Happy Minor League Opening Day! We thought we’d take some time to pull together some facts for fans that may want to try one of the Braves minor league affiliates, especially with the new low-A team in Augusta, Georgia. Today is Atlanta’s farthest flung outpost, the AA Mississippi Braves
AA Mississippi
Welcome to Mississippi!
When entering the state of Mississippi, the roadside signs read ‘Birthplace of America’s Music’, but the best music of all can be heard at Trustmark Park with the crack of the bats and the strains of John Fogerty’s ‘Centerfield’ playing over the PA system.
Over the years, the AA level has been the real proving ground for top prospects. Players that move on to AAA are expected to be in the majors at some point, so AA is the dividing line between prospect and suspect.
Stadium
Address: 1 Braves Way, Pearl, MS 39208-7036
The Mississippi Braves are a Double-A South League team that has been playing at Trustmark Mark in Pearl, Mississippi since 2005. Pearl is located just east of the state capitol of Jackson off of Interstate 20 with the park being accessible from either exit 47 (Flowood) or 48 (Pearson Road).
Trustmark Park, which boasts a capacity of nearly 8,500, has dimensions of 335’ to left, 380’ to left-center, 402’ to dead center, 385’ to right-center and 332’ to right. Although the park doesn’t seem particularly large, home runs are notoriously difficult to come by in one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in all of minor-league baseball. This is primarily due to the oppressive heat and humidity that comes along with being located just east of the Mississippi River. If a hitter takes a pitch out of Trustmark, rest assured that it is well-earned.
Food
There are also numerous food selections with the usual ballpark favorites like hot dogs, peanuts and Cracker Jack, but also specialty stands like “Hammer’s Grill”, which serves up “Churgers” (beef patty/grilled chicken/pepper jack cheese) and “Chompers” (beef patty/sliced bologna/pepper jack cheese/cole slaw), the Southern Comfort/Hickory Stand which has BBQ along with fried favorites like catfish baskets, fried green tomatoes, fried okra, and “Frenchy’s Fried Tater Bar”, a salute to former M-Brave Jeff Francoeur, which serves up french fries, tater tots, and waffle fries with numerous available toppings.
Tickets
Tickets for M-Braves games range from $5 to $25 with free parking and a Family Fun Zone for the kids that has an inflatable slide and numerous interactive games. Rainouts tend to be infrequent as the field has the capacity to drain 8 to 10 inches of rain in an hour.
The Area
For out-of-town visitors, there are numerous hotels, restaurants and a movie theater within seconds of the ballpark and for those wanting to kill time before a night game, there is a Bass Pro Shops location and the Outlets of Mississippi outdoor outlet mall directly across the street within easy walking distance of Trustmark Park.
The gates open an hour before game time, so be sure to browse the Extra Innings Store for Mississippi and Atlanta Braves merchandise and look over the wall of Braves on the third-base side that has a plate for every M-Brave that has reached Atlanta and the year in which they did so.
Coaching Staff
The M-Braves will be led on the field by manager Wyatt Toregas, recently the manager of the high-A Bradenton Pirates. Toregas was an 8-season minor league catcher, getting cups of coffee with Cleveland and Pittsburgh. This will be Toregas’s 10th season coaching and his fifth season managing.
Pitching coach Dan Meyer moves up the ladder from high-A. The former first-rounder by Atlanta in 2002 out of James Madison University, Meyer pitched fiver years in the big leagues, debuting with Atlanta in 2004 before being the key piece in the trade with Oakland that brought Tim Hudson to Atlanta. Meyer has been back in the Braves organization since 2015, serving as a pitching rehab coordinator, and pitching coach with Rome and high-A Florida.
Hitting coach Einar Diaz has been coaching since retiring from playing after the 2007 season. Diaz served as assistant hitting coach with the Baltimore Orioles for five seasons before joining the Gwinnett Stripers field staff in 2019. This will be Diaz’s first year with Mississippi.
Former Toronto Blue Jay Devon Travis will begin his minor league coaching career this year as the bench coach for Mississippi.
The Players
To start the season, the Mississippi roster will have the highest concentration of top Braves prospects of any affiliate.
The position players will feature outfielders Trey Harris and Justin Dean. The first-round picks from 2019, Shea Langeliers and Braden Shewmake, will man the catcher and shortstop positions respectively while 2018 2nd-rounder Greyson Jenista will man first. It should be a high-octane offense that can beat teams in multiple ways.
The rotation will be filled with lesser-known but hungry talents like Nolan Kingham, Odalvi Javier, Hayden Deal, and Mitch Stallings, a group that will be looking to build off of a strong 2019 campaign. It will also feature fireballer Victor Vodnik, who perhaps got the biggest challenge assignment in the organization as he attempts to jump two levels and go from relieving to starting.
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