Tag Archives: White Sox

27 Apr

minor matters

A four-hit game on Monday moved Tim Anderson’s average above the Mendoza Line. But an 0-for-5 followed on Tuesday. It hasn’t been a silky smooth season for the former East Central Community College star now playing at Triple-A Charlotte in the Chicago White Sox’s system. After a big year in Double-A in 2015, Anderson is batting .221 with three doubles, two RBIs, seven runs and four steals in 15 games for Charlotte. “You’ve just got to keep grinding and stay focused and keep dreaming about what you’ve been working for all your life,” Anderson told milb.com. Veteran Jimmy Rollins is currently handling shortstop duties for the ChiSox, but Anderson, the 17th overall pick out of ECCC in 2013, is expected to take the job by 2017 if not before. Anderson’s speed is considered his standout tool. P.S. Mississippi State alum Jonathan Holder got the last three outs of a combo no-hitter for Double-A Trenton on Tuesday. Fellow New York Yankees prospect Ronald Herrera worked the first eight innings against New Hampshire. Gulfport’s Holder got two strikeouts and made a nice defensive play in the ninth. “I’m thankful to be part of something that goes into history here in Trenton,” Holder told milb.com. He has a 1.08 ERA in four appearances at Trenton this season. … Former Biloxi Shuckers star Orlando Arcia, the heir apparent for Milwaukee’s shortstop job, is batting .313 with two homers and 13 RBIs in 17 games at Triple-A Colorado Springs. “He loves to play the game and he’s always having fun out there,” Sky Sox manager Rick Sweet, the former Jackson Generals skipper, told milb.com.

25 Mar

buy low

It might be a good time to invest in some Tim Anderson rookie cards. A web site devoted to such things reveals that the average price of a rookie card of the former East Central Community College standout is $4.96. But one card, a “2013 Leaf Draft Superfractor RC Rookie Auto Autograph 1/1,” sold for $58 in January of 2015. Anderson hasn’t played a big league game yet. He was sent down to Triple-A Charlotte by the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, but it won’t be long before the highly rated prospect assumes the shortstop job at Comiskey Park. Could be this summer. A first-round pick (17th overall) out of ECCC in 2013, Anderson put up some great numbers at Double-A Birmingham in 2015: .312, 12 triples, 49 steals, 79 runs and 46 RBIs in 125 games. Some might remember that he homered at Trustmark Park in Pearl in his first Southern League game back in 2014. He has been in the White Sox’s big league spring camp the last two years and made an impression. “The biggest thing for me seeing him in the last couple years is, defensively, he just looks so much better and confident,” ChiSox manager Robin Ventura told mlb.com. Buy low, they say. Might be a good time to load up on some Tim Anderson rookies.

05 Nov

down on the farm

With Alexei Ramirez becoming a free agent, the heir apparent to the Chicago White Sox’s shortstop job in 2016 looks like Tyler Saladino. But lurking on the depth chart, not too far behind, is Tim Anderson, the former East Central Community College star. Anderson, 22, is rated the White Sox’s No. 1 prospect on mlb.com’s list. His defense may still need some work, but Anderson’s offensive skills are impressive. He batted .312 with five homers, 12 triples, 49 steals, 46 RBIs and 79 runs for Double-A Birmingham this past season, just his third in pro ball. The ChiSox, a disappointing team in 2015, declined to pick up an option for Ramirez, 34, who hit a career-worst .249 with 10 home runs and 62 RBIs. Saladino, 26, batted .225 in 68 games as a rookie last season, playing mostly third base. P.S. The Biloxi Shuckers’ walk-off win in their June 6 home debut was named the MiLBY Game of the Year by milb.com. After playing the first two months of the season on the road, the Shuckers beat Mobile in the 14th inning before a standing room only crowd at MGM Park. Nick Shaw got the game-winning knock.

