AAA: Round Rock 5, Oklahoma City (LAD) 6
Round Rock: 9 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 11 walks, 5 strikeouts
Record: 20-14, 1 GB
SP Cole Winn: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 2 SO, 87 P / 52 S, 6.03 ERA
3B Josh Smith: 2-5, SB (5), .263/.359/.395
CF Leody Taveras: 1-4, HR (5), .348/.378/.598
LF Zach Reks: 1-3, HR (1), .286/.394/.464
1B Matt Carpenter: 2-4, HR (4), .247/.349/.521
SS Davis Wendzel: 1-4, HR (5), .212/.295/.381
Cole Winn walked or hit five batters in his first four starts. The total in the last three starts is 17. Those starts came after being hit on the heel by a hard grounder, but he made his next start on normal rest, so I can’t imagine that’s an issue. When I’m back home, I may dig into Statcast to see of anything noteworthy.
Winn had partners in crime, as Nick Tropeano and Jesus Tinoco walked the based loaded in their respective innings. Tropeano escaped, while Tinoco allowed the ultimate go-ahead run on a balk.
David Wendzel batted .146/.241/.160 in the 13 games between homers.
AA: Frisco 8, at Tulsa (LAD) 6
Frisco: 9 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 12 hits, 2 walks, 14 strikeouts
Record: 18-13, 2 G up
SP Cody Bradford: 5 IP, 6 H (2 HR), 4 R, 1 BB, 10 SO, 88 P / 60 S, 9.00 ERA
RP Fernery Ozuna: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2.35 ERA
1B Blaine Crim: 2-5, 2B, HR (7), .302/.358/.557
LF Dustin Harris: 1-2, 2 BB, .265/.378/.378
CF JP Martinez: 3-4, HR (5), .316/.419/.532
Bradford’s ten strikeouts aren’t a career high (14 last summer at Asheville) but are his most by a fair margin in 2022. It is, however, the third time this season Bradford’s allowed two homers in a start this season compared to just twice all of last year.
I saw a handful of Ozuna’s pitches. Good velocity, crazy tailing movement on everything. He’s walked only three in 15.1 innings.
JP Martinez has tied last year’s five homers in 60 fewer games. He’s hitting more line drives than last year but not more flies. Last year, he hit lefties far better than righties even through he’s left-handed, but 2022 is a complete reverse. That’s probably sample size, but I hope the power remains.
High-A: Hickory 3, Greensboro (PIT) 0
Hickory: 6 hits, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 2 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 16-14, 3 GB
SP Nick Krauth: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 5 SO, 65 P / 44 S, 4.32 ERA
RP Joe Corbett: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 2.19 ERA
RP Marc Church: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2.30 ERA
CF Evan Carter: 1-4, HR (2), .302/.387/.490
2B Thomas Saggese: 2-3, .263/.318/.364
SS Keyber Rodriguez: 1-3, HR (2), .281/.323/.371
Krauth, Corbett and Church shut down the Grasshoppers on 112 pitches in under two hours. Krauth was undrafted out of Connecticut in the covid-shortened 2020. Corbett, out of West Texas A&M, mastered low-A well enough to earn an early promotion last year but was mauled in Hickory. He’s handling high-A much better in a second try.
Evan Carter could’ve saved that homer for my return to Hickory today, but that’s okay.
Low-A: Down East 4, Lynchburg (CLE) 6 (10)
Down East: 6 hits, 2 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 4 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 13-18, 5.5 GB
SP Josh Stephan: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 7 SO, 96 P / 51 S, 4.94 ERA
RP Leury Tejada: 3 IP, 1 H (1 HR), 1 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 5.50 ERA
LF Alejandro Osuna: 1-3, HR (4), BB, .315/.386/.506
DH Jose Rodriguez: 1-4, HR (2), .202/.306/.298
SS Maximo Acosta: 2-4, SB (11), .261/.364/.380
A tough loss. Down 3-2 in the 7th, Down East scored twice to take the lead, promptly lost it, and committed two errors in the 10th.
DH Jose Rodriguez bounced a fly over the yellow stripe atop the wall in right-center for his second homer. A catcher in theory but never in practice, Rodriguez will need to hit like crazy if he’s not going to wear a mask. LF Alejandro Osuna later hit a fly about ten feet deeper the same direction.
In the 7th, Maximo Acosta led off with a soft fly single and stole second off pitcher Jack Leftwich, the only person in the stadium unaware that Acosta would run. Acosta scored on a triple by Daniel Mateo, who himself scored on Ian Moller’s sac fly. In my second viewing of Moller, he hit a couple of oppo flyouts and drew a walk. One one attempt at nabbing a baserunner sailed over Acosta’s head. Fellow newcomer Cam Cauley had the night off.
The 10th opened with a tough error on 3B Junior Paniagua: A bunt that hinted foul stayed fair, and Paniagua’s hurried throw sailed offline, but nobody advanced more than an ordinary bunt single. The killer came with two out and the bases loaded, when 1B Abi Ortiz simply missed Acosta’s throw from short on a grounder. Cleveland reliever and Clemson alum Davis Sharpe has an untouchable slurve (for low-A, at least) and sent down the Woodies with ease to end it.
Josh Stephan used an 88-92 fastball and a huge number of low-80s sliders. I was wandering around attempting some actions shots early on, so I don’t have more about him. Leury Tejeda’s fastball/slider combo (sorry, no speeds) was dominant except for one pitch, a no-doubt game-tying homer in the 8th.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBD
AA: Leiter
Hi-A: White
Lo-A: TBD
Five Years Ago Yesterday
A day after Yohander Mendez took a no-hitter into the 7th at San Antonio, the Missions returned the disfavor with a complete-game no-hitter from Kyle Lloyd, who fanned only three but induced a zillion grounders. Lloyd made his one and only MLB appearance two months later. Hickory lost 14-2 to Greensboro and was allowing a historically poor two runs per game more than the league average.