6-4 on its road trip and is 24-20 on the season, trailing first-place Biloxi (27-18) by 2½ games in the Southern League South. Mallex Smith continues to ignite the M-Braves’ attack with a .345 average and 15 steals. Eric Garcia is batting .340, Matt Lipka .286. The club, as well as the organization, are still waiting for a breakout from prospect Rio Ruiz (.169). P.S. M-Braves fans know the TeePee doesn’t give up a lot of home runs. For the record, the Pearl ballpark yielded 0.57 homers per game in 2014, the lowest average (by a good margin) among all Double-A and Triple-A stadiums, according to a recent Baseball America feature.

10 May

wow!

What a Saturday in Mississippi. In Oxford, there was the jaw-dropping comeback by Ole Miss to sweep the series against Mississippi State. In Hattiesburg, Southern Miss made a comeback of its own to beat Charlotte and extend its win streak to eight games. And in Raymond, Hinds Community College blasted Northwest Mississippi 14-3 to claim its eighth state championship. Hinds, 41-5 and ranked No. 1 in NJCAA Division II, went 3-0 in the MACJC tourney, getting outstanding pitching efforts from Randy Bell, Derek Martin and Casey Sutton. Quade Smith was the hitting hero in the finale, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs. USM, now 30-16-1 and 15-10 C-USA, got brilliant mound work from Cody Carroll, Luke Lowery and Ryan Milton in Friday’s 1-0 win over Charlotte. Down 5-0 early on Saturday, the Eagles rallied to win 11-10 in 10 innings, Michael Sterling scoring the game-winner on a throwing error that followed an infield hit by Connor Barron. Game 3 of that series is today. But, of course, the events at Oxford-University Stadium, witnessed by crowds totaling 27,871, trumped all. On Thursday, the Rebels (28-24, 14-13 SEC) got two big hits and three RBIs from Errol Robinson in a 4-3 win. On Friday, Sikes Orvis belted a home run and drove in four runs all told in a 13-10 victory. And on Saturday, down 7-2 in the ninth, the Rebels battled back against a crumbling State bullpen to win 8-7 in 10 innings. Colby Bortles had a game-tying, two-out, two-run hit in the ninth, and Nic Perkins knocked in the game-winner in the 10th. Orvis had two more homers on Saturday, boosting his total to 14. Wyatt Short, the sophomore left-hander from Southaven, worked a perfect 10th to earn the win on Saturday after notching saves on both Thursday and Friday. Short is 4-1 with nine saves. The devastated Bulldogs fell to 24-27, 8-19 and are in real danger of missing the SEC Tournament. P.S. Worth noting: In Pearl on Saturday, the Mississippi Braves beat the Biloxi Shuckers 5-2 in 10 innings to clinch the series with Game 5 still to play today. The M-Braves lost the inaugural game between the two Southern League clubs on Wednesday but have now won three straight.

06 May

something new — sorta

The first of presumably many Mississippi Braves-Biloxi Shuckers games will go down tonight at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Perhaps a rivalry will develop, who knows? The teams are in the same division – the South – in the Southern League, and the Shuckers (a Milwaukee Brewers affiliate) are tied for first with a 16-9 record despite playing only road games. (This five-game series was supposed to be played on the Coast, but MGM Park isn’t finished yet.) The M-Braves are 11-12 and in the midst of a 15-game homestand. Intra-state battles among professional clubs were once a common thing in Mississippi. The last time Biloxi had a minor league team was in 1908, when the Gulfport-Biloxi Sand Crabs played in the Cotton States League, which included the Jackson Senators, as well as teams in Vicksburg, Columbus and Meridian. The Cotton States League, a low-level minor league which operated off and on from 1902-55, also had teams at various times in Cleveland, Clarksdale, Greenville, Greenwood, Hattiesburg, Natchez, Yazoo City, Laurel and Brookhaven. In 1921, the Mississippi State League consisted of four Magnolia State cities: Jackson, Clarksdale, Greenwood and Meridian. Jackson, Meridian and Vicksburg also had teams at times in the Southeastern League, which operated in the early to mid-1900s. As recently as 2000, the independent Texas-Louisiana League included the Jackson DiamondKats and the Greenville Bluesmen. In 1997, the indy Big South League featured teams in Meridian, Greenville and Tupelo. Still, Game 1 of the Mississippi-Biloxi series is something special. The pitching matchup tonight could be a good one: Jason Hursh (0-1, 8.50 ERA), an Atlanta prospect, against Brooks Hall (3-0, 0.96). The Shuckers’ Orlando Arcia, rated the Brewers’ No. 1 prospect by mlb.com, is second in the SL in hitting at .381, and Nick Ramirez is tied for the league lead with six home runs. P.S. Former M-Braves star Jose Peraza, Atlanta’s top prospect, is on a roll at Triple-A Gwinnett. The second baseman is batting .394 over his last 10 games and is at .320 for the year, with two triples, nine steals and 12 runs in 25 games.

