Tag Archives: Southern Miss

27 Aug

power trip

With his fourth home run in three games, Matt Wallner powered Minnesota to a comeback 7-5 win at Toronto on Tuesday night and joined some rather select company. The ex-Southern Miss star, from Forest Lake, Minn., became the fourth native of the North Star State to hit 20 bombs in a season. He joins Hall of Famers Joe Mauer and Dave Winfield along with Twins legend Kent Hrbek in that club. Wallner’s three-run homer in the ninth inning Tuesday came against Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman and gave the Twins a 7-4 lead. Seven of Wallner’s 14 hits this month are home runs, and most of them were tape-measure blasts. On Monday, he hit two against Toronto ace — and future Hall of Famer — Max Scherzer in a Twins loss. “Wally is a fun player to talk about,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told mlb.com after Monday’s game. “Nobody really impacts the ball the way he does except for maybe five guys, maybe 10.” … It was a big night for big flies from Mississippians in the majors and minors: Colt Keith, Biloxi High alum, hit his 12th — as part of a 3-for-5 night — in Detroit’s 7-6 loss in 10 innings against the A’s. … Former Mississippi College standout Blaine Crim belted his 20th Triple-A bomb of the season, his second for Albuquerque in the Colorado system. Crim’s homer came against Mississippi State alum J.P. France, pitching for Houston’s Sugar Land club, which won the game 6-4. … USM product Reed Trimble hit his 12th homer of 2025, going yard for Double-A Chesapeake (Baltimore). The Tupelo native has hit eight homers in Double-A, two in Triple-A and two in the low minors in a peripatetic campaign. … Kemp Alderman, the 2023 Ferriss Trophy winner at Ole Miss, smacked his 14th homer for Double-A Pensacola (Miami); the Decatur native has four in August after hitting just one in July. … And Mississippi Braves alum Ozzie Albies hit two homers for Atlanta — his first two-homer game in more than two years — powering the Braves to an 11-2 win at Miami. The switch-hitting Albies, who has 12 homers on the year, hit one from each side, getting his first as a righty hitter all season. P.S. Hurston Waldrep, former USM and M-Braves star, battled for 5 1/3 innings (one run allowed) in Tuesday’s game and stood to get the win before the Atlanta bullpen coughed up a late run. Waldrep is 4-0 with an 0.90 ERA in his five appearances this season. Lightly recruited out of his Georgia high school in 2020, Waldrep went 7-2 in two years at USM — a good baseball school, by the way — before transferring to Florida. On the Braves broadcast it was noted that he still has the ball from his first college victory in 2021.

25 Aug

details, details …

Sunday stuff: Two more hits and RBIs for Nathaniel Lowe. That’s seven knocks in 16 at-bats with seven RBIs for the ex-Mississippi State star in six games with Boston. The Red Sox lost to the New York Yankees on Sunday and are 3-3 in Lowe’s appearances. … Two more hits, an RBI, a run, three different positions and a win for Kansas City’s Adam Frazier. The former MSU standout is hitting .295 with 14 RBIs and 12 runs in his 29 games for the wild card-chasing Royals, 19-12 since the All-Star break. … Konnor Pilkington, MSU product from Pascagoula, struck out the Philadelphia side in the seventh inning of Washington’s 3-2 loss; he has 18 punchouts in 14 2/3 innings — with a 5.52 ERA — in 16 games this season. … Blaze Jordan, DeSoto Central High product, drove in a run for Triple-A Memphis, his 16th RBI in 17 games since joining the St. Louis affiliate in a trade. He is batting just .129. … In his first week in Double-A, ex-Jackson Prep standout Konnor Griffin batted .286 with four RBIs, four runs and four steals for Pittsburgh’s Altoona club. … Former Southern Miss star Dustin Dickerson scored one run for Northwest Arkansas, but it was the game-winner in a walk-off victory by the Royals’ Double-A club. … MSU product Kamren James hit his first homer of the season and fellow Bulldogs alum Colton Ledbetter added his sixth in a win for Double-A Montgomery, a Tampa Bay affiliate. … Patrick Lee, former William Carey University star, hit his fourth homer for West Michigan, one of six bombs Detroit’s High-Class A club belted in a 16-0 win. … Luke Hill, a 2025 draftee out of Ole Miss, got three more hits and is batting .417 in seven games for Low-A Lynchburg in Cleveland’s chain. He has a homer, four RBIs, five runs and five bags. … Michael Fowler took a loss for Low-A Carolina but still has yet to yield an earned run in five appearances for the Milwaukee affiliate. He pitched for USM and the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters this season before the Brewers signed him on July 29. P.S. Fun flashback: On this date in 1995, former Jackson Mets star Gregg Jefferies hit for the cycle and ex-Jackson Generals ace Jeff Juden threw a complete game and clubbed a grand slam as Philadelphia whipped the Los Angeles Dodgers (and Hideo Nomo) 17-4.

