Rangers Farm Report: Games of Friday 7 July

Box Scores

AAA: Round Rock 9, Sugar Land (HOU) 1
Round Rock: 12 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 9 walks, 14 strikeouts
Record: 6-4, 2 GB, 50-34 overall

SP Edwar Colina: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 14 P / 7 S, 6.75 ERA
RP Cole Winn: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 7.32 ERA
RP Alex Speas: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 3.86 ERA
RP Jonathan Hernandez: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1.46 ERA
2B Justin Foscue: 2-4, 2 HR, (10), BB, .281/.402/.508
DH Sam Huff: 3-4, 2B, .312/.400/.543
RF Elier Hernandez: 2-4, HR (15), .320/.383/.554
SS Jonathan Ornelas: 3-4, .257/.372/.366
LF Dustin Harris: 2-3, BB, .289/.418/.511

Justin Foscue homered twice. The timing is commendable.

Dustin Harris continues to hit in a respectable if narrow velocity range. If this keeps up, I’ll have to see which Major Leaguers have similar styles. It could be fine, I just haven’t come across it before in a year and a half of toying with AAA data. Sam Huff continues to be Tony Gwynn since coming back to Round Rock.

Elier Hernandez and his agent should learn Japanese.

At present, Round Rock has a two-man rotation plus relievers plus someone up from Frisco plus lengthy relief efforts from Cole Winn. The team’s median start length in 2023 is 3.2 innings and 65 pitches.

AA: Frisco 9, Midland (OAK) 12 (7)
Frisco: 11 hits, 7 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 16 hits, 5 walks, 6 strikeouts

SP Jack Leiter: 0.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 0 SO, 29 P / 16 S, 5.51 ERA
SS Luisangel Acuna: 4-5, .315/.372/.450
3B Thomas Saggese: 2-4, HR (12), BB
LF Trevor Hauver: 2-4, BB, .251/.373/.420
2B Jax Biggers: 1-4, HR (6), .211/.328/.325

AA: Frisco 6, Midland (OAK) 1 (7)
Frisco: 6 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts
Record: 5-5, 2 GB, 36-42 overall

SP Nick Krauth: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 0 SO, 73 P / 50 S, 5.57 ERA
RP Justin Slaten: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 1.54 ERA
RP Antoine Kelly: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 3.10 ERA
CF Evan Carter: 2-3, HR (8), .312/.423/.471
3B Thomas Saggese: 2-2, 2 2B, HBP, .313/.382/.513
RF Kellen Strahm: 1-3, HR (4), .231/.336/.324

Maybe if Jack Leiter cleanly fields a comebacker and turns a double play, and maybe if Aaron Zavala doesn’t commit two errors that let runners advance, Leiter gets out of the inning with three runs and a pitch count in the mid-twenties. But I wouldn’t say he was cheated, and the box score is a reasonable account of his day.

Hi-A: Hickory 4, at Winston-Salem (CHW) 7
Hickory: 10 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 2 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 12-1, 4 G ahead, 39-35 overall

SP Emiliano Teodo: 3.2 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 3 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 70 P / 44 S, 4.88 ERA
RP Jackson Kelley: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 5 SO, 3.86 ERA
DH Abi Ortiz: 3-4, 3B, .355/.418/.752

The winning streak ends at 15. Down 7-2 in the 7th, Hickory managed to get the tying runner to the plate with one out in the 9th but couldn’t convert. Results for Emiliano Teodo weren’t great, but he threw plenty of strikes and didn’t walk anyone. Abimelec “Speedy” Ortiz has three triples in his last five games to go along with the four in his previous 190.

Lo-A: Down East 5, at Kannapolis (CHW) 8
Down East: 10 hits, 4 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 5 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 8-5, 1 G ahead, 45-29 overall

SP Brock Porter: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 5 SO, 74 P / 41 S, 2.62 ERA
RP Kai Wynyard: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1.23 ERA
CF Anthony Gutierrez: 2-5, 2 2B, .239/.297/.296
2B Danyer Cueva: 2-4, SB (4), .270/.315/.397
1B Zion Bannister: 3-4, 2B, .271/.368/.356

Four hits allowed are a career high for Brock Porter. Admittedly, his workload is slightly lighter than Wilbur Wood in the early 1970s, but Porter has been very hard to hit. Anthony Gutierrez doubled twice. Earlier in the week, he was ejected after shoving the opposing third baseman who’d fallen on him after he’d slid into the base. Cleared benches, exchanged words, etc. Gutierrez’s year hasn’t proceeded quite as well as hoped, but a full two months and at least one playoff series offer plenty of time for better results.

Today’s Starters
AAA: Howard
AA: Bremer
Hi-A: TBD
Lo-A: TBD

Five Years Ago Yesterday
Jeffrey Springs issued two bases-loaded walks in relief for Round Rock. He had a 42% strikeout rate and 23% BB/HBP rate.