Tag Archives: Southern Miss

21 Aug

getting up to speed

An injury and subsequent surgery stalled Reed Trimble’s pro career just as it was getting started. After months of rehab, the former Southern Miss star got back in the game in July, and it appears things are starting to hum. Playing at Low-Class A Delmarva in the Baltimore organization, Trimble hit a leadoff home run on Saturday — the first homer of his two-year pro career — and added another hit to boost his average to .260 in 19 games. He has seven RBIs and 11 runs. The Northwest Rankin High product spent two seasons at USM, batting .345 with 17 homers and 12 steals as a switch-hitting center fielder for an excellent team in 2021. The Orioles drafted him 65th overall. In an interview with a Baltimore radio station shortly after he was drafted, Trimble said this about his affinity for baseball: “So I think it’s the simplicity of it, the purity of it and the ups and downs that come along with it that I love so much.” He experienced some downs right out of the chute, batting just .200 in 22 games across two levels last summer. Then in December, he underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. The recovery time was reported as 6-9 months. He made it back on July 14, playing the first of two games in the rookie Florida Complex League before moving up to Delmarva on July 22. Trimble takes a seven-game hit streak into the Shorebirds’ game at Salem today. He is hitting .273 this month. He has yet to show much power (five extra base hits) or speed (no steals), though that’s understandable in light of his recovery timeline. Trimble fell out of Baltimore’s latest Top 30 prospect chart after trade and draft acquisitions were filtered in, but he’ll no doubt climb back in soon. P.S. Kudos to former Jackson Mets infielder Ron Gardenhire, who was inducted into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame on Saturday. In 13 years as the Twins’ manager, Gardenhire won more than 1,000 games and six American League Central titles.

19 Aug

coming out party

Ke’Shun Collier, a 20th-round pick last month, played in his first pro game on Thursday, going 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI as the right fielder for the Arizona Complex League Cubs, Chicago’s rookie team. A Meridian Community College product from Mendenhall, the 5-foot-8 Collier is the latest of the 2022 draftees from the state to debut. Most of them are still in rookie ball, but a few have graduated to a higher level. Logan Tanner, a second-round pick out of Mississippi State, is 2-for-14 at Low-Class A Daytona in Cincinnati’s system. Southern Miss alum Tyler Stuart is at Low-A St. Lucie in the New York Mets’ chain; he yielded a run in 1 1/3 innings of work there on Thursday. Ex-USM standout Landon Harper allowed two runs in one inning in his Wednesday debut for Low-A Augusta in the Atlanta organization. Ole Miss alum Kevin Graham is 1-for-24 (with a home run) at Low-A Visalia in Arizona’s system. Emaarion Boyd, drafted by Philadelphia out of South Panola High, has had one of the best starts: 5-for-16 (.313) with three steals in the Florida Complex League. Ex-MSU star Brad Cumbest, a Colorado draftee, has had a cold start: 1-for-17 (with eight strikeouts) in the ACL. Former Ole Miss slugger Tim Elko has had the most interesting debut. He was hitless in his first three games for the White Sox’s ACL club but has belted three homers in his last three. He is 3-for-21 overall. Of note: MSU product Landon Sims, the first pick (34th overall) out of the state by Arizona, won’t debut until 2023 because of elbow surgery. Itawamba CC alum Kyle Crigger, drafted out of Louisiana Tech by Miami, has not allowed an earned run in five appearances for Low-A Jupiter. USM/Delta State product Hunter Riggins, a free agent signee by Atlanta, has a 3.00 ERA in two games in the FCL.

