My Jack Leiter video.
Leiter video from the Rangers (featuring me, taking my own video!)
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 3, Albuquerque (COL) 4
Round Rock: 10 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 19-22, 4.5 GB, 56-59 overall
SP Jack Leiter: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 11 SO, 62 P / 41 S, 3.66 ERA
RP Marc Church: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 3.18 ERA
RF Sandro Fabian: 2-4, HR (14), .269/.345/.451
1B Blaine Crim: 2-4, .271/.372/.422
With the caveat that I don’t maintain a list and am going from memory: Welcome to what might be the most dominant minor league pitching performance I’ve seen in person.
Jack Leiter struck out a career-high 11 batters and missed a career-high 21 bats.
He pitched only 3.2 innings.
The Isotopes drew air on 15 of their first 16 swings, and not until the 20th swing did they put a ball in play (an honest double). A wild pitch and dropped fly by LF Dustin Harris resulted in a run (which would have scored even if he’d caught it). Harris’s misplay in the 3rd afforded Leiter an opportunity to strike out the side, which he did. Indeed, every out was a strikeout. 34% of all pitches and 62% of swings were whiffs. The respective averages league-wide are 12% and 26%.
Velocity: Prior to last night, Leiter had thrown three pitches at 99.0 MPH or harder, none above 99.7. Last night, he maxed out at 100.1, threw another at 100 even, and had a total of 15 pitches at 99.0 or harder. That is to say, 15 of his 18 fastest pitches of the season occurred last night. These weren’t errant missiles, either. Nine (60%) were for strikes, six swinging. His three hardest sliders (maximum 92.0) and eight of the hardest nine on the season were also last night.
Location: Leiter’s location was close to ideal. Sliders leaned just off the inside border to righties and outside to lefties. The fastball largely avoided the lower half of the zone. He induced a couple of misses on low curves. He wasn’t perfect. In the 2nd, he temporarily slid into the bad habit of pushing everything a little too far off the glove-side edge, and Willie MacIver worked a walk after an 0-2 count. Leiter recovered to fan the next batter for the third out.
For workload management, Leiter hadn’t thrown in a real game in 19 days, so that explains the modest pitch count. We could assume that he’ll rebuild to the normal level, but another possibility is outings tailored for relief in Arlington down the stretch.
Marc Church’s rehab outings in Hickory weren’t especially encouraging, but back with the Express he was much steadier. Too steady, really, as I would have liked to have seen more than eight pitches.
Blaine Crim was rewarded with only one hit on the three balls launched at over 102 MPH, but he’s truly locked in at the moment.
AA: Frisco 8, Springfield (STL) 10
Frisco: 14 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 14 hits, 6 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 23-19, 2 GB, 67-44 overall
SP Kumar Rocker: 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 52 P / 36 S, 0.60 ERA
2B Max Acosta: 3-6, 2B, .266/.321/.369
1B Abi Ortiz: 2-4, BB, HBP, .215/.292/.350
LF Aaron Zavala: 2-5, HR (4), .214/.330/.298
CF Daniel Mateo: 2-5, HR (3), .170/.233/.245
I was focused on Leiter and today was a mess (sorry for the delay), so I will let Frisco’s video of Rocker speak for me and check him out myself later.
Frisco’s bullpen is improved over 2023 but not this week, as it’s already allowed 17 runs in 10.2 innings this week.
Hi-A: Hickory 0, @ Hudson Valley (NYY) 2
Hickory: 1 hit, 5 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 6 walks, 18 strikeouts
Record: 23-22, 7 GB, 51-60 overall
SP Izack Tiger: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 5 SO, 69 P / 39 S, 3.75 ERA
RP Ryan Lobus: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 11 SO, 3.47 ERA
Ryan Lobus also struck out eleven, although he did require four whole innings to do so as opposed to Leiter’s 3.2. Try harder next time, Ryan. Sebastian Walcott awakened between strikeouts seven and eight to catch a popup. Starter Izack Tiger was ultimately effective if uneasily so, facing seven batters with runners in scoring position but allowing no hits, although one run would score.
Texas has video of Lobus.
Lo-A: Down East 9, @ Lynchburg (CLE) 10 (10)
Down East: 16 hits, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 11 hits, 8 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 21-19, 4.5 GB, 56-49 overall
SP Kyle Larsen: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 56 P / 34 S, 7.34 ERA
SS Echedry Vargas: 2-5, 2 2B, .276/.327/.468
C Ben Hartl: 3-4, HR (1), BB
2B Chandler Pollard: 2-5, HR (2), .249/.323/.343
Down East led 7-0 at the midpoint, but Lynchburg completed a comeback during a five-run 8th and overcame a 9-8 deficit in the 10th. Six Woodies had multiple hits including Yeremi Cabrera, Esteban Mejia, and Wady Mendez.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Sampson
AA: Bratt
Hi-A: McCarty
Lo-A: TBA
Five Years Ago Yesterday
In a 4-2 victory, lefty Joe Palumbo no-hit AAA Omaha through the 6th, and homers from Nick Solak and Eli White plus three hits from Ronald Guzman