A noteload on home-grown players: The long road of perseverance continues to pay off for former Forrest High School and Vanderbilt University pitcher Mike Minor. He learned this week he will be the starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers when they face the Chicago Cubs on Opening Day […]
Chicago Cubs left fielder and former Tennessee Smokies star Kyle Schwarber is not a big fan of a robot calling balls and strikes. Baseball is weighing the idea of letting technology develop an electronic strike zone, which would take the human decision-making out of balls and strikes. Schwarber […]
A slew of former Memphis Redbirds are making the St. Louis starting rotation look promising, but first here’s a quick quiz. What pitcher who came from Japan to Major League Baseball chalked up 18 victories in the big leagues last season? Shohei Ohtani? Nope. Masahiro Tanaka? Nope. The […]
Former Vanderbilt pitcher David Price has always wanted the baseball. Even when the home-plate umpire is shaken up, a pitcher has to stay loose, right? That was the case when this moment occurred on July 4, 2015 in Detroit during Price’s stay with the Tigers. Home-plate umpire Andy […]
With investor John Loar heading an effort to bring Major League Baseball to Nashville, it’s timely to point out that Nashville, believe it or not, once simply said no to an MLB franchise. When Phil Bredesen was mayor of Nashville, he was approached by a big-league baseball team […]
Although he first played professionally in the Venezuela Summer League at age 17, second baseman Jose Altuve, the 2017 American League Most Valuable Player, made his first appearance in the United States in Greeneville, Tenn. Greeneville is one of the best kept secrets of professional baseball in the […]
The Texas Rangers have a lot more Tennessee in them this season at both the major league and minor league levels. Former Austin Peay hurler Shawn Kelley signed a one-year contract with the club and is expected to be part of the bullpen. He’ll receive $2.5 million, according […]
Chattanooga Lookouts fans had to believe they were looking at future big-league superstars. There was no reason to think otherwise. Byron Buxton, from Appling County High School in Georgia, had been ranked baseball’s overall best prospect in 2014 by Baseball America. Miguel Sano, who had signed as a […]
No sooner had the anouncement been made about Bryce Harper’s 13-year, $330 million contract than calls were already out about who might be next to get the big numbers, and former Overton High School star Mookie Betts was among the first to be mentioned. Bob Nightengale, writing for […]
It started with a smile for Sonny Gray to be a Yankee. It was July 31, 2017, when the Yankees announced they had obtained Gray, sending outfielder Dustin Fowler, pitcher James Kaprielian and outfielder Jorge Mateo to the Oakland Athletics for the former Smyna High School and Vanderbilt […]