early birds

Ole Miss got a very good start on recruiting for its 2013 team, signing three players who ranked in the top 22 on Baseball America's list of the top 100 high school prospects for the 2012 pro draft. Catcher Stryker Trahan, from Lafayette, La., ranks No. 5; shortstop Gavin Cecchini, from Lake Charles, La., No. 8; and right-hander Ty Hensley, from Edmond, Okla., No. 22. The early signing period for college baseball began Nov. 9 and ended today. Southern Miss has announced the signing of four pitchers, including 6-foot-6 junior college right-hander Sean Buchholz and Trinity Episcopal star Jake Winston. Mississippi State hasn't released any signees yet, but Itawamba Community College announced that catcher Zack Randolph, from Amory, has inked with the Bulldogs for 2013.
P.S. Somebody with the NAIA really loves baseball. Basketball season has only just began, but already the NAIA has released its preseason baseball poll. Belhaven, defending Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament champion, will open at No. 15. The Blazers went 45-18 last season, and coach Hill Denson reloaded with a strong recruiting class. BU really is a team to watch in 2012.

kudos for kimbrel

Former Mississippi Braves pitcher Craig Kimbrel was named National League rookie of the year today, becoming the second former JADAP to win the top rookie honor. Darryl Strawberry, a Jackson Mets alumnus, is the other onetime Jackson area Double-A player with an ROY award, winning it in 1983 with the New York Mets. Kimbrel, just 23, posted 46 saves, a rookie record, for Atlanta to go with a 2.10 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 77 innings. His sensational season was tarnished a bit by three blown saves in September, when Atlanta coughed up the NL wild card lead and missed the playoffs. But Kimbrel's overall brilliance made him a well-deserved winner; he was, in fact, a unanimous pick. He pitched for the M-Braves in 2009, the year he played at four levels in Atlanta's system. He had six saves, a 0.77 ERA, a 2-1 record and 17 K's in 11 2/3 innings in his brief time in Pearl.
P.S. On the subject of closers, Philadelphia has formally signed Mississippi State product Jonathan Papelbon to a 4-year, $50 million free agent contract. Papelbon has 219 career saves and has converted 88.3 percent of his opportunities, one of the best ratios in history. And yet, success can be fleeting for closers. Papelbon's career ERA is 2.33, but the last two seasons it was 3.90 and 2.94. That might be cause for some concern. Like Boston, where Papelbon spent the first six years of his big league career, Philly can be a tough place to play if you start to struggle.

where have you gone ...

He originally signed with Atlanta out of New Mexico in 2004 and had spent his entire career in the Braves' organization, including parts of four seasons with the Mississippi Braves. Now, alas, Matt Young has moved on. The 5-foot-8 outfielder, who deserves a spot on the all-time M-Braves club, signed with Detroit as a minor league free agent. Young got into 20 big league games this past season but spent most of the last two years at Triple-A Gwinnett. He helped the M-Braves win the 2008 Southern League championship and batted .289 with 42 stolen bases for the Double-A club in '09, his last season in Pearl. He is currently playing for Navojoa in the Mexican Pacific League. Young has major league speed, and he plays as hard as anyone. It's unlikely he'll ever be a big league regular, but perhaps he'll have a better shot at making the Tigers as a utility outfielder than he had in Atlanta.

play on

Hattiesburg native John Lindsey, fast approaching 35, is playing in the Venezuelan Winter League. He is 2-for-8 with two RBIs in two games for Caracas. Lindsey, who got the long-awaited call to the big leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2010, spent all of the 2011 season at Triple-A Albuquerque, batting .309 with 13 home runs. Lindsey's powers of perseverance are remarkable.
P.S. Joey Gathright, another Hattiesburg native, is a free agent again after spending a brief time with the Boston Red Sox at the tail end of this past season. ... Billy Hamilton, the Taylorsville tornado, stole two bases in his Puerto Rican Winter League debut last week and is 3-for-12 in three games for Ponce.

