Tag Archives: White Sox

21 Aug

roll the tape

When the American League MVP voters begin to ponder their choice for 2021, they need to punch up the video from Friday night’s Chicago White Sox-Tampa Bay game. To appreciate the many talents of ex-East Central Community College star Tim Anderson, “show ’em this game today,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said in an mlb.com story. In a clash of first-place clubs, Anderson went 3-for-6 with a home run, scored four times and drove in two runs in a 7-5, extra-inning win. One of the runs he scored came on an acrobatic slide to avoid a tag at the plate. The homer — his 14th — tied the game in the ninth after the White Sox had squandered a lead. In the 11th, he knocked in the go-ahead run and scored the final one. He has 51 RBIs and 78 runs, batting mainly in the leadoff spot. He is hitting .303 and has a 10-game hit streak in which he has batted .388 with four bombs, including that game-winner in the Field of Dreams Game. “(T)he confidence is at an all-time high,” he said postgame. The All-Star shortstop, eight years after leading ECCC to the state juco title, is leading the White Sox to their first division title since 2008. Said La Russa in the mlb.com piece: “There’s nobody in the league, either league, that’s better than he is when you look at the whole game.” Sounds like an MVP. P.S. Jonathan Holder, the Mississippi State product from Gulfport, made his first appearance of 2021 Friday on a rehab assignment (one inning, no runs) in the Arizona Complex League. Signed by the Cubs in the off-season, Holder has been down with a shoulder injury. The Cubs could use some help.

19 Aug

fun at old ballpark

On a wacky Wednesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Lance Lynn took the ERA lead in the American League. That was a good thing. But the former Ole Miss standout said he felt miserable during the game — and that was before he was ejected for throwing his belt from the dugout onto the field following the top of the fourth inning. That was a bad thing. But the first-place White Sox won the game 3-2 over Oakland as a gang of relievers – including Ocean Springs’ Garrett Crochet – closed it out. So, that was a good thing. Lynn, apparently dealing with a physical issue, battled through his four innings, throwing 88 pitches while yielding one run on three hits and three walks. All he needed was to throw 1 1/3 innings Wednesday to qualify for the ERA lead, which he now owns with a 2.26. But he would have liked to go more than four. Lynn’s night ended when third-base umpire Nic Lentz tossed him for tossing his belt. It was his first career ejection. Lynn had left his glove and hat on the field for the obligatory sticky-stuff inspection as he hustled into the dugout, he said, to see the trainer. The ump yelled for the belt. Lynn threw it. “(O)bviously, I hurt his feelings,” Lynn said in a postgame interview. Lynn, who can be a little intense, vowed to be back on the bump in five days. P.S. Mississippi State alum Jacob Robson, 0-for-7 in four games with Detroit, was optioned to Triple-A Toledo. He was having a strong season there and will probably get another big-league look.

18 Aug

whatever happened to …

Jack Kruger, who caught half an inning in May in his first and so far only big league appearance, is playing for Triple-A Round Rock in the Texas organization. The ex-Mississippi State star was called up on May 6 by the Los Angeles Angels, got in the game that night, then was designated for assignment the next day. Kruger, who was in his sixth year in the Angels’ system, was claimed by the Rangers, who promptly DFA’d him and sent him to Round Rock. He is batting .198 with two homers in 25 games. A career .261 hitter in the minors, Kruger batted .305 at Double-A Mobile in the Southern League in 2018 and was a mid-season All-Star there in 2019. P.S. In other news: Chris Ellis’ long-awaited return to the big leagues was short-lived. After posting his first career win on Tuesday, Ellis was designated for assignment today, which means the Ole Miss product could be claimed by another team or returned to Triple-A Durham. … Drew Pomeranz was to have season-ending surgery today to repair a flexor tendon tear in his left arm. Done for 2021, the Ole Miss alum is signed through ’23 with San Diego. Pomeranz was a key piece in the Padres’ bullpen with a 1.75 ERA. … Billy Hamilton, the former Taylorsville High standout, could be close to returning to the Chicago White Sox’s active roster, per comments from manager Tony LaRussa. Outfielder Hamilton (oblique) has been on the 10-day injured list since July 31. … If anyone was wondering, Mitch Moreland’s career ERA is 0.00 in three mop-up appearances spread over eight years. The Mississippi State alum, Oakland’s DH/first baseman, worked an inning of the A’s loss to the White Sox on Tuesday. Moreland pitched at Amory High and a limited amount at MSU.

