AAA: Wet
Thursday’s game will be made up today. Yesterday’s rainout will wait until July.
AA: Frisco 1, Amarillo (ARI) 3
Frisco: 3 hits, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
Record: 1-1
SP Owen White: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 48 P / 31 S, 0.00 ERA
RP Nick Krauth: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 6.75 ERA
RP John Matthews: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
LF Dustin Harris: 1-3, 3B, BB
Owen White was solid, if not dazzling, in a fastball-heavy performance. I believe he was slightly behind his compatriots in Surprise, so he lasted only three innings last night. Amarillo never seriously threatened him, although their ability to foul off multiple pitches extended White to 24 pitches for just four batters in the 3rd. The Poodles strung together a walk and three two-out hits off Nick Krauth for all the runs. Krauth is an undrafted signing out of Connecticut.
Dustin Harris lined a triple to right-center. Luisangel Acuna (1-4) was tagged out stretching for a triple in the 8th.
AA: Wet
In a pitiful act of defiance against Mother Nature, the league has scheduled a doubleheader today.
AA: Down East 10, Kannapolis (CHW) 1
Down East: 13 hits, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 2 hits, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 1-1
SP Aidan Curry: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 SO, 63 P / 37 S, 0.00 ERA
RP Jackson Kelley: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Dylan McCarty: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Adrian Rodriguez: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
RF Yeison Morrobel: 1-3, 2 BB
C Tucker Mitchell: 4-4, 2B, HBP
2B Danyer Cueva: 3-5, 3B, SB (1)
20-year-old Aidan Curry would have been drafted if not for the covid-shortened five-round draft in 2020. He signed out of high school anyway and is in the low-A rotation after two seasons at the complex marked by improving control and a flashy 32% strikeout rate. Side-arming Jackson Kelley (2022, 12th round) had a stylish pro debut. Holding Kannapolis hitless over the final four innings were DJ McCarty (not the 2020 4th-rounder, that’s fellow Woodie Dylan MacLean) and Adrian Rodriguez, who was recently mentioned as a prospect “standing out to scouts” in a recent baseball America article ($ link) with his upper-90s heat and mid-80s breaker. Texas drafted him in 2019’s 39th round.
2021 14th-round catcher Tucker Mitchell had a day. Entering the season, Mitchell had flashed some power (five homers in 50 games) but not much contact in two pro seasons.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Bradford / Cody
AA: Roby
Hi-A: Rocker / Bratt
Lo-A: TBA
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Two games were rained out, and two were played in atypical cold. Eerie. Frisco’s Wes Benjamin fanned eight in four innings. He’s currently a fixture in the rotation of Korea’s KT Wiz. He spoke of the move to Korea in January.
Regarding yesterday’s post: The player acquired for catcher Brett Nicholas was reliever Emmanuel Clase. 18 months later, Texas would trade him and OF Delino DeShields Jr. to Cleveland for SP Corey Kluber, who would throw only one inning for the Rangers.
Clase was announced in early May, but I can’t find mention of him in my reports until the announcement of short-season Spokane’s roster in mid-June. My vague recollection is a slow buildup of “good grief, did you see who the Rangers got for Nicholas” chatter after he joined. Clase already had three years of pro experience and appeared statistically as a swing man with middling peripherals. That would change.