Texas promoted RHP Owen White to Frisco. Among the 48 South Atlantic League pitchers with at least 40 innings, White’s 33% strikeout rate ranks 5th, his 16.6% swinging strike rate is fourth, and his xFIP of 3.16 is second. (The ERA-scaled xFIP is a more complicated form of Fielding Independent Pitching that includes likelihood of homers on fly balls.) As I coyly mentioned after his last start, he seems to have achieved his high-A goals.
His relative inexperience (122 pro innings including the AZ Fall League) makes him seem on the boyish side, but White will turn 23 in August. He’s older than Jack Leiter. He’ll also be Rule 5-eligible this winter if unprotected (an impossibility barring injury).
Replacing White in Hickory is lefty Larson Kindreich, last year’s eight-round pick. Kindreich fanned 55 in 38 low-A innings with a 2.37 ERA. Control has been an intermittent issue, not as a college sophomore or a rookie-leaguer, more so as a junior and in Down East, where he walked or hit 21 (13% rate).
Sean Bass of The Ticket and I recorded a new podcast this afternoon. Links in signature below.
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 1, at Oklahoma City (LAD) 7
Round Rock: 4 hits, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 12 hits, 5 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 34-33, tied for first
SP Glenn Otto: 2.2 IP, 6 H (1 HR), 4 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 55 P / 39 S, 2.79 ERA
RP AJ Alexy: 4 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 2 R, 1 BB, 6 SO, 7.31 ERA
CF Bubba Thompson: 2-3, HR (7), BB, SB (33), .300/.331/.454
Glenn Otto’s rehab start wasn’t a tidy affair: a homer and two doubles in the 1st, walks in the next two innings, a run scoring on his own error.
AJ Alexy needed one more out for four scoreless innings, but Michael Busch scotched that with a towering two-run homer. Alexy did prevent his control from getting away from him (one walk, five other three-ball counts) and fanned six.
I haven’t calculated park factors for 2022, but OKC almost certainly has the best offense in the league accounting for environment.
Bubba Thompson’s homer came off noteworthy prospect Ryan Pepiot, whose 1.74 ERA leads the league among pitchers with at least 40 innings. Thompson has a ten-steal lead on the rest of AAA. He’s also drawn six walks and been hit twice in 70 trips to the plate in June. Comparatively, he had two walks and one HBP in 169 PA in April and May.
AA: Frisco 9, at Arkansas (SEA) 6 (10)
Frisco: 12 hits, 6 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 6 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 33-31, 2 GB, elimination number 3
SP Tai Tiedemann: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 23 P / 16 S, 6.03 ERA
CF JP Martinez: 2-4, 2B, 3B, 2 BB, .291/.411/.495
LF Dustin Harris: 1-4, HR (12), BB, .263/.347/.478
RF Josh Stowers: 3-5, 2B, SB (13), .226/.344/.352
On a bullpen night, Frisco squandered a 6-1 lead in the late innings but was saved by Josh Stowers’ three-run blast in the 10th. Frisco’s Dustin Harris, Blaine Crim and Trey Hair lead the organization with 12 homers.
Relievers: Josh Smith, Joe Corbett, Tyler Thomas, Nick Starr, Fernery Ozuna, Triston Polley. Corbett and Polley threw single scoreless innings.
High-A: Hickory 12, at Rome (ATL) 6
Hickory: 16 hits, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 4 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 37-27, 2.5 GB, eliminated
SP TK Roby: 6 IP, 5 H (2 HR), 3 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 9 SO, 92 P / 62 S, 5.63 ERA
RF Aaron Zavala: 3-6, 2B, HR (5), .272/.421/.398
2B Luisangel Acuna: 1-3, BB, 2 SB (17), .316/.412/.556
CF Evan Carter: 3-3, 2 3B, HR (5), BB, .264/.362/.442
LF Trevor Hauver: 2-4, 2B, HR (8), BB, .233/.401/.436
3B Keyber Rodriguez: 2-4, 2B, .289/.348/.385
Hickory ran off Rome starter Roddery Munoz in the 1st and made life even worse for replacement Isrrael De La Cruz. Aaron Zavala led off the game with a long homer and collected a single and double by the 3rd. Evan Carter homered at about as low an angle as possible and collected not one but two triples, honestly a more impressive feat than hitting for the cycle. Trevor Hauver nearly hit two homers, settling for a double in the 1st on a fly off the very top of the fence in right.
Bowling Green’s win eliminated Hickory from first-half title contention.
Low-A: Down East 5, Carolina (MIL) 2
Down East: 6 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 5 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 31-33, 3 GB, eliminated
SP Gavin Collyer: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 6 SO, 84 P / 53 S, 3.66 ERA
RP Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 4.00 ERA
LF Alejandro Osuna: 2-3, 2B, SB (21), .312/.408/.473
CF Daniel Mateo: 3-4, HR (5), 2 SB (19), .272/.332/.387
Alejandro Osuna and Daniel Mateo accounted for all but one of Down Easts hits and RBI.
Anthony H-T retired five in order and stranded two inherited runners while Down East held a three-run lead.
Down East had already been eliminated from the division race, but the win prevented Carolina from clinching at least a tie for the title. The Mudcats lead three other teams by single game with two to play.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Ragans
AA: Weems
Hi-A: Vanasco
Lo-A: TBD
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Cole Hamels was steady in a rehab start for Frisco. The other full-season teams had the day off.