Baseball: How are Pensacola area players fairing in the MLB, minors?

Several Pensacola area baseball players are making their rounds in the MLB and Minor League Baseball.

One area standout, Brandon Sproat, who graduated from Pace High School in 2019, was drafted in the second round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the New York Mets with the 56th overall pick. He signed his contract on July 14 at the full pick value, north of $1.47 million.

Sproat has yet to see any action with the Mets or its minor league affiliates.

Sproat Drafted Pace's Brandon Sproat selected by New York Mets in 2023 draft

T.J. McCants Transfers T.J. McCants commits to SEC rival Alabama

Here’s a roundup of other area baseball players who either made it to The Show, or are trying to get there. All stats and notes are prior to games on July 27.

Ben Lively (Gulf Breeze)

A fourth-round pick in 2013, Ben Lively finds himself back with the team that drafted him: the Cincinnati Reds.

The Gulf Breeze native is in the starting rotation with the Reds, having last pitched on Wednesday against the Milwaukee Brewers. He threw 6 2/3 innings against Milwaukee, allowing eight hits and two earned runs while striking out three batters. The Brewers won 3-0.

Lively has a 4-6 record after the loss on Wednesday with 13 appearances. He’s recorded 67 innings on the mound with 62 strikeouts, allowing 64 hits, 28 earned runs and 13 home runs.

Lively finally made his MLB debut in 2017 with the Philadelphia Phillies after bouncing around with a few different minor league teams – including the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, when they were the Double-A affiliate of the Reds. He made 13 appearances for the Blue Wahoos in 2014.

Lively signed a pair of minor-league contracts with the Reds, playing with Triple-A Louisville earlier this season before his contract was activated to the pros.

The Reds are second in the National League Central division with a 56-48 record after falling to the Brewers on Wednesday. Cincinnati sits 1.5 games below the Brewers.

Walter Ford (Pace)

Pace’s Walter Ford – otherwise known as the “Vanilla Missile” is putting his best foot forward with the ACL Mariners, the Rookie League affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, in the Arizona Complex League.

Ford was taken with the 74th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft by the Mariners, which was part of the Competitive Balance Round B toward the end of the second round. He was initially committed to play for the University of Alabama, but opted to go pro instead.

Ford was drafted right out of high school after a 10-2 record his senior year in 2022. In 70 1/3 innings of work, he struck out 126 batters and led the Patriots to a Class 6A state championship runner-up finish.

In six appearances with the ACL Mariners, Lively has pitched a total of 13 2/3 innings with 15 strikeouts, allowing 14 hits, six runs (four earned) and six walks. He has a 2.63 earned-run average.

In Ford’s last outing on July 22, Ford threw three innings, allowing four hits, one earned one and one walk. He struck out three batters in the process.

Ford signed a contract with Seattle for $1.25 million – a little more than $400,000 above the pick’s value – in 2022.

Jayvhon Blackmon (Escambia)

Another draft pick straight out of high school, Jayvhon “JoJo” Blackmon was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 2021 draft with the 314th overall pick in the 11th round. He inked a contract worth $250,000 – enough to forego his commitment to the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Blackmon spent a couple years with the ACL Rangers of the Arizona Complex League, the Rookie League affiliate of the Rangers, before being promoted to Texas’ Single-A affiliate, the Down East Wood Ducks, during the 2022 season.

Still with the Wood Ducks, located in Kinston, North Carolina, Blackmon – who has spent a majority of his time in center field – played in 65 games with a .178 average. He has 39 hits, 26 runs, 24 runs batted in and 39 home runs.

In his last game on July 23, Blackmon went 2-for-5 at the plate, notching two singles.

While at Escambia, where he was a two-sport athlete in football and baseball, Blackmon posted a .419 batting average his senior year with 21 runs batted in and four home runs.

Branden Fryman (Tate)

Brandon Sproat isn’t the only area player within the Mets’ organization. Branden Fryman, who played at Tate High School before playing for three seasons at Samford University, was drafted by the Mets in 2019 with the 628th overall pick in the 21st round.