17 Aug

touching the bases

There is much to absorb from a busy Tuesday. Start with Charlie Morton’s brilliance against the first-place New York Mets. The former Mississippi Braves pitcher threw 6 2/3 shutout innings, yielding three hits and fanning 12, in Atlanta’s 5-0 win — its eighth straight — at Truist Park. The Braves are 3.5 games back in the National League East. … Down at High-Class A Rome, M-Braves alum Mike Soroka, on a big league rehab assignment, struck out eight batters in four scoreless innings. He hasn’t pitched in an MLB game since Aug. 3, 2020. … The Braves gave rookie sensation Michael Harris II, who started this season at Double-A Mississippi, a well-deserved new contract: $72 million over eight years. (Don’t the Braves need to find some cash to re-sign Dansby Swanson?) … The tally is now 160 (at least) of M-Braves alums who have reached the majors with the promotions of Freddy Tarnok by the Braves and Shea Langeliers by Oakland. Tarnok was 2-2 with a 4.31 ERA for the M-Braves this season before moving to Triple-A Gwinnett. Langeliers, a star on last year’s Double-A South championship club before being traded, doubled on the first pitch he saw for the A’s. He was hitting .283 with 19 homers at Triple-A Las Vegas. … Former Mississippi State star Adam Frazier had two hits, two RBIs and two runs in surging Seattle’s 8-2 win against the Los Angeles Angels. Frazier is hitting .318 in his last seven games for the American League wild card leader, which has won 35 of its last 50. … MSU alum Hunter Renfroe, on with a bunt single — yes, a bunt — in the 11th inning, scored the game-winning run for Milwaukee in a 6-5 victory vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fellow former Bulldogs star Brandon Woodruff struck out eight L.A. batters in five innings. … Ole Miss product Nick Fortes homered twice and scored a third time in run-starved Miami’s 4-3 win over San Diego. Fortes is at .259 with six homers. … Ex-MSU standout Nathaniel Lowe went 3-for-4 in Texas’ loss to Oakland and is batting .400 in August, .291 on the season. … Former Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz, moving closer (maybe) to returning to San Diego’s active roster, got two outs and gave up a three-run homer in a rehab appearance for Triple-A El Paso. The 33-year-old lefty has been on the shelf all season. … Ex-MSU star Jake Mangum, on the injured list at Triple-A Syracuse since May 23 with a back problem, went 0-for-2 in a rehab game for the Mets’ Florida Complex League club. Mangum was hitting .333 in 11 games at Syracuse. … DeSoto Central High product Blaze Jordan had a 4-for-5 game with his third homer for High-A Greenville in Boston’s system. Jordan is batting .435 in six games at his new level. … Logan Tanner, drafted out of MSU in the second round last month by Cincinnati, got his first two hits as a pro at Low-A Daytona. He is 2-for-17. … Third-round pick Dalton Rogers, a Southern Miss alum, pitched a scoreless inning in his pro debut for Boston’s rookie team in the FCL. … Ex-State standouts Jordan Westburg (in Baltimore’s system) and Justin Foscue (Texas) are ranked Nos. 80 and 82 in MLB Pipeline’s new Top 100 Prospects list.

13 Aug

worth noting

Though prospects Michael Harris II, Vaughn Grissom, C.J. Alexander, Jared Shuster and Darius Vines, among others, have been plucked from their roster, the Mississippi Braves are still kicking. Atlanta’s Double-A club beat Tennessee 16-14 on the road Friday night and is 20-17, second place in the Southern League South in the second half. Recent arrival Javier Valdes, a catcher, is batting .353 with two homers and six RBIs in four games. Cade Bunnell, who has moved to shortstop to replace Grissom, is batting .400 with two homers and 10 RBIs in 14 games for the M-Braves. Outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy, in 25 games since arriving from A-ball, is hitting .289 with three homers and 16 RBIs. And first baseman Drew Lugbauer, on the roster all season, leads the SL with 23 homers. If the pitching can hold up, this club appears to have the firepower to make a run at the second-half title and a playoff berth. … Overshadowed by the exploits of Harris and Grissom with Atlanta, Joey Meneses, another former M-Braves star, has had quite a debut in The Show himself. Playing for Washington, Meneses is batting .370 with four homers in eight games since being called up. The 30-year-old Mexico native, who played in Pearl in 2016-17, logged more than 3,000 at-bats over 11 years in the minors, hitting .281. “I feel like, up here, you have a little bit more energy and more motivation, obviously,” he told the Washington Post regarding his hot start. … Southern Miss product Chuckie Robinson had a great seat — the Cincinnati bench — for Thursday night’s Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa. Called up for the first time in his pro career, he did not get in the game and is now back with Triple-A Louisville. Hopefully, that won’t be his only major league experience. … Former Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton was outrighted to Triple-A Jacksonville by Miami on Friday. Used primarily as a pinch runner, the veteran Hamilton scored nine runs and stole seven bases in 20 games but had just one hit in 13 at-bats. … Ex-South Panola standout Emaarion Boyd, one of two prep players drafted out of the state in July, is 2-for-5 with two walks and a caught stealing in two games for Philadelphia’s Florida Complex League team. The 11th-round pick was considered one of the fastest players in the 2022 draft.

