yankees Archives - Page 14 of 16 - All Mississippi Baseball

13 Jun

shining moment

Charlie Hayes had just three hits in 16 at-bats in the 1996 World Series, but what New York Yankees fans seem to remember is that the Hattiesburg native caught the foul pop that wrapped up the Yanks’ first championship in 18 years. The Yankees celebrated that title during their annual Old-Timer’s Game on Sunday at Yankee Stadium, and Hayes, now 51, was there with the likes of John Wetteland, Bernie Williams and Paul O’Neill, other heroes of ’96. Though Hayes played only 262 of his 1,547 career games with the Yankees, he’ll be forever linked with the boys in pinstripes thanks to that Series victory over Atlanta. In the Game 6 clincher, Mark Lemke hit the pop that settled into Hayes’ glove and sent him leaping into the air. “I think I’ve had over four million people tell me they were at the game, so, it’s kind of unique,” Hayes said in a story on mlb.com. Hayes, drafted by San Francisco out of Forrest County AHS in 1983, actually had many shining moments in a 14-year MLB career spent with five different clubs. He hit 144 homers, including 25 with Colorado in 1993, when he led the National League in doubles with 45 and batted a career-high .305.

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.

14 Mar

status update

Making strides on the comeback trail, Zack Cozart got a hit in his first game of the spring and went deep in his second game. “(T)errific to see,” Cincinnati manager Bryan Price told mlb.com. Former Ole Miss star Cozart appeared to be on course for his best season in the big leagues in 2015 when he suffered a knee injury that required surgery. In 53 games, the slick-fielding shortstop batted .258 with nine home runs. Meanwhile, also in Reds camp, Billy Hamilton, the ex-Taylorsville High star, still has played in only one game, that as a DH. Hamilton, Cincy’s center fielder, is coming back from shoulder surgery and coming off a tough year (.226). P.S. Mississippi State alum Jacob Lindgren was sent to the minor league camp by the New York Yankees. The left-hander, who made his MLB debut last season, had a 15.43 ERA in three spring appearances for a Yankees club with a deep bullpen.

04 Jan

the road ahead

In the 2014 MLB draft, major league clubs plucked the likes of Jacob Lindgren, Chris Ellis, Bobby Bradley, Justin Steele, Auston Bousfield and Jonathan Holder out of the Magnolia State. Lindgren has already made it to The Show, and the others have shown nice progress. Blake Anderson, drafted ahead of all of them at 36th overall by Miami out of West Lauderdale High, has lagged. Anderson, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound catcher, spent his second pro summer in short-season A-ball and batted .220 with two homers and 16 RBIs in 31 games. The Marlins are very high on Anderson’s defense, especially his arm, and he is rated their No. 23 prospect by mlb.com. But he still has some things to figure out at the plate. To wit: He struck out 42 times and drew three walks in 118 at-bats. “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.” Anderson tweeted that last summer. He turns 20 in January, still very young, but the 2016 season could be a pivotal one for him. P.S. Wonder how the New York Yankees’ acquisition of Aroldis Chapman will impact Lindgren’s future with the club. Lindgren, a lefty reliever out of Mississippi State, had a 5.14 ERA in seven games for the Yanks last year before having elbow surgery in June. He is healthy now, but there may not be a spot for him in a stacked bullpen. … Donnie Veal, the well-traveled Jackson native and big league veteran, has signed a minor league deal with Texas. Lefty Veal pitched for Atlanta briefly in 2015 and has been wintering in the Dominican Winter League (1.69 ERA in 17 appearances).