18 Aug

crunch time at teepee

Birmingham is one of the Southern League’s best hitting teams. The Mississippi Braves are running out a rotation filled with prospects, young guns that could be in Atlanta in the near future. The compelling clash of Barons bats and M-Braves arms begins tonight at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Right-hander John Gant is slated to start Game 1 for Mississippi. He is followed in the rotation by Lucas Sims, Greg Ross, Zack Bird and Andrew Thurman. Birmingham, hitting .261 (second in SL) as a team with 482 runs (fifth), features a dynamic 1-2 punch at the top of its order. Former East Central Community College star Tim Anderson, one of the Chicago White Sox’s highest rated prospects, is batting .316 and tops the league in runs (69) and steals (45). Two-hole hitter Jacob May is batting .296 with 31 bags, second in the league. For power, the Barons have Christian Marrero (12 homers), Danny Hayes (seven) and Brian Fletcher (six). They’ll test the young guns. Gant, recently acquired from the New York Mets, has been slotted in as the Braves’ No. 23 prospect by mlb.com. Since joining the M-Braves, he is 2-0 with a 1.56 ERA in three outings. Sims, Atlanta’s first-round pick in 2012 and the seventh-best prospect, is 1-2, 5.87 in five Double-A starts. Jackson native Bird, acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers and ranked No. 12 on the prospect chart, is 1-1, 4.26 over three starts. No. 18 prospect Thurman, picked up from Houston late in the spring, took a loss in his M-Braves debut on Aug. 14, allowing four earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. Ross doesn’t have a top 30 rating, but the Double-A veteran is 7-9, 3.98 in 23 games. P.S. Former M-Braves star Brian McCann did something Monday night that no catcher in the New York Yankees’ long history has done, according to the Elias Sports Bureau: He drove in five runs and threw out three runners attempting to steal. McCann’s efforts, which included his 21st homer, led the Yankees to an 8-7, 10-inning win over Minnesota. One of the runners he cut down was Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier, who had three hits for the Twins.

23 Jul

upwardly mobile

Gloom has gathered over the Chicago White Sox’s season. Fans of the last-place club needing something to brighten their day can look to Double-A Birmingham, where shortstop Tim Anderson is having a star-quality season. Rated by some as the organization’s top prospect entering 2015, the East Central Community College product appears close to being big league-ready. Anderson, 22, the Southern League All-Star Game MVP, is batting .311 with seven triples, 35 RBIs, 53 runs and 35 steals for the Barons. An athletic 6 feet 1, 185 pounds, he is hitting .298 with 69 steals over his three pro seasons. If there is a negative in his offensive numbers, it’s that he doesn’t walk much (15 times this season while serving primarily as a leadoff batter). Reports indicate that Anderson’s defense is steadily improving; in fact, some of the reports are glowing. Anderson made his Double-A debut, with a bang, at Pearl’s Trustmark Park last August. The Barons come to the TeePee again this August (18-22). Of course, by then Anderson might be in Triple-A. P.S. Thirty games into his pro career, LaDarious (aka LeDarious) Clark, the East Mississippi CC alum from Meridian, paces the short-season Class A Northwest League in homers (8, including two on Wednesday), average (.377), hits (49), slugging percentage (.685), runs (32), triples (5) and total bases (89). He also has 20 RBIs and 14 stolen bases for Texas’ Spokane club. Promote him, already. … After roughly a month in the high Class A Florida State League, former Petal High star Anthony Alford is batting .333 with a homer, nine RBIs and 18 runs at Dunedin. Toronto promoted the 21-year-old outfielder, playing his first full pro season, after he hit .293 with 49 runs and 12 steals in 50 games at low-A Lansing.

24 Jun

it’s a first

Drew Pomeranz, the former Ole Miss standout, achieved a career first on Tuesday night. The left-hander earned career save No. 1 by getting the last five outs in Oakland’s 8-6 win at Texas. He induced ex-Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland to hit into a double play in the ninth and then ended the game with a strikeout. Pomeranz might be best suited for a bullpen role. He began this season in the A’s rotation and was 2-3 with a 4.40 ERA when he went on the disabled list in mid-May. In only two of his eight starts did he go more than 5 1/3 innings. He has worked exclusively in relief since returning and has yielded just two runs in 10 appearances, picking up four holds. Used mostly as a starter in pro ball since Cleveland drafted him fifth overall in 2010, Pomeranz is 11-21 with a 4.20 ERA for his MLB career. P.S. East Central Community College alum Tim Anderson was named MVP of Tuesday’s Southern League All-Star Game. On his 22nd birthday, the Chicago White Sox prospect went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run to pace the North stars to a 9-0 victory at Montgomery, Ala.

09 Jun

minor matters

D.J. Davis, the first Mississippi-connected player chosen in the 2012 draft, is making a strong bid for promotion in the Toronto system. The ex-Stone County High star drove in eight runs on Monday for the low Class A Lansing Lugnuts. The lefty-hitting outfielder, who went 4-for-5 with a home run and two doubles in the game, is batting .294 with three homers, 30 RBIs, 32 runs, four triples and nine steals over 53 games in his second tour of the Midwest League. A key for Davis this year has been cutting down on his strikeouts. … Chris Stratton, also a first-rounder in 2012 (No. 20 overall to Davis’ 17), made his Triple-A debut in the San Francisco system last Friday. Stratton, from Tupelo by way of Mississippi State, allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings in a victory by Sacramento. He was 1-5 with a 4.14 ERA at Double-A Richmond before his promotion. … Knocking on the Double-A door is Horn Lake’s Cody Reed, a second-round pick out of Northwest Mississippi CC by Kansas City in 2013 (and the third Mississippian picked in that draft, after Hunter Renfroe and Tim Anderson). The 6-foot-5, 220-pound left-hander is 5-3 with a 1.29 ERA for Wilmington in the high-A Carolina League. … Anderson, the East Central CC alum who missed a couple days with a shoulder injury, is playing again at Double-A Birmingham (Chicago White Sox) and is hitting .304 with 21 bags. MSU product and Crystal Springs native Renfroe, at Double-A San Antonio in San Diego’s system, has scuffled a bit (.226, three homers). … Ole Miss alum Bobby Wahl, another 2013 draftee, is also toiling in Double-A and has a 3.76 ERA with four saves for Midland (Oakland) in the Texas League. P.S. Ed Easley, drafted way back in 2007 out of MSU, got his first big league RBI on Monday for St. Louis. He is still looking for his first hit; he is 0-for-2 in three plate appearances. … Hinds CC’s Randy Bell was named an NJCAA first-team All-America pitcher. The South Alabama signee was 12-0 with a 2.37 ERA for the state champion Eagles.

