Tag Archives: Southern Miss

11 Sep

touching the bases

Blaine Crim, the former Mississippi College slugger, had a hand in a very rare feat on Wednesday night, hitting his 21st homer and driving in three runs as Triple-A Albuquerque scored in every inning in a 21-10 romp over El Paso in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. (Only 20 times in major league history has a team scored in every inning.) Crim now has 21 Triple-A homers in 2025, split between Albuquerque (Colorado system) and Round Rock (Texas). He got up briefly with the Rangers. … Former Mississippi State ace Dakota Hudson notched his seventh win for Triple-A Salt Lake in the PCL, yielding three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings for the Los Angeles Angels affiliate. Hudson is 7-7 with a 6.98 ERA. The former first-round draftee (2016) has 80 career wins, 40 in both the minors and the majors. He pitched for Colorado in 2024. … Konnor Griffin, the phenom from Jackson Prep, smacked his fifth homer for Double-A Altoona just as dad Kevin — the Belhaven University softball coach — was stepping into the broadcast booth in the fifth inning at Erie, Pa., per an milb.com story. “I might stay up here the whole game,” Kevin Griffin said. Konnor, No. 1 prospect in the minors, has 21 homers at three levels in the Pittsburgh chain this season. … Ex-MSU star Brent Rooker, having another big year for the A’s, crushed his 39th and 40th doubles of 2025 — ranking third in MLB — and now has 70 extra-base hits, 27 of them homers. The resurgent A’s beat Boston — and Aroldis Chapman — 5-4 on Wednesday in West Sacramento, Calif. … In the Frontier League playoffs, Ole Miss alums Anthony Calarco (3-for-5, three RBIs) and Banks Tolley (2-for-5, run) sparked Schaumburg to a 9-0 win over Gateway and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 conference series. Calarco, the indy league’s MVP for 2025, has eight RBIs in the postseason after plating 116 runs in the regular season. Former St. Andrew’s star Tolley hit a three-run bomb in the Boomers’ 11-6 win on Tuesday. Dallas Woolfolk, former UM pitcher, also plays for the Boomers. … The Arizona Fall League rosters for 2025 include several Mississippi connections: Former Madison Central High star Braden Montgomery, the Chicago White Sox’s No. 1 prospect, with Glendale; MSU alums Cade Smith (New York Yankees) with Mesa and David Mershon (Angels) with Salt River; Ole Miss product Derek Diamond (Pirates) with Salt River; and ex-Southern Miss pitcher Michael Fowler (Milwaukee) with Surprise. Luke Adams, current Biloxi Shuckers infielder and a top Brewers prospect, is also on the Surprise roster. Former Mississippi Braves star Nacho Alvarez, currently filling in for Austin Riley as Atlanta’s third baseman, is on the Glendale roster; he missed much of the minor league season with injury. The AFL season runs Oct. 6-Nov. 15.

