AAA: Round Rock 6, @ Sugar Land (HOU) 3
Round Rock: 11 hits, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 7 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 7-4, tied for first
SP Jake Latz: 6 IP, 2 H (1 HR), 1 R, 5 BB, 5 SO, 84 P / 48 S, 2.40 ERA
RP Ryder Ryan: 2 IP, 2 H ,1 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1.50 ERA
LF Leody Taveras: 2-5, HR (2)
SS Davis Wendzel: 2-4, 2B, HR (2)
2B Nick Tanielu: 2-4, HR (2)
Latz suffered minimal permanent damage despite a homer and five walks. He threw a whopping 26 changeups: 7 for swinging strikes, 4 called strikes, 8 for balls, 4 put in play for outs, the rest fouls. Everything else was close to a 50/50 proposition on balls and strikes.
Wendzel has warmed to .250/.341/.472 after a slow start. Taveras has raced out of the gate (.410/.439/.667); nearly half of his balls in play have been 95+ MPH.
AA: Frisco 4, @ San Antonio (SDG) 3
Frisco: 12 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts
Opponent: 2 hits, 5 walks, 6 strikeouts
SP Jack Leiter: 4 IP, 1 H ,1 R, 3 BB, 4 SO, 75 P / 42 S, 2.57 ERA
RP Nick Starr: 1.1 IP, 0 H ,0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 1.80 ERA
2B Jonathan Ornelas: 2-4
SS Ezeuqiel Duran: 2-4, 2B
1B Blaine Crim: 2-4
RF Kellen Strahm: 2-3
Leiter matched the form of his first start. I couldn’t make the trip to San Antonio but peeked on MiLB.tv as best I could. Leiter walked the opening batter on five pitches and two straight in a later inning, mostly pulling his fastball outside against righties. As before, trying to eke out walks was the opposition’s best strategy, because he was virtually unhittable otherwise.
If the thought is “I love what I’m seeing, but why all the walks,” this isn’t new. As a junior at Vandy, Leiter allowed 48 hits and a combined 58 walks and hit batters while striking out 179. That’s a .129/.241/.250 opposing line with a 13% BB/HBP rate and 42% SO rate. His control was often iffy, and that’s something he’ll be working on. Also, as good as the SEC Conference is, it’s not Double A.
Meanwhile, his teammates banged out a bunch of singles against Thomas Eshelman, who pitched an abbreviated complete game.
AA: Frisco 4, @ San Antonio (SDG) 1
Frisco: 8 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts
Record: 8-1, 2 G up
SP Cole Ragans: 4.1 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 1 R, 2 BB, 4 SO, 71 P / 43 S, 1.17 ERA
RP Lucas Jacobsen: 1 IP, 0 H ,0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
CF JP Martinez: 1-2, BB, HBP, 2 SB (4)
Ragans squelched the Missions nearly as well as Leiter, leading to a doubleheader sweep and a six-game series sweep. The two goals for Ragans are 1) to pitch as well as he did early last season, and 2) build some stamina to avoid last year’s sharp fade. To be clear, I’m not criticizing that fade, given how the universe has been aligned against him for the past several years.
Grant Anderson, he of the three consecutive homers allowed in Leiter’s first start, retired five of seven, and Lucas Jacobsen was again untouchable.
JP Martinez made up for being the only hitless Rider in the opener.
High-A: Hickory 3, Bowling Green (TAM) 6
Hickory: 9 hits, 4 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
SP Mason Englert: 4.2 IP, 3 H ,3 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 5 SO, 74 P / 49 S, 7.88 ERA
SS Keyber Rodriguez: 1-3, BB, SB (1)
RF Aaron Zavala: 1-2, 2 BB
3B Thomas Saggese: 2-4, 2B
CF Angel Aponte: 2-3, 2B
Englert started well but was hit late, and two bequeathed runners scored off John Matthews.
Aaron Zavala is branching out into hitting in addition to hoarding walks. Walking more than hitting is rare but it happens. Jayce Easley and Yonny Hernandez accomplished the feat last year. At the moment, Zavala has 11 walks and four hits and has a .160/.417/.160 line. Trevor Hauver is in the same funky boat: .133/.481/.333 with two hits and ten walks.
High-A: Hickory 4, Bowling Green (TAM) 9
Hickory: 6 hits, 5 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts
Record: 3-6, 5 GB
SP TK Roby: 4.2 IP, 8 H (2 HR), 7 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 62 P / 50 S, 9.00 ERA
CF Evan Carter: 2-3, HBP, SB (2)
DH Aaron Zavala: 1-3, BB
LF Trevor Hauver: 1-1, 2 BB
In the early going, Evan Carter isn’t striking out nearly as much as last year. Five in 28 trips to the plate so far.
Bowling Green (8-1) was one of the best high-A teams in history last year, and they seem committed to a repeat in 2022.
Low-A: Down East 1, Kannapolis (CHW) 5
Down East: 4 hits, 2 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts
SP Larson Kindreich: 4 IP, 3 H ,1 R, 2 BB, 6 SO, 69 P / 38 S, 1.50 ERA
SS Maximo Acosta: 2-3, SB (1)
Kannapolis reached Nick Lockhart (2 IP, 4 R) after Kindreich departed, and Down East again didn’t hit much.
Low-A: Down East 3, Kannapolis (CHW) 2
Down East: 5 hits, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 3-6, 4.5 GB
SP Victor Santos: 5 IP, 5 H ,2 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 5 SO, 70 P / 44 S, 5.63 ERA
RP Destin Dotson: 1.1 IP, 1 H ,0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Michael Brewer: 1.2 IP, 0 H ,0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
CF Daniel Mateo: 3-4, 2 SB (2)
Daniel Mateo singled in gift runner Jose Acosta on the first pitch in the bottom of the 8th, abruptly giving the Woodies a split. Victor Santos did everyone a favor with five solid innings on just 70 pitches.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Arihara
AA: off
Hi-A: off
Lo-A: off