Tag Archives: White Sox

10 May

we have liftoff

Since the calendar flipped to May, Grae Kessinger’s bat has taken off. Now playing for Houston’s Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys, ex-Ole Miss star Kessinger has hit .500 (15-for-30) in seven games this month with two homers, 11 RBIs and a .568 on-base percentage. He went 1-for-3 with two walks on Tuesday, his first game after a five-hit, two-homer effort in a wild contest on Sunday. It didn’t hurt that the first six games of the month were played at Albuquerque, where the ball flies, but you still gotta put bat on ball. He has struck out just five times this month. Kessinger is hitting .311 for the year with four homers and 21 RBIs in 32 games. An All-America shortstop at UM — and the grandson of MLB star Don Kessinger — Grae was drafted in the second round by the Astros in 2019. This is his first season in Triple-A after batting .211 with 16 homers in Double-A in ’22. He has played short, second and third base this season, showing some versatility that can only enhance his value in Houston, where the starting lineup is tough to crack. P.S. After three straight tight wins in the losers bracket of the Gulf South Conference Tournament, Delta State ran smack into a wall on Tuesday, falling to top-seeded West Florida 17-1 at Oxford, Ala. DSU finishes 27-26 in coach Rodney Batts’ fourth season. … In MLB, former Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman notched his first save with a clean ninth inning for the Chicago White Sox and fellow ex-Bulldogs ace Chris Stratton earned his first win with 1 1/3 scoreless innings for St. Louis against the Cubs.

04 May

farm livin’

After four-plus seasons of grinding in the low minors, former Hattiesburg High star Joe Gray Jr. received a promotion to Double-A Biloxi on Tuesday. Gray, a second-round draft pick by Milwaukee five years ago, was batting .247 with a homer, 12 RBIs and five steals at High-Class A Wisconsin when the Brewers moved him. Two games into the big jump, he is still looking for his first hit, having started 0-for-9 with four strikeouts in a series at Montgomery. The 23-year-old outfielder, considered a 5-tool player in high school, has fallen off the Brewers’ prospect charts; he is a .212 career hitter though he has flashed some power and speed. It’s time to put it all together. … The Colorado Rockies, currently 11-20, look like a team that could use some help. Maybe they’ve got an eye on what Hunter Stovall is doing at Triple-A Albuquerque. The Mississippi State product is batting .381 in 17 games. He was on base six times in the Isotopes’ 22-4 win over Sugar Land on Wednesday, hitting his first home run of the season, scoring three runs and knocking in two. The middle infielder, 26, is in his fifth year of pro ball. … Jordan Westburg is clamoring for a call-up from Baltimore. The ex-State star went 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs for Triple-A Norfolk and is at .337 for the year with six bombs. He has played five different positions this season, though second base might be where he fits best. … Southern Miss alum Chuckie Robinson is batting .414 with three homers and 12 RBIs in 20 games at Triple-A Louisville. If or when Cincinnati needs a catcher, he looks ready for a second MLB stint. … Pitching exclusively out of the bullpen this season, former MSU ace Ethan Small has done solid work for Milwaukee’s Triple-A Nashville club. The lefty, the Brewers’ No. 13 prospect, tossed three scoreless innings Wednesday, trimming his ERA to 2.70 in nine appearances. His brief big league looks as a starter in 2022 didn’t go well, but he’ll get another shot in this new role. … Hoping to become the first Mississippi College alum to play in the majors since Harry Craft in 1942, Blaine Crim just keeps banging in the Texas system. Crim, a first baseman, went 2-for-5 for Triple-A Round Rock in a Wednesday doubleheader to boost his average to .300 with two homers and seven RBIs. He is a .304 career hitter over four minor league campaigns. P.S. Taylorsville native Billy Hamilton, the speedy MLB veteran, is back in The Show with the Chicago White Sox and in two appearances as a pinch runner, he has a run and a stolen base. The White Sox won both games.

30 Apr

whatever happened to …

Garrett Crochet, the former Ocean Springs High star who went straight from the Tennessee campus to the big leagues in 2020, is expected to make an injury rehab appearance today for Double-A Birmingham. Crochet missed all of the 2022 season for the Chicago White Sox after Tommy John surgery in the spring. The left-hander was the 11th overall pick in the abbreviated 2020 draft and made his MLB debut that September, throwing 100-mph gas over five scoreless appearances. Crochet was a key piece of the White Sox’s bullpen in 2021, when the team won the American League Central. He posted a 2.82 ERA with 65 strikeouts (27 walks) in 54 1/3 innings that year and made three scoreless postseason appearances. The current White Sox could use some help, having lost 10 in a row to fall to 7-21, tied for last in the AL Central. Ole Miss product Lance Lynn threw six hitless innings against Tampa Bay on Saturday, then gave up four runs in a 10-run seventh as the ChiSox lost 12-3. Lynn is 0-4, 7.16. At Triple-A Charlotte, ex-East Central Community College standout Tim Anderson went 1-for-3 in his second rehab game, but the Knights lost to Norfolk 20-1. (Mississippi State alum Jordan Westburg, a Baltimore prospect, went 3-for-6 with three RBIs in that game to boost his average to .329.)