12 Aug

wings of eagles

The Mississippi Braves ran into some stout pitching at Tennessee on Thursday night, the most effective of the three arms that shut them down belonging to former Southern Miss right-hander Walker Powell. In a 1-0 Smokies victory, Powell worked five innings in middle relief, yielding three hits and a walk while striking out seven. He got the win, improving to 3-2, 2.40 ERA, in seven games for the Chicago Cubs’ Double-A affiliate. On the year, at three different levels, the 6-foot-8 Powell is 10-2, 3.02. Signed by the Cubs as a non-drafted free agent out of the MLB Draft League last summer, Powell is one of 14 former USM pitchers currently in pro ball. Pitching has become a hallmark of the Golden Eagles program, and it showed in this year’s draft, with five USM pitchers getting picked. Another was signed as a non-drafted free agent. Ole Miss and Mississippi State have had higher profile draftees in recent years, but USM is producing its fair share. Nick Sandlin, a second-round pick by Cleveland in 2018, is the lone USM alum currently in the majors; he has a 2.51 ERA as a reliever for the first-place Guardians. Cody Carroll, drafted back in 2015, and Kirk McCarty, a 2017 draftee, also have pitched in the big leagues, though both are currently in Triple-A. McCarty has been up-and-down with Cleveland this season and has posted two wins. J.C. Keys is in Double-A in the Cincinnati system, and Ryan Och, Hunter Stanley and Jarod Wright are in A-ball. The 2022 crop of draftees includes Dalton Rogers (a third-round pick by Boston), Ben Ethridge, Garrett Ramsey, Landon Harper and Tyler Stuart. Hunter Riggins signed after the draft. Stuart is the only one of that group to debut, throwing one inning in rookie ball. P.S. Kudos to Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco, who got a well-deserved four-year contract extension. The school’s all-time winningest coach — and No. 3 all-time among SEC coaches — won the national championship this season along with his second batch of national coach of the year awards in three seasons. He may also finally have won over Ole Miss fans.

11 Aug

guests in the corn

A pair of Mississippians will make the walk through the corn field and onto the Field of Dreams tonight in Dyersville, Iowa: George County High alum Justin Steele for the Chicago Cubs and ex-Southern Miss star Chuckie Robinson for Cincinnati. Robinson was called up as the Reds’ 27th man for the special event. He’ll be the third catcher on the roster, so it’s unlikely he’ll make his MLB debut — but you never know. There’s magic in that corn field. Steele, a second-year big leaguer, pitched Wednesday for the Cubs, so he’ll be down tonight. Robinson, who helped USM win a Conference USA title in 2016, was drafted by Houston that summer. Considered a strong defensive catcher, he was a Midwest League All-Star in 2017 and MVP of the Class A league’s championship series. He had a seven-RBI game in A-ball in 2018. The Reds took him in the Rule 5 draft in December 2020. He started this season at Double-A Chattanooga and was at Triple-A Louisville when he got the call-up. He is batting .263 with five homers and 23 RBIs overall in 2022. … Ole Miss product Lance Lynn started last year’s Field of Dreams Game for the Chicago White Sox, and ex-East Central Community College standout Tim Anderson memorably won the game for the ChiSox with a walk-off homer into the corn. … Pascagoula’s Willie Joe Garry played in Tuesday’s minor league Field of Dreams Game for Cedar Rapids, a Minnesota affiliate. P.S. Mississippi State product Brent Rooker was called up from Triple-A by Kansas City on Wednesday but did not make his Royals debut that night and isn’t in today’s lineup. He was mashing at Omaha (.450 with three homers in five games). Rooker has big league time with both Minnesota and San Diego.

