For the first time since mid-April, Sean Bass of The Ticket, Michael Tepid and I talked Rangers: the state of the big-league club, a rundown of top-30 prospects, deeper discussion of Jack Leiter, and more. Links here.
AAA: Round Rock 3, @ Oklahoma City (LAD) 5
Round Rock: 6 hits, 6 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 5 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 31-29, 7.5 GB
SP Owen White: 4.1 IP, 6 H (2 HR), 4 R, 4 BB, 6 SO, 86 P / 52 S, 5.04 ERA
RP Cole Winn: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 3.95 ERA
Cole Winn pitched well for the third time in four AAA outings. In Surprise, rehabbing Justin Foscue manned first base and homered in two at-bats.
AA: Frisco 8, @ Corpus Christi (HOU) 0
Frisco: 10 hits, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 2 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 36-19, 4 G up
SP Nick Krauth: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 6 SO, 82 P / 57 S, 5.14 ERA
SS Frainyer Chavez: 3-5, 2B, .265/.362/.358
C Liam Hicks: 3-5, 2 HR (3), .278/.385/.381
3B Keyber Rodriguez: 2-5, HR (3), .295/.347/.500
Liam Hicks isn’t a power hitter and Corpus isn’t a hitter’s park, but here he is with two of his three homers on the season. Hicks is batting .550/.625/1.000in June. If I were manager, I’d tell him to keep doing that.
Frisco has the best record in AA and a season-high four-game lead with 14 games remaining in the first half.
Hi-A: Hickory 4, Greenville (BOS) 2
Hickory: 7 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 1 walk, 16 strikeouts
Record: 24-31, 7 GB
SP Joseph Montalvo: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 SO, 86 P / 62 S, 2.14 ERA
RP DJ Peters: 2 IP, 1 H (1 HR), 1 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 11.12 ERA
CF Anthony Gutierrez: 2-4, .296/.327/.418
Pitchers with 30+ innings and a SO-to-BB/HBP ratio of at least 4:
Jose Gonzalez: 7.4 (see below)
Alejandro Rosario: 7.0 (should pitch tonight)
Ryan Lobus: 4.6
Joseph Montalvo: 4.0
Montalvo was 19 when drafted and will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft if unprotected. If the decision had to be made today, my feeling would be no because I don’t think he’d survive the massive jump to MLB, but if I were publishing a report on potential players to protect today, he’d be featured.
DJ Peters threw strikes in abundance for the first time at Hickory.
Lo-A: Down East 2, @ Salem (BOS) 6
Down East: 8 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 5 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 29-25, 4.5 GB
SP Kyle Larsen: 0 IP, 2 H (1 HR), 6 R, 4 BB, 0 SO, 26 P / 9 S, 10.18 ERA
RP Luke Savage: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 3.44 ERA
RP Jose Gonzalez: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 SO, 1.16 ERA
C Jesus Lopez: 2-4, 3B, .299/.353/.441
DH Julian Brock: 2-4, 2B, .237/.302/.331
Larsen’s up-and-down season reached a nadir last night, as he faced seven batters without recording an out (one reached via error) and added a balk and wild to his line. Tandem starter Jose Gonzalez remains as hot as anyone in the system, fanning a career-best 11 of 20 batters and raising his season total to 52 versus just seven walks in 38.2 innings. In nine at-bats off the IL, Jesus Lopez has hit for the cycle.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Solomon
AA: Acker
Hi-A: Santos
Lo-A: TBA (Rosario’s turn)
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Whoops. The Josh Jung and Ryan Garcia College World Series notes from yesterday should have run today. The most interesting note from the day before actually involved Houston-affiliated Round Rock, which defeated Las Vegas 26-11 behind a 13-run 7th. Round Rock allowed catcher Oscar Campos to pitch the 9th with a 19-run lead, and he held the Aviators to four runs.