Tag Archives: White Sox

03 Jul

best-laid plans

The Chicago White Sox, the heavy favorite in the American League Central entering the 2022 season, signed Kendall Graveman last off-season to bolster their bullpen as a set-up man. The former Mississippi State standout has done well. The White Sox, due in part to injuries, have not. Graveman has a 2.34 ERA, 13 holds, five saves and a 2-1 record in 33 games for the White Sox, who are 37-39 and in third place in a relatively weak division. Pressed into duty as a closer when Liam Hendriks went down with an injury on June 14, Graveman went 3-for-3 in saves and allowed just one earned run in six appearances. That came on Saturday, when, pitching for the second straight day at San Francisco, Graveman allowed three hits and a score while protecting a 5-2 lead in the ninth inning. Now in his eighth MLB season, Graveman broke in as a starter, moved to closer in 2020 with Seattle and became a set-up man with Houston last season, helping the Astros reach the World Series. Making a return trip to the Fall Classic with the ChiSox might have seemed very realistic when Graveman signed, but it doesn’t look that way now, through no fault of his own. P.S. Ole Miss product Aaron Barrett has announced that he’ll throw his final pitch on July 4, ending a pro career that goes back to 2010 and includes 95 MLB appearances. Barrett overcame numerous injuries to pitch in 2019 for Washington and subsequently earn a World Series ring. Now 34, he is currently with Philadelphia’s Triple-A Lehigh Valley team.

02 Jul

all in a day

On any given day, 90-some-odd games are played in affiliated pro ball at the different levels, from the big leagues to the rookies. There are Mississippians scattered throughout this landscape, at different stages of their careers, with different objectives in mind. Here’s a snapshot from Friday, starting in Mesa, Ariz., in the Arizona Complex League, where one of Kansas City’s rookie teams met Oakland’s. The Royals’ shortstop and No. 2 hitter is Brennon McNair, 19, a product of Magee High School and the lone prep player drafted out of Mississippi in 2021. McNair had a day Friday, going 4-for-4, with a double, three runs and a stolen base. For the year, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound McNair is batting .314 with a homer, eight RBIs, four doubles, four triples, two steals and 15 runs in 15 games. Just getting started on the road that leads to The Show, McNair is one to track. In addition to batting .527 with 11 homers as a senior at Magee, he was valedictorian and class president. … In Myrtle Beach, S.C., former Clinton High standout Christian Johnson made his Low-Class A debut for Charleston in the Tampa Bay system. Playing left field, he went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base. Drafted in 2019, Johnson’s career got off to a sluggish start. He hit .168 in parts of three seasons at the rookie level. But the former 19th-round pick, 21 years old, is getting an opportunity at a higher level, and he made good Friday. … In Vancouver, B.C., Ole Miss alum Will Ethridge registered an encouraging start for Spokane, Colorado’s High-A team, allowing three runs in 5 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts and notching his first win since April 29. The 24-year-old right-hander, a fifth-round pick in 2019, is 3-4 with a 5.51 ERA in 12 starts this season, 10-12, 4.82 for his pro career. … At Reading, Pa., in the Double-A Eastern League, former Jackson Prep star Will Warren worked five innings (four hits, one run) for Somerset, the New York Yankees’ affiliate, but got a no-decision in a game the Patriots lost. Warren, 23, drafted just last year out of Southeastern Louisiana, is 3-2 with a 2.90 ERA in six Double-A starts. He already is rated the Yankees’ No. 27 prospect by MLB Pipeline. … In Nashville, Mississippi State product Ethan Small, who got a brief look with the Milwaukee Brewers this season, keeps putting up good numbers for the Triple-A Sounds. The lefty, a former first-round pick, improved to 5-3, 3.30, with a six-inning outing (six hits, three runs) on Friday against Indianapolis. Small, 25, lasted just 2 2/3 innings in his MLB debut back on May 30. He is bound to get another call-up soon. … In San Francisco, at Oracle Park, ex-Ole Miss star and big league veteran Lance Lynn delivered his best start of the season for the Chicago White Sox: six shutout innings, allowing only five baserunners. (The White Sox won the game 1-0 with a run in the ninth; MSU alum Kendall Graveman got the save, his fourth.) Lynn, 35, who missed two months of the season after knee surgery, is 1-1 with a 4.50 in four starts since his return. The scuffling ChiSox, third in the American League Central, need more vintage Lynn. P.S. Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton was called up from Triple-A by Miami on Friday but didn’t get in the Marlins’ game. The well-traveled, 10-year big league vet had played one game for Jacksonville after signing on June 21; he hit .186 this season for Triple-A Tacoma in Seattle’s system before declaring free agency. … Petal’s Demarcus Evans, taken off Texas’ 40-man roster, was outrighted to Triple-A Round Rock’s roster. Evans last pitched in the majors in 2021; he has a 7.50 ERA in 12 games at Round Rock this year.

