AAA: Round Rock 6, Albuquerque (COL) 1
Round Rock: 10 hits, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 11-4, 1 G up
SP Tyson Miller: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 61 P / 36 S, 0.90 ERA
RP Nick Tropeano: 3 IP, 1 H ,0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 5.00 ERA
RP Hever Bueno: 2 IP, 1 H ,0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2.25 ERA
CF Leody Taveras: 2-4, 2B, .421/.441/.702
1B Matt Carpenter: 2-4, 3B, HR (2), .306/.390/.583
Josh Smith singled twice. So far, he’s started five times at short, five at third, and three in center.
Tyson Miller pitched well in place of Glenn Otto, who was recalled to start for Texas tonight. Miller hadn’t pitched in six days, so I suspect he was prepped for 2-3 innings regardless.
Hever Bueno entered with none out and the bases loaded in the 8th. After a a soft fly dropped in for a run, Bueno retired the side with no further damage and worked a clean 9th.
OF Joe McCarthy signed with Orix in Japan, concluding his odd weeks-long limbo. We’ll always have Surprise, Joe. Reliever Greg Holland elected free agency after clearing waivers.
AA: Frisco 12, NW Arkansas (KAN) 2
Frisco: 13 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 2 hits, 9 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 10-2, 3 G up
SP Justin Slaten: 4 IP, 2 H (2 HR), 2 R, 5 BB, 5 SO, 72 P / 39 S, 4.00 ERA
DH Ezequiel Duran: 2-5, 2 2B, .289/.347/.489
2B Justin Foscue: 2-4, 2B, HR (1)
SS Jonathan Ornelas: 3-4, .317/.333/.317
3B Diosbel Arias: 2-4, 2 HR, (2), .241/.353/.483
Back fully healed, Justin Foscue knocked a pitch just over the fence to score Ezequiel Duran, Dustin Harris (1-4) and Blaine Crim (1-3, BB). Unlike last year, Jonathan Ornelas hasn’t played in the outfield, so he’s sharing short with Duran, who’s also splitting time with Foscue at second. Duran hasn’t played at third yet.
Justin Slaten allowed two solo homers. Long balls were a problem for him last year: a system-high 17 in 82 innings, just shy of one per two times through the order.
High-A: Hickory 5, at Wilmington (WAS) 2
Hickory: 8 hits, 6 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 2 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 5-7, 4 GB
SP Nick Krauth: 4 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 2 R, 2 BB, 5 SO, 68 P / 43 S, 6.75 ERA
RP Triston Polley: 3 IP, 2 H ,0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 2.89 ERA
RP Spencer Mraz: 2 IP, 0 H ,0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 5.79 ERA
DH Evan Carter: 2-3, 2B, 3B, 2 BB, HBP, .342/.458/.500
LF Trevor Hauver: 1-1, 2B, 2 BB, .158/.472/.368
Evan Carter reached safely four times. Keith Law of The Athletic saw the Crawdads on Tuesday. His review of Carter wasn’t outright negative, but he did note that both of Carter’s singles could have been outs with better defense, and his one walk was solely on a wild pitcher. He did describe Carter’s approach as “passive.” More disconcertingly, Law reported Ricky Vanasco’s fastball velocity was in the 89-93 range, well below his pre-surgery level. We’ll see how that develops.
Lefty Triston Polley is one of those guys picked in 2019 who I still don’t know much about because of covid and my absence from Arizona. Statistically, he’s all over the map: extremely walk-prone at Indiana State, then extraordinarily precise at short-season Spokane in 2019 (2 walks, 32 strikeouts), wild again last year, solid in 2022.
Trevor Hauver and Aaron Zavala (0-4, BB) co-lead the league with 13 walks.
Low-A: Down East 1, at Columbia (KAN) 10
Down East: 5 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 13 hits, 6 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 5-7, 3 GB
SP Robby Ahlstrom: 3.1 IP, 5 H ,5 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 53 P / 38 S, 12.00 ERA
C Tucker Mitchell: 1-3, BB, .273/.467/.318
Down East has used eight starters in 12 games with an average of 56 pitches and 3.1 innings. I imagine personnel will dictate the decisions, but given the large rosters, we could be looking at a small subset of genuine “starters” plus a slew of guys who just happen to be getting the ball first and will give 3-4 innings.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Latz
AA: Bradford
Hi-A: White
Lo-A: Stephan
Five Years Ago Yesterday
OF Leody Taveras hit his third homer and IF Anderson Tejeda his second in a 15-6 thrashing of Kannapolis. I’ve not seen any word of Tejeda finding employment since St. Louis released him on the 4th.