No game report from yesterday, as Round Rock was suspended by rain. That contest will resume today followed by a regularly scheduled affair shortened to seven innings.
After a week of only Triple A games, the minor league season begins in full today. I maintain a collection of spreadsheets here: 40-man roster, rosters for al minor league levels, players removed from the org, Rule 5 eligibility (which I’ll need to update), and more. I have added a list of top-10 prospects for other teams that could play against Texas’s minor league clubs in 2023. I update the lists frequently but not instantaneously.
I also provide updates on Twitter. If you’re not on Twitter by now, you’re probably committed to that, and the current owner is certainly doing all he can to degrade the experience. But if you’d like my additional observations during the games, I’m there for you.
Today’s Expected Starters:
AAA Cole Winn
AA Jack Leiter
Hi-A Winston Santos
Lo-A Brock Porter
That’s a strong quartet. Santos’s only appearance in a top-30 list I’ve seen is at #24 by Jamey Newberg at The Athletic, but from what I heard about Santos in Surprise, Jamey will have some company down the road. Baseball America awarded Santos as having the organization’s best fastball.
Owen White (AA) and Kumar Rocker (Hi-A) will start Friday.
MLB.com’s list of most talented minor league rosters is headed by AA Frisco.
Reliever Joe Barlow is active in Round Rock. Reliever Grant Anderson was transferred to AA after one appearance in Round Rock. That seems a move dictated by roster limits rather than any reflection on Anderson.
REV Entertainment is investigating the possibility of a multi-purpose entertainment venue including a baseball stadium in suburban Wilmington, NC. You might have heard of REV, as they operate Globe Life Stadium and the surrounding venues, and most of REV’s upper management also serve positions of similar importance in the Rangers organization. Texas owns the low-A Wood Ducks (and high-A Hickory). The agreement with the Kinston at Grainger Stadium runs through 2028, while the Player Development Agreement expires after 2030. REV’s involvement in a baseball-oriented entertainment complex doesn’t categorically have to involve the Rangers’ baseball operations. REV is also moving forward on a facility in Shreveport that could open in 2026, and the baseball tenant has yet to be announced. All affiliated minor league clubs have agreements with their respective MLB clubs through 2030.
At the forefront of my mind is whether A-level baseball will exist after 2030, at least in its present form as a nationwide commercial enterprise as opposed to, say, being folded into the Spring Training complexes.
We will have a new Diamond Pod for you later this afternoon. Links in the signature below.
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