AAA: Round Rock 13, Albuquerque (COL) 3
Round Rock: 16 hits, 7 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 1 walk, 14 strikeouts
Record: 21-22, 4 GB, 58-59 overall
SP Ryan Garcia: 6 IP, 6 H (1 HR), 2 R, 0 BB, 9 SO, 80 P / 52 S, 2.50 ERA
CF Dustin Harris: 2-6, 2B, SB (30), .281/.366/.404
2B Justin Foscue: 4-4, 2B, HR (5), HBP, .284/.439/.455
RF Sandro Fabian: 3-3, HR (15), 2 BB, .275/.351/.463
LF Trevor Hauver: 2-4, 2B, HR (6), BB, .199/.310/.333
SS Jax Biggers: 2-4, 2 2B, BB, .264/.389/.372
Albuquerque has the worst pitching in the league by far (even adjusting, considerably, for their park), but the Express unfortunately have the league’s worst offense. Until last night, Round Rock hadn’t posted the rec-league softball results Albuquerque deserves.
Justin Foscue had a four-hit game (video) including an unusually towering homer as opposed to his usual line drives plus an infield double. Foscue probably has 30 speed but is surprisingly adept on the bases, able to tease out an occasional extra base or steal. He’s not at the level of younger Joey Gallo, who was a 30 out of the block but 50 in second gear and upward, but neither is he a true base-clogger.
After a leadoff homer and two doubles in the 1st, Ryan Garcia settled into a long, productive outing. He fanned the side in the 5th.
AA: Frisco 1, Springfield (STL) 4
Frisco: 7 hits, 0 walks, 14 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 2 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 24-20, 1 GB, 68-45 overall
SP Winston Santos: 5.2 IP, 6 H (1 HR), 3 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 7 SO, 88 P / 61 S, 5.23 ERA
LF Alejandro Osuna: 2-4, 2B, .295/.385/.496
Winston Santos has been homer-prone in AA, and a three-run blast in the 1st would provide the necessary offense for Springfield. Santos missed 16 bats, his most in AA, and fanned seven for the fourth time in seven starts.
Texas released catcher Scott Kapers, a 2018 17th-rounder who’d played sparingly for Frisco this season. Kapers fared best at high-A Hickory in 2022, batting .261/.321/.496 with eight homers in 37 games. He would have become a free agent at the end of this season.
Hi-A: Hickory 4, @ Hudson Valley (NYY) 2
Hickory: 5 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 24-23, 7.5 GB, 52-61 overall
SP Kohl Drake: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 SO, 74 P / 45 S, 2.53 ERA
LF Dylan Dreiling: 1-3, 2B, BB, SB (2), .269/.424/.385
DH Malcolm Moore: 1-4, 2B, .120/.267/.200
1B Arturo Disla: 1-3, HR (4), HBP, .240/.328/.560
Malcolm Moore has been batting fourth in the lineup but has led off an inning in 11 of his 30 plate appearances. That’s just weird. That also means usual #3 hitter Sebastian Walcott has been making a ton of third outs lately. Walcott is batting .237/.302/.342 overall with Moore as a teammate, not great but not terrible, and has a lofty .389 OBP for the season with two out. I’m sure it’s just a quirk.
Dylan Dreiling has reached multiple times in five of his eight games.
The one run off Kohl Drake was unearned, and Hudson Valley had only three plate appearances with a runner in scoring position.
Lo-A: Down East 4, @ Lynchburg (CLE) 6
Down East: 6 hits, 5 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 22-20, 3.5 GB, 57-50 overall
SP Kolton Curtis: 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 6 SO, 64 P / 41 S, 2.69 ERA
C Julian Brock: 4-4, 2 2B, 3B, HR (5), .251/.326/.383
Keep your fluky cycles. Julian Brock doubled twice, tripled and homered, in that order. Brock was hitting .211/.295/.313 as of three weeks ago but is flaunting a .460/.491/.740 line with nine extra-base hits in his last 13 games. I expected last year’s eighth-rounder to hit well in low-A, and with this recent success he sports a 115 OPS+.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Brennan
AA: Teodo
Hi-A: Davalillo
Lo-A: TBA
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Low-A reliever Kelvin Gonzalez touched 100 MPH twice against Greenville. The Rangers had acquired him for international bonus money a year before, and he’d evolved into the Crawdads’ high-leverage reliever and a worthy if far-off relief prospect. He fanned 58 against just 15 walks in 45 innings. Covid and an injury delayed his next performances until mid-2022. He pitched some for high-A Hickory down the stretch, became a free agent, and hasn’t appeared in affiliated ball since.