01 Jul

on this date

Joey Butler didn’t make much of a mark in the major leagues, getting 75 hits in 102 games over three seasons (2013-15) for three different clubs. But on July 1, 2015, while with Tampa Bay, the Pascagoula native, down 0-2 in the count with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, delivered an RBI single that broke up a no-hitter by Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco. Something for the scrapbook, no doubt, but not Butler’s best day in The Show — not by a long shot. On Oct. 4, 2015, playing for the Rays against Toronto, Butler went 3-for-4 with two homers and six RBIs. One of the homers was a grand slam off Mark Buehrle. That’s a big day. It capped a season in which Butler batted .276 with eight homers and 30 RBIs in 88 games. He was 29 at the time. And yet, strangely enough, that Oct. 4 game was the last one the right-handed hitting outfielder/DH would play in the majors. A Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and New Orleans alumnus, he played two more years in Triple-A, finishing his pro career with 108 bombs — eight in the majors, 92 in the minors, six in Japan and two in winter ball. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves star Ronald Acuna has earned a starting outfield spot in the MLB All-Star Game as the top vote-getter in the National League. Former M-Braves Ozzie Albies (second base), Dansby Swanson (shortstop) and William Contreras (DH) also made the final two at their positions in the fan voting, as did ex-East Central Community College star Tim Anderson (shortstop) of the Chicago White Sox in the American League. Phase two of the voting runs from July 5-8. The game is July 19 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

26 Jun

up-date in arms

Surely there are Oklahoma players and fans wondering this today: How can Ole Miss possibly top the brilliant pitching performance of Jack Dougherty, Mason Nichols and Josh Mallitz on Saturday, which followed the brilliant pitching performance of Dylan DeLucia on Thursday? How deep is that well? Heads up Sooners, ’cause here comes Hunter Elliott, who’ll start Game 2 of the College World Series with the national title in the Rebels’ grasp. Elliott, the freshman left-hander from Tupelo, has, in his last four starts, beaten LSU, Southern Miss and Arkansas and pitched masterfully in a no-decision against Miami. He is 5-3, 2.70 ERA, on the season. And he’ll have Rebel Nation roaring with every strike he throws in Omaha today. … The Houston Astros’ three-man no-hitter against the New York Yankees on Saturday marked the first time the Yanks had been no-hit since June 11, 2003, when Holmes Community College product Roy Oswalt and former Jackson Generals star Billy Wagner started and finished, respectively, a six-man no-no for the Astros at the old Yankee Stadium. … Former Ole Miss standout Lance Lynn’s return to the Chicago White Sox’s rotation has not exactly sparked a team resurgence (see previous post). Lynn, coming off knee surgery, is 1-1 with a 6.19 ERA in his three starts, and the team is 6-6 since his return. He was roughed up Saturday by Baltimore. In 16 innings, Lynn has yielded 20 hits and three walks. … Mississippi State alum Ethan Small, bidding for another shot in The Show, threw seven strong innings for Nashville on Saturday, leading Milwaukee’s Triple-A club to a 2-1 win against Gwinnett. Small (4-3, 3.18) allowed three hits and one run and punched out 10, getting rehabbing big leaguer Eddie Rosario twice. … Jackson Prep alum Will Warren had the “unicorn slider” (see previous post) working Saturday, hurling 5 1/3 shutout innings in a win for Double-A Somerset in the Yankees’ chain. The right-hander allowed four hits and three walks with seven K’s. There is speculation, per MLB Trade Rumors, that the Yankees might use Warren as trade bait for a big league arm.