11 Aug

now that’s a big splash

Ever since Brian McCann made the jump from Mississippi to Atlanta in 2005 and banged out a couple of hits in his first game, we’ve seen some splashy MLB debuts from a number of former M-Braves. We’ve never seen anything like what Vaughn Grissom did on Wednesday night at Fenway Park in Boston. In fact, no one has. Grissom, 21, became the youngest player in the modern era to both hit a home run and steal a base in his debut. He is the only Braves player (Boston, Milwaukee or Atlanta) ever to do it. Not to be overlooked is the fact that Grissom, primarily a shortstop who played only one game at second base in 22 games for the M-Braves, handled eight chances flawlessly at second. He registered four assists and four putouts and turned two double plays. “He was like a kid out on the playground pretty much, just having a ball,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said in an mlb.com article. Having recently been elevated to the top of Atlanta’s prospect chart, Grissom was having a breakout season in the minors, batting .324 with 14 homers and 27 steals between High-Class A Rome and Double-A Mississippi. He was hitting .363 with three homers and seven bags for the M-Braves when he got the call-up. He was promptly inserted as the No. 9 hitter and plugged in at second base, filling a hole created by injuries. In the bottom of the first inning, the ball found him; he dug out a grounder by Rafael Devers, completed the 4-3 and flashed a broad grin. He was hitless in two at-bats when he came up in the seventh against lefty Darwinzon Hernandez. “The competitive nature kicked in,” Grissom told mlb.com. He launched a first-pitch fastball over the Green Monster, 412 feet, punctuated with a playful bat flip. In the ninth, he lashed a single to left and then stole second. He scored on a Dansby Swanson hit, the last run in the Braves’ 8-4 win. Jeff Francoeur homered in his first MLB game, as did Evan Gattis and Austin Riley. Jordan Schafer and Jason Heyward homered in their first at-bat. But the splashy debuts of those former M-Braves stars have to take a back seat to what Grissom did on Wednesday night. P.S. On a somber note, we mourn the passing of Corky Palmer, a legend in Southern Miss circles and beyond. Palmer, an affable character, is a thread through USM baseball history, having played for Pete Taylor, coached under Hill Denson and served as head coach for 12 years, taking the 2009 team (featuring Brian Dozier) to the College World Series. Current USM coach Scott Berry coached with Palmer for most of those years. He was 68.

09 Aug

just stuff

There is a Mississippian on the roster of one of the two Iowa-based teams slated to play tonight in the minor league Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa. Former Pascagoula High star Willie Joe Garry is an outfielder for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, Minnesota’s High-Class A affiliate. Garry, who recently came off the injured list, is batting .179 with 10 steals in his fourth pro season. Drafted out of ‘Goula in 2018, Garry is a .199 career hitter who stole 24 bases in 2021. (Listed on Quad Cities’ roster but on the season-long IL is ex-Mississippi State pitcher Eric Cerantola, drafted by Kansas City in 2021.) Tonight’s game will be televised by MLB Network at 6:30 CDT. … Ex-State standout Logan Tanner, the second-highest drafted Mississippi product this summer, made his pro debut on Monday with Cincinnati’s Arizona Complex League team. The Hattiesburg native, a second-round pick by the Reds, went 0-for-3. … The Mississippi Braves are at Tennessee this week for a six-game Southern League series in which they could encounter a couple of Magnolia State products. Ex-Southern Miss star Walker Powell is 2-2 with a 2.88 ERA in six games (three starts) for the Smokies, a Chicago Cubs affiliate. The 6-foot-8 Powell has nine wins over three levels in the Cubs’ system in 2022, his second pro season. Infielder Delvin Zinn, a Pontotoc native and Itawamba Community College alum, has played sparingly this season and is batting .095. He is a .237 career hitter. … The big league Cubs have announced that former M-Braves star Jason Heyward will be released after this season with a year left on his eight-year, $184 million contract. He is batting .174 with seven homers and is on the IL, probably for the remainder of this season. Heyward, 32, a key figure for the Cubs on their historic World Series winner in 2016, arrived in Mississippi as one of the top prospects in baseball in 2009. He hit .352 with seven homers and 30 RBIs in 47 Double-A games. He famously homered in his first MLB at-bat with Atlanta the next year. The Cubs also have released former M-Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons, a defensive whiz who was hitting just .173. Simmons, 32, hit .293 for the M-Braves in 2012 and carries a .263 career average in the big leagues. … In Atlanta’s deflating series against the New York Mets last weekend, there were good signs from ex-M-Braves star Ronald Acuna, who went 8-for-19 with two doubles and a home run. He also won the Chevrolet Electric Play of the Week award for a home run-robbing catch in right field in Friday’s game, the only one the Braves won. Acuna is batting .267 with nine homers, 28 RBIs and 23 steals. Atlanta, playing at Boston tonight, needs more from him.