28 Oct

there and here

Though you won’t find his name on the top prospect charts, former Mississippi State standout Adam Frazier would seem to be a player on the rise. Currently playing in the talent-laded Arizona Fall League, the left-handed hitting shortstop is hitting .333 (8-for-24) for Glendale. Batting leading on Tuesday, he went 2-for-3 with an RBI, two runs and a steal. Frazier, 23, hit .324 at Double-A Altoona in Pittsburgh’s system this season, his third pro campaign, and made the Eastern League’s midseason All-Star Game. He is at .291 for his career with a .353 on-base percentage. … Richton High product JaCoby Jones, a shortstop prospect in Detroit’s system, has been playing some third base in the AFL. “I love short,” Jones told the Detroit Free Press. “I played there all my life … . But if third base is where my future’s at, I’ll start getting better at it.” The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Jones is batting .364 to date for Scottsdale. … Of Atlanta’s top 10 prospects on Baseball America’s recently revealed chart, it’s possible none will be in Pearl to start the 2016 season. No. 1 Hector Olivera already has made the big league club, three of the others were in low Class A in 2015 and three more were just drafted in June. (One of those, Austin Riley, the former DeSoto Central High star, checks in at No. 5 after a strong debut season at the lowest levels of the system.) Max Fried pitched in low A in 2014 and missed all of last season with an injury; it seems unlikely the Braves would start him in Double-A. Mallex Smith opened 2015 in Mississippi but finished at Triple-A Gwinnett, and Lucas Sims went 4-2, 3.21 for the M-Braves and is a candidate to be promoted next spring. However, there could be an influx of talent to Mississippi from just outside the BA top 10: Johan Camargo, Connor Lien, Dustin Peterson and Rob Whalen, to name a few. All played at high A Carolina last season. … Former Jackson Generals pitching coach Jim Hickey has signed an extension with Tampa Bay to remain the Rays’ pitching coach through 2018. He has been with the club since 2007. … Ex-Jackson Mets star Dave Magadan, who “parted ways” with Texas after three years as hitting coach, is expected to land another job in the big leagues sometime soon. In a published report, Magadan said he would like to get closer to his Florida home. … East Central Community College product Marcus Thames has been mentioned as a candidate for hitting coach with the New York Yankees. He was the Triple-A hitting coach in their system in 2015. The Yanks are one of four teams Thames played for in his 10-year MLB career.

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.

15 Aug

hot spots

Matchups of playoff contenders are abundant in the big leagues this weekend, and a bunch of Mississippians are in the middle of things. One of the hottest spots on Friday was U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, where the Cubs beat the White Sox 6-5 thanks in large part to two home runs by former Ole Miss star Chris Coghlan. Coghlan hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the third inning and a game-tying solo shot in the fifth, both off Jeff Samardzija. Coghlan now has 13 homers on the year for the hard-charging Cubs. At Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, ex-Itawamba Community College standout Desmond Jennings went 3-for-4 with an RBI in his first game since April, but his Tampa Bay team fell to surging Texas 5-3. Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland was 1-for-4 for the Rangers. At San Francisco’s AT&T Park, fading Washington lost to the Giants 8-5 with ex-State stars Tyler Moore (an HBP in his one at-bat) and Jonathan Papelbon (two hits and a run allowed in the eighth inning) tasting more frustration. The day’s best game was at Rogers Centre in Toronto, where the New York Yankees stopped the Blue Jays’ 11-game win streak with a dramatic 4-3 win. No Mississippians played in the game, but veteran umpire Andy Fletcher, an Ole Miss grad who lives in the Magnolia State, was behind home plate. P.S. Milwaukee has recalled right-hander David Goforth, a Meridian native and former Ole Miss standout. He has a 4.15 ERA in six MLB appearances this year.

09 Aug

around the horn

Former Harrison Central High standout Bobby Bradley blasted his 20th home run of the season on Saturday for Class A Lake County in the Cleveland system. Bradley, only 19, is batting .256 with 68 RBIs in his second pro season. … Ole Miss alumnus Will Allen has been named to the New York-Penn League All-Star Game, set for Aug. 18. Allen, a catcher drafted in the 13th round by Detroit in June, is hitting .263 with a homer and 17 RBIs in 33 games for Connecticut in the short-season A league. … Also impressing in the Tigers’ system is catcher Kade Scivicque, a former Southwest Mississippi Community College star, drafted in the fourth round this year out of LSU. He is batting .282 with two homers and 10 RBIs in 19 games at West Michigan in the Class A Midwest League. … And to continue on a Tigers theme: JaCoby Jones, the ex-Richton High star, hit his fourth home run in eight games for Double-A Erie in the Eastern League. Jones, a shortstop traded from Pittsburgh to Detroit last month, is hitting .300 with nine RBIs and 12 runs. He has 14 homers on the season. … Stone County High alum D.J. Davis also homered on Saturday and is batting .350 with five RBIs and 10 runs in his last 10 games for Class A Lansing in the Midwest League. Davis, a 2012 first-rounder by Toronto, is batting .290 for the season. … Mississippi State product Jonathan Holder went 5 1/3 innings on Saturday for Class A Tampa in the New York Yankees’ system, allowing just one run. It was his longest outing since June 6, just before he took a month-long trip to the DL. Holder, in his second pro season, is 5-3 with a 2.52 ERA in the high-A Florida State League.

