AAA: Round Rock 3, @ Las Vegas (OAK) 4
Round Rock: 7 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 5 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 27-33, 7 GB, 64-70 overall
SP Kumar Rocker: 5 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 2 R, 1 BB, 8 SO, 65 P / 50 S, 1.80 ERA
RP Marc Church: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2.93 ERA
CF Dustin Harris: 2-4, 2B, HR (10), .280/.367/.407
C Matt Whatley: 1-3, HR (5), .200/.287/.336
Kumar Rocker sat at his locker before yesterday’s game, perused Alan Nathan’s “The Physics of Baseball: Baseball at High Altitude,” and chuckled softly to himself. As if those rules would apply to him.
Swings at curves:
1st start: 14 swings, 11 misses, 2 fouls, 1 in play
2nd start: 17 swings, 12 misses, 3 fouls, 2 in play
In the PCL, results on curves (and sliders) are divided nearly equally between misses, fouls, and balls in play. Rocker has a 75% whiff rate, 15% fouls, and 10% in play.
The PCL is hitting .216/.284/.376 in plate appearances that end in a curve and .231/.300/.400 ending with sliders. Opponents are 1-for-18 with 15 strikeouts against Rocker’s breaker.
Here’s Rocker’s miss chart:
I would argue his most impressive pitch of the night was the green dot, a first-pitch changeup that dove under Hoy Park’s bat. He hadn’t begun a plate appearance with a change before in AAA. If he’s willing and able to land that pitch, he can add some mystery to what has already been a nearly unhittable repertoire.
Rocker did hang a flat curve that Colby Thomas sent into the stratosphere and the Stratosphere. Earlier, Carlos Perez, who goes oppo as infrequently as nearly anyone in the PCL, cued a double down the first-base line and eventually scored. Perez has three homers and two doubles in four games against the Express.
The Express are in a funk. Seven straight losses, and 3.1 runs scored per game since planting 18 on Salt Lake 17 days ago. A Texas AAA squad hasn’t finished more than nine games below .500 since 1997, and until now, I hadn’t had reason to recall that stat.
AA: Frisco 2, Wichita (MIN) 1
Frisco: 6 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 3 hits, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts
Record: 35-26, first-half champ, 79-51 overall
SP Andy Rodriguez: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 57 P / 36 S, 2.82 ERA
RP Jackson Kelley: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 3.78 ERA
RP Skylar Hales: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO, 2.42 ERA
3B Cody Freeman: 2-4, 2B, .272/.329/.449
2B Theo Hardy: 1-2, 2B, BB
Per local media, Alejandro Rosario needed some rest, so Andy Rodriguez drew the spot start. Rodriguez had been knocked around some lately but was more than up to last night’s task. Wichita also lost a remarkable six of eight runners on the bases courtesy of four double plays and two unsuccessful steals.
Hi-A: Hickory 4, Rome (ATL) 3
Hickory: 8 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 33-31, eliminated, 61-69 overall
SP Brayan Mendoza: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 7 SO, 88 P / 53 S, 3.48 ERA
RP Ivan Oviedo: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
C Malcolm Moore: 2-2, 2B, HBP, .220/.316/.402
2B Danyer Cueva: 2-4, 2B, HR (1), .225/.304/.367
Malcolm Moore is hitting .367/.460/.700 during an eight-game on-base streak.
Sebastian Walcott tripled in four trips to the plate. Across the entire minors, he ranks in the bottom half of the top ten in combined doubles and triples with 38.
Lo-A: Down East 0, Augusta (ATL) 4
Down East: 1 hit, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 7 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 30-31, eliminated, 65-61 overall
SP Kamdyn Perry: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 43 P / 26 S, 7.20 ERA
RP Eric Loomis: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 SO, 3.00 ERA
RP Caden Scarborough: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 8.31 ERA
RP Luke Savage: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 3.77 ERA
RP Anthony Susac: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0.00 ERA
Down East spread the early innings around some relative newcomers. Kamdyn Perry was Texas’s 17th-rounder in 2023. He didn’t pitch in 2023 (customary for young mound picks) and tossed 26 innings for the rookies this summer with a 6.58 ERA, 18 walks, and 22 strikeouts.
The offense: 14 outs, Beycker Barroso walk, Keith Jones II single, 13 outs.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Solomon
AA: deGrom
Hi-A: McCarty
Lo-A: TBA (maybe Curtis)
Five Years Ago Yesterday
High-A Hickory knocked off the South Atlantic’s best team in two straight. 90-win Delmarva, playing beyond the regular season for the first time in 14 years, discovered the capriciousness of the minor league playoffs. Abdiel Mendoza (6 IP), Hever Bueno (2.2), and Kelvin Gonzalez (1) combined on a ten-inning, two-hit shutout. The Crawdads scored the winner absent a hit, loading the bases on two walks and an HBP. Kole Enright scored the winner on Jax Biggers’ sac bunt. Hickory would advance to the finals against KC-affiliated Lexington, which had a losing regular season but vanquished 77-61 Augusta.
Spokane was eliminated by Tri-City in the Northwest League semis 3-2 in ten. In the previous year’s finals, reliever Emmanuel Clase gained unwanted fame by committing a walk-off balk to bring in the championship-winning run for Eugene. 2019’s victim was Nic Laio, who brought a 5% walk rate into the contest but walked the leadoff batter bottom half of the 10th and issued a four-pitch walk with the bases loaded. Little did we know that Spokane was playing its final game as a Texas affiliate and as a member of a short-season league.