Tag: steven williams

Moving on up: Ryan Bliss gets the call to join Triple-A Reno

The former Tiger shortstop hit .358 with 12 home runs in 68 games with the Double-A Amarillo Sod Poodles this season.

One of Auburn’s best infielders in recent history is continuing to climb up the minor league ranks.

Thursday, former Auburn shortstop [autotag]Ryan Bliss[/autotag] learned that he will be moving up in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization by advancing to Triple-A Reno after a successful campaign at Double-A Amarillo.

Bliss has been on a tear this season with the Amarillo Sod Poodles in the Texas League. In 68 games, Bliss hit .358 with 105 hits, 25 doubles, four triples, and 12 home runs. He sent home 47 runs and stole 30 bases.

With Bliss now being one step away from the show, Sports Illustrated sheds light on Bliss’ path to Arizona.

FanGraphs rates his total offensive output to be 62% better than the average Texas League hitter, with a 162 wRC+. The strong season has improved the likelihood his bat could play in the major leagues. Defensively he profiles best to play second due to a below-average arm, although he is blocked by Ketel Marte. Marte is signed through the 2026 season, so Bliss will need to be an above-average bat to take over at second long term.

Bliss spent three seasons on the Plains from 2019-21. He started all 134 games of his collegiate career, and posted a .328 average, with 176 hits, 20 home runs, 99 RBI, and 22 stolen bases. His junior season was his most productive, where he hit .365 with 14 doubles, 15 home runs, 45 RBI, and six stolen bases.

Bliss now joins a long list of former Tigers that currently compete in Triple-A, which includes [autotag]Keegan Thompson[/autotag], [autotag]Steven Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Ben Braymer[/autotag], and [autotag]Daniel Robert[/autotag].

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Collegiate Baseball honors Ike Irish among Freshman All-Americans

The freshman slugger led Auburn baseball in several categories this season.

Collegiate Baseball announced on Wednesday that [autotag]Ike Irish[/autotag] would be named a Freshman All-American.

Irish is the 20th player in program history to earn Freshman All-American honors and the first to do so since 2018 when four Tigers were selected. Those players included [autotag]Tanner Burns[/autotag], [autotag]Cody Greenhill[/autotag], [autotag]Edouard Julien[/autotag] and [autotag]Steven Williams[/autotag].

Irish had a monster campaign during his Freshman season.

The Hudsonville, Michigan native led the team in batting average (.361), hits (86), and doubles (24). Placed second in RBI (50) and total bases (130), as well as scoring the third-most runs on the team with 48.

The 24 doubles hit by Irish set a freshman record for the program and are the most in a single season by an Auburn player since 2005. He also had a top-10 batting average in the SEC.

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Former Auburn infielder Ryan Bliss earns Player of the Month honors in Texas League

He had a batting average of .410, hit eight doubles and stole eight bases throughout April.

Former Auburn Tigers infielder [autotag]Ryan Bliss[/autotag] was named Player of the Month for the month of April in the Texas League.

The 5-foot-6, 165-pounder had a batting average of .410, scored 17 runs, hit eight doubles and two home runs, drove in 14 runs and stole eight bases throughout April.

Bliss plays shortstop for the Amarillo Sod Poodles, the Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks selected Bliss in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft with the 42nd overall pick.

The native of Burbank, California is the No. 30 ranked prospect and the No. 6 ranked middle infielder in the Diamondbacks organization and has an MLB eta of 2024 per MLB.com.

During his three seasons with the Tigers, Bliss had a batting average of .328, hit 56 extra-base hits including 20 home runs, drove in 45 runs, a slugging percentage of .514 and a fielding percentage of .972. Bliss started 134 games during his college career.

Aside from Bliss, Auburn had three players selected in the 2021 MLB Draft: [autotag]Richard Fitts[/autotag], [autotag]Tyler Miller[/autotag] and [autotag]Steven Williams[/autotag].

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Auburn looks to continue momentum against Bama

Auburn is looking to continue momentum after a win at Georgia Tech as the Tigers travel to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama.

Auburn has not had the start to SEC play it was hoping for but after a 7-3 win over Georgia Tech on Tuesday the Tigers are hoping to turn things around against rival Alabama.