24 Aug

touching the bases

His Boston teammates call Garrett Crochet “Beast,” and on Saturday at Yankee Stadium he showed why. The former Ocean Springs High star overpowered the New York Yankees in the Red Sox’s 12-1 victory: seven innings, five hits, one run, one walk, 11 strikeouts. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound left-hander is 14-5 with a 2.38 ERA; he is 2-0, 2.96, in three starts vs. the Yankees, all wins by Boston. He went over 200 strikeouts for the season and passed 500 for his career; he has only been a starter for two of his five seasons. While Crochet was sharp in the Red Sox’s eighth straight win over the Yanks, Jackson Prep product Will Warren was not. He was charged with five runs in four innings and fell to 7-6, 4.47. … The Milwaukee Brewers will honor the late Bob Uecker today at American Family Field. Brewers broadcaster Tim Dillard, the ex-Itawamba Community College star who pitched for the Brewers from 2008-12, said this about Uecker, aka Mr. Baseball: “He made everybody better. Whether it was with his knowledge or his wit, his storytelling, just his voice, all of it. That was his gift, and he shared it with the world.” … Matt Wallner hit his 17th homer in Minnesota’s loss on Saturday. The former Southern Miss slugger, batting just .210, has 33 extra-base knocks among his 55 hits. … Seattle has designated former Mississippi Braves shortstop Dylan Moore for assignment. With the Mariners since 2019, the versatile Moore is hitting .193 this year. … Former Atlanta Braves scout Roy Clark — responsible for the drafting of Austin Riley, Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward and Adam Wainwright, among others — has died at age 68. … Justin Foscue, the ex-Mississippi State standout, is itching for a call-up with Texas, which has suffered a rash of injuries lately. Foscue hit his 15th homer for Triple-A Round Rock on Saturday and is batting .292 with four bombs and 17 RBIs in August. He is 3-for-51 in his brief MLB time the last two years. … The Mississippi Mud Monsters’ Frontier League playoff hopes took a hit on Saturday when Washington rallied for six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning en route to an 8-6 win. Former ICC standout Tyreque Reed hit a game-tying three-run homer in the pivotal frame, his 13th of the season for the Wild Things. … Christopher Sargent Jr. continues to put up staggering stats in the independent Pioneer League: The USM alum, who had two hits in Ogden’s win on Saturday, is batting .384 with 35 homers, 130 RBIs and 94 runs in 80 games.

23 Aug

reverse course

Nobody can honestly say they saw this coming. In four games with Boston, ex-Mississippi State star Nathaniel Lowe is 3-for-10 with a homer, two doubles, four RBIs and three runs. On Friday night, he whacked a pinch-hit double in the seventh inning and scored the game’s only run as the Red Sox beat the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. He drove in two runs in Thursday’s 6-3 victory. When he was released by Washington on Aug. 14, Lowe had a .216 average; he had hit .205 with two homers in July and .091 with one in August. The Red Sox, with a need for a lefty-hitting first baseman, snapped him up, and Lowe, 30, seems reinvigorated by the move to a contending club. He is a .263 career hitter with 106 homers over seven seasons and a Silver Slugger award on his resume. “(S)o far, so good,” Boston manager Alex Cora said in an mlb.com piece. “He’s been great coming off the bench, twice, putting up good at-bats. He’s a good defender, and it seems like he’s happy.” After Friday’s win, Boston’s seventh straight over New York, the Sawx are now second and leading the Bombers by a half-game in the American League East and atop the wild card standings. Might Red Sox fans look back on the Lowe signing as a seminal moment in this season? Worth noting: The last time the Red Sox won the World Series — 2018 — they had a Mississippi State alum playing first base — Mitch Moreland. And stay tuned: Game 3 of this four-game series today matches Ocean Springs’ Garrett Crochet against Brandon’s Will Warren. The stadium should be at fever pitch. … Meanwhile, at a more subdued Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, another former MSU standout had a big night. Jake Mangum went 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs, a run and a stolen base as the Tampa Bay Rays whipped St. Louis 10-6. The Jackson Prep grad, who’s also been slumping of late, boosted his average to .283 with the third four-hit game of his rookie season. He has contributed two homers, 14 doubles, 34 RBIs, 32 runs and 20 steals in 90 games for a Rays team that, at 62-67, has tumbled out of the playoff picture. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves star William Contreras hit his first career walk-off homer Friday to give Milwaukee yet another victory, its 20th in 25 games, 5-4 against San Francisco. … Snake-bit Baltimore put MSU product Jordan Westburg on the injured list again, this time with an ankle sprain. … Arizona named Tim Bogar, former Jackson Mets shortstop back in the ’80s, as its new third-base coach. … In the minors, Southern Miss alum Matthew Etzel banged out three hits and is now batting .423 with five RBIs, five runs and four steals in six games since Miami promoted him to Triple-A Jacksonville.

