Texas placed RHP Dane Dunning on the IL with a shoulder issue. Texas also acquired OF Robbie Grossman from the White Sox for RHP Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa. Jack Leiter and Owen White are up, Jonathan Ornelas down.
I’ll confess to reacting to the Grossman news with “I’m tired and in a lousy hotel and under the weather and not seeing things correctly.” This newsletter hardly ever ventures outside of G-rated content, so I can’t speak freely about his defense. But he did, and does, hit lefties, against whom the Ranges have a line of .231/.288/.343 this season. From whom he siphons at-bats could be tricky, but we’ll see. The abject White Sox gave him 14 starts against righties. If he gets 14 plate appearances against righties as a Ranger, that will be too many. This isn’t a pretty trade, but the marginal value of each additional win for the Rangers is huge, and the marginal value of Grossman’s bat against lefties might be worth the cost. It’s certainly a fine bit of business for the Sox, turning a recently signed placeholder into a prospect.
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 6, Las Vegas (OAK) 4
Round Rock: 5 hits, 5 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 8 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 18-15, 4.5 GB
SP Aidan Anderson: 3 IP, 2 H (1 HR), 1 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SO, 40 P / 31 S, 1.00 ERA
RP Antoine Kelly: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1.93 ERA
LF Dustin Harris: 2-3, 2B, SB (8), .266/.344/.404
I hate missing Round Rock’s one early weekday game of the season, but I’m in New Mexico. As to not calling up Dustin Harris instead of trading a legit relief prospect, 1) Harris bats left-handed, and 2) Harris unfortunately doesn’t hit as hard as you want out of just about anyone, much less a 1/3/L. Yesterday, however, he stung the ball twice in collecting a single and double. I need to dig deeper and see if there’s any trend.
AA: Frisco 4, San Antonio (SDP) 3
Frisco: 10 hits, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 1 walk, 12 strikeouts
Record: 18-10, tied for first
SP Ryan Garcia: 5.1 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 2 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 9 SO, 87 P / 58 S, 5.40 ERA
RP Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA
CF Kellen Strahm: 4-4, HR (2), .267/.359/.347
DH Aaron Zavala: 2-3, BB, .276/.409/.414
Bubba, aka Hoop, aka AHT (that’s what I called him in my head), leaves the Riders and Rangers with a 0.00 ERA and 34% strikeout rate. Is he Emmanuel Clase? No. Peter Fairbanks? Nope. A potential Major Leaguer, and potentially a good one? Yes. Hoopii-Tuionetoa wasn’t quite at the level for 40-man placement or Rule 5 selection last offseason, but his stuff and consistency have improved in 2024. Best wishes to him.
Hi-A: Hickory 1, @ Greenville (BOS) 9
Hickory: 7 hits, 5 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 10-17, 4.5 GB
SP DJ McCarty: 4 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 3 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 69 P / 44 S, 4.05 ERA
CF Alejandro Osuna: 3-5, 2B, HR (1), .391/.462/.609
LF Quincy Scott: 2-3, 2 BB, .176/.253/.247
Osuna missed all of April, but because the team-wide offensive malaise in the early going, he could catch up to several Crawdads in the hit column this week at his present rate.
Lo-A: Down East 5, Lynchburg (CLE) 7
Down East: 8 hits, 0 walks, 15 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 12-15, 7.5 GB
SP David Davallilo: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 58 P / 41 S, 2.11 ERA
3B Gleider Figuereo: 1-4, HR (6), .213/.345/.468
2B Chander Pollard: 2-3, 2B, .203/.253/.232
Figuereo shares the lead in homers in the organization (with Sam Huff and Derek Hill) and Carolina League.
Elsewhere
That would be former Texas Ranger Tyler Ferguson who made his MLB debut at the age of 30 for the A’s. The Rangers drafted him in 2016’s sixth round. He would have been picked higher, but his control collapsed in his draft year at Kentucky. Though he improved somewhat professionally, he always had a stiff, uncomfortable-looking delivery that seemed oppositional to success. Cut in March 2019, he spent that year in indy ball and the next on the shelf like everyone else. He returned to affiliated ball in 2021, and in 2024 he maintained control well enough to get a look with Oakland.
Also back is Kyle Cody. He signed with the Giants and threw three scoreless against Texas’s rookie squad Monday.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBA
AA: B. Anderson
Hi-A: Bratt
Lo-A: B. Mendoza
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Low-A Hickory was scheduled to play 40 games in 40 days leading to the All-Star break. Times have changed.