AAA: Round Rock 16, Sugar Land (HOU) 4
Round Rock: 13 hits, 9 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 31-25, 9 GB
SP Cody Bradford: 6 IP, 7 H (1 HR), 4 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 90 P / 64 S, 1.58 ERA
RP Marc Church: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 6.75 ERA
RP Lucas Jacobsen1: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 6.98 ERA
RP Edwin Colina: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA
SS Jonathan Ornelas: 3-5, 2B, SB (3), .244/.361/.337
1B Justin Foscue: 1-3, 2 BB, SB (7), .284/.409/.500
CF Elier Hernandez: 2-3, 2B, 2 BB, .313/.397/.511
RF Sandro Fabian: 2-5, HR (5), .276/.333/.476
3B Davis Wendzel: 1-2, HR (10), 3 BB, .250/.376/.518
Round Rock scored 11, batted 15, and saw 62 pitches in the 1st.
Edwar Colina has been a Ranger since October 2021, when Texas claimed him off waivers from Minnesota and later ran him successfully through waivers. Yesterday was his first appearance for the organization and first anywhere since 2020, which itself was limited to his brief MLB debut outing. He’d had elbow trouble (but not the TJ kind, apparently) when claimed, and since then… well, I don’t even know. Every few months I checked to see if he was still under contract. Colina raced through the 9th on nine pitches, dealing a 93-94 fastball and 82-84 slider.
Texas released OF Josh Sale. Out of professional ball entirely for six years following multiple suspensions for violating league drug policies, Sale was able to get his life back in order and join the Atlantic League’s Gastonia squad in 2021 followed by the Rangers last year. He batted .229/.342/.414 with 11 homers in 73 games between Frisco and Round Rock in 2022, became a free agent, and rejoined Texas a few months later. He again moved between AA and AAA but played more sparingly.
AA: Frisco 4, San Antonio (SDG) 6
Frisco: 7 hits, 3 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 9 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 21-28, 5.5 GB
SP TK Roby: 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 0 SO, 29 P / 20 S, 5.05 ERA
RP Theo McDowell: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 3.00 ERA
RP Justin Slaten: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Alex Speas: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0.93 ERA
C Scott Kapers: 2-4, 2 2B, .284/.337/.534
TK Roby retired none of four batters in the 2nd, and after a conference with trainer Yuichi Takizawa and pitching coach Jon Goebel, he left the game.
Offseason signings Kyle Funkhouser and Danny Duffy made belated 2023 debuts. Funkhouser allowed a hit in a scoreless 4th, while a wilder Duffy walked three of five batters. Duffy hasn’t pitched in the Majors in nearly two years because of shoulder troubles and made a handful of minor league appearances last year. Funkhouser was completely off the grid in 2022, also for a bad shoulder.
2019 third-rounder Justin Slaten is back from a five-week absence.
Hi-A: Hickory 11, at Greenville (BOS) 5
Hickory: 12 hits, 6 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 11 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 18-28, 9 GB
SP Winston Santos: 4 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SO, 74 P / 43 S, 5.36 ERA
RP Robbie Ahlstrom: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 6.63 ERA
RF Alejandro Osuna: 3-5, 3B, .274/.412/.393
SS Keyber Rodriguez: 1-4, HR (2), BB, .261/.327/.355
DH Tucker Mitchell: 2-2, 2B, 2 BB, .391/.545/.522
1B Abi Ortiz: 2-3, HR (4), 2 BB, .357/.429/.893
Winston Santos was one of the talks of Surprise, but his intro to high-A has been muted so far. Newcomers Tucker Mitchell and Abi Ortiz have easily justified their promotions so far.
Lo-A: Down East 10, Columbia (KAN) 9 (10)
Down East: 9 hits, 2 walks, 19 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 5 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 28-18, 0.5 GB
SP Leandro Lopez: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 SO, 64 P / 37 S, 4.62 ERA
RP Luis Ramirez: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 2 HBP, 4 SO, 3.91 ERA
RF Tommy Specht: 2-5, .412/.500/.529
2B Danyer Cueva: 2-5, HR (2), .241/.280/.355
1B Griffin Cheney: 1-4, HR (1)
Columbia scored twice off Luis Ramirez in the 10th on an HBP, wild pitch, walk, and balk. In the bottom half, hits by Danyer Cueva, Yosy Galan and Cam Cauley plated three. Given the unusual timing of his arrival, I thought Tommy Specht might just be getting in a few extra at-bats before the complex league starts, but if so, he’s making a case for staying.
Down East is scoring at a decent rate but is next-to-worst in both walks (10%) and strikeouts (30%). This isn’t a surprise. Down East’s break-camp roster looked fun but green and probably erratic.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Dugger
AA: Garcia
Hi-A: Bratt
Lo-A: TBD
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Players linked to Texas by the national experts in the upcoming 2018 Draft:
OF Connor Scott (Age 18)
RHP Carter Stewart (18)
LHP Ryan Weathers (18)
OF Jordyn Adams (18)
RHP Cole Winn (18)
OF Jarred Kelenic (18)
RHP Grayson Rodriguez (18)
Sense a theme? Every prognosticator had Winn off the board by the time Texas picked at #15. Actually selected by clubs before the Rangers were Scott (13, Marlins), Stewart (8, Braves), Weathers (7, Padres), Kelenic (6, Mets), and Rodriguez (11, O’s).
Kelenic, Weathers and Rodriguez are the only of the seven to reach MLB so far. Stewart didn’t accept Atlanta’s below-slot offer and eventually spurned the US for Japan.