they're back

There are box scores in USA Today today. Is there anything better than drinking coffee and digesting box scores on a quiet morning? A few things jumped out: Matt Maloney (Ole Miss) threw two perfect innings for Cincinnati as the starting pitcher; Zack Cozart (Ole Miss) played shortstop for the Reds and had two hits; and Fred Lewis (Gulf Coast CC) went 1-for-2 as the DH for his new club. Mitch Moreland (Mississippi State) and Julio Borbon (Starkville) had a hit apiece for Texas. Desmond Jennings (Itawamba CC) played center field and led off for Tampa Bay; he stole a base and scored a run. Corey Wimberly (Alcorn State) played some center field for Pittsburgh, his new club, and scored a run. Marcus Thames (East Central CC) started in left field for the Los Angeles Dodgers, his new club, and went 1-for-2. Former Mississippi Braves star Jeff Francoeur homered for Kansas City, and ex-M-Brave Martin Prado, playing left field for Atlanta, was 2-for-3. In the Braves' 5-4 loss to the New York Mets, Jesus Sucre — expected to be the 2011 M-Braves catcher — had a hit in the ninth inning; Tyler Pastornicky — expected to be the M-Braves shortstop this spring — pinch ran for Sucre and was thrown out stealing to end the game.

seamless

Mississippi's best high school player of 2010, Richton's JaCoby Jones, hasn't had much trouble adjusting to college ball. In fact, he is flourishing. Jones, starting at second base for nationally ranked LSU, is hitting .550 with two home runs and eight RBIs in six games for the undefeated Tigers. Wow. It's sort of a head-scratcher that Jones, who goes 6 feet 3, 195 pounds, wasn't drafted last June until the 19th round (by Houston). He was wise to pass up whatever the Astros offered. He's likely to do much better next time he's picked.
P.S. Thirteen Mississippi Braves alumni appeared in Atlanta's first spring training game on Saturday. Freddie Freeman went 3-for-3 and scored a run and Matt Young had a hit and a run in a 5-5 tie against the New York Mets. Pitchers Craig Kimbrel, Juan Abreu and Michael Broadway all got knocked around a little and were tagged with blown saves.

m-braves flashback

In recognition of their arrival together on the cover of the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, let's flash back to the arrival of Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman together at Trustmark Park. It was a memorable occasion in Mississippi Braves history, to be sure. The promotion of the power-hitting pair from A-ball was announced the morning of July 4, 2009. The M-Braves already were expecting a big crowd, and the news of the newcomers didn't hurt the draw a bit. An announced sellout of 7,036 showed up — and Jason and Freddie delivered on their scary potential. Hitting third and fourth in the order, they combined for three hits, two RBIs, two runs and two HBPs in an 8-6 win over Jacksonville, the Florida Marlins' Double-A affiliate. In each of their first three at-bats, the left-handed hitting duo faced a lefty, Graham Taylor, who came in with a 3.56 ERA. He got them out only once, that coming on an RBI grounder by Freeman in the first inning. Heyward fell behind 1-2 in his first Double-A at-bat, but, showing his remarkable ability to stay patient, he worked a walk that loaded the bases. Freeman got ahead 3-1, then drove home the club's first run with a ground ball to first. Heyward tripled off the right-field wall in the second inning, driving in a run. Freeman picked up his first hit in the fourth, knocking in a run with a sharp, two-out single to center. Heyward got a second hit in the sixth, an opposite-field single. For M-Braves fans, it was a glimpse of the future, a future that is now in Atlanta.

the list

Spring training games start Friday. Nuff said. Here's the list of Mississippians (natives, high school alums and collegians) who are currently in big league camps as either 40-man roster members or official non-roster invitees:

40-man roster
Position players
Julio Borbon (Starkville), Texas; Chris Coghlan (Ole Miss), Florida; Zack Cozart (Ole Miss), Cincinnati; Jarrod Dyson (Southwest CC), Kansas City; Bill Hall (Nettleton), Houston; Jarrett Hoffpauir (Southern Miss), San Diego; Desmond Jennings (Itawamba CC), Tampa Bay; Fred Lewis (Gulf Coast CC), Cincinnati; John Lindsey (Hattiesburg), Los Angeles Dodgers; Mitch Moreland (Mississippi State), Texas; Alex Presley (Ole Miss), Pittsburgh; Seth Smith (Ole Miss), Colorado; Craig Tatum (MSU), Baltimore; Marcus Thames (East Central CC), Los Angeles Dodgers; Matt Tolbert (Ole Miss), Minnesota; Eli Whiteside (Delta State), San Francisco
Pitchers
Dusty Hughes (DSU), Minnesota; Cliff Lee (Meridian CC), Philadelphia; Paul Maholm (MSU), Pittsburgh; Matt Maloney (Ole Miss), Cincinnati; Roy Oswalt (Holmes CC), Philadelphia; Jonathan Papelbon (MSU), Boston; Tony Sipp (Gulf Coast CC), Cleveland

Non-roster
Position players
Brian Dozier (USM), Minnesota; Edwin Maysonet (DSU), Milwaukee; Paul Phillips (Meridian CC), Cleveland; Jonathan Van Every (Itawamba CC), Washington; Corey Wimberly (Alcorn State), Pittsburgh
Pitchers
John Bale (USM), Detroit; Louis Coleman (Schlater/Pillow Academy), Kansas City; Tim Dillard (Itawamba CC), Milwaukee; Lance Lynn (Ole Miss), St. Louis; Drew Pomeranz (Ole Miss), Cleveland; Taylor Tankersley (Warren Central High), New York Mets; Donnie Veal (Jackson), Pittsburgh

monday munchies

Who's hot? Mississippi State scored 13 runs in the first inning of Sunday's win over Lamar. Nothing unlucky about that 13. Maybe John Cohen finally has the Bulldogs' house in order. Nick Vickerson has been a spark at the top the order. He scored four of the 17 runs Sunday and is hitting .353 with eight runs in unbeaten State's four games. Jarrod Parks is hitting a whopping .533 with six RBIs. ... Hinds Community College is off to a 6-0 start; the Eagles scored 28 runs in just 10 innings in a doubleheader, run-rule sweep of Mississippi Delta on Saturday. ... Belhaven's Drew Dillard is hitting .438 with 13 RBIs in nine games for the 7-2 Blazers. ... Millsaps' Will Hawkins has 13 RBIs, two homers and a .455 average for the 7-1 Majors.
Who's not? Mississippi College's Daniel Cowart, counted on as a stalwart arm this spring, is 0-3 for the 2-3 Choctaws after giving up a walk-off grand slam at Rhodes on Sunday. ... And then there's Jackson State. Details remain sketchy about the fight that forced the cancellation of the Tigers' own tournament over the weekend. Whatever happened, that's utterly embarrassing for the school and a fiasco for what is expected to be a good team.

no probs

The new bats didn't deter Mississippi's Big 4 Division I schools from generating enough offense to win on opening day Friday. Far from it, in fact. To wit: Ole Miss scored 15 runs on 17 hits, Mississippi State 11 on 14, Southern Miss six on 11 and Jackson State 13 on 15. (The Tigers, perhaps tired or bored, scored just one run on five hits in a loss in their second game of the day.) Home runs are expected to be down with the new bats, but there were six hit by Big 4 players on Friday. MSU's Nick Vickerson led off with a bomb. JSU's Charles Epperson hit a pair of homers. Only USM didn't hit one out. Bottom line: Power can still be a factor in the college game; there's nothing like a three-run homer to turn a game on its ear. But power won't be THE determining factor every day. Hitters will have to earn their homers. And the games sound better, too. The only pings seem to come on mis-hits.