29 Apr

that other draft

While Ole Miss has tumbled from the national rankings this season, Jacob Gonzalez’s MLB draft stock has remained steady. The Rebels shortstop, regarded as a top 10 pick entering this season, is rated No. 8 in MLB Pipeline’s new list of the Top 150 prospects for this summer’s draft. Gonzalez is batting .322 with seven homers and 37 RBIs for the 22-20 Rebels, last year’s national champs. The left-handed hitter, who goes 6 feet 2, 200 pounds, has a .317 career average with 37 homers in three seasons at UM. Five other players from the state are in the Top 150: No. 43 Cooper Pratt, shortstop at Magnolia Heights; No. 47 Colton Ledbetter, Mississippi State outfielder; No. 64 Kemp Alderman, Ole Miss outfielder; No. 101 Tanner Hall, Southern Miss pitcher; and No. 145 Calvin Harris, UM catcher. Ranked 11th is Hurston Waldrep, who pitched at USM in 2022 but is now at Florida. Ledbetter, a Samford transfer, has been a standout during a tough year for State, hitting .322 with 10 homers, 46 RBIs and 15 steals. Hall, last year’s Ferriss Trophy winner, is 7-3 with a 2.95 ERA for the Golden Eagles, who are battling for the Sun Belt Conference title. P.S. Lexington beat the York Revolution 5-4 Friday night in Barry Lyons’ debut (see previous post) as manager of the Counter Clocks of the independent Atlantic League. Former Delta State star Trent Giambrone went 2-for-4 for York in his ALPB debut. Harrison Central High alum and ex-big leaguer Bobby Bradley homered for Charleston in his indy ball debut. … The Chicago White Sox lost their ninth straight game Friday after MSU product Kendall Graveman gave up a ninth-inning homer in a 3-2 defeat against visiting Tampa Bay. Graveman (1-2) has a 5.06 ERA in 11 relief appearances for the 7-20 White Sox. … Tim Anderson, on a rehab assignment for the ChiSox, went 0-for-4 for Triple-A Charlotte in Game 1 of a twinbill. Also in the Knights’ lineup was Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton, the demoted big league vet who went 2-for-3 to improve his average to .186. He has three stolen bases.

25 Apr

hot and not

Perhaps the fourth team will be a charm for Brent Rooker. The former Mississippi State star, who has moved from Minnesota to San Diego to Kansas City to Oakland in the last 12 months, has been a bright spot in a very dull start for the A’s. Rooker hit two home runs on Monday — going back-to-back both times with Jesus Aguilar — as Oakland beat the Los Angeles Angels 11-10 in 10 innings, just the fifth win for the A’s in 23 games. Rooker, who struggled in his previous MLB stints, is batting .333 (.441 on-base percentage) with six homers and 14 RBIs in 2023. The 28-year-old outfielder has walked 10 times and struck out 10 times in 59 plate appearances over his 16 games. “I knew I could come in every day and contribute and compete at a very high level. That’s all I’m trying to do right now,” Rooker said in an mlb.com story. After winning the SEC Triple Crown and league player of the year honors at State in 2017, Rooker was drafted 35th overall by the Twins that summer. He has hit well in the minors but not so much in the big leagues — until now. … The Chicago White Sox are in freefall, and Lance Lynn, the veteran right-hander out of Ole Miss, couldn’t do anything to break it on Monday. Lynn fell to 0-3 and saw his ERA rise to 7.52 over five starts as the White Sox (7-16) lost 5-2 at Toronto. Lynn, who has 123 wins on his MLB ledger, yielded five hits, three walks and four runs in five innings against the Blue Jays. Opponents are batting .309 against Lynn, more than 60 points higher than his career average against.

