Tag Archives: Southern Maryland Blue Crabs

21 May

hot and cold

You won’t find a hotter team in pro ball than the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. Jackson native Stan Cliburn’s club in the independent Atlantic League is 21-4. After having an eight-game win streak snapped on Thursday, the Blue Crabs bounced back Friday with a 13-2 win against Long Island. Ole Miss product Braxton Lee had an RBI and scored a run in that game, and ex-Southern Miss standout Bradley Roney pitched a clean inning in relief. Forest Hill High alum Cliburn, a longtime minor league manager, was the Atlantic League’s manager of the year in 2021 and appears to have another strong team this season. The Blue Crabs lead the loop in runs and have outscored their opposition by almost 70. Lee, a Picayune native who also played at Pearl River Community College, is one of the few players on the roster with major league experience (Miami, 2018). The outfielder is batting .278 with nine RBIs, nine runs and four steals in 22 games for the Blue Crabs. Roney, who reached Triple-A in affiliated ball and spent parts of three seasons with the Double-A Mississippi Braves, has a 3.48 ERA in 11 appearances. P.S. Buck Showalter’s New York Mets still sit atop the National League East with a 26-14 record, but the ex-Mississippi State star saw ace Max Scherzer land Thursday on the injured list, where he joins fellow pitchers Jacob deGrom, Tylor Megill, Trevor May and Sean Reid-Foley. Not sure what kind of omen this might be, but the Mets were greeted Friday by a snowstorm in Colorado.

21 Apr

play ball

It’s opening day in the independent Atlantic League, where Jackson native Stan Cliburn will manage his 3,570th minor league game when his Southern Maryland Blue Crabs meet Lexington. Cliburn’s club includes former Ole Miss star and onetime big leaguer Braxton Lee and Southern Miss product Bradley Roney. Cliburn, entering his 33rd season as a pro manager, was the Atlantic League’s manager of the year in 2021 when he steered the Blue Crabs to a 63-57 record and into the playoffs with a late surge. Forest Hill High alum Cliburn had a long playing career in pro ball and spent part of the 1980 season with the California Angels. Lee, a lefty-hitting outfielder from Picayune, played in the Cincinnati system in 2021, batting .224. A former Southern League batting champ, he got 17 at-bats with the Miami Marlins in 2018. Roney, a right-hander, pitched in the New York Mets’ system last season, finishing at Triple-A. Roney, who pitched for the Mississippi Braves in 2016, ’17 and ’19, has a 3.71 career ERA in pro ball. … Also in the ALPB is former East Mississippi Community College standout LeDarious Clark, an outfielder with Lancaster. P.S. Mississippi State product Nathaniel Lowe snagged a screaming line drive Wednesday night and started 3-6 triple play, the seventh in Texas Rangers history. Caught up in the tri-killing was ex-State star Adam Frazier, who redeemed himself quite nicely by going 3-for-4 with a walk and a run in Seattle’s 4-2 victory. Frazier is batting .294 as the Mariners’ new leadoff man.

19 Oct

eye on …

Daniel Brown, a left-hander out of Mississippi State, is making a strong impression in the Arizona Fall League. The third-year pro, not a highly rated prospect in Milwaukee’s system, has pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings in three appearances in the prospect-packed AFL. He worked 2 1/3 innings for Peoria on Thursday, yielding two hits with three strikeouts. The 5-foot-10 Brown put up a 4.20 ERA, seven wins and two saves in 39 relief stints for Carolina in the Class A Carolina League in 2018. The Brewers picked Brown in the seventh round in 2016, when he was on an MSU staff that included Dakota Hudson, Konnor Pilkington, Zac Houston, Reid Humphreys and Jacob Billingsley. Brown was the NJCAA Division III pitcher of the year at Tyler (Texas) JC in 2014. … George County High product Justin Steele threw three hitless innings for Mesa in the AFL on Thursday, bouncing back from a rough first start last week. Steele, rated the Chicago Cubs’ No. 8 prospect by MLB Pipeline, had an abbreviated 2018 campaign – his fifth in pro ball — as he returned from arm surgery. P.S. Jackson native and ex-big leaguer Stan Cliburn has been named manager of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the independent Atlantic League. Cliburn managed that team to a division title in 2015. The longtime minor league and indy league skipper worked as a coach in another independent league in 2018.