29 Apr

pair of sox

Tim Anderson hit .364 in a brief Double-A trial last summer. The ex-East Central Community College standout is showing this season that it was no fluke. Anderson, a first-round pick by the Chicago White Sox in 2013, is hitting .329 with 12 RBIs, eight runs and 11 steals through 18 games for Birmingham of the Southern League. “Every week that goes by he gets better,” Julio Vinas, the Barons’ manager, told milb.com. Anderson, a shortstop, also has played well in the field, where he had some hiccups during a big league spring training look. He is rated the No. 2 prospect in Chicago’s system by both Baseball America and mlb.com. Birmingham doesn’t come to Trustmark Park in Pearl until late August. Alas, Anderson may have moved up by then. … Staying in the ChiSox system: Mason Robbins lasted until the 25th round of the MLB draft last summer. From the early returns, it looks like the White Sox may have gotten a steal. Robbins, a lefty-hitting outfielder from Southern Miss, is batting .300 through 17 games at low Class A Kannapolis this season. This comes on the heels of a strong debut season in which he hit .304 with seven homers and 32 RBIs in rookie ball at Great Falls, Mont. He also had a 17-game hit streak. “He put himself on the map in the White Sox organization, which is very good to see,” Charlie Poe, Robbins’ manager in 2014, told the Great Falls Tribune. Robbins was the state’s Mr. Baseball at George County High in 2011 and was a freshman All-America pick and career .300 hitter at USM.

20 Apr

ballpark fare

Yes, tonight is Free Hot Dog Night at Trustmark Park. On Tuesday, there is a cap giveaway, and then there’s Thirsty Thursday and Friday Night Fireworks. Just in case you needed some other reason to head out to the ballpark in Pearl this week, the Mississippi Braves are hosting what Baseball America touts as one of the most talented teams in the minors. The Chattanooga Lookouts, now a Minnesota Twins affiliate, feature No. 2 overall prospect Byron Buxton, No. 13 Miguel Sano and No. 36 Jose Berrios, plus quite a few more of the Twins’ top prospects. Buxton, an outfielder with all the tools, is batting just .225. Third baseman Sano is at .200 with two homers, and Berrios is 1-0 with a 3.29 ERA. Shortstop Jorge Polanco, No. 8 on Minnesota’s list, is hitting .324, and Ole Miss product Stuart Turner (No. 13) is batting .250. The Lookouts’ top hitter is Dalton Hicks at .385. Of course, the home team also trots out a few prospects, including right-hander Jason Hursh (Atlanta’s No. 6), third baseman Rio Ruiz (No. 10) and center fielder Mallex Smith. Hot hitters for the M-Braves, off to a 5-4 start, include Chris O’Dowd, who is 6-for-13 with a homer and seven RBIs; Matt Lipka (.393); Daniel Castro (.361); and Smith (.361, six steals, nine runs). In tonight’s series opener at 7 p.m., Hursh (0-1, 9.00) faces Chattanooga’s Tyler Duffey (0-0, 0.00 ERA in 13 2/3 innings).