3's are wild

Belhaven beat up on McKendree 7-1 at Smith-Wills Stadium today and did so with the help of three triples (plus some stout pitching by Brett Blaise). The Blazers, now 6-1, already have 10 triples as a team, but no one player has more than two. Smith-Wills is a big yard, but still ... this is an amazing stat. The Blazers don't appear to be a team of blazers, and yet BU has more triples than doubles (nine) or stolen bases (eight). And one of the team's fastest players, Anthony Doss (DNP today with some kind of wrist injury), doesn't even have a triple yet. Weird, wild stuff.
P.S. Here's a weird, wild idea: What if the Mississippi Braves were to hold a Retro Night ... at Smith-Wills? They could wear the old Jackson Generals uniforms, perhaps play the new Jackson Generals, the Southern League club in Tennessee. Or they could don Jackson Senators garb; the Braves once had a minor league club in Jackson that used the nickname before the independent team came along. Such a game would be well-attended. Absolutely. Of course, it'll never happen. But it sure would be fun.

keeping watch

There are 29 Mississippi Braves alumni in camp with the Atlanta Braves — 22 on the 40-man roster and seven others there as official non-roster invitees. Among the 29 are several who haven't yet played in a major league game, including Matt Young, Erik Cordier, Cory Gearrin and Mycal Jones. The next M-Braves alum to crash The Show will be the 49th to do so since the Double-A club moved to Pearl in 2005. Of course, the next one might not currently be in Atlanta's camp. Left-hander Scott Diamond, a Rule 5 pick by Minnesota in December, might have a real shot at making the Twins' club out of spring training. He showed good stuff and poise during his time in Mississippi. And then there's this darkhorse candidate: outfielder Yasser Gomez. The Cuban defector, signed by Atlanta last year, played 38 games for the M-Braves in 2010. Batting leadoff at times (mostly after Antoan Richardson's late promotion) and playing left field, the 30-year-old Gomez hit .323 with three doubles and nine RBIs. He's solid in the field, runs well and knows how to play the game. He was a star in his native country, and you could tell when you watched him. There's a fair chance Atlanta will be looking for a left fielder and possibly a leadoff batter, as well, early on this season. Gomez, who should get into some big league spring games, might get an opportunity in the ATL. It's something to watch for.

home sweet home

Jones County Junior College lost its debut in its new home last week, but that doesn't appear to have been an omen. The Bobcats have won four straight since at the $2.8 million Community Bank Park in Ellisville. And there seemed to be some home-field magic at work on Tuesday, when JCJC beat Faulkner (Ala.) State with a run in the bottom of the ninth (extra innings) in Game 1 and with a run in the bottom of the seventh in Game 2. Jones went 38-12 last season and won the MACJC South Division while playing essentially nothing but road games. With a brand new house to protect, expect the Bobcats to be a factor in the MACJC again this spring.
P.S. Hinds CC and Pearl River CC opened the season with doubleheader sweeps on Tuesday. Nationally ranked Hinds got solid pitching from Division I transfers Chase Wroten (Southern Miss) and Cullen Babin (Nicholls State) in beating Baton Rouge. Josh Hoffpauir, a former Southern Miss and Jackson Senators standout, got a nice launch to his coaching career at Pearl River as the Wildcats took two from Bishop (Ala.) State.

fresh start

Phillip Wellman will serve as a hitting coach at the Double-A level this season, but it won't be long before the former Mississippi Braves manager is running a club again. Wellman, who was not retained after four years at the helm of the M-Braves, will work for the St. Louis Cardinals' Springfield, Mo., team in the Texas League in 2011. Wellman was the M-Braves' hitting coach in 2005 under Brian Snitker and in 2006 under Jeff Blauser. He did a fine job in that role, but he seemed much better suited for the captain's chair. He won two division titles and a Southern League crown as the Mississippi manager and, more importantly, helped send a ton of players to the big leagues. The reason he was not retained by Atlanta has never been made public — it had nothing to do with his infamous blow-up in Chattanooga in 2007 — but Wellman indicated near the end of the 2010 season that he might need a fresh start somewhere else. He'd spent a lot of years in the Southern League. There's little doubt he'd make a good major league manager; he's just got to get his foot in the door at that level, possibly as a hitting coach. Maybe it'll happen with St. Louis. Too bad it won't happen with the Braves.