06 Aug

southern style

Two of the most prominent sluggers in Mississippi college baseball history played a little version of home run derby in the eighth inning of an International League game Friday night at Omaha’s Werner Field. Matt Wallner, Southern Miss’ career homer leader, went deep for St. Paul, a two-run shot in the top half, and Brent Rooker, who led the SEC in homers in 2017 while winning the Triple Crown at Mississippi State, belted a three-run bomb for the host Storm Chasers in the bottom half. (St. Paul won the slugfest 15-6.) For Wallner, Minnesota’s No. 7 prospect, it was his first Triple-A home run in his 14th game at that level. He hit 21 in Double-A before his promotion. The left-handed hitting outfielder went 2-for-5 on Friday to lift his average to .179. He hit .299 in Double-A. Rooker’s homer was his second in his second game for Omaha following his trade to Kansas City from San Diego. He belted 19 at Triple-A El Paso, where he batted .272 for the Padres affiliate. The right-handed hitting outfielder, a former top prospect, has 95 minor league homers and 10 MLB bombs (all with Minnesota) in 67 big league games. He was the 35th overall pick by the Twins in the 2017 draft and was traded to the Padres just before this season began. P.S. Former George County High standout Justin Steele matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts for the Chicago Cubs on Friday. The lefty was pulled with two outs in the fifth inning after throwing 93 pitches against Miami. The Cubs won 2-1. … MSU product Dakota Hudson, in his second start for St. Louis since coming off the injured list, threw four-plus innings (78 pitches) against the New York Yankees, allowing three runs in a game the Cardinals would win 4-3.

04 Aug

look who’s no. 1

The flurry of recent trades that involved a ton of minor league prospects made for a major reshuffling of the organizational Top 30 charts by MLB Pipeline. Mississippi Braves shortstop Vaughn Grissom jumped up to the No. 1 spot in Atlanta’s list. He is raking at a .362 clip in 17 Double-A games. Nine other current M-Braves, including some on the injured list, are in the Top 30. No. 10 is Darius Vines, a right-handed starter slated to go tonight against Biloxi at Trustmark Park. Former Smithville High star Jared Johnson is No. 23 on the Braves’ list. The right-hander is on the IL (Tommy John surgery) at Low-Class A Augusta. … There are 18 other Mississippi products in the various Top 30s. (The lists will be redone again at some point to filter in the 2022 draft picks.) Former Mississippi State stars Will Bednar (No. 4, San Francisco) and Justin Foscue (No. 4, Texas) are the highest-rated. Others of note: MSU product Jordan Westburg is Baltimore’s fifth-rated prospect; ex-DeSoto Central High standout Blaze Jordan is Boston’s No. 6; Ole Miss alum Ryan Rolison is Colorado’s No. 7; Southern Miss product Matt Wallner is Minnesota’s No. 7; and former MSU star J.T. Ginn is Oakland’s No. 8. Wallner, who homered in last month’s All-Star Futures Game, has reached Triple-A. MSU product Ethan Small, Milwaukee’s No. 10, has made two big league pitching appearances this season. P.S. Lance Lynn, the veteran right-hander from Ole Miss, delivered a shot in the arm for the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday. In what broadcaster Steve Stone described as a “wonderful” performance, Lynn threw six innings of one-run ball to beat Kansas City 4-1. It might have been the best of his 10 starts since coming off the injured list. Pitching around a rain delay, he allowed four hits and struck out eight. Lynn is 2-4 with a 5.87 ERA, not the numbers Chicago was hoping for from him. But Wednesday’s outing surely was encouraging. … Ex-UM star Thomas Dillard hit his ninth homer of the season, helping Biloxi complete a twinbill sweep of the M-Braves at the TeePee. … Mississippi College alum Blaine Crim, at Double-A Frisco in the Texas system, went 4-for-5 and hit a pair of homers. He is batting .277 with 15 bombs and 57 RBIs.