10 Sep

weird, wild stuff

Among the several marquee matchups in the majors on Tuesday night, the most eye-popping result came from the Bronx, where a couple of Mississippians were on opposing sides in Detroit’s 12-2 win over the New York Yankees. Right-hander Will Warren, the Jackson Prep product who has been a beast at home all season, delivered a solid six innings for the Yankees. The score was 2-2 when he departed. Then the Tigers scored nine times — nine times — in the seventh. Former Biloxi High star Colt Keith, the Tigers’ leadoff batter, had a quiet night overall but did contribute an RBI HBP and a run in the crazy seventh, which featured blasts and a bloop, walks and a wild pitch. “I don’t know what to say,” Warren, who watched the bullpen meltdown from the dugout, told mlb.com. “I haven’t seen anything like that before.” Probably hasn’t heard anything like the boos that came raining down. Detroit is comfortably ahead in the American League Central. The Yankees are second in the AL East (3 games back of Toronto) but lead the wild card race (by percentage points over Boston). … A bullpen collapse also cost Houston, the AL West leader (by a game over Seattle), against Toronto, which rallied from a three-run deficit to win 4-3 in 10 innings. The Blue Jays scored twice in the bottom of the ninth, then walked it off in the 10th against Craig Kimbrel. After starter Luis Garcia departed with an injury in the second inning, the Astros used six relief pitchers, none of which was J.P. France, the Mississippi State alum who was added to the active roster for the first time since mid-2024. P.S. An Eagle, a Rebel, a Bulldog and a Tiger walked into a ballpark … . No, seriously, in a Triple-A International League game, Matthew Etzel (2-for-3, a run and an RBI) and Kemp Alderman (1-for-4, run) helped the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Miami affiliate) post a 5-2 win against Gavin Collins (1-for-4, run), Blaze Jordan (1-for-4) and the Memphis (St. Louis) Redbirds. … Also down in the minors, ex-Ole Miss star Tim Elko hit his 30th homer of 2025 — 26 with Triple-A Charlotte and four with the Chicago White Sox. … MSU product Justin Foscue, stuck with Texas’ Triple-A Round Rock club most of the season, got a walk-off 10th-inning hit; he is batting .255 with 17 homers and 63 RBIs. … In the Low-Class A Carolina League playoffs, former Ole Miss standout Luke Hill went 1-for-5 with a run and MSU product Cam Schuelke notched the save as Lynchburg (Cleveland) beat Fredricksburg (Washington) 2-1 in Game 1 of their best-of-3 series.

09 Sep

cheers for snit

Brian Snitker, manager of the first Mississippi Braves team 20 years ago, picked up his 800th victory Monday night as manager of the Atlanta Braves, a celebratory moment in what has been a tough season. “I never thought I’d get one (win),” the ever-humble Snitker said in a TV interview following the 4-1 win against the Chicago Cubs at Truist Park. Expected to retire after this season, “Snit” has spent virtually all of his baseball life — back to his pro playing debut in 1977 — in the Braves’ system. “I find him to be the torchbearer of the tradition of the Atlanta Braves,” team GM Alex Anthopoulos told USA Today back in the spring. Snitker’s MLB resume includes a World Series title, three manager of the year honors, six division championships and seven playoff appearances in 10 seasons. He is second only to Hall of Famer Bobby Cox on the list of career victories by Braves managers in the modern era. Snitker’s ’05 M-Braves team was loaded with prospects — McCann, Francoeur, Boyer, Blanco, et al. — at the start, but most of them were promoted during the season and the Double-A team finished 64-68 overall, missing out on the Southern League postseason. P.S. Ocean Springs’ Garrett Crochet had that Cy Young Award look on Monday night, blanking the A’s over seven innings (three hits, no walks) with 10 strikeouts. The Boston ace is 15-5, 2.57 ERA, and leads the majors in K’s with 228. Former Mississippi State star Brent Rooker went 0-for-3 with a punchout vs. Crochet. … Former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson was optioned back to Triple-A by the Los Angeles Dodgers without getting into a game. He has made 51 MLB appearances (in 2022 and ’24) in his long pro career. … Braden Montgomery, the ex-Madison Central star and current Chicago White Sox prospect, was placed on the seven-day injured list at Double-A Montgomery. … On this date in 2000, the Houston Astros set a franchise record with seven homers in a 14-4 win over Chicago at Wrigley Field. Here’s the part that old Smith-Wills Stadium cranks will find more interesting: Houston’s entire starting lineup consisted of players who wore a Jackson uniform during the city’s Texas League era. Seven were former Generals, one was a former Met and the other was Jeff Bagwell, who did a rehab assignment in Jackson in 1995. Ex-Gens Lance Berkman and Richard Hidalgo and former JaxMet Tim Bogar belted two home runs each in that Sept. 9 game and Daryle Ward hit one out. Julio Lugo had three hits that day, and Chris Holt got the win.

