AAA: stormy
The weather that knocked out last night’s game also knocked out my power for 24 hours, thus the late-day version of the report. They’ll play two Saturday.
AA: Frisco 10, @ Amarillo (ARI) 2 (7)
Frisco: 14 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 3 hits, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
SP Ryan Garcia: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 SO, 83 P / 52 S, 5.80 ERA
RP Andy Rodriguez: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 2.79 ERA
C Liam Hicks: 2-3, BB, .242/.343/.308
DH Aaron Zavala: 2-4, .257/.382/.376
2B Max Acosta: 2-4, SB (9), .261/.331/.351
SS Keyber Rodriguez: 2-4, 2B, 3B, .268/.295/.537
RF Geisel Cepeda: 3-4, 2B, SB (3), .208/.278/.292
AA: Frisco 10, @ Amarillo (ARI) 2 (7)
Frisco: 12 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts
Record: 23-12, 0.5 GB
SP Ben Anderson: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 SO, 82 P / 51 S, 3.48 ERA
CF Kellen Strahm: 1-3, 2B, BB, .283/.376/.370
3B Cody Freeman: 2-4, 2B, HR (5), .291/.339/.496
2B Frainyer Chavez: 2-3, BB, .216/.350/.320
Nine Riders reached safely at least twice across the doubleheader, and all twelve who batted collected at least one hit and a run and/or RBI. Meanwhile, Frisco’s pitchers made sure Amarillo’s poor offense didn’t get any funny ideas. Ryan Garcia’s last three starts are at or near his three best in two seasons at AA, and Ben Anderson had a career night, fanning eight with no walks.
Statistically, Aaron Zavala is perhaps halfway recovered from his rough post-injury 2023. His walk rate is about the same (it never suffered), while his strikeouts have fallen from 37% to 30%, still high but not so high as the make a decent batting average virtually impossible. He’s hitting .295 on contact and slugging .432 compared to respective figures of .247 and .363 last year. What’s mainly missing are the homers. Zavala was never a pure slugger but knocked 16 dingers in 2022 and hinted at more. This year he has two.
Hi-A: Hickory 1, Greensboro (PIT) 2 (7)
Hickory: 3 hits, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts
SP Mitch Bratt: 4 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 2 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 72 P / 51 S, 6.75 ERA
RP Larson Kindreich: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1.32 ERA
RF Yeison Morrobel: 1-3, HR (2), .228/.307/.325
Hi-A: Hickory 1, Greensboro (PIT) 11 (7)
Hickory: 4 hits, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 11 hits, 8 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 12-24, 8 GB
SP Leandro Lopez: 2.1 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 4 BB, 2 SO, 64 P / 34 S, 9.00 ERA
Frisco scored the same number of runs in 14 innings yesterday as Hickory has in the last 12 games. Of the 120 full-season minor league teams, Hickory is last in runs per game (2.9), average (.192), and slugging (.280), and is 118th in OBP (.286). As I’ve mentioned, a below-average offense was a reasonable expectation given the combination of aggressive assignments (Walcott, Gutierrez) and some players who moved up at least in part to clear space for others ready to move up from the complex, but this has really been something else, hopefully not a season-long phenomenon.
Mitch Bratt offered his fourth walk-free outing of the young season. Yeison Morrobel also singled in additional to his homer.
Lo-A: Down East 1, Carolina (MIL) 3 (7)
Down East: 2 hits, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts
SP Brayan Mendoza: 5 IP, 3 H (2 HR), 3 R, 0 BB, 74 HBP, 6 SO, 47 P / S, 1.00 ERA
RP Ivan Oviedo: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
Lo-A: Down East 5, Carolina (MIL) 0 (7)
Down East: 7 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 3 hits, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts
Record: 17-18, 6.5 GB
SP Kohl Drake: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 SO, 68 P / 44 S, 3.22 ERA
RP Paul Bonzagni: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1.66 ERA
3B Gleider Figuereo: 1-3, HR (9), .225/.345/.500
DH Arturo Disla: 2-3, HR (2), .248/.377/.376
The Drake/Bonzagni tandem continues to impress. Gleider Figuereo’s nine homers are most in the league and fourth-most in the minors excluding AAA (which started a week earlier). Only three players (including Yosy Galan) have hit 20 homers in the Carolina League in the post-covid era, but I doubt Figuereo will be the fourth. Not because I doubt his pace, but because he’ll have moved on.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBA
AA: Krauth
Hi-A: Montalvo
Lo-A: TBA
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Yordan Alvarez homered twice and doubled against Texas-affiliated Nashville. Alvarez was slugging .903 as a 21-year-old in AAA.