one step back

The Atlanta Braves may finally have acknowledged that Joey Terdoslavich was out of his element in Triple-A. The infield prospect was sent to the Double-A Mississippi Braves today, shortly after Atlanta acquired veteran infielder Ruben Gotay from Toronto and assigned him to Gwinnett. Terdoslavich, 23, who jumped over Double-A to start this season, was batting .181 with four homers and 20 RBIs at Gwinnett. He also had 22 errors at third base. Playing mostly first base last year at Class A Lynchburg, Terdoslavich batted .286 with 52 doubles, 20 homers and 82 RBIs. He was named the Braves’ minor league player of the year and climbed the prospect charts. It’ll be interesting to see where Terdoslavich plays with the M-Braves, who have a solid third baseman in Joe Leonard and a veteran slugger at first in Ian Gac. The M-Braves are at Huntsville tonight.

a tongue lashing

Jonathan Papelbon took the loss for Philadelphia on Monday night and then went off on the home-plate umpire postgame. The former Mississippi State standout was upset about a potential third strike that wasn’t called in the ninth inning of a tie game; the batter, Los Angeles’ Dee Gordon, then tripled and scored the go-ahead run on another hit. The umpire in question was a fill-in up from Triple-A, and Papelbon said he should be sent back down for not doing a good job. “There’s no room for that up here,” Papelbon told mlb.com. Papelbon is 15-for-15 in save opportunities with his new club but hasn’t pitched as well in non-save situations. After the 4-3 loss to L.A., his record is 0-2 and his ERA 2.31. P.S. Ole Miss product Seth Smith had a “Wendy’s Slam” for Oakland: a triple, a double and two singles. His four hits led the A’s 15-hit attack in a 12-1 win over Texas. Smith is hitting just .238 for his new club. … Minus their best player — Andrelton Simmons, now with Atlanta — the wheels are coming off for the Mississippi Braves. After a fifth straight loss on Monday, they are 24-34, worst record in the Southern League. Maybe they’re looking forward to wiping the slate clean for the second half on June 21. Maybe that’s it.

first in line

Mississippi State’s Chris Stratton was picked in the first round of the major league draft tonight, but he wasn’t the first from the state to be called. That honor belongs to D.J. Davis, an outfielder from Stone County High who was plucked by Toronto with the 17th overall pick. Stratton went to San Francisco three picks later. Davis was projected by some as a potential first-rounder, based on his speed and athleticism. He is a 6-foot, 170-pound left-handed hitter who reportedly needs some polish. Perhaps the Blue Jays see him as a better (if somewhat smaller) version of Fred Lewis, another Stone product who played for them in 2010 and is now in the New York Mets’ minor league system. P.S. Overheard on MLB Network’s broadcast of today’s St. Louis-New York Mets game: Ex-Cardinals star Keith Hernandez isn’t bothered at all by the fact that Jackson native Chris Maloney, in his first season as the Cards’ first-base coach, was given Hernandez’s old No. 37. Hernandez said he never had any real attachment to that number. He switched to No. 17 when he played for the Mets.

while we wait ...