08 Sep

closing time

The Beloit Snappers should have posted a Storm warning when they went to the eighth inning Sunday with a two-run lead over Peoria. Justin Storm, former Southern Miss and Madison Central standout, blew through seven Peoria batters for the last six outs and his ninth save in the 7-5 win in the High-Class A Midwest League. Since mid-July, the 6-foot-7 left-hander is 7-for-7 in save chances. He had an 0.82 ERA in August and has yet to allow a run in three September appearances. For the season, the third-year pro has a 3.21 ERA, two wins and four holds in 43 games. Storm was seventh-round pick by Miami after a sensational season at USM in 2023, when the Golden Eagles reached a Super Regional. In the preceding Auburn Regional, in an elimination game against Penn, Storm retired 17 of the 18 batters he faced — 10 via strikeout — after coming on in relief. He had a 2.36 ERA with seven wins and eight saves for the Eagles that season. His first full year in pro ball — 2024 — was a strong one, and he finished it in the Arizona Fall League. Back in High-A for a second year, Storm rode out some turbulence early on and has been a force the last two months.
There are several other Mississippians enjoying varying levels of success this season in short-relief and closing roles: Landon Sims, the closer on Mississippi State’s 2021 national title team, has become a key figure at the back end of the bullpen for Double-A Amarillo. The 34th overall pick by Arizona in 2022, Sims is 11-for-14 in save chances with four wins and a 3.60 ERA in 47 relief appearances. … Landon Tompkins, a Hinds Community College and Northwest Rankin alum in his third pro season, was 6-for-7 in save chances and notched 10 holds and six wins with a 2.47 ERA over 39 games at High-A Greensboro (Pittsburgh system). Promoted to Double-A Altoona in mid-August, he is 2-0 with two holds and a 3.38 in nine games. … Ole Miss alum and Oxford native Houston Roth, working at Triple-A Norfolk in the Baltimore chain, is 4-1 with three saves, four holds and a 2.48 ERA in 25 appearances. The Orioles called him up briefly in late July but didn’t get him in a game before shipping him back out. … Cam Schuelke (MSU) is 3-1 with three saves and a 3.47 ERA in 14 relief appearances for Low-A Lynchburg in the Cleveland system. … Brandon Johnson (Ole Miss) had an 0.79 ERA and seven saves at Double-A Northwest Arkansas before Kansas City bumped him up to Triple-A Omaha. His numbers there are less impressive: four wins, two holds and a save with a 6.65 in 33 games. … Michael Fowler (USM) has put up a 1.08 ERA with a save and a hold in nine games for Low-A Carolina since Milwaukee signed him off the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters’ roster. … Mason Nichols, drafted in the ninth round this summer out of Ole Miss, has not allowed a run in seven appearances for Tampa Bay’s Low-A Charleston team.

07 Sep

three stars

Brandon Wooduff: The ex-Mississippi State star from Wheeler threw six shutout innings (two hits, no walks, eight strikeouts) to pace Milwaukee to a 4-1 victory Saturday at Pittsburgh. Woodruff, coming off a couple of shaky outings, improved to 6-2 with a 3.32 ERA in 11 starts for the Brewers, now 88-55, best record in the big leagues.
Mason Nichols/Connor Hujsak: Former Ole Miss standout Nichols threw two scoreless innings (the eighth and ninth) for his first pro win and ex-MSU star Hujsak belted his seventh homer as co-stars in Low-Class A Charleston’s 2-1 victory at Hickory. Nichols, a 2025 draft pick by Tampa Bay, has a 0.00 ERA in seven games. Hujsak, a 2024 draftee, is batting .229 with 19 doubles, six triples, 51 RBIs and 54 runs in 98 games.
Konnor Griffin: The Jackson Prep product, the No. 1 prospect in the minors, returned from a day off to hit a home run, draw a walk and score twice for Double-A Altoona (Pittsburgh). Griffin has four homers in Double-A and 20 overall (with 90 RBIs) in his first pro season. Note: He was NOT hit by a pitch after getting drilled four times in the three previous games against Richmond.
P.S. Former Southern Miss catcher Chuckie Robinson was called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday and figures to be behind the plate today when the team — and Clayton Kershaw — takes on Baltimore. … Sad to hear of the passing of Davey Johnson, who longtime Jackson-area fans will remember as the manager of the 1981 Jackson Mets. Johnson took a team that wasn’t loaded with future MLB stars — Marvell Wynne, Mike Fitzgerald, Terry Leach, et al. — to the franchise’s first Texas League title in its seventh year at Smith-Wills Stadium. Five years after that ’81 run, Johnson guided the New York Mets — and a bunch of JaxMets alums — to the World Series crown. That Mets club played a memorable exhibition game at Smith-Wills prior to the season. Johnson also won two rings as a player with Baltimore.