going green

Delta State, a team on a mission in 2011, is off to a 3-0 start. And there's more good news for the Statesmen, who have missed the NCAA Division II postseason the last two years: Kellen Bozeman appears to be back in form. Bozeman is hitting .364 with eight RBIs in the three games to date. The DSU first baseman missed last season with an injury after hitting .350 with 11 homers and 57 RBIs in 2009. The Statesmen went 34-16-1 last season, a more-than-respectable mark. But they went 2-and-out at home in the Gulf South Conference Tournament and didn't get a regional invitation. It was a bitter end for this proud program. You can bet the Statesmen are aching to get back on the postseason track this spring. With Bozeman, preseason All-GSC pick Michael Niemann (.310, 26 stolen bases in 2010) and Michael Vinson (.363, 48 RBIs as a freshman last year) leading the way, they certainly have that potential.
P.S. Former DSU pitcher Dusty Hughes goes on the list of Mississippians changing pro clubs this year. The left-handed reliever, who posted a 3.83 ERA with Kansas City in 2010, was claimed on waivers by Minnesota late last month. That's a move up for Hughes. The Twins will contend again in the American League Central; the Royals don't figure to do so.

fly boys

Mycal Jones, penciled in as the Mississippi Braves’ second baseman for 2011, might be playing a new position when he arrives in Pearl in April. The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Jones, who is going to big league camp this month, will get a “look-see” in center field, Atlanta farm director Kurt Kemp said in an interview this week. Kemp said Jones played outfield as an amateur and has the speed and instincts scouts look for in a center fielder. Other candidates for the 2011 M-Braves outfield include Antoan Richardson, L.V. Ware and Cory Harrilchak, all natural center fielders. “That would be a real jackrabbit outfield,” Kemp said. At spacious Trustmark Park, where several top prospects will be pitching this season, that’s the kind of outfield you’d want. Jones also showed good power last season, belting 15 homers during his tour of three levels of the Atlanta system. The ultra-swift Richardson, a standout for the 2010 M-Braves, may well stick with Triple-A Gwinnett this season, but Ware and Harrilchak figure to be with the Double-A club. Ware made a cameo with Mississippi last season, while Harrilchak played at Class A Rome (.306) and Myrtle Beach (.269) and then had a strong stint in the Arizona Fall League. Kemp said Harrilchak, a lefty, can play right field or left. The crowd of outfielders contending for jobs at Gwinnett might push off-season signee Beau Torbert, an independent league star in 2010, to the Mississippi roster. Torbert, who’ll be 27 in May, hit .394 with 24 homers in the American Association.
P.S. Curious to see where Jordan Schafer lands this season. The talented but star-crossed outfielder reportedly is healthy and will get a shot with the big league Braves this spring. But he hit just .201 in Triple-A last season and a miserable .175 in 18 games with the M-Braves before his wrist ailments sidelined him. It wouldn’t be a shock to see Schafer, also a center fielder by trade, back in Double-A trying to restore his swing and his confidence.

sigh

The first scheduled Maloney Trophy Series game has lost out to the weather. The approaching winter storm forced the cancellation of today's Millsaps-Belhaven game at Smith-Wills Stadium; no word yet on whether the game might be rescheduled. It would have been a good opener to the popular small college series. Belhaven, nationally ranked in NAIA, is off to a 3-0 start. NCAA Division III Millsaps won its first two games on Sunday. The Majors' Will Hawkins was named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference player of the week after getting five hits (including a home run) and seven RBIs in those two games. Hawkins, a senior from Nettleton, was a D-III All-America pick in football last fall and rates attention as a Ferriss Trophy candidate this season. He hit .353 with four homers and 40 RBIs in 2010.
P.S. Pulled from a pack of 2010 Bowman cards: a Drew Pomeranz first-year card. Could be worth something someday. The former Ole Miss star was the Cleveland Indians' first-round pick back in June.