21 Aug

roller coaster

Ups and downs will happen; that’s a fact of life for a pitcher. Making adjustments and minimizing the downs are the keys to sustained success. … It was a year ago today that J.T. Ginn, in his fourth pro season, made his big league debut for Oakland and showed out, striking out the side in his first inning and working two hitless frames all told. There have been flashes of brilliance ever since from the ex-Mississippi State star but also bursts of turbulence. On Wednesday night, the 26-year-old right-hander threw four scoreless innings at the Minnesota Twins, then coughed up three hits, a walk and the lead in the fifth. He was pulled with two outs, two on and the score tied. (The A’s would go on to win 4-2 in 10 innings.) Ginn is 2-5 with a 4.95 ERA in 17 appearances (10 starts) this season. He has a 1.37 WHIP and a .264 batting average against. Since throwing six shutout innings in a win against Houston on July 27, he is 0-3 with a 7.88 ERA. The A’s, long out of playoff contention, likely will keep sending Ginn out there, hoping he can capture the promise he showed at Brandon High and MSU. He was a first-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018 but didn’t sign, opting to go to State. The New York Mets took him in the second round in 2020 even after he had suffered an arm injury that required Tommy John surgery. He was moved to the A’s in a 2022 trade. … In mid-June, Hurston Waldrep was in the minors and on a real downer, saddled with a 5.84 ERA and a 5-5 record for Triple-A Gwinnett. A 2023 first-round pick by Atlanta, he had some early success in the low minors but floundered in a brief big league trial in 2024. Flash forward to Wednesday: The onetime Southern Miss standout threw seven shutout innings for Atlanta and got the win in a 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox. He is 4-0 with an 0.73 ERA and a 0.77 WHIP in four games for the Braves since his late July call-up. Somewhere back there at Gwinnett, he figured some things out and changed the arc of his season. … Michael Fowler, another USM alum, has been on quite the odyssey. The Alabama native bounced from LSU to Tulane to USM, battling injuries and doing little to distinguish himself over five college seasons. After posting a 9.39 ERA in 10 games for the Golden Eagles in 2025, the right-hander went undrafted. He signed with the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters — and apparently something clicked into place. He went 2-1 with a 1.92 ERA in seven games, striking out 15 in 9 1/3 innings, and rode that wave to a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. In four games at Low-Class A Carolina, Fowler has not allowed a run over 3 1/3 innings, including a two-out appearance on Wednesday. He even got a brief look at Triple-A Nashville last week.

18 Aug

a new frontier

Having handled both levels of Class A ball with aplomb, Konnor Griffin will get a shot at Double-A, generally considered the big jump in the minor leagues. Former Jackson Prep standout Griffin, only 19 and the No. 1-rated prospect in the minors, will suit up for Altoona in the Eastern League, presumably as soon as Tuesday, when the Pennsylvania-based Curve hosts Reading. “He fills up the box score,” Pittsburgh Pirates GM Ben Cherington said on a recent radio show. “You look at the box score, and he’s doing this, this and this. And that’s not even counting his defense … .” Griffin, who has played shortstop and center field in his first pro season, is batting .332 overall with 16 homers, a .510 slugging percentage, a .938 OPS and 59 stolen bases. He went 2-for-5 Sunday to boost his average at High-A Greensboro to .324. Of note: On the Reading roster is Bryson Ware, a Germantown High product in his third year in the Philadelphia system. He hit his first Double-A homer Sunday and is batting .280 in six games. P.S. The official “dog days of summer” may be over, but don’t tell Jordan Westburg and Adam Frazier, a pair of old Bulldogs from Mississippi State who enjoyed a mighty fine Sunday. Westburg had a four-hit, five-RBI game for Baltimore in a 12-0 win vs. Houston; he is batting .277 with 15 homers and 34 RBIs. Frazier went 2-for-4 with a homer for Kansas City in a 6-2 victory vs. the Chicago White Sox; he is batting .329 with two bombs, 13 RBIs and 11 runs in 23 games for the Royals since arriving in a July trade. … MSU alum Nathaniel Lowe is reported to be close to signing with Boston; the veteran first baseman, hitting .216 with 16 homers, was released last week by Washington. … In the minors: Ex-Ole Miss star Tim Elko homered for the fifth time in six games for Triple-A Charlotte (Chicago White Sox) and now has 24 homers with the Knights. Former Southern Miss standout Matthew Etzel, in his second Triple-A game for Jacksonville (Miami), went 3-for-4 with a steal and two runs, including the game-winner in a 6-5 victory vs. Norfolk.