21 Jun

magic in the air

There was magic in Omaha, where Ole Miss dispatched Arkansas 13-5 Monday night and is, to borrow a phrase from Hall of Famer Red Barber, sitting in the catbird seat at 2-0 in its bracket of the College World Series. Another strong start from Hunter Elliott, another home run from Tim Elko and a four-hit, four-run game from Justin Bench carried the Rebels to their seventh straight postseason victory. They are riding a wave that began on Selection Monday, when the NCAA handed them a regional bid that was far from certain. As coach Mike Bianco recently said, “When our name was called — I’ve been there for 21 of these and 18 times our name was called — I don’t remember any of those 18 times ever seeing that type of emotion from our team.”
Former Rebels star Lance Lynn, perhaps drawing on the Omaha vibe, went five innings (three runs) to launch the Chicago White Sox to an 8-7 win over Toronto. It was Lynn’s second start of 2022 after a long stint on the injured list. Former Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman, who knows a little bit about Omaha (see 2013), also got in on the act for the White Sox, throwing a scoreless eighth inning for his 13th hold.
There was some magic, too, in Atlanta, where Orlando Arcia, one of the original Biloxi Shuckers, delivered a game-winning hit for the surging Braves, scoring pinch-runner Phil Gosselin, a Mississippi Braves star from 10 years ago, with the clincher in a 2-1 win against San Francisco. Arcia, the fill-in for Ozzie Albies at second base, is batting .338 this season with 13 RBIs and two walk-offs. Gosselin, called up when Albies was injured, was originally drafted by the Braves and bounced through six other organizations before returning this year.

20 Jun

something’s brewing

A three-game home run streak for Hunter Renfroe has coincided with the three-game win streak Milwaukee will take into a big four-game series against National League Central rival St. Louis starting tonight at American Family Field. The teams, both of which feature Mississippi products, are tied atop the division at 38-30. Former Mississippi State star Renfroe, whose 444-foot homer at Cincinnati on Sunday was his first on a Father’s Day since the death of his dad — his “best friend” — last summer, has 13 homers on the season and is batting .250 with 27 RBIs as the prime power source in the Brewers’ lineup. This series will feature some good pitching matchups, including Thursday’s between ex-State standout Dakota Hudson of the Cardinals and Jason Alexander, a 29-year-old Brewers rookie. Hudson, who beat Boston at Fenway on Saturday, is 5-3 with a 3.31 ERA in his first full season after Tommy John surgery. He has never faced Renfroe in the big leagues, and their careers at State did not intersect. Missing from this series, unfortunately, are State product Brandon Woodruff, one of the Brewers’ top starters, and ex-Meridian Community College star Corey Dickerson, a St. Louis outfielder. Both are on the injured list and on rehab assignments. P.S. East Central CC alum Tim Anderson, out roughly three weeks with a groin injury, is expected to return to the Chicago White Sox’s lineup at shortstop today against Toronto. Anderson is batting .356. … Blaze Jordan, the 19-year-old slugger from DeSoto Central High, clubbed two homers as part of a three-hit game Sunday for Boston’s Low-Class A Salem team. Jordan, a second-year pro, is batting .291 with six homers and 37 RBIs in 57 games this season.

17 Jun

there and here

For what it’s worth — probably not much — 247sports.com predicts that Ole Miss will last just three games in the College World Series, beating Auburn, then losing to Arkansas and Stanford. Saturday’s opener against Auburn does loom large. The teams’ mid-March meeting doesn’t provide much of a gauge. The Rebels won 13-6 and 15-2 (in the rubber game) and lost 19-5. Neither of UM’s emergent aces — Dylan DeLucia and Hunter Elliott — started in that series, though both pitched well in relief in the wins. The Rebels’ pitching depth beyond those two and closer Brandon Johnson, which held up nicely in the regional and Super Regional, will be tested in Omaha. … Up in the Cape Cod League, Kellum Clark is off to a hot start for Wareham. The Mississippi State sophomore from Brandon went 3-for-5 with three doubles and three RBIs in a win on Thursday and is 4-for-10 in three games in the elite summer league. … The slumping Mississippi Braves could use some spark, and there’s a player at High-Class A Rome bidding for a promotion to the Double-A club. Shortstop Vaughn Grissom, a top 10 prospect in Atlanta’s system, is batting .288 with eight homers, 39 RBIs and 12 steals for the R-Braves. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Grissom hit two grand slams in a 4-for-7 effort on Thursday. … MSU alum Jordan Westburg is batting .414 with three homers and nine RBIs in his first seven games for Triple-A Norfolk in Baltimore’s system. Wonder if the awful Orioles might give him a look later this summer? … Meridian Community College product Corey Dickerson went 1-for-3 with a homer for Triple-A Memphis on Thursday in his first rehab assignment for St. Louis. Dickerson was batting .194 for the Cardinals when he injured a hamstring on June 4. … East Central CC product Tim Anderson is 4-for-11 in three games for Triple-A Charlotte on his rehab assignment. Anderson, who went down with a groin injury on May 30, was batting .356 in 40 games for the Chicago White Sox. … Hunter Renfroe is known for his power bat and cannon arm — not his wheels. The ex-State standout, playing for Milwaukee, tried to score from first base on a hit into the right-field corner against the New York Mets on Thursday. Didn’t work out. He was cut down for the second out in the ninth inning of the Brewers’ 5-4 loss at CitiField.

