Yesterday, I piggybacked off a tweet from Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News about Wyatt Langford’s magical “ability” to get robbed by umpires. Entering Sunday, Langford led the Majors with 21 incorrectly called strikes, nearly all of them outside and middle or low. Langford had 98 called strikes in 2024, so roughly one of every five called strikes were wrong.
Is that a high percentage? Seemed so, but I had no concrete comparison at the time. On further review: yes, yes it is. Of 165 batters with at least five incorrectly called strikes in 2024, Langford’s 21% rate is seventh-highest. Last year, among the top 300 batters in called strikes taken, only two had a higher percentage of wrong calls (Luis Garcia Jr. and Bryan Reynolds), and the average for all players is about 12%. Given Langford’s 77 correctly called strikes, a league-average number of misses would be 11 rather than 21.
Box Scores
AAA: canceled
A morning storm extended well into the afternoon, thwarting Round Rock’s outstanding drainage system. Sad for the folks who showed up for nothing, but for me, this day always has other plans (see below).
Because of those plans, I’d taken only a perfunctory look at Saturday’s box, but later I saw that starter Collin Wiles exited with some sort of arm injury in the 4th. His fastball is upper 80s nowadays but had dipped to around 85 in his final inning, and the video is heart-wrenching. Wiles already missed most of 2018 and part of 2019 after Tommy John surgery, and a shoulder issue eliminated his 2023. He’d been out of contract until signing with Texas just 11 days ago, and Saturday was his second appearance. I’m not optimistic, but hopefully the news isn’t too bad. I remember watching a similar outing by Nick Snyder in June 2022 and thinking he was done for at least the rest of the season, but he returned in just three weeks.
AA: Frisco 5, Amarillo (ARI) 6 (10)
Frisco: 7 hits, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 14 hits, 2 walks, 15 strikeouts
Record: 12-9, 1 GB
SP Josh Stephan: 4 IP, 6 H (1 HR), 2 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 52 P / 34 S, 8.44 ERA
RP Ricky DeVito: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 9.00 ERA
RP Seth Clark: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 3.00 ERA
RP Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
C Liam Hicks: 1-3, HR (1), HBP, .253/.322/.342
DH Cody Freeman: 2-4, HR (3), .286/.351/.471
Coming back from a recurring back issue, Josh Stephan is on a very restricted diet: 42 pitches in his first start, 52 yesterday. Frisco still owns the worst walk rate in AA at 13% but issued no more than three in any of the last five games.
Hi-A: Hickory 6, Asheville (HOU) 11
Hickory: 8 hits, 9 walks, 14 strikeouts
Opponent: 14 hits, 3 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 8-12, 3.5 GB
SP Florencio Serrano: 4 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 2 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 47 P / 33 S, 3.00 ERA
RP Adrian Rodriguez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 3.38 ERA
DH Tucker Mitchell: 3-4, 2B, HR (3), .222/.300/.413
SS Sebastian Walcott: 1-2, 3 BB, SB (1), .188/.297/.297
Speaking of 13% walk rates, that is what Sebastian Walcott has after yesterday, an amazingly quick progression from someone who was taking an absurdly high percentage of called strikes in the early going. He’s hitting .278/.422/.417 in his last ten games.
Lo-A: Down East 8, @ Fayetteville (HOU) 5
Down East: 13 hits, 4 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 10-10, 4.5 GB
SP Josh Trentadue: 3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SO, 68 P / 39 S, 5.17 ERA
RP Luke Savage: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 4.91 ERA
RP Kolton Curtis: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 1.59 ERA
C Jesus Lopez: 2-4, BB, .276/.354/.431
2B Erick Alvarez: 4-4, 2B, 3B, .423/.448/.577
19-year-old Kolton Curtis has held the opposition scoreless in three of four outings, all of which have been at least four innings.
Also 19, Erick Alvarez has bounced around places and positions in his two seasons stateside, hitting .189/.296/.243 in 12 low-A games last year between two complex league stints while manning the four corners and second base.
Yesterday (well, not quite, but it’s a better picture)
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Ten Years Ago Yesterday