Rangers Farm Report: Games of Saturday 6 August

Box Scores

AAA: Round Rock 1, at Sugar Land (HOU) 10
Round Rock: 5 hits, 7 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 13 hits, 8 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 55-49, 7 GB

SP Cole Winn: 3.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 90 P / 53 S, 5.93 ERA
RP Chase Lee: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 7.71 ERA
C Sam Huff: 2-3, BB, .272/.351/.561

Chase Lee is unscored upon with a walk and nine strikeouts in his last ten innings. A far cry from his first five AAA appearances in which opponents batted .500/.567/.792. Unfortunately for him, me, and you the reader, that horrible stretch was the first time I’d seen him in person. The latest chart shows much more vertical variation in his locations compared to that early stretch.

Winn’s walk rate was okay, relatively speaking (two out of 22 batters), but the overall control really wasn’t. Also, unusually for him, ten of 15 balls in play were 95+ MPH, although nothing was hit at an angle to leave the yard. He faced 12 of 22 batters with runners in scoring position.

AA: Frisco 11, Amarillo (ARI) 2
Frisco: 11 hits, 6 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 20-12, 1 GB, 56-45 overall

SP Cody Bradford: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 SO, 83 P / 60 S, 6.10 ERA
DH Justin Foscue: 3-3, 2B, HR (9), 2 BB, .289/.373/.487
2B Luisangel Acuna: 1-4, HR (1)
RF Miguel Aparicio: 1-3, HR (1), .238/.304/.381

Once again: The morning of July 27, the Diamond Pod team wondered what was ailing Justin Foscue, who was a homerless .252/.312/.323 in his last 30 games and had a total of six homers in 88 AA games stretching back to 2021. Since then: .375/.457/.850, five homers and four doubles in ten games. Here’s last night’s blast. I wish we could generate the same rebound with Cole Winn, about whom we’ve talked repeatedly. We don’t yet understand our powers.

Luisangel Acuna’s homer was a grand slam. Acuna has reached safely in 22 consecutive games with a .329/.439/.439 line including 16 walks versus 13 strikeouts.

Miguel Aparicio hit his first AA homer.

Cody Bradford probably has six starts remaining, and barring something amazing, the first digit of his ERA is going to be a five. He’s pitched better since a quasi-restful one-inning appearance at the end of May: 4.44 ERA, seven homers, 14 walks and 51 strikeouts in 48.2 innings. Gauging Texas’s upcoming 40-man additions is tricky right now, because some of the candidates have a decent chance of being traded before the deadline, but I’m inclined to think Bradford won’t be added and won’t be lost in the Rule 5 draft. But there’s time. Bradford missed most of his junior season at Baylor with Thoracic outlet syndrome and all of 2020 like everyone, so he’s a relatively low-mileage arm.

Frisco has won seven straight and gained four games on division-leading Midland.

High-A: wet

Two today.

Low-A: Down East 0, Fredericksburg (WAS) 3
Down East: 5 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 12 hits, 2 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 15-20, 8 GB, 48-53 overall

SP Josh Stephan: 6 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 SO, 77 P / 54 S, 3.34 ERA
RP Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 3.55 ERA
SS Maximo Acosta: 2-4, .284/.362/.401

Undrafted Josh Stephan was his steady self but got no help. Down East faced Jackson Rutledge, selected 17th overall in 2019 out of juco but still in low-A at the age of 23.

Texas bumped 2019 39th-rounder Adrian Rodriguez to Down East. He’d fanned 27 and walked seven in 17 rookie-league innings with a 3.18 ERA.

Today’s Starters
AAA: Keuchel
AA: TBD
Hi-A: Ahlstrom / TBD
Lo-A: Garcia

Five Years Ago Yesterday
Cole Ragans walked none and struck out seven in five innings for Spokane. Bubba Thompson (playing irregularly because of a back issue, if I remember correctly) singled twice for the rookies.