14 Jun

give it time

Figuring things out at the Double-A level can take time. Michael Harris II, who jumped to the big leagues after 43 games with the Mississippi Braves, is an exception to the rule. Much more common is the experience of a player like C.J. Alexander, the M-Braves’ current third baseman. You could call 2022 Alexander’s junior year in Double-A, and he seems to be figuring things out after a couple of uneven seasons. Alexander, 25, is batting .267 with 11 homers, 27 RBIs and eight steals for the M-Braves, who begin a six-game homestand tonight at Trustmark Park against Birmingham. Alexander is an Indiana native who played at State College of Florida and was drafted in the 20th round by Atlanta in 2018. He reached Mississippi in 2019 but batted just .103 in 24 games. After the year without a season in 2020, he returned to Pearl last year and helped the M-Braves win a pennant, hitting 10 homers but batting just .197. He still needs some polish on defense (10 errors in 41 games at third), but the bat has definitely perked up this summer. He has hit all of his 11 homers in May and June. Once a Top 30 prospect in the Braves’ system, Alexander may be working his way back into that club. P.S. Ex-Ole Miss star Taylor Broadway, a 2021 draftee by the Chicago White Sox, is on Birmingham’s roster. The right-hander, who had a nice debut pro season, is struggling at the Double-A level in 2022, with a 6.95 ERA in 19 appearances.

13 Jun

to the rescue?

Lance Lynn won’t come riding in on a white horse tonight for the Chicago White Sox, but he might as well be. The former Ole Miss star, the White Sox’s most effective starter in 2021, has been out all season with a knee injury. The 35-year-old right-hander gets the ball tonight at Detroit for a scuffling team that needs a rescue. Here’s how a headline in the Chicago Tribune summed up the situation: “It’s up to Lance Lynn to save the Chicago White Sox’s season — and it begins tonight in Detroit.” The White Sox, favorites in the American League Central, are 27-31. They’ve been hit hard by injuries, not the least of which was Lynn’s. He made three rehab starts at Triple-A Charlotte and allowed 10 runs in 10 innings. But the ChiSox need him. Tonight and beyond. Lynn, the 39th overall pick in the MLB draft out of Oxford back in 2008, is 115-77 with a 3.48 career ERA. He won 11 games with a 2.68 last year, when he was a Cy Young Award finalist. He’s a gamer. He’ll give it all he’s got, for sure. But can he save the White Sox’s season? P.S. Chicago’s other team, the rebuilding Cubs, is also struggling at 23-36. They’ll give the ball tonight to young lefty Justin Steele, the former George County High standout who is 1-5, 4.79. He’s had some good moments but not enough of them. And he always seems to draw a tough matchup. Tonight at Wrigley Field, he faces the 37-win San Diego Padres and Yu Darvish.

30 May

transaction watch

Ethan Small will be checking the wind direction at Chicago’s Wrigley Field today, hoping it’s not blowing out. The former Mississippi State star is slated to make his big league debut for Milwaukee against the Cubs in Game 1 of a twinbill. Small, a left-hander, has been atop the Brewers’ prospect charts ever since he was drafted 28th overall out of State in 2019. He blew through Double-A Biloxi last summer and was off to a tremendous start at Triple-A Nashville this season. Featuring primarily a fastball and changeup, Small went 3-1 with a 1.88 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 38 1/3 innings for the Sounds. … Ole Miss product Nick Fortes made his 2022 debut for Miami on Sunday, going 2-for-2 against Atlanta. Fortes, a catcher, hit .290 with four homers in 14 games last September for the Marlins but didn’t make the club out of spring training. He was batting .257 with three homers and 13 RBIs at Triple-A Jacksonville when he was recalled on Friday. … Tim Anderson, the ex-East Central Community College standout, is headed to the injured list with a reported groin injury. Anderson is batting .356 (third in the American League) with five homers, 19 RBIs and eight steals as the Chicago White Sox leadoff batter.