Texas has designated RHP Ian Kennedy for assignment and called up LHP John King. Kennedy has a 7.20 ERA but generally hasn’t been that bad, holding opponents to a .268/.326/.415 line. Specifically, however, 10 of his 15 runners allowed have scored, and he appeared prominently in dismal losses to Houston and Cincinnati. I haven’t mentioned King much this season because you’ve seen him and he is who he is. King has been okay in Round Rock: .286/.333/.343 opposing line, good control, not many strikeouts. On the downside, no Express pitcher has allowed a greater rate of balls hit 95+ MPH than his 51%. He also has an outstanding 64% grounder rate, so most of that hard contact results in groundouts or singles.
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 4, Oklahoma City (LAD) 6
Round Rock: 8 hits, 7 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 6 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 21-13, 2.5 GB
SP Lucas Jacobsen: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 0 SO, 37 P / 26 S, 5.11 ERA
RP Kyle Cody: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 SO, 5.11 ERA
RP Taylor Hearn: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 0.75 ERA
2B Justin Foscue: 2-4, BB, .288/.404/.500
LF Josh Sale: 1-4, HR (1)
Taylor Hearn is unscored upon in seven straight outings. Opponents are batting .171/.320/.171 without an extra-base hit, but he’s walked or hit nine in 12 innings.
Texas sent righty Nick Krauth back to Frisco and promoted lefty Grant Wolfram. Krauth escaped Reno unscathed in his AAA debut but surrendered a grand slam two nights ago at home. Wolfram has worse control but misses many more bats.
Texas also signed lefty Josh Dye to help Round Rock in relief. Per Statcast, Dye throws a bazillion changeups mixed with a slider. Fangraphs ranked him Kansas City’s #15 prospect in 2022, while other reports I’ve seen thought of him as an “under the radar” type. Dye has good control but was very homer-prone in AAA Omaha last year. KC released him last week.
AA: Frisco 8, Wichita (MIN) 16
Frisco: 16 hits, 6 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 18 hits, 11 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 13-16, 3 GB
SP Ryan Garcia: 2.2 IP, 7 H (2 HR), 8 R, 2 BB, 4 SO, 66 P / 39 S, 9.64 ERA
RP Hever Bueno: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 4.05 ERA
SS Luisangel Acuna: 1-3, 3 BB, .313/.373/.453
2B Thomas Saggese: 4-6, 2B, HR (1), .278/.331/.391
C Liam Hicks: 1-3, HR (1), BB, HBP
RF Trevor Hauver: 3-5, .228/.386/.316
On Education Day, visiting Wichita gave the kids an unpleasantly high slugging percentage calculation:
(11 singles + 3 doubles + 4 homers) / 42 at-bats = (11 + 3*2 + 4*4) / 42 = 33 / 42 = .786
I don’t know what’s up with Nick Starr (1.2 IP, 7 runners, 4 R). He’s already allowed more runs and hits than all of 2022 (which was only 30.1 innings because of injury and light use, but still). Starr was Frisco’s primary late-inning reliever from June onward last year.
Part of the Joey Gallo trade, Trevor Hauver continues to walk at an impressive rate, but his strikeouts have ballooned from 25% to 40% and taken his power with them.
Up to Frisco from Hickory is righty Michael Brewer (2018, 32nd round), who struck out 16 against three walks in 10.1 innings with a 2.61 ERA.
Hi-A: Hickory 2, at Bowling Green (TAM) 5
Hickory: 6 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 12 hits, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 12-15, 8 GB
SP Mitch Bratt: 4 IP, 7 H (2 HR), 3 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 3 SO, 72 P / 48 S, 3.48 ERA
RP Florencio Serrano: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 2 SO, 3.00 ERA
CF Daniel Mateo: 1-4, HR (3), .263/.280/.453
1B Josh Hatcher: 1-4, HR (5), .300/.364/.511
Mitch Bratt entered the game with five homers allowed in 103.1 career innings. He’s walked only three all season.
Lo-A: Down East 2, Delmarva (BAL) 0
Down East: 8 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 17-10, 2 G up
SP Joseph Montalvo: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 SO, 72 P / 37 S, 2.49 ERA
RP Luis Ramirez: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 1.59 ERA
RP Jackson Kelley: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1.50 ERA
C Tucker Mitchell: 1-3, 2B, BB, .368/.486/.561
LF Yosy Galan: 2-2, 2 BB, .284/.400/.554
2B Danyer Cueva: 2-3, BB, .265/.295/.361
2022 7th-rounder Luis Ramirez has been terrific outside one sketchy outing (4 BB and an HBP in 0.2 IP). Here’s video from yesterday. Against Joseph Montalvo, opponents have reached 16 times on HBPs or walks but only eight times on hits.
Tucker Mitchell’s production hadn’t impressed prior to 2023. He batted .185/.325/.319 in 43 games with Down East last year. Now 22, he was Texas’s 14th-round pick in 2021.
Yosy Galan should spend a decent part of the season at Hickory if he keeps up this pace. He spent all of 2022 at Down East.
Texas released OF Jeferson Espinal from Down East and IF Keithron Moss and C Ismael Padua from the complex league. Moss was signed in late 2017 with some of the money intended for Shohei Ohtani. Moss had some power, patience, and speed, but contact was a persistent problem.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Winn
AA: Leiter
Hi-A: Rocker
Lo-A: TBD
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Hickory’s Bubba Thompson clubbed his first full-season homer.