Auburn (13-16, 1-11) heads into the series losers of five straight SEC games while Alabama (20-12, 5-7) is riding a four-game win streak that consists of a sweep at Texas A&M and a 19-3 win over Samford. The series represents a golden chance for the Tigers to pick up their first SEC series win.

“There’s no lack of motivation,” Head Coach Butch Thompson said of facing Alabama. “This just takes it to a higher level of needing it now because it’s your rival and because of the last month it’s a requirement, basically. How can we handle that? I can’t lessen that but, I can keep the guys focused on (the fact) that we’re here to continue to grow and get better as a ball club. We all know there’s sincere urgency right now. We created that and we can also do something about it because of the opportunities that are presented to us each and every day.”

Senior leader Steven Williams thinks with the team getting healthier and players sliding into roles they are comfortable with it is time for the Tigers to start winning games.

“We battled injuries early and I think we are finally starting to take full shape as a team and in that bullpen,” Williams said. “We have experienced it all and I don’t think anything is going to scare us away. We know what we have got to do and know we have to be better.”

Thompson announced that the Tigers would use the same starting rotation they did last weekend with senior right-handed pitcher Cody Greenhill (3-0, 1.83 ERA) pitching on Thursday, senior left-hander Jack Owen (0-2, 9.53) on Friday and freshman right-hander Joseph Gonzalez (0-3, 8.57) on Saturday. The trio will have to contend with a Crimson Tide offense that is hitting .273 and has 42 home runs.

Williams did not shy away from the importance of the game, acknowledging the rough start but is confident they can close the season strong to end the season where they wanted to.

“Yeah, it’s extremely crucial,” Williams said. “Everybody knows that we haven’t had the start to conference play that we wanted, but, I mean, I don’t think we’re out of it yet. I’m really confident in what we have. We have to go out and win a bunch of ball games, but we’re confident we’re going to be able to do that.”

The series will start on Thursday at 6 p.m CT. with game two scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. and the series finale slated for Saturday at 4 p.m.

Auburn looks to continue momentum against Bama

Auburn is looking to continue momentum after a win at Georgia Tech as the Tigers travel to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama.

Auburn has not had the start to SEC play it was hoping for but after a 7-3 win over Georgia Tech on Tuesday the Tigers are hoping to turn things around against rival Alabama.

Auburn (13-16, 1-11) heads into the series losers of five straight SEC games while Alabama (20-12, 5-7) is riding a four-game win streak that consists of a sweep at Texas A&M and a 19-3 win over Samford. The series represents a golden chance for the Tigers to pick up their first SEC series win.

“There’s no lack of motivation,” Head Coach Butch Thompson said of facing Alabama. “This just takes it to a higher level of needing it now because it’s your rival and because of the last month it’s a requirement, basically. How can we handle that? I can’t lessen that but, I can keep the guys focused on (the fact) that we’re here to continue to grow and get better as a ball club. We all know there’s sincere urgency right now. We created that and we can also do something about it because of the opportunities that are presented to us each and every day.”

Senior leader Steven Williams thinks with the team getting healthier and players sliding into roles they are comfortable with it is time for the Tigers to start winning games.

“We battled injuries early and I think we are finally starting to take full shape as a team and in that bullpen,” Williams said. “We have experienced it all and I don’t think anything is going to scare us away. We know what we have got to do and know we have to be better.”

Thompson announced that the Tigers would use the same starting rotation they did last weekend with senior right-handed pitcher Cody Greenhill (3-0, 1.83 ERA) pitching on Thursday, senior left-hander Jack Owen (0-2, 9.53) on Friday and freshman right-hander Joseph Gonzalez (0-3, 8.57) on Saturday. The trio will have to contend with a Crimson Tide offense that is hitting .273 and has 42 home runs.

Williams did not shy away from the importance of the game, acknowledging the rough start but is confident they can close the season strong to end the season where they wanted to.

“Yeah, it’s extremely crucial,” Williams said. “Everybody knows that we haven’t had the start to conference play that we wanted, but, I mean, I don’t think we’re out of it yet. I’m really confident in what we have. We have to go out and win a bunch of ball games, but we’re confident we’re going to be able to do that.”

The series will start on Thursday at 6 p.m CT. with game two scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. and the series finale slated for Saturday at 4 p.m.