25 Jun

big league chew

He ranks first in runs, first in home runs, first in RBIs and second in slugging percentage among American League second basemen. Brian Dozier’s 56 runs are tied for the most in the entire AL, and he is second in the league in doubles. Surely, the ex-Southern Miss standout will make his first All-Star Game this year. He had two hits against Chris Sale on Wednesday, scoring a run and knocking in another to help Minnesota to a 6-1 win against the Chicago White Sox. Dozier is batting .261 with 14 homers and 36 RBIs for a good Twins club. … Kendall Graveman, the Mississippi State alum pitching for Oakland, beat Texas to square his record at 4-4 and trim his ERA to 3.86. Graveman is 3-2 with a 2.31 ERA in seven starts since returning from a stint in the minors. … Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton, back in the leadoff spot for Cincinnati, drew a first-inning walk, stole second and third and scored to start the Reds on their way to a 5-2 win at Pittsburgh. Hamilton was hitless in his other four at-bats, dropping his average to .223, but he has 35 steals and 33 runs in 62 games. … Ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College star Jarrod Dyson, whose speed may rival Hamilton’s, stole his eighth bag (in 34 games) for Kansas City in a win over Seattle. … Ole Miss product Lance Lynn (4-4, 3.07) is slated to come off the disabled list and start today for St. Louis against Miami. The Cardinals are 47-24, best record in MLB. … Worth remembering: Wednesday (June 24) was the 53rd anniversary of Silver City native Jack Reed’s only big league homer. It came in the 22nd inning of the New York Yankees’ 9-7 win at Detroit. Reed played parts of three seasons (1961-63) with the Yanks.

22 Jun

touching the bases

Hunter Renfroe, the ex-Mississippi State standout, hit a pair of home runs in a game for Double-A San Antonio on Sunday. San Diego’s 2013 first-round pick, Renfroe is batting .343 over his last 10 games and is at .244 with five homers and 26 RBIs on the season. This is his first full year in the Texas League. … JaCoby Jones, the former Richton High star, had a two-run triple in Saturday’s Florida State League All-Star Game. The Pittsburgh shortstop prospect is in his first full year at high Class A Bradenton. … Jacob Lindgren’s season may be over. The State product, who made his big league debut for the New York Yankees this season, is having elbow surgery and is expected to be down about 12 weeks. The left-hander had a 5.14 ERA in seven MLB innings. … Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn is slated to come off the DL and start Thursday for St. Louis at Miami. Lynn, out two weeks with a forearm strain, is 4-4 with a 3.07 ERA. … The Mississippi Braves lost 12 of their last 15 to finish 33-35 in the first half of the Southern League season. Following the SL All-Star break, the M-Braves begin the second half at home on Thursday. … Ole Miss’ Errol Robinson is among the Cape Cod League batting leaders with a .322 average over nine games; he has scored 10 runs and stolen five bags. His Hyannis team is 8-3. Robinson hit .297 as a sophomore for the Rebels this year. … Blue Mountain College’s Dylan Earnest threw a five-hitter with six strikeouts to lead the Tupelo Thunder to a 4-1 win over the Tallahatchie Rascals on Sunday in Cotton States League play. Tupelo is 5-3, a half-game back of the Tippa Tribe (6-3) in the Deep South Division of the New Albany-based college summer circuit. The Golden Triangle Jets (6-4) lead the Rascals (5-3) in the Delta Division. … Zach Penprase, the onetime Mississippi Valley State star, is now playing his eighth season for Fargo-Moorhead in the independent American Association and hitting .292. Shortstop Penprase, 30, had a brief fling in affiliated ball; he was drafted by Philadelphia in 2006.