22 Apr

on this date

Tip your cap today to honor the memory of Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell, the Leakesville native who made his major league debut on this date in 1952. The left-hander, 21 at the time, pitched eight innings for St. Louis against Cincinnati and took a loss after allowing five hits, six walks and two first-inning runs. Mizell, who died in 1999, would go on to win 90 games in the big leagues (despite missing two full years with military service), make two All-Star Games and win a World Series ring (with Pittsburgh in 1960). In seven different seasons, he won 10 or more games, and he finished his career with a 3.85 ERA. He pitched his last game for the 1962 New York Mets, one of baseball’s worst teams. Mizell served as a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina from 1973-75. His nickname derived from an Alabama community near Leakesville where Mizell played youth baseball; Vinegar Bend has been erroneously listed in some references as Mizell’s birthplace. P.S. Former Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz, working to get back to active duty with San Diego, threw a second scoreless inning for Low-Class A Lake Elsinore on Friday night. He is rehabbing from 2021 flexor tendon surgery. … East Central Community College product Tim Anderson has been out of the Chicago White Sox’s lineup since April 11 with a knee sprain. The team is 2-6 without their All-Star shortstop/leadoff batter. There appears to be no clear timetable for Anderson’s return.

21 Apr

puttin’ on the hits

In his second stint at Low-Class A Kannapolis, Tim Elko looks like he might be ready for the next step on the minor league ladder. The former Ole Miss slugger went 4-for-4 with two home runs on Thursday and is batting .413 with four homers and 16 RBIs for the Cannon Ballers. He also has a five-hit game during his current six-game hitting streak. A 10th-round pick by the Chicago White Sox last summer, Elko is, at 24, one of the oldest players on the Kannapolis roster. After mashing a school-record 24 homers and leading the Rebels to the national championship last year, Elko enjoyed a solid pro debut, hitting .240 with five homers between rookie ball and Kannapolis. Back with the Cannon Ballers to start this season, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound first baseman/DH is showing better plate discipline (seven walks, 17 strikeouts in 53 plate appearances). The White Sox’s High-A affiliate is in Winston-Salem. … Colt Keith, the former Biloxi High star, put up a 3-for-3 on Thursday for Double-A Erie in Detroit’s system. The 21-year-old Keith, the Tigers’ No. 4 prospect (per mlb.com), is batting .304 with a homer and seven RBIs in his first taste of the Double-A level. He is a lefty hitter who has played third and second base in his three pro seasons. … Southern Miss product Chuckie Robinson extended his hitting streak to 11 games Thursday with a knock for Triple-A Louisville in the Cincinnati system. Robinson, 28, a catcher, is batting .415 with two homers, seven RBIs and four steals in 12 games for the Bats. He got a call-up with the Reds last season, hitting a pair of homers in 25 MLB games. P.S. Ex-Delta State star Trent Giambrone, who got some big league time with the Chicago Cubs in 2021, has signed with York of the independent Atlantic League. Jacques Pucheu, a former West Harrison High and East Mississippi Community College pitcher, has signed with Southern Maryland of the Atlantic League, which starts its season next week.

31 Mar

opening acts

One of the most disappointing MLB teams in 2022, the Chicago White Sox needed to get off to a good start this season. With the aid of Mississippi products Tim Anderson and Kendall Graveman, they did exactly that on Thursday, beating the world champion Houston Astros 3-2. Anderson, former East Central Community College star, went 2-for-4 with a walk and a run — both in a ninth-inning rally — and Mississippi State product Kendall Graveman earned the win after throwing a scoreless eighth inning. Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn, like Anderson and Graveman a star in the WBC, gets the start for the ChiSox today at Minute Maid Park. Elsewhere on Opening Day, MSU alum Adam Frazier, in his Baltimore debut, went 2-for-4 with three runs and a stolen base as the Orioles beat Boston 10-9. Ex-Bulldogs standout Nathaniel Lowe had a hit, an RBI and a run, all in a nine-run fourth inning that propelled Texas past Philadelphia 11-7. Austin Riley, the former DeSoto Central High star, went 0-for-2 with three walks and an RBI in Atlanta’s 7-2 victory against Washington. Meridian CC product Corey Dickerson was 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter in his Nationals debut. Hunter Renfroe was 0-for-4 (with a nice catch in right field) for the Los Angeles Angels and fellow former State standout Brent Rooker 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter for Oakland in the A’s 2-1 surprising win. P.S. The exhibition game between the Double-A Mississippi Braves and Jackson State scheduled for April 5 has been cancelled, reportedly due to concerns about field conditions at Trustmark Park in Pearl. (Tuesday night’s Southern Miss-Ole Miss game was cancelled in the fourth inning because recently installed infield sod was not holding up, and Belhaven University’s weekend series against Covenant College has been moved to Holmes Community College’s field in Goodman.) The M-Braves-JSU game — billed as the Hank Aaron Tribute Game by the Hank Aaron Sports Academy — was originally slated for Smith-Wills Stadium, home of the Double-A Jackson Mets and Generals from 1975-99. It would have been the first such contest between JSU and a Jackson-area pro team since 1991, when the Generals — a Houston affiliate — beat Jackson State 6-3 in an April exhibition at Smith-Wills. The M-Braves, Atlanta’s Double-A club now in its 19th year at Trustmark Park, open their Southern League season April 7 at home against Biloxi. The Shuckers, Milwaukee’s Double-A club, have slated an exhibition vs. Pearl River Community College on April 5 at MGM Park.