29 Apr

pair of sox

Tim Anderson hit .364 in a brief Double-A trial last summer. The ex-East Central Community College standout is showing this season that it was no fluke. Anderson, a first-round pick by the Chicago White Sox in 2013, is hitting .329 with 12 RBIs, eight runs and 11 steals through 18 games for Birmingham of the Southern League. “Every week that goes by he gets better,” Julio Vinas, the Barons’ manager, told milb.com. Anderson, a shortstop, also has played well in the field, where he had some hiccups during a big league spring training look. He is rated the No. 2 prospect in Chicago’s system by both Baseball America and mlb.com. Birmingham doesn’t come to Trustmark Park in Pearl until late August. Alas, Anderson may have moved up by then. … Staying in the ChiSox system: Mason Robbins lasted until the 25th round of the MLB draft last summer. From the early returns, it looks like the White Sox may have gotten a steal. Robbins, a lefty-hitting outfielder from Southern Miss, is batting .300 through 17 games at low Class A Kannapolis this season. This comes on the heels of a strong debut season in which he hit .304 with seven homers and 32 RBIs in rookie ball at Great Falls, Mont. He also had a 17-game hit streak. “He put himself on the map in the White Sox organization, which is very good to see,” Charlie Poe, Robbins’ manager in 2014, told the Great Falls Tribune. Robbins was the state’s Mr. Baseball at George County High in 2011 and was a freshman All-America pick and career .300 hitter at USM.

02 Feb

the rope

If there were questions about whether Bob Boyd could handle major league pitching, he answered them in his first career at-bat. The Potts Camp native delivered a game-tying pinch single for the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 8, 1951, at old Comiskey Park. He would go on to bat .293 over parts of nine big league seasons. In recognition of Black History Month, let us sing the praises of “The Rope,” one of the first black Mississippians to make the majors. Boyd, who earned his nickname for his knack for hitting line drives, starred in the Negro Leagues before getting his shot in MLB. He batted .362 over a four-year span with the Memphis Red Sox in the late 1940s and played in two East-West All-Star Games, according to the Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Leagues. He was the first black player signed by the White Sox in 1950, three years after Jackie Robinson’s debut. A left-handed hitting first baseman, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Boyd didn’t have a lot of power, but he could put the ball in play. He hit .342 (and stole 41 bases) in the Pacific Coast League in 1951 and .320 in that high-caliber league in 1952. He was 31 when he got his first call to The Show and 37 before he became a regular, batting .318 for the 1957 Baltimore Orioles. He hung around the majors until 1961 and played in the minors into his mid-40s. Boyd died in Kansas in 2004.

29 Jan

a spring in their step

Former East Central Community College standout Tim Anderson has been rated the No. 10 shortstop prospect in the minors by mlb.com. Anderson also has received an invitation to the Chicago White Sox’s major league spring training camp next month. A first-round pick in 2013, Anderson batted .301 with nine homers and 40 RBIs in an injury-interrupted 2014, finishing the season in Double-A. He also played well in the Arizona Fall League. … Other Mississippians who have received non-roster invites to big league camps include Petal High alumnus and former Mr. Baseball Anthony Alford (Toronto), Mississippi State product Hunter Renfroe (San Diego), ex-Hattiesburg High star Robert Carson (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Mississippi Gulf Coast CC alum Joey Butler (Tampa Bay). … Also of note: Former Mississippi Braves catcher J.C. Boscan has signed a minor league deal with Kansas City and will report to the Royals’ big league camp. P.S. Hinds Community College is ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA’s preseason poll, and Jones County Junior College is slotted at No. 11. Hinds, 40-21 and a Division II World Series finalist last year, opens on Feb. 7 against Mineral Area (Mo.) in Raymond. Jones, 46-11 and MACJC state champion in 2014, starts Feb. 7 against Jeff Davis (Ala.) in Ellisville.