18 Aug

rebel yells

It was a good night for Ole Miss pitchers in pro ball. Chris Ellis and Mike Mayers registered wins Tuesday in the big leagues, Parker Caracci picked up a W in Double-A and Taylor Broadway made a third straight scoreless appearance in Low-A. Ellis, in his second MLB game and first in 2½ years (see previous post), worked the final four innings of Tampa Bay’s 10-0 win against lowly Baltimore. The 28-year-old righty yielded three hits and one walk with seven strikeouts. “That’s awesome. We’re really, really pumped,” Rays manager Kevin Cash told mlb.com in reference to Ellis’ outing. … Mayers, beginning to show his 2020 form (2.10 ERA in 29 games), pitched two scoreless innings of the Los Angeles Angels’ 8-2 win at Detroit, benefitting from a six-run ninth to claim his third win of the year. Mayers has 13 holds and a 4.02 ERA for the scuffling Angels. … Caracci, a 2019 draftee by Toronto, threw two scoreless innings in his Double-A debut for New Hampshire. The Jackson Prep product had eight saves and a 2.64 ERA in high-A ball. … Broadway, a 2021 draftee by the Chicago White Sox, pitched a clean inning in a loss by Kannapolis, which scored its lone run on a homer by former Loyd Star High star James Beard. P.S. It was a tough day for Hunter Renfroe and his Boston Red Sox mates, who suffered a doubleheader loss at the hands of the rival New York Yankees and fell into a virtual three-way tie for the American League wild card lead. Mississippi State alum Renfroe was 2-for-5 on the day but was thrown out at third base for the final out of the first inning in the opener and struck out – on a 100-mph pitch – with the bases loaded for the final out of that game, a 5-3 defeat.

13 Aug

center stage

“Baseball, among many other things, is theater, a definition that mandates that a very small number of players will be strikingly distinctive because of productivity and ‘presence.’” – Donald Honig, Baseball America.
There has never been a stage quite like the one MLB created for Thursday night’s Field of Dreams Game. A cornfield in Iowa. So, of course, leave it to Tim Anderson, the former East Central Community College star who relishes the spotlight as much as any player in the game, to bring down the curtain with a game-ending home run into the corn stalks beyond right field. You might call it a Roy Hobbs moment, though that’s from a different movie than the one that inspired this game. Anderson’s second career walk-off bomb gave the Chicago White Sox a 9-8 win against the New York Yankees. “These are the moments you want to be in,” Anderson, the effervescent leader of these Sox, said in a postgame interview. “These big games like this, this is the time to show up.” The game actually lived up to the hype, which was not easy to do. There were five lead changes. Though 17 runs crossed the plate, pitchers also enjoyed some moments with 23 strikeouts. Anderson’s game-winner was the last of eight balls that left the park and crash-landed in the cornfield. Dramatic doesn’t quite get it. As Ray Kinsella might have said, “It’s more than that. It’s perfect.”

12 Aug

cornfield connections

Three Mississippi products are on the Chicago White Sox’s active roster for tonight’s Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa. Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn is slated to be the ChiSox’s starting pitcher, ex-East Central Community College star Tim Anderson is the shortstop and probable leadoff batter and Ocean Springs native Garrett Crochet works out of the bullpen. (Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton is currently on the injured list.) For the record, there also was a Mississippian on the infamous 1919 White Sox team that is central to the story in the “Field of Dreams” movie, though he is not one of the eight who come out of the cornfield. Ewell Albert “Reb” Russell was a Jackson native who pitched for the White Sox for seven years, winning 80 games from 1913-19, including a 23-win rookie season. The left-hander was on the 1917 club that won the World Series. Russell injured his arm in 1918 and made just one appearance for the 1919 team; he was released long before the World Series that the Black Sox were accused of throwing. Russell would return to the majors in 1922 as an outfielder with Pittsburgh and earn a dignified place in the history books. He hit 11 homers that season. Only two other players have ever posted both a double-digit win season and a double-digit homer season: Babe Ruth and Rick Ankiel. Shohei Ohtani could be the next to do it. P.S. Cleveland has placed former Southern Miss standout Nick Sandlin on the injured list, where he joins teammate Bobby Bradley, the Harrison Central High product. Ole Miss alum Drew Pomeranz was put on the IL for the third time this season by San Diego.

02 Aug

flip the calendar

Blaine Crim surely hated to see July come to an end, but the former Mississippi College standout can’t be disappointed in how August began. Crim, playing for High-A Hickory in the Texas Rangers’ organization, went 2-for-5 with his 20th homer and two RBIs on Sunday to power the Crawdads to a 12-7 win against Greenville. This comes on the heels of a July in which the 24-year-old first baseman hit .393 (.843 slugging percentage) with 12 home runs. Often hitting behind Mississippi State alum Justin Foscue in the Hickory lineup, Crim is batting .300 on the season with 61 RBIs. His 20 homers is tied for the High-A East lead. An Alabama native, Crim was the Gulf South Conference player of the year at MC in 2019 and was drafted in the 19th round by the Rangers that summer. He batted .373 for the Choctaws in ’19, leaving school as the career hits leader, and continued to mash in the minors, hitting .335 with eight homers at short-season Class A Spokane. Missing a full season of work in 2020 — when there was no minor league ball — doesn’t seem to have fazed Crim. P.S. Billy Hamilton’s running, diving, sliding catch in the rain back on July 6 was rated the No. 1 play for July by MLB Network. Alas, the Taylorsville High product, now with the Chicago White Sox, landed on the injured list Sunday with an oblique strain.