heads up

Former Southern Miss standout Brian Dozier will play in the Arizona Fall League's Rising Stars Game on Saturday. The game — a sort of all-star game for all-stars — will air at 7:10 p.m. on MLB Network. Joining Minnesota Twins prospect Dozier in the game will be former Mississippi Braves pitcher J.J. Hoover and future M-Braves Joey Terdoslavich and Christian Bethancourt. Uber-prospect Bryce Hunter (Washington) is in the game, too.
P.S. Chris Maloney, the Jackson native and Mississippi State product, has a big strike against him in his bid to land the St. Louis Cardinals manager job. As his career .520 winning percentage as a minor league manager attests, Maloney knows how to run a game. But he didn't play in the big leagues — A-ball was as high as he got — and he's never coached at the top level, either. That makes it tough, especially with the likes of Terry Francona — a two-time World Series champion manager — also in the running.

the envelope, please

Jonathan Papelbon posted 31 saves in 34 opportunities, a 2.94 ERA and a 4-1 record. Cheers. But the saves (and chances) were the fewest of his six-year career, and the former Mississippi State standout’s team, the Boston Red Sox, collapsed at season’s end and missed the playoffs. Boo. Seth Smith upped his average some 40 points from 2010, batting .284. The Ole Miss product also hit 15 homers, rapped 32 doubles, drove in 59 runs, scored 67 and stole 10 bases. Cheers. Yet his homer total actually slipped, despite more at-bats, from last season, and his team, the Colorado Rockies, was a disappointing also-ran in the National League West. Boo. Mitch Moreland batted .259 with 16 homers and 51 RBIs for a club, the Texas Rangers, that did make the postseason. Cheers. But the MSU alum was less productive than he was in his rookie season; his on-base percentage, slugging percentage and home runs per at-bats ratio dropped from 2010. Boo. That brings us to Cliff Lee, the former Meridian Community College ace. Lee went 17-8 with a 2.48 ERA. He posted six shutouts. He struck out 238 batters in 232 2/3 innings and walked just 42. He was the No. 2 starter on a team, the Philadelphia Phillies, that had the best record in the National League. Cheers. And more cheers: Lee is the winner of the 2011 Cool Papa Bell Award, given here to the Mississippi-connected player (native or college alum) judged to have had the best season in The Show. Chris Coghlan (Ole Miss) and Roy Oswalt (Holmes CC) won the first two Bell awards.
P.S. Papelbon heads the list of Mississippians on the free agent market. He is joined by Oswalt, MSU product Paul Maholm, Nettleton’s Bill Hall, Gulf Coast CC alum Fred Lewis and ex-Ole Miss star Matt Tolbert. Marcus Thames, out of East Central CC, who reportedly signed a minor league deal with the New York Yankees late last season, also is listed as a free agent on the mlb.com chart. Former Jackson Generals Freddy Garcia, Ramon Castro and Carlos Guillen are also looking for jobs.

rising stars

Andrelton Simmons, likely to be the Mississippi Braves' shortstop next season, rose to No. 4 on the Atlanta Braves' top prospects list (as compiled by Baseball America). Simmons was also rated the best defensive infielder and best infield arm in the system in 2011. Right-hander Zeke Spruill checks in at No. 8; he went 3-2 with a 3.20 ERA for the M-Braves after a late-season promotion from Class A Lynchburg, where he was 7-9, 3.19. Spruill should be back in Pearl, potentially as the No. 1 starter. Catcher Christian Bethancourt was rated No. 9, and he probably will make his Double-A debut in 2012. Jumping in at No. 5 is lefty Sean Gilmartin, the Braves' top draft pick last June. There's no reason for Atlanta to rush Gilmartin considering all the quality arms in the upper levels of the system, but he still might make it to Pearl in 2012. Mike Minor, another college-tested lefty, opened in Double-A a year after being drafted in the first round. Also of note: Joey Terdoslavich was rated the top power hitter in the system and Todd Cunningham the best defensive outfielder. Both are candidates for Mississippi's club next season.
P.S. Props to former M-Braves catcher and current Atlanta star Brian McCann, who won another National League Silver Slugger award. McCann actually had an off-year, batting .270 with 24 homers and 71 RBIs, but he was still the best overall hitter in Atlanta's lineup.