Tag Archives: strikeouts

02 Aug

troublesome numbers

The Atlanta Braves strike out a lot — 947 times so far, fourth-most in the National League — and their worst offender is Austin Riley. The power-hitting third baseman out of DeSoto Central High has some good numbers — .260, 16 homers, 54 RBIs, 54 runs — but his punch-out number is problematic. He has struck out 127 times, tied for fifth-most in the NL, in 415 at-bats. He struck out four times — a proverbial Golden Sombrero — in the Braves’ 3-2 loss at Cincinnati on Friday night. The team whiffed 14 times. So many of the strikeouts seem to come in clutch situations. Yes, injuries have wreaked havoc with Atlanta’s pitching, but clutch hitting, making contact in key situations, also has been a season-long issue. They’ll sputter into today’s much-hyped Speedway Classic in Bristol, Tenn., with a 46-63 record, third-worst in the NL. They left eight runners on base Friday and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Case in point: In the eighth inning, with runners at second and third, one out and Atlanta down 3-0, Riley struck out for the fourth time. That kind of thing has plagued the Braves all season. Five players have fanned 83 times or more. They simply don’t hit enough home runs — 117 — to overcome that. P.S. Adam Frazier, Mississippi State alum, hit his fourth homer of the year — first with Kansas City — and the feisty Royals belted four bombs all told in a 9-3 win over first-place Toronto. … Former Madison Central star Braden Montgomery hit his first Double-A homer for Birmingham in win against Rocket City. The recently promoted Montgomery, one of the Chicago White Sox’s top prospects, is batting .268 with 12 homers, 58 RBIs and 12 steals across three levels of the minors. … MSU product Dakota Jordan returned from the injured list and went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in a win by Low-Class A San Jose. The San Francisco prospect is hitting .304 with 10 homers, 72 RBIs and 27 steals. … Colton Ledbetter, ex-MSU standout, swiped his 28th bag for Double-A Montgomery. The Tampa Bay prospect is hitting .284 with five homers, 33 RBIs and 52 runs. … Christian MacLeod, a 25-year-old left-hander out of MSU, was promoted to Triple-A St. Paul by thinned-out Minnesota and allowed a lone unearned run in 3 2/3 innings in his debut. He has a 2.26 ERA in 16 games over three levels. … Worth noting: Cal Raleigh, the Seattle slugger, set the record for homers by a switch-hitting catcher with his 42nd on Thursday. The previous record of 41 was set by Jackson Mets alum Todd Hundley with the New York Mets in 1996.

29 Mar

ring ’em up

For those aficionados of the game who consider a punchout by a pitcher as cool as a home run, Southern Miss’ J.B. Middleton produced a toast-worthy performance Friday. The junior right-hander struck out 12 batters over eight shutout innings in an 8-2 win against South Alabama at Taylor Park in Hattiesburg. It was the most strikeouts in a game for USM since the much-decorated Tanner Hall punched out 12 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette in 2023. Middleton, out of tiny Benton Academy, allowed just one hit and one walk against the Jaguars. He is 5-1 with a 2.20 ERA for the nationally ranked Golden Eagles (19-7, 6-1 Sun Belt). Middleton had a 4.34 ERA working mostly as a reliever in 2024. … Jackson State pitchers also enjoyed some K-rations, striking out 28 Grambling State batters in a doubleheader split at Braddy Field. Eric Elliott fanned 13 in six innings and Erick Gonzalez K’d four more in 1 2/3 in relief in the Tigers’ 6-3 win in Game 2. Elliott, who walked seven, is 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings for JSU (15-10, 3-5 SWAC). JSU’s staff ERA is 5.72. … At Trustmark Park in Pearl, Belhaven got a dominant effort from Colton Sylvester in a 4-0 win that completed a twinbill sweep over Covenant College (Ga.). Sylvester punched out eight in six innings as he improved to 4-1, 2.79, for BU (16-9, 5-3 CCS). … Delta State relied on the home run to batter visiting Alabama-Huntsville twice at Ferriss Field in Cleveland, blasting seven long balls all told in winning 10-8 and 12-7. Dylan Coleman, from Madison via Hinds Community College, hit three out in Game 1, including a walk-off shot in the ninth. Coleman leads the NCAA Division II nationally ranked Statesmen (24-8, 17-3 Gulf South) with nine homers. Drew Capobianco, from Guntown via Itawamba CC, hit a three-run bomb in an eight-run sixth inning that decided Game 2.