17 Aug

on this date

Baseball historians might remember this as the date in 1920 that Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman died after being hit by a pitch from the New York Yankees’ Carl Mays; it’s the only on-field death in major league history. Some might also remember this as the date of Pete Rose’s last big league game in 1986; he struck out as a pinch hitter for Cincinnati against San Diego’s Goose Gossage.
And, yes, a couple things happened on Aug. 17 that are of local significance:
Jim Davenport, one of the best players to come out of Southern Miss, was born on this date in 1933 in Siluria, Ala. Davenport, nicknamed “Peanut,” signed with San Francisco in 1954 and spent all of his 13 big league seasons (1958-70) with the Giants before transitioning into off-field duties with the organization. He managed the team in 1985. A third baseman, he .258 with 77 homers and 456 RBIs, made two All-Star teams and played on the Giants’ 1962 World Series club that lost in seven games to the New York Yankees. Davenport batted .297 with 14 homers that season and homered off Sandy Koufax in the playoff series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He died in 2016 at age 82.
Sammy Vick, a Batesville native who played five years in the majors, died on this date in 1986. He was 91. Vick is perhaps best known as the player who was displaced in right field when the Yankees famously bought Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox before the 1920 season. Vick hit .248 with 26 extra-base hits, nine steals and 59 runs in 106 games in 1919. Vick and Ruth reportedly became good friends during their one season together. Vick played very little in 1920 — while Ruth was blasting 54 homers — and moved on to Boston in 1921, his last year in the majors. A Millsaps College alumnus, he hit .248 in 213 games for his big league career.

16 Aug

soaring ever higher

Third time was a charm for Hurston Waldrep, not that his first two MLB appearances this season were clunkers. The Southern Miss alum (3-0) hurled six shutout innings Friday night in Atlanta’s 2-0 win against Cleveland. The rookie right-hander gave up a run — just one — in each of his first two games and now has a 1.02 ERA over 17 2/3 innings. A 2023 first-round draft pick out of Florida who pitched well for the Double-A Mississippi Braves in 2023-24, Waldrep made two rocky starts in Atlanta last season and then went back to the minors. He spent the first four months of this season at Triple-A Gwinnett, refining his breaking stuff. That work appears to be paying dividends. “He’s a pitcher who knows who he is,” Braves catcher Sean Murphy said in an mlb.com piece. Featuring a brilliant splitter among other effective pitches, Waldrep allowed two hits with two walks and seven strikeouts vs. the Guardians. On the season, he has 17 strikeouts, five walks and an 0.79 WHIP. Waldrep went 7-2 with a 3.21 ERA in 27 games at USM in 2021-22, then helped Florida reach the CWS finals in ’23. … On the topic of former Golden Eagles pitchers: Nick Sandlin, on the injured list for Toronto since July 8, has begun throwing again, per reports, after a setback in his rehab work. In 19 games with the Blue Jays, Sandlin has a 2.20 ERA. … Dalton Rogers improved to 4-3 with a 4.43 ERA at Double-A Portland, yielding one run in 5 1/3 innings Friday against Somerset. Left-hander Rogers is in his fourth season in the Boston system. … Justin Storm, a 2023 draftee, notched his third hold of the season with two scoreless innings for High-Class A Beloit (Miami). The 6-foot-7 lefty has two wins, five saves and a 3.71 ERA. P.S. Ex-USM outfielder Matthew Etzel was promoted to Triple-A Jacksonville by Miami but did not play in Friday’s game. Etzel is batting .236 with five homers, 36 RBIs and 18 steals this season, having already played for three different teams and at two levels. The lefty-hitting Etzel, who goes 6-2, 211, was traded by Tampa Bay to Miami in July. Drafted by Baltimore in 2023, he was traded by the Orioles to the Rays last summer. It’s not like he can’t play: He is a .268 career hitter with 84 bags in 210 minor league games.