Fryman – a cousin of Jadon Fryman, who currently plays at the University of West Florida, and the son of Travis Fryman, who played in the MLB for 12 years – has been splitting time between the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, the Double-A affiliate of the Mets, and the Syracuse Mets, the Triple-A affiliate.

A majority of the 2023 season has been with Binghamton, where he’s played 43 games with a .225 batting average, notching 34 hits, 17 runs, 11 runs batted in and two home runs. He was on a 12-game hit streak from June 20 to July 6.

Branden was elevated to Syracuse on Sunday.

At Tate, Fryman had a .361 batting average over the course of three seasons. He had 83 hits with 30 runs batted in and a home run. In a trio of campaigns at Samford, Fryman posted a .290 batting average with 212 hits, 83 runs batted in and six home runs.

Brandon Lockridge (Pensacola Catholic)

Brandon Lockridge has been with the other Big Apple organization, the New York Yankees, since he was drafted in 2018. The Catholic alum went to Troy for three years before being drafted by the Bronx Bombers with the 157th overall pick in the fifth round.

He signed a contract with a signing bonus of $297,500 that year and jumped around a few teams for the first few seasons. Lockridge worked his way up to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season, where he’s been for all of July and most of June.

Earlier in the year, Lockridge was with Double-A Somerset.

In 27 games with the RailRiders, Lockridge has a .279 batting average with 24 hits, five runs batted in and a home run. He made 11 appearances with the Yankees in spring training before being reassigned to Somerset.

While at Catholic, he played for the Crusaders’ varsity squad for three years. He finished with a career .367 batting average (with an astounding .402 is senior season) with 84 hits, 26 runs batted in and three home runs. All three of the homers were in his senior campaign.

At Troy, his offensive prowess continued with a career .306 batting average, notching 219 hits, 101 runs batted in and 12 home runs.

Jordan McCants (Pensacola Catholic)

Foregoing a commitment to Mississippi State, Pensacola Catholic alum Jordan McCants inked a deal with the Miami Marlins in 2021. Miami selected McCants with the 88th overall pick in the 2021 MLB draft in the third round with a signing bonus of $800,000 – more than $120,000 over the slot value of the pick.

Now, McCants is playing with Single-A Jupiter in the Marlins’ organization. After two years with the Florida Complex League Marlins, the organization’s Rookie League affiliate, McCants has a .238 batting average with the Hammerheads.

In 75 games, McCants has 68 hits, 24 runs batted in and two home runs. During the Hammerheads’ doubleheader against Clearwater on Wednesday, McCants scored a run in the first game and recorded a single in the second contest.

It’s possible, depending on assignments, McCants could return home to play with the Blue Wahoos – the Double-A affiliate of the Marlins.

In McCants’ four-year run with the Crusaders, he posted a .392 batting average with 120 hits, 68 runs batted in and seven home runs. He was named the PNJ Baseball Player of the Year in 2021 after his senior season.

McCants is the younger brother of T.J. McCants, another Crusader alum, who is still playing college baseball. T.J. won the 2022 College World Series with Ole Miss, but announced his commitment to transfer to the University of Alabama earlier in July.

Josh Donaldson

Josh Donaldson was born in Pensacola and played his sophomore year at Pace High School before he transferred to Faith Academy in Mobile, Alabama. He graduated from Faith Academy before going to Auburn University.

Following three seasons at Auburn, Donaldson was drafted in the first round of the 2007 MLB draft by the Chicago Cubs with the 48th overall pick. He spent a few years in theminors before making his MLB debut in 2010 with the Oakland Athletics. He jumped around several jumps before signing with the New York Yankees in 2022, where he currently is.

Donaldson was played on the 60-day injured list by New York on July 20. It was reported he could miss the remainder of the 2023 season with his injury – a right calf strain. He made 34 appearances this season with 15 hits, 15 runs batted in and 10 home runs.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola baseball players in the MLB, minor leagues