24 Jul

duel for the ages

On paper, it was the must-watch pitching matchup of the night in the big leagues. Lance Lynn, 37, the graybeard out of Ole Miss, a veteran of 336 big league starts, against Paul Skenes, 22, the rookie from LSU with the trendy mustache, taking the mound for just 12th time. And it was a great duel — while it lasted. St. Louis ultimately handed Skenes (6-1) his first loss, 2-1 on Tuesday night at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. It was scoreless through four innings. Lynn lasted just one more frame (86 pitches) but left with a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Nolan Arenado homer. The Pirates tied it in the eighth against the St. Louis bullpen, and then the Cardinals pushed across the winning run against Skenes in the ninth. Skenes, frequently hitting 100 mph, went 8 1/3, allowed just four hits and no walks with eight strikeouts. The All-Star Game starter has 97 K’s in his 12 games. Lynn, still pumping his four-seamer up to 95 mph, allowed four hits and three walks and fanned two, including career K No. 2,000. “His competitive nature has allowed him to really accomplish cool things in this game,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol told mlb.com. Lynn’s record this season stays at 5-4 (141-99 career), his ERA dips to 4.17. The Cardinals, running second in the National League Central, moved to 53-48, 2 games better than the third-place Pirates. P.S. On the trade candidate watch: Ex-Mississippi State star Brent Rooker belted his 23rd homer for last-place Oakland, his fifth bomb in his last seven games; he is batting .291. Ocean Springs High product Garrett Crochet worked just four innings (74 pitches) for the Chicago White Sox, allowed two runs and took a loss; he is 6-7 with a 3.07 for the last-place ChiSox.

24 Apr

stat freaks

In the hitting-heavy MACCC, where runs tend to flow like the mighty Mississippi, a pair of state natives are tied for the national lead in scoring. Brady Magee, from Lake, has scored 66 runs for No. 2 East Central Community College, matching the total of Jeff Ince, a Brandon native, who plays for No. 3 Pearl River CC. ECCC has state’s RBI leader, Mo Little (Brandon), whose total of 67 ranks second in the NJCAA Division II stats. Hollis Porter (Hurley) of PRCC leads the league in homers with 19, which also ranks second in the nation. No. 12 Northwest has the MACCC’s top base stealer, Jacob Hill (Byhalia), with 35, which ranks ninth nationally. The state’s leading hitter is Gulf Coast’s Marc Stephens, batting .450 for the Bulldogs. Bryce Fowler (Madison) of PRCC leads in total hits with 76, ranking second in the nation. His teammate Porter has 72 knocks and Hinds’ Thomas Marsala 70, both sitting in the top 10 in the country. There is some quality pitching out there: Luke Lirette of Southwest leads D-II in total strikeouts with 104 (in 65 2/3 innings), and seven other MACCC pitchers rank in the top 10 in K’s. Beau Bryans (Madison) of 13th-ranked Jones is No. 2 in the nation in K’s per nine innings (14.63). ECCC’s Luke Cooley (Waynesboro) ranks seventh in the nation with a 1.86 ERA; he is 7-0. Meridian’s Landon Waters (Duck Hill) is second in strikeouts (95) and 10th in ERA (1.97). … Key games on today’s schedule: ECCC (44-4) hosts Southwest; PRCC (43-7) visits Jones (35-11); Northwest (35-13) travels to Itawamba; and Meridian is at Gulf Coast.

19 Jun

punching ’em out

There was no joy in Seattle for Lance Lynn and the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, but a record-tying effort deserves some bit of fanfare. Ole Miss alum Lynn struck out 16 batters, matching a franchise mark set in 1954. “My stuff was good,” Lynn told mlb.com, “but we lost. It doesn’t matter how many you strike out if you don’t win the game.” The White Sox’s 5-1 loss dropped their record to 31-42. Lynn is 4-8 with a 6.51 ERA. But Sunday’s outing was one of his best in a tough year. He threw 114 pitches over seven innings, allowed four hits, two walks and three runs. Lynn has 1,817 career punchouts, third-most — for the time being — among Mississippians in MLB history. Now in his 12th big league season, the burly right-hander struck out 246 batters in 2019, most by a Mississippian in a single season. On the career chart, Weir’s Roy Oswalt finished with 1,852 and Meridian Community College alum Cliff Lee got 1,824. Ex-Ole Miss star Jeff Fassero had 1,104, Greenwood native and Mississippi State product Paul Maholm 984 and Leakesville native Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell 918. Baseball Reference credits Negro Leagues star and Hall of Famer Bill Foster, an Alcorn State alumnus who grew up in Rodney, with 922; he likely had more than that. P.S. Former Ole Miss standout Nick Fortes went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run as Miami beat Washington to climb 10 games over .500 for the first time in 12 years. The Marlins are 41-31, 5 games back of Atlanta in the National League East. Fortes is batting .243 with four homers and 15 RBIs in 47 games as Miami’s catcher; the team reportedly likes his work behind the plate.