A new Diamond Pod should be up and ready later this afternoon. Michael Tepid is out today, so the duo of Sean Bass of The Ticket and me talked Bradford, White’s debut, what to do with Brad Miller, deGrom, Ragans/Howard/Otto, Jamey Newberg’s Ohtani trade scenario, the Vegas A’s, my Disneyworld adventure, and the impending semi-retirement of Ticket anchor and D/FW media titan Norm Hitzges.
In other news, I see Rob Manfred went and did it again (offered his opinions on topics).
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 4, El Paso (SDP) 8
Round Rock: 8 hits, 6 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 9 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 36-29, 10 GB, eliminated
SP Cole Winn: 4 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 BB, 2 SO, 72 P / 35 S, 8.74 ERA
RP Jonathan Hernandez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 SO, 2.70 ERA
RP Spencer Howard: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1.59 ERA
LF JP Martinez: 2-3, 2B, 3B, 2 BB, 3 SB (19), .330/.471/.517
3B Yoshi Tsutsugo: 1-3, HR (4), BB, .231/.365/.372
Cole Winn has a 25% walk rate in his last six starts and no fewer than four BB in any appearance. 22 of 33 fastballs missed last night. He’s also not missing many bats (16% SO rate) and getting hit hard. How long this can continue? I’m sure he’d have better stats in Frisco, but the issue is more fundamental than where he’s assigned.
We’d heard that Spencer Howard might be stretched into a starting role, but he appeared in relief last night.
Texas signed reliever Ryan Tepera and assigned him to Round Rock, where he threw a scoreless inning last night. Tepera was terrible with the Angels in the second year of his $14 million contract — 7.27 ERA and 20 runners in 8.2 innings — so the Angels set him loose. The Statcast data isn’t promising compared to 2022 but not as alarming as his basic stats. He’s a risk-free rebound project.
The loss eliminated Round Rock from first-half title contention. Round Rock is ten back of OKC with ten to play and loses the tiebreaker.
AA: Frisco 3, at NW Arkansas (KAN) 7
Frisco: 8 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 26-32, 5.5 GB, elimination number 5
SP Nick Krauth: 4 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 5 R, 0 BB, 2 HBP, 3 SO, 64 P / 43 S, 6.34 ERA
RP Kyle Funkhouser: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
SS Luisangel Acuna: 2-5, 2B, SB (27), .302/.371/.433
DH Thomas Saggese: 2-4, BB, .284/.345/.454
Funkhouser made his fourth appearance. He was effective if walk-prone for Detroit in 2021: .229/.335/.340 opposing line, 63 strikeouts in 68 innings.
Hi-A: Hickory 4, Bowling Green (TAM) 2
Hickory: 10 hits, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 1 walk, 16 strikeouts
Record: 23-32, 8.5 GB, eliminated
SP Josh Stephan: 6 IP, 4 H (2 HR), 2 R, 0 BB, 11 SO, 87 P / 60 S, 2.06 ERA
RP Jackson Kelley: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 6.14 ERA
SS Max Acosta: 2-3, BB, .286/.337/.392
RF Angel Aponte: 2-4, BB, .200/.264/.300
Josh Stephan fanned a personal-best 11 Hot Rods and generated 17 swinging strikes.
Most strikeouts in the system:
Jack Leiter (AA) — 76
Aidan Curry (lo-A) — 61
Josh Stephan (hi-A) — 59
Jose Corniell (lo-A) — 56
Robert Dugger (AAA) — 54
Hickory is eliminated from the first-half division race.
Lo-A: Down East 2, Kannapolis (CHW) 4
Down East: 5 hits, 5 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 34-21, 5 G up, magic number 4
SP Aidan Curry: 4.2 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 3 R, 3 BB, 4 SO, 66 P / 43 S, 3.15 ERA
RP Jacob Maton: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 2.77 ERA
2B Danyer Cueva: 3-4, HR (4), BB, .268/.320/.425
LF Yosy Galan: 1-3, HR (12), BB, .234/.330/.503
Danyer Cueva has homers in consecutive games and is producing a fine June (.348/.434/.674) after two slower months. Galan’s 12th homer placed him alone in second in the league.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Ragans
AA: Nordlin
Hi-A: TBD
Lo-A: Montalvo / TBD
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Catcher Jose Trevino was called up from AA Frisco to replace the suspended Robinson Chirinos for one game. Not in the initial lineup, Trevino would end up playing nearly the entire game (0-4) when Perez sprained an ankle.