totally random, vol. 9

Today's subject: Marshall Bridges. The Jackson native, nicknamed "Sheriff," had one truly outstanding season in the majors. In 1962, the left-hander won eight games and saved 18 for the pennant-winning New York Yankees; he got a World Series ring, too, though he allowed a grand slam in one of his two brief appearances against San Francisco. His career began in the waning days of the Negro Leagues, and he made it to the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1959. He pitched parts of seven years (206 appearances) with four clubs in The Show, posting a career ERA of 3.75. There's an interesting footnote — isn't there always? — to Bridges' career. In the winter of 1963, after his brilliant season with the Yankees, he was shot in the leg, reportedly during a dispute with a woman in a Florida bar. He recovered, but his career took a downturn. Bridges worked maintenance at the State Capitol Building in Jackson before his death in 1990.

off and running

Belhaven got its season off to a nice start on a cold Saturday, sweeping newbie Blue Mountain 9-0 and 10-0 at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Blazers got good pitching from starters Brett Blaise and Allen Johnson, but perhaps the most notable performance was delivered by Anthony Doss. The Southern Miss transfer, making his Blazers debut, went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI in each game. Doss, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound outfielder who played high school ball at Northwest Rankin, may help the Blazers replace some of the thump they lost with the departure of Craig Dean and Timmy Foster from last year's NAIA World Series club. ... For the record, Dustin Lunn got the historic first hit (in the first inning) for Blue Mountain.

bat-tle lines

College baseball will change this season, probably for the better — though there are those who disagree. New bats are in play. The bats are still metal but they'll perform more like wood than before. It's a major change, from all accounts. "It'll be a different ball game," said Mississippi College coach Brian Owens. What you're likely to see are fewer home runs and cheap hits. Owens said you'll also see fewer runners scoring from first base on hits in the gaps, because the ball isn't going to carry off the new bats like it did off the old ones. The first major change in bat standards occurred in 1999, and it made the college game better. Safety, of course, was the prime motivation behind both changes, but the by-product of this latest one, especially, is that more of a premium will be placed on pitching, defense and strategy. That's a good thing, even if scoring is down. It's not just offense that makes baseball so much fun to watch.

history

In recognition of Black History Month, and in honor of the many Mississippians who played in pro ball’s pre-integration era, here’s an All-Negro Leagues team of Magnolia State natives: Rufus Lewis (Hattiesburg), pitcher; Sam Hairston (Crawford), catcher; Bob Boyd (Potts Camp), first base; Sherwood Brewer (Clarksdale), second base; Howard Easterling (Mount Olive), third base; Buddy Armour (Jackson), shortstop; Bill Hoskins (Charleston), left field; Cool Papa Bell (Starkville) center field; and Luke Easter (Jonestown), right field. In reserve, there’s outfielder Bubba Hyde (Pontotoc), pitcher/outfielder Dave Hoskins (Greenwood), outfielder Lacey Thomas (Meridian) and first baseman Henry McCall (Hattiesburg). This is a darn good bunch. Bell is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, of course, as a special electee. (William Foster, one of the greatest Negro Leagues pitchers, is there also and rates special mention here. He wasn’t born in Mississippi but grew up in the Lorman area and later coached and served as a dean at Alcorn State.) Easter — a legendary home run hitter — Boyd, Hairston and Dave Hoskins all got to the major leagues. Easterling was a perennial Negro Leagues All-Star, and Lewis was the ace of the Newark Eagles’ championship club in 1946.