Rangers Farm Report: Games of Sunday 24 April

Box Scores

AAA: Round Rock 6, Albuquerque (COL) 9
Round Rock: 8 hits, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 16 hits, 9 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 12-6, 1 G up

SP AJ Alexy: 3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 6 SO, 82 P / 50 S, 4.20 ERA
SS Josh Smith: 1-4, HR (3), .273/.342/.455
3B Davis Wendzel: 1-3, HR (4), .271/.343/.525
C Meibrys Viloria: 1-3, HR (1), .250/.400/.464

AJ Alexy fanned six and missed plenty of bats but finally walked himself out of the game in the 4th after narrowly escaping trouble in previous innings. Alexy’s strike rate for the season is a just-fine 64%, so I’d describe his control issues as patchy rather than perpetual, but with 13 walks in 15 innings, that distinction matters little. 16 of his 30 offspeeds were called balls.

Smith and Wendzel homered again. Both have maintained their selectivity in AAA, swinging at a lower rate than their teammates. Smith’s 7% swinging strike rate is the lowest on the squad by far.

Round Rock IL’ed reliever Daniel Robert, who hasn’t pitched since the 12th. He was in uniform and hanging out in the pen Sunday, so we can probably rule out a splenectomy. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.

AA: Frisco 3, NW Arkansas (KAN) 4
Frisco: 6 hits, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 4 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 10-5, 2 G up

SP Cole Ragans: 5 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 3 R, 2 BB, 6 SO, 80 P / 48 S, 2.13 ERA
RP Nick Starr: 1.2 IP, 2 H ,0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1.13 ERA
RP Chase Lee: 1.1 IP, 1 H ,0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA
3B Jonathan Ornelas: 1-4, HR (1), .370/.382/.444
LF Dustin Harris: 1-3, 2B, BB, .306/.357/.408

Dustin Harris has an 11-game hit streak and 12-game on-base streak.

Two days after I described Ornelas’s 2022 as “power-deprived” compared to last season at Hickory, he clubbed his first homer.

Cole Ragans doesn’t have the lowest ERA in the rotation, but he’s the staff ace so far: a 32% strikeout rate, plenty of grounders, and, to be blunt, the only decent walk rate of any starter. As a group, they’re not especially walk-prone, so I’d expect some improvement. The Riders as a whole have the worst rate in the league, 14.8%, but they’re still second best in runs allowed at an even five per game. Scoring is way up in the Texas League so far.

High-A: Hickory 1, at Wilmington (WAS) 0
Hickory: 3 hits, 5 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 6-9, 5 GB

SP TK Roby: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 SO, 65 P / 42 S, 5.54 ERA
RP Marc Church: 2 IP, 0 H ,0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Juan Mejia: 1 IP, 1 H ,0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 3.24 ERA
RP Spencer Mraz: 1 IP, 0 H ,0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 4.76 ERA
SS Thomas Saggese: 2-4, SB (2), .250/.316/.385

Wilmington couldn’t convert premium scoring chances in the first two innings, after which Hickory didn’t allow another runner until the 8th. Roby has pitched well in two of three starts despite the lofty ERA.

2019 18th-rounder Marc Church has 62 strikeouts and 10 walks in 36 pro innings. Sometimes pitchers with one MLB-quality offspeed and nothing much backing it up can dominate at this level. Church isn’t that type; the lively fastball rides 95-97, and I’ve seen breakers and changes work for him.

Low-A: Down East 12, at Columbia (KAN) 13
Down East: 13 hits, 8 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 13 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 7-8, 3.5 GB

SP Victor Santos: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 2 SO, 61 P / 33 S, 9.31 ERA
CF Daniel Mateo: 2-3, 2 BB, .188/.204/.188
LF Alejandro Osuna: 2-4, BB, HBP, .273/.368/.364
1B Abimelec Ortiz: 2-4, HBP, .200/.243/.314
2B Derwin Barreto: 2-3, 2 BB, .267/.333/.533

The Woodies were something less than crisp, issuing 13 walks and four wild pitches, committing five errors and allowing six steals. Still, despite trailing 10-2 after the 3rd, Down East made a game of it.

Today’s Starters
AAA: off
AA: off
Hi-A: off
Lo-A: off

Five Years Ago Yesterday
A slow day between the lines. Michael Mateulla was to make his second pro appearance that week. The 2015 3rd-rounder appeared in one game for short-season Spokane but departed with elbow soreness. It didn’t require surgery but did shelve him for about half the length of a TJ recovery.