06 Sep

minor matters

The Have-a-Day Award, minor league edition, for Friday has to go to Bryson Ware, the Germantown High product now in the Philadelphia system. Ware went 4-for-4 with three doubles, two RBIs and a run in Double-A Reading’s 7-6 loss to Hartford. Just a .226 career hitter in three pro seasons, third baseman Ware is batting .296 with two homers and eight RBIs in 14 games since his move up to Double-A. He has 10 homers all told in 2025. A former Pearl River Community College star, he was drafted out of Auburn in the eighth round in ’23. … Ex-Ole Miss star Kemp Alderman homered for the fifth time in six games with Triple-A Jacksonville. The Miami prospect now has 20 homers on the year and is batting .282 overall, .300 in Triple-A. … Southaven’s Blaze Jordan went deep twice for Triple-A Memphis and now has 17 bombs on the year and 60 in his five years in the minors. Jordan, 22, is batting .184 with five homers and 25 RBIs in 27 games for St. Louis’ top affiliate. … Mississippi State alum and erstwhile big leaguer J.P. France, laboring on the injury comeback trail in Houston’s system, went five innings, yielding just one run, for Triple-A Sugar Land in a 5-2 win vs. Oklahoma City. France is 2-1 with a 6.38 ERA in seven games for the Space Cowboys. … Of note: Konnor Griffin, hit by a pitch four times over a three-day span, did not play Friday for Double-A Altoona. Pittsburgh’s top-rated prospect is hitting .330 with 19 homers and 65 bags on the year. … The Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to call up a catcher today, and it might not be coincidence that ex-Southern Miss star Chuckie Robinson was pulled from Triple-A Oklahoma City’s game early on Friday night. Robinson, who has big league experience, is hitting .259 with four homers and 28 RBIs for the Comets. He is not on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster. P.S. Hailed as “the best team in baseball” by none other than the Wall Street Journal, the West Michigan Whitecaps are the only team in pro ball with 90 wins (current .698 win percentage) and have a ridiculous run differential of plus-284. And, yes, there is a Mississippian on the team. Pascagoula native Patrick Lee, a former William Carey University star, is a role player for the Whitecaps, Detroit’s High-Class A affiliate. The 25-year-old outfielder is batting .207 with a .394 OBP and has four homers, 24 RBIs and 27 steals in 63 games. Lee wasn’t drafted out of NAIA Carey, where he finished in 2023 with a .335 career average. He played in the MLB Draft League that summer, then in the independent Frontier League early in 2024 before Detroit signed him. West Michigan (90-38), not exactly loaded with top Tigers prospects, won both halves in the Midwest League East Division and will go into the playoffs as a heavy favorite for the pennant.