Mississippi State ace Chris Stratton is expected to hear his name called tonight in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft. Otherwise, it’ll be all quiet on the Magnolia State front until the later rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday. Stratton, a right-hander from Tupelo, had a breakthrough junior season for the Bulldogs, helping them to an SEC championship and a regional appearance that ended Sunday in Tallahassee, Fla. Stratton went 11-2 with a 2.38 ERA and won the Ferriss Trophy as Mississippi’s top college player. Petal High’s Anthony Alford might have gotten some first-round consideration but has told MLB scouts he is firmly committed to playing football (and baseball) at Southern Miss. He’ll likely be picked but way down the line. It might be more interesting on this first day of the draft to look back at last year’s draft. The top pick from the state was infielder Connor Barron of Sumrall High. He went in the third round (No. 102 overall) to St. Louis but opted to play for USM, where he fared well until suffering a midseason shoulder injury. USM’s B.A. Vollmuth was called three selections after Barron and signed with Oakland. The third baseman is batting .252 with five homers and 38 RBIs in low Class A ball. Wheeler’s Brandon Woodruff, a fifth-round pick by Texas, enrolled at MSU and had some success as a freshman hurler. Senquez Golson from Pascagoula was drafted in the eighth round by Boston and received a large signing bonus offer. But he went to Ole Miss to play football and baseball. He contributed as a DB on the football field but did very little with the baseball team. UM’s Austin Wright (eighth round, Philadelphia) is 5-0 with a 3.61 ERA in low-A ball, possibly due for a promotion. MSU pitcher Devin Jones (ninth round, Baltimore) has a 2.51 ERA and two saves (plus an 0-3 record) in low-A ball. Curious is the case of last year’s Ferriss Trophy winner, Tyler Koelling of USM. The outfielder, a 19th-round selection by Minnesota, hit .228 with five homers in rookie ball last summer, then was released during the off-season by the Twins and is no longer playing.

the oswalt watch

Roy Oswalt reportedly touched 94 mph with his fastball and threw some of his famous loopy curveballs for strikes in a two-inning minor league outing on Saturday. The Weir resident and former Holmes Community College standout, signed by Texas last week, threw 34 pitches (20 for strikes), allowed three hits but yielded no runs for Triple-A Round Rock. Oswalt is expected to make three more minor league starts. Exactly when he might join the Rangers’ rotation is still up in the air, but he appears to be in good form. “I feel as healthy as ever,” Oswalt told the Austin American-Statesman. Oswalt had injury issues last season with Philadelphia, fueling speculation at one point that he might be done. … Also on the Round Rock roster but currently on the disabled list is Starkville native Julio Borbon. The outfielder has put up good numbers (.284, seven home runs, 40 steals) when given big-league opportunities, but Texas doesn’t seem to have room for him. Wouldn’t be surprising to see Borbon changing organizations in the near future.

rise of the okra

Six outs from elimination today in the NCAA Division II College World Series, Delta State was right where it wanted to be. Or so it seems. The Statesmen, who won five straight elimination games just to get to the CWS, rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the eighth inning to beat Minnesota State-Mankato 6-5 and earn a berth in the national championship game. DSU (49-14) will play West Chester at 6 p.m. on Saturday in Cary, N.C., in a one-game showdown for the crown. It would be the second national title for DSU and coach Mike Kinnison, who also won it all in 2004. Michael Vinson got the game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth, breaking a 5-5 tie. “I never give up on this team and they haven’t given up on me this entire season,” Kinnison said in a school release.

seeing stars

Don’t look now, but Jarrod Saltalamacchia might be headed to Kansas City as an American League All-Star. The Mississippi Braves alumnus (2006-07) hit his fifth home run in his last 11 games on Thursday night as Boston fell to Detroit. Saltalamacchia, 27, a switch-hitting catcher, is batting .281 with 10 homers and 24 RBIs for the year. While bouncing from Atlanta to Texas to Boston, “Salty” has been slow to develop. He entered this season penciled in as the Red Sox’s No. 1 catcher but with things to prove. He batted just .235 in 2011 (to go with 16 homers and 56 RBIs). His defense is solid enough, but that’s not why he’s in the lineup. Saltalamacchia needs to hit and hit with power. This season, with what he has said is a more focused approach at the plate, he’s doing that. Kansas City, here he comes? P.S. Former M-Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons is expected to make his big league debut for Atlanta tonight in Washington. … Ex-Itawamba Community College star Desmond Jennings started a rehab assignment Thursday night in A-ball and should return soon to Tampa Bay, which appears to need him. … Weir’s Roy Oswalt will launch his “comeback” with Texas’ Triple-A Round Rock club on Saturday. … If the New York Mets decide they need outfield help — and they just might — former Mississippi Gulf Coast CC standout Fred Lewis is batting .289 with 11 extra-base hits at Triple-A Buffalo.