Rangers Farm Report: Games of Tuesday 14 June

Up to Round Rock: LHP Cole Ragans, RHP Chase Lee

Up to Frisco: LHP Josh Smith, LHP Triston Polley, RHP Joe Corbett

Back to Hickory: IF Frainyer Chavez (had been helping out in Round Rock)

Box Scores

AAA: Round Rock 3, Sugar Land (HOU) 6
Round Rock: 5 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 33-28, 4 GB

SP Spencer Howard: 5 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 6 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 5 SO, 80 P / 54 S, 4.91 ERA
RP Jonathan Hernandez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO, 9.00 ERA
RP Spencer Patton: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 4.32 ERA

Spencer Howard retired 17 of his final 18 batters. And one of his first eight. Howard pitched in Round Rock last night, and Tyson Miller is pitching in Arlington tonight, if you need a quick summary of where Howard stands.

Davis Wendzel (1-4) is back, as is outrighted Willie Calhoun (0-4). Bubba Thompson (1-4) stole his 30th base.

AA: Frisco 3, Midland (OAK) 6
Frisco: 7 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 13 hits, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 29-29, 2 GB

SP Tim Brennan: 3.2 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 1 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 53 P / 34 S, 1.20 ERA
SS Jonathan Ornelas: 3-5, 2B, HR (7), .347/.386/.500

Dustin Harris (0-3, BB) and JP Martinez (0-4, BB) stole their 13th and 21st bases, respectively. Jonathan Ornelas is one homer shy of last year’s total.

High-A: Hickory 10, Greenville (BOS) 6
Hickory: 13 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 6 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 34-24, 0.5 GB

SP TK Roby: 5 IP, 6 H (1 HR), 2 R, 2 BB, 6 SO, 95 P / 60 S, 5.77 ERA
RP Deston Dotson: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 3.00 ERA
RF Aaron Zavala: 2-4, BB, .260/.420/.367
2B Luisangel Acuna: 3-5, 2B, SB (11), .299/.408/.598
SS Chris Seise: 2-4, .255/.301/.425
CF Jayce Easley: 2-3, HBP, SB (8), .239/.353/.366

Bowling Green lost, so Hickory has returned to the tiniest of division deficits with eight to play. They won’t finish tied until more rain is forthcoming. Opponents are slugging .487 against TK Roby, as he’s been quite homer-prone, but in other respects he’s been strong.

Low-A: Down East 7, at Lynchburg (CLE) 4
Down East: 9 hits, 6 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 5 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 28-30, 2 GB

SP Gavin Collyer: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 SO, 92 P / 52 S, 3.88 ERA
RP Theo McDowell: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 2.35 ERA
CF Daniel Mateo: 2-4, BB, SB (11), .257/.321/.345
RF Marcus Smith: 2-4, BB, 3 SB (21), .149/.297/.257
DH Tucker Mitchell: 1-2, 2 BB, 2 SB (5), .212/.350/.376

The Woodies are two games under .500, in fifth place and trending sideways over the last ten games but find themselves just two games back with eight to play. Carolina leads with a 30-28 record and -8 run differential. Meanwhile, in the other division, either Myrtle Beach (41-17) or Charleston (40-18) will not qualify the postseason in the first half.

Gavin Collyer began 2022 with a so-so relief appearance and two faulty starts. Since then, he been good or inning-chewing or both in nine straight outings. Collyer was drafted in 2019’s 12th round out of high school in Georgia.

Marcus Smith has nearly as many steals (21) as hits (22). Smith’s 59% strikeout rate leads the minors by a wide margin. Last year I wrote about Adolis Garcia and strikeouts, saying that they didn’t matter much as long as the overall production was solid, but that at some point, too many strikeouts would make quality production nearly impossible. That strikeout rate was in the high 30% area, as I recall.

Today’s Starters
AAA: Alexy
AA: TBD
Hi-A: Vanasco
Lo-A: TBD

Five Years Ago Yesterday
The announced front four of short-A Spokane’s rotation were Cole Ragans (2016 / 1st round), Tyler Phillips (2015/16), Alex Speas (2016/2) and Reiver Sanmartin (Colombia). To date, only Sanmartin has reached the Majors.Ragans isn’t on the doorstep, but he’s on the sidewalk leading to the doorstep.Phillips and Speas haven’t pitched in 2022.