29 Mar

mlb role-playing

Austin Riley is the 3-hole hitter and third baseman for Atlanta, picked by some experts as the 2023 World Series favorite. That’s a key role, perhaps the most important role held by any Mississippi product heading into the new MLB season that launches Thursday. Here are some others of note: Kendall Graveman, the ex-Mississippi State star, is penciled in as the closer for the Chicago White Sox, who are looking to rebound from a disappointing 2022 season. Graveman, replacing Liam Hendriks (cancer treatment) as the bullpen stopper, has a 4.04 career ERA with 16 saves in 28 opps since converting from starter to reliever in 2020. … Nathaniel Lowe, a former State standout, is the first baseman and a middle-of-the-order hitter for Texas, which has spent a lot of money of late and expects to contend for the postseason. Lowe had a breakout year in 2022 (.302, 27 homers, .850 OPS). … Louisville native and former East Central Community College slugger Marcus Thames is the new hitting coach for the Los Angeles Angels. With a lineup featuring Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and MSU alum Hunter Renfroe, the Angels are fairly desperate to make the playoffs in Ohtani’s potential walk year. Thames worked with the New York Yankees previously, so he knows pressure. … Buck Showalter, the State star of yesteryear, is entering his second season as manager of the New York Mets, another big spender with World Series aspirations. Showalter won manager of the year honors in 2022 — his fourth such honor — but saw his club fall short — again — in the playoffs. … That brings us back to Riley, the ex-DeSoto Central High standout and Mississippi Braves alumnus. He batted .273 with 38 homers and 93 RBIs last season — finishing sixth in MVP voting and winning All Mississippi Baseball’s Cool Papa Bell Award — and will be counted on for similar numbers this year. P.S. Roster news: Former MSU standout Brent Rooker has made Oakland’s opening day roster. The outfielder/DH, who has 10 MLB homers on his ledger, got very limited at-bats with San Diego and Kansas City last year. Cut from the A’s active roster was Ole Miss alum Chad Smith, who debuted with Colorado last season. Right-hander Smith, a 2016 draftee by Miami, posted a 7.50 ERA in 15 games for the Rockies in 2022. Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton did not make the Chicago White Sox’s roster. The veteran outfielder was in spring camp as a minor league invitee. … Pitchers Taylor and Tyler Rogers of the San Francisco Giants are the 10th set of twins to play in the majors and may soon become the fourth set to play for the same team in the same game. They opposed each other in a game last April but are now teammates with the Giants. Among the 10 sets of twins to reach the majors are Jackson natives Stan and Stewart Cliburn. Stan, a catcher, played for the California Angels in 1980 and Stewart, a pitcher, was with the team in 1984-85 and ’88. Both were with the Angels’ Triple-A club in 1986-87, though Stewart was injured during that time. Their dream of becoming the first twins to serve as batterymates in the majors never materialized.

14 Mar

job well done

It has been quite the journey for Lance Lynn, who checked off another career achievement on Monday night when he pitched in the World Baseball Classic. The ex-Ole Miss standout delivered a dominant five innings (hitting the 65-pitch limit on the nose) as the United States pummeled Canada 12-1 in a pivotal game. Team USA’s star-studded lineup scored a record nine runs in the first inning against Canada’s overmatched pitchers — a 19-year-old from A-ball and an independent leaguer — and Lynn took it from there, allowing just two hits and fanning six. The 35-year-old Lynn has virtually done it all in the game. He has played in the Little League World Series, won a prep state title with an undefeated team in Indiana, helped Ole Miss win an SEC crown and reach three regionals during his time in Oxford, won a World Series as a rookie with St. Louis, made two All-Star Games and now won a WBC game. Perhaps a WBC title is in the offing. The burly right-hander has 123 MLB wins since 2011 and will be a key figure again in the Chicago White Sox’s rotation this season. P.S. Grae Kessinger, another Ole Miss product, hit his second homer of the spring on Monday for Houston. The grandson of former MLB All-Star Don, Kessinger is 4-for-15 with the world champion Astros in Grapefruit League play. Now 25, the former second-round pick has played in Double-A the last two years with only modest results. … Tampa Bay optioned right-hander Colby White, a Mississippi State alum from Hattiesburg, to Triple-A. White missed all of 2022 with an arm injury.