03 Sep

random numbers

11 — Holds for Drew Pomeranz, the veteran lefty out of Ole Miss who threw a scoreless seventh inning Tuesday night for the Chicago Cubs in a 4-3 win against Atlanta. Pomeranz has a 2.04 ERA in 46 appearances for the Cubs, who won their 80th game and pulled within 5 games of first-place Milwaukee in the National League Central.
3 — Batters faced and retired by Hayden Harris, former Mississippi Braves reliever who made his MLB debut for Atlanta against the Cubs. Harris, a lefty, had an 0.56 ERA in the minors this season and a 1.74 in 19 games with the M-Braves in 2024.
3 — Grand slams this season, two in the last five days, by former Biloxi Shuckers star Trent Grisham, whose bases-loaded bomb off Framber Valdez helped the surging New York Yankees rout Houston 7-1. Grisham has 29 homers on the season, 12 more than his previous career-best.
4 — Home runs allowed by Garrett Crochet, the Ocean Springs High product who suffered a rare clunker for Boston against Cleveland at Fenway Park. The left-hander (14-5, 2.67 ERA) yielded three homers and six runs in the sixth inning alone, blowing a four-run lead, but the Red Sox rallied to win 11-7.
12 — Hits in 36 at-bats for Nathaniel Lowe since the ex-Mississippi State slugger signed with the Red Sox on Aug. 18. Lowe hit his 18th homer of the season and drove in three runs in Tuesday’s victory.
101 — Strikeouts this season by Matt Wallner, the former Southern Miss star who fanned three times in Minnesota’s loss to the White Sox. Wallner has 61 hits — 20 homers — in 295 at-bats.
1 — Scoreless inning thrown in his 2025 debut by Ethan Small, the former first-round pick out of Mississippi State now with Triple-A Sacramento in San Francisco’s system. Small, in his sixth pro season, had not pitched since August 2024 because of injury. The 28-year-old lefty made four MLB appearances with Milwaukee in 2022-23.
80 — RBIs on the year for Blaine Crim, the ex-Mississippi College standout now with Triple-A Albuquerque in the Colorado organization. He is batting .281 with 20 homers at two stops in the minors in 2025 and got 11 MLB at-bats with Texas.
2 — Home runs in as many Triple-A games for Ole Miss alum Kemp Alderman, who went deep for Jacksonville in a win against Charlotte. For the season, the Decatur native has 17 bombs and is batting .281 between Double-A and Triple-A in the Miami chain.
5 — Shutout innings tossed by Dalton Rogers, the former Southern Miss star now with Double-A Portland in the Boston system. The left-hander from Brandon is 4-4 with a 3.63 ERA for Portland and 6-5, 3.15, overall in his fourth pro season.
16 — Hits in 42 at-bats for Luke Hill, a 2025 draftee out of Ole Miss by Cleveland. Hill had three hits and three RBIs for Low-Class A Lynchburg in a 14-2 win over Delmarva and is batting .381 with a homer, seven RBIs and seven steals in 13 pro games.

01 Sep

upward mobility

Miami brass decided to give Kemp Alderman a look at the Triple-A level, and they surely liked what they saw in his Sunday debut. After striking out in his first two at-bats, the Ole Miss product from Decatur hit a two-run homer in his third, helping Jacksonville beat Rochester 6-5. The radio broadcaster for the Jumbo Shrimp described Alderman’s homer as “a 414-foot missile to center field” at Vystar Ballpark in Jacksonville. Alderman, 23, hit .282 with 15 homers, 53 RBIs and 20 steals at Double-A Pensacola this season, his second full year in pro ball. He hit 31 homers in his three years in Oxford and won the Ferriss Trophy in 2023 on the heels of a huge offensive season. Miami drafted him in the second round that summer. Power is his top tool — scouting reports compare him to Hunter Renfroe — but oddly enough he went 28 games into his pro career in 2023 before going deep. Challenged at the Double-A level last summer, Alderman homered in his second game. He is Miami’s No. 11 prospect by MLB Pipeline. … Colton Ledbetter, also a second-round pick — out of Mississippi State — in 2023, might be in line for a promotion at Double-A Montgomery in the Tampa Bay system. The lefty-hitting leadoff batter, 23, went 2-for-6 with two RBIs, two runs and his 34th steal for the Biscuits on Sunday in a win against Biloxi. A sluggish August has dropped his average to .264, but he has a .342 OBP with six homers, 40 RBIs and 63 runs in 113 games as a firestarter for the Biscuits. He is ranked as Tampa Bay’s No. 18 prospect. P.S. Three pitchers with Mississippi ties went to the bump as starters in the big leagues on Sunday. Collectively, they went 0-2, allowing 19 hits, eight walks and 14 runs (11 earned) with 19 strikeouts in 16 innings. To be fair, Atlanta’s Hurston Waldrep — who played two seasons at Southern Miss before transferring to Florida — pitched well, allowing a lone run to Philadelphia over 5 2/3 innings. He got a no-decision in a game the Braves ultimately won. MSU alums Brandon Woodruff (5-2) and J.T. Ginn (2-6) got battered around for Milwaukee and the A’s, respectively. … Toronto moved former USM star Nick Sandlin (elbow injury) to the 60-day injured list, possibly ending his season. … MLB rosters can expand today — by two — possibly opening spots for some Mississippians in the minors.

