AAA: Round Rock 14, El Paso (SDP) 3
Round Rock: 11 hits, 10 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts
Record: 3-3, 40-40 overall
SP Johnny Cueto: 6 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 3 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 74 P / 51 S, 5.92 ERA
RP Josh Sborz: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 10.13 ERA
2B Justin Foscue: 1-4, 2B, BB, .194/.420/.306
RF Sandro Fabian: 2-4, HR (10), BB, .297/.366/.500
C Sam Huff: 2-5, HR (8), .245/.333/.434
SS Jose Barrero: 2-4, BB, .191/.277/.350
LF Trevor Hauver: 1-2, 2B, 3 BB, .199/.325/.311
Round Rock reeled off 24 runs in the days two since I mentioned their league-worst scoring.
Pitching on one day of rest for the first time, Josh Sborz retired his side in order but was throwing about 3 MPH slower than the 2023 version. That may just be who he is in a short term, and assuming no further health issues, I imagine there’s little to do but bring him up at some point and hope for the best. He does have up to two more weeks on rehab assignment for Texas to assess.
Texas traded Yerry Rodriguez to Toronto for 24-year-old righty Josh Mollerus, last year’s tenth-round pick out of Oregon. At high-A Vancouver, Mollerus has a 3.90 ERA, 17% BB/HBP rate and 35% strikeout rate in 23 relief appearances covering 30 innings. Last year in the low-A Florida State League, where statcast is available, Mollerus had a roughly 60/40 fastball-slider split. The fastball averaged 92.1, the slider 84.5.
AA: Frisco 5, Corpus Christi (HOU) 3
Frisco: 7 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 1 walk, 12 strikeouts
Record: 4-2, 48-27 overall
SP Emiliano Teodo: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 10 SO, 81 P / 50 S, 1.87 ERA
LF Kellen Strahm: 1-4, HR (6), .276/.356/.390
DH Abi Ortiz: 1-2, 2B, BB, .187/.255/.320
Emiliano Teodo posted double-digit strikeouts for a second time this season, walked only one, and once again prevented any extra-base hits. He’s allowed 11 extra bases on hits all season. Teodo has the best swinging strike rate (17.4%) and fourth-best grounder rate (48%) among 24 Texas League qualifiers.
Abi Ortiz batted .286/.389/.429 in the Corpus series.
Hi-A: Hickory 11, @ Greenville (BOS) 4 (7)
Hickory: 13 hits, 5 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts
Record: 4-5, 32-43 overall
SP Aidan Curry: 5 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 3 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 67 P / 41 S, 8.13 ERA
SS Cam Cauley: 2-4, BB, .229/.281/.338
LF Yeison Morrobel: 3-5, 2B, .235/.308/.338
C Ian Moller: 2-3, BB, .213/.335/.275
RF Jayce Easley: 3-3, BB, SB (13), .185/.330/.212
Cam Cauley batted .277/.333/.416 in June, easily his best of the season.
I hope Yeison Morrolbel has more games like this in him. Texas moved him up from Down East despite an injury-shortened and nondescript 2023, and from what I saw in Surprise in March, I was inclined to agree. Unfortunately, his improved strikeout rate hasn’t resulted in either more walks or hits compared to last year, just more balls hit into gloves. He is hitting for more power.
Because of a two-hour weather delay, the game was shortened to seven innings.
Lo-A: Down East 1, @ Delmarva (BAL) 3
Down East: 2 hits, 6 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 3-6, 38-36 overall
SP Kolton Curtis: 5 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 3 R, 2 BB, 5 SO, 70 P / 38 S, 2.94 ERA
RP Willian Bormie: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 3.80 ERA
20-year-old Kolton Curtis allowed his first homer since mid-May.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBA
AA: Stephan
Hi-A: McCarty
Lo-A: TBA
Monday is not an off-day for the system. It might be for me. I’ll cover today’s games in the next report, whenever that is.
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Tim Dillard was helpful to the Rangers and other organizations in his lengthy career. In this case, helpfulness meant coming out for the 5th inning with ten runs already on his ledger. He would leave having allowed 13 runs (off five homers et cetera) in 4.2.