12 Aug

prospecting

Major league clubs that went prospecting in Mississippi in the July draft turned up some intriguing talent. Nine players picked in this year’s draft have landed on the Top 30 prospect list in their respective organizations; MLB Pipeline has updated its rankings to include new draftees. JoJo Parker, drafted eighth overall out of Purvis High, is No. 2 on Toronto’s list, and Southern Miss alum Jake Cook (third round) checks in as the Blue Jays’ No. 11. J.B. Middleton, the 2025 Ferriss Trophy winner at USM and a second-round pick, is No. 6 on Colorado’s chart. Landon Harmon, former East Union High ace and a third-round pick, is No. 6 on Washington’s list, and ex-Lewisburg High star Talon Haley, a 12th-rounder, was slotted in at No. 14 on the Los Angeles Angels’ list. Mason Morris, Luke Hill, Nick Monistere and Pico Kohn also cracked the new Top 30s. … A pair of first-rounders from the 2024 draft, Jackson Prep’s Konnor Griffin and Madison Central alum Braden Montgomery, are ranked No. 1 in the Pittsburgh and Chicago White Sox systems, respectively. Griffin is the overall No. 1 minor league prospect. Cooper Pratt, a 2023 draftee out of Magnolia Heights, is up to No. 3 on Milwaukee’s chart. Dakota Jordan, a Jackson Academy and Mississippi State product drafted in 2024, remained No. 6 in San Francisco’s system. … Of note: Liam Doyle, who pitched at Ole Miss before transferring to Tennessee, is ranked second on St. Louis’ list; he was the fifth overall pick in July. P.S. A pair of Mississippi high school products went to the bump as starters in the big leagues on Monday. Only one got a good result. Will Warren (Jackson Prep) threw 6 2/3 strong innings for the New York Yankees to beat Minnesota 6-2; Warren is 7-5 with a 4.34 ERA. Garrett Crochet (Ocean Springs) was pulled after four innings — his shortest stint of the year — and took a loss as Boston fell to Houston 7-6. Crochet (13-5, 2.48) yielded a season-high five runs. … Ex-MSU standout Adam Frazier, a trade acquisition last month by Kansas City, went 3-for-4 with an RBI in the Royals’ 7-4 win against Washington on Monday and is batting .333 with nine RBIs and eight runs in 18 games for his new club. K.C. is 59-60 and hanging around in the American League wild card battle.

11 Aug

transaction watch

Veteran big leaguer Kendall Graveman, a Mississippi State product, has been designated for assignment by Arizona. The 34-year-old Graveman, coming off 2024 shoulder surgery, has a 7.13 ERA in 19 games this season. He has a 4.03 ERA in 299 career MLB games and posted a 1.64 in nine games for Houston in the 2021 postseason. … Houston Roth, a former Ole Miss star, was designated for assignment by Baltimore, removing the minor league right-hander from the 40-man roster. He got a brief call-up to the big club but never made an appearance. He has a 2.08 ERA, five wins and two saves in 26 relief appearances between Double-A and Triple-A this season. If he clears waivers, it’s likely the Orioles will want to keep him in their system. … Luke Hill and Will McCausland, 2025 draftees out of Ole Miss, have been assigned to Low-Class A Lynchburg in the Cleveland organization. Infielder Hill was a fourth-round pick, righty McCausland a seventh-rounder. (Most of this year’s draft picks have been sent to spring training facilities and will take part in Instructional League next month.) … Logan Forsythe, a D’Iberville native who spent a couple of years at Mississippi State, is now on the roster at Low-A Augusta in the Atlanta chain. The right-hander was drafted this year out of Louisiana Tech. … Southern Miss alum Matthew Etzel was activated from the injured list on Saturday at Double-A Pensacola and went 0-for-3 in his first game. He was traded by Tampa Bay to Miami in July for Ole Miss alum Nick Fortes. Etzel is a .267 career hitter with 84 steals in three seasons. … Bryson Ware, a Germantown High product who also passed through Pearl River Community College and Auburn en route to pro ball, recently was promoted to Double-A Reading by Philadelphia. He is 5-for-14 in three games, though all five hits came in one game last Saturday. The third baseman was batting .229 with eight homers in High-A ball this season. Ware’s brother Conner, also a Germantown and PRCC alum, was drafted out of LSU this year — and signed — by the New York Mets. P.S. Former USM standout Landon Harper was named the Double-A Southern League’s pitcher of the week (Aug. 4-10) after throwing a seven-inning one-hitter on Aug. 7 for Columbus. Harper had a perfect game for 6 2/3 innings and is now 3-6 with a 3.67 ERA in his second Double-A season. He joins a lengthy list of Mississippians to win POW awards this season (see previous posts).