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Baseball America
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
Two days after a frustrating loss at Mississippi State, Matt Snyder and Bobby Wahl were in high spirits and relaxed, cracking jokes on the field at Trustmark Park, where Mississippi had just shut out Southern Mississippi 3-0. Ole Miss isn’t the type of team that is going to pout and fall into a prolonged funk after a dispiriting loss such as Sunday’s in Starkville, when the Rebels out-hit the Bulldogs 8-2 but found a way to lose 4-2, dropping their third series in the last four weeks.
Posted by baseballamerica
Baseball America
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
Triple-A fans looking a new major league affiliate to come to town next season may not want to throw out their old gear just yet. Chances are it’s not happening.
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Baseball America
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
Casey Weathers doesn’t want to be the proof that not all Tommy John surgery’s work out. If everything goes the way Weathers hopes, he’ll be pitching meaningful innings for the Chicago Cubs before long, proving once again that given time and innings, elbow ligament replacement allows a pitcher to get back to where he was before the injury.
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Baseball America
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
James Bailey’s new novel, “The Greatest Show on Dirt,” is packed with fascinating details on life in the old D.A.P. Those were the heady years after the film “Bull Durham” made the park a destination for baseball fans, and before the team moved to its new upscale digs. The novel depicts one crazy summer in the life of Lane Hamilton, an N.C. State grad who takes a job with the Bulls after getting fired from his going-nowhere sales job at a downtown bank. Bailey, now a contributing writer for Durham-based “Baseball America” magazine and editor with a legal publishing company in Syracuse, NY, released his self-published novel earlier this spring. He recently spoke about life at the old Durham ballpark and the joys of minor league baseball.
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Baseball America
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
In some ways, it’s easy to picture Heath Hembree closing games for the San Francisco Giants. Hembree possesses the requisite mid-90s fastball with explosive, late movement. He’s got the vanishing slider. On the mound he looks calm and composed. In other ways, though, the image of Hembree as Giants closer doesn’t quite fit.
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Baseball America
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
John Manuel and Nathan Rode answered readers’ draft questions on May 2.
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Baseball America
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
R.A. Dickey, like virtually every big league knuckleballer, turned to the pitch as a last resort, only after all other options for being a viable big leaguer failed. Jackson State righthander Quintavious Drains throws the knuckleball for a different reason, though. The senior hopes the knuckleball eventually can be a consistent part of his repertoire as a change-of-pace pitch, to help him honor the memory of Darrin Brooks, his friend who introduced him to the pitch.
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Baseball America
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
Another Opening Day in the independent minor leagues has arrived. We’re about to celebrate two decades of the modern independent movement, and two decades of trying to figure out exactly what to make of indy ball.
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Baseball America
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
The six-man rotation is quickly becoming a common occurrence in the lower levels of the minors.
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Baseball America
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
Scouting reports on five pitchers gaining draft buzz—Mississippi State righthander Chris Stratton, Kentucky prep righthander Walker Buehler, California prep righthander James Kaprielian, Pennsylvania prep pitcher Jared Price and Washington prep righthander Mitchell Gueller.