31 Aug

noteworthy

The Milwaukee Brewers, the team with the best record in the majors, got stronger on Saturday when Jackson Chourio came off the injured list. And the former Biloxi Shuckers star went 2-for-4 with a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning as the Brewers (85-52) beat Toronto 4-1. It was the 18th homer of the season for Chourio, who spent a month on the IL. The 21-year-old outfielder, currently batting .278 with 68 RBIs and 18 steals, was third in National League rookie of the year voting in 2024. Mississippi State product Brandon Woodruff, another of the many Shuckers alums on Milwaukee’s roster, starts for the Brewers today at Toronto; he is 5-1 with a 3.10 ERA. … Ex-DeSoto Central High standout Blaze Jordan extended his hitting streak to seven games with a home run — his 15th of 2025 — in Triple-A Memphis’ 8-2 win over Oklahoma City. Jordan, St. Louis’ No. 18 prospect, is batting .280 with 84 RBIs on the year with three different clubs. … In a Double-A Eastern League game at Reading, Pa., before a crowd of 7,000-plus, a couple of former Mississippi high school stars got big knocks: Bryson Ware, Germantown grad, hit a two-run homer for Reading (Philadelphia affiliate) and Tupelo alum Reed Trimble went deep for Chesapeake (Baltimore) in the Fightin Phils’ 3-1 victory. Reading managed just two hits in the game. Ware, who also played at Pearl River Community College and Auburn, is batting .279 with two homers for Reading and has eight bombs overall at two levels. Ex-Southern Miss star Trimble has nine homers for Chesapeake and 13 overall, including a couple in Triple-A. … And at Windy City in Illinois, Kyle Booker’s eighth-inning single drove in the lone run as the indy Mississippi Mud Monsters (and Jeremy Peguero) beat the Thunderbolts 1-0. The Mud Monsters (48-47) finish their inaugural season today at Crestwood, Ill. … Madison Central product Spencer Turnbull has signed a minor league deal with Kansas City and will report to Triple-A Omaha. The veteran right-hander is now with his third organization in 2025, having been released by Toronto and the Chicago Cubs. … On this date in 1990, former Jackson State standout Wes Chamberlain made his MLB debut for the Phillies. He would play six years in the majors, batting .255 with 43 homers. He batted .364 for the Phils in the 1993 NL Championship Series win over Atlanta.

28 Aug

a door opens

After parlaying his monster season in an independent league into a minor league deal with the San Diego Padres, Christopher Sargent Jr. wasted little time making an impact in affiliated ball. In the fourth at-bat of his first game, the ex-Southern Miss standout belted a two-run homer. Sargent, 25, officially signed with the Padres on Wednesday and was in the lineup at catcher for Double-A San Antonio on Wednesday night. His homer helped the Missions beat Frisco 14-11. Sargent hit .384 with 35 homers and 130 RBIs this season for Ogden in his second season in the hitter-friendly Pioneer League. He hit .316 with 19 bombs in 2024. Ogden manager Evan Parker hailed Sargent as a “real dual-threat catcher.” Sargent, 5 feet 11, 185 pounds, played first base at USM from 2021-23 and hit 51 homers while batting .249. He wasn’t drafted after his senior season. A catcher in high school and junior college in Alabama, Sargent began playing that premium position again with Ogden. He joins a San Antonio team that includes former USM left-hander Ryan Och. P.S. In other minor matters: Blaze Jordan, DeSoto Central High product, hit a two-run double in the ninth inning that gave Triple-A Memphis an 8-6 win at Oklahoma City. Jordan has 19 RBIs in 19 games with St. Louis’ Triple-A club and 81 on the year with three different clubs. … Niko Mazza, ex-USM and MRA standout, threw 5 1/3 strong innings to get the win for Low-Class A San Jose in a 2-0 victory against Visalia. Mazza, in his first pro campaign, is 4-3 with a 2.04 ERA in 20 starts for the San Francisco affiliate. … Mason Nichols, a 2025 draftee out of Ole Miss and a Jackson Prep product, notched his first career save with a scoreless inning for Low-A Charleston (Tampa Bay system) in a 1-0 win vs. Augusta. Nichols has yet to allow a run in five relief appearances.