29 Jul

trade winds

The Chicago White Sox sent former Mississippi State star Konnor Pilkington to Cleveland today in a trade for veteran big league second baseman Cesar Hernandez. Pilkington, a Pascagoula native and East Central High alum, was 4-4 with a 3.48 ERA at Birmingham in the Double-A South. He’ll likely report to Double-A Akron. The third-year pro has a 4.13 career ERA over 47 games in the minors; Baseball America ranked him No. 17 on the ChiSox’s prospect chart early in 2020. … The trade deadline is 3 p.m. CDT Friday. Other Mississippi products involved in recent trades include Corey Dickerson (Miami to Toronto), Adam Frazier (Pittsburgh to San Diego) and Kendall Graveman (Seattle to Houston). P.S. Taylor Broadway, a 2021 draft pick by the White Sox out of Ole Miss, has signed, leaving only Christian MacLeod unsigned among the 12 picks from Mississippi this year, per mlb.com’s Draft Tracker. … Tanner Allen, SEC player of the year at MSU, made his pro debut today for Miami’s Florida Complex League team, going 0-for-3.

26 Jul

very interesting …

Mississippi State product Justin Foscue, a first-round pick by Texas in the 2020 draft, homered in his eighth straight game on Sunday. (Note: The big league record is eight straight.) Foscue went deep for High-A Hickory in the completion of a game suspended last Friday. His streak began on July 9 when he was on a rehab assignment with the Arizona Complex League Rangers. He is batting .324 with 10 homers and 23 RBIs for Hickory. Foscue didn’t play in Sunday’s regularly scheduled game, but ex-Mississippi College star Blaine Crim did. And he homered in his second straight game and for the 12th time in July. Crim is batting .298 with 19 homers and 58 RBIs for Hickory. … The remains of the 2021 season will be a lot more interesting for Adam Frazier now that the ex-State standout has been traded from Pittsburgh to San Diego. The Pirates are mired in last place in their division. The Padres are in a heated battle with San Francisco and Los Angeles in the National League West. Frazier, 29, was a coveted trade piece, with several teams reportedly expressing interest. The All-Star second baseman is batting .324 and leads the big leagues in hits with 125. According to mlb.com, Frazier is only the third player in the modern era to be traded midseason while leading MLB in hits. The others: Willie McGee (1990) and Red Schoendienst (1957). Frazier is a left-handed hitter with some pop (39 career homers) who has played six different positions over his six seasons in the majors. … It wasn’t surprising that All-Stars Lance Lynn and Brandon Woodruff gave us quite the pitchers’ duel on Sunday night (see previous post). The surprise was that former Ole Miss star Lynn delivered the game’s biggest hit, a two-run single off MSU product Woodruff that propelled the Chicago White Sox to a 3-1 win over Milwaukee in a matchup of division leaders. Lynn’s second-inning hit, on an 0-2 fastball, was his first since 2017. It came in his first plate appearance in over two years. Woodruff, a good-hitting pitcher, also had a knock off Lynn but came up empty in a key at-bat in the fifth inning. Down 3-1 with a runner at second and one out, Woodruff took a called third strike on a 3-2 pitch.

25 Jul

marquee event

Lance Lynn vs. Brandon Woodruff. Two All-Stars from rival Magnolia State schools pitching for division leaders in the ESPN Sunday night feature. This ought to be good. Lynn, the very intense Ole Miss product, is 9-3 with a 1.94 ERA for the Chicago White Sox, who lead the American League Central with a 58-40 record. Brandon Woodruff, the very intense Mississippi State product, is 7-4 with a 2.04 ERA for the host Milwaukee Brewers, 58-41 in the National League Central. Though their college careers did not intersect, surely one of the ESPN broadcasters will pick up on the Rebel vs. Bulldog theme. However, the depth of that rivalry probably isn’t known to them. Jackie Bradley Jr. and Christian Yelich have a combined four homers against Lynn in 13 combined at-bats. Few of the White Sox have ever faced Woodruff. Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton is 0-for-4. East Central Community College alum Tim Anderson hasn’t had the pleasure. P.S. Update: Eric Cerantola has signed a pro contract, leaving just two of the 12 picks from the state unsigned.