Opening Day (Minor League Edition)
Round Rockās season begins tonight at Seattle-affiliated Tacoma. Caleb Boushley has drawn the start, followed by David Buchanan and Adrian Houser. All are offseason signings at least nominally in the hunt for a starting role should the Rangers suffer even more injuries. At 31 years and 178 days old, Boushley is the youngest of the three. Last yearās opening weekend starters were Owen White, Michael Lorenzen (followed by Jack Leiter) and Adrian Sampson.
I neglected to mention yesterday that RHP Patrick Murphy will be added to the AAA injured list. Ā
Next Friday, Frisco opens at home against Corpus Christi, high-A Hub City begins its existence at Aberdeen in Maryland, and low-A Hickory makes the short trip to Kannapolis.
Now, the A-level rosters (MLB Pipeline top-thirty rankings in parentheses).
High-A Hub City Roster
Pitchers: Paul Bonzagni (24), Wilian Bormie, Seth Clark, Aidan Curry, Joey Danielson, David Davalillo (30), Mailon Felix, Jose Gonzalez, Larson Kindreich, Leandro Lopez, Dylan MacLean, DJ McCarty, Josh Mollerus, Victor Simeon, Anthony Susac, Josh Trentadue, Adonis Villavicencio
22-year-old David Davalillo (1.79 ERA, 22 walks, 79 K in 80 innings) and 23-year-old Jose Gonzalez (2.26 ERA, 20 walks, 117 K in 87 IP) manhandled the Carolina League last year and looked sharp last week. Paul Bonzagni was far from sharp in the Breakout Game but reached high-A in his first pro season last year and has appeared on some top-thirty lists. Josh Trentadue (2023, 14th round) nearly matched Davalillo and Gonzalez in terms of peripherals but was tagged with a 4.46 ERA. 2020 4th-rounder Dylan MacLean is back from elbow surgery.
Aidan Curry will attempt to bounce back from a devilish 2024. ’24 1th-round righty Joey Danielson, who put on a show when I visited Surprise, advances to high-A after 8.1 low-A innings. I would dearly love a fully healthy and progressive season from Leandro.
Catchers: Julian Brock, Malcolm Moore (4), Cal Stark
Not unexpectedly, Texasās 2024 top pick will resume in high-A Hickory. He didnāt have a great showing in his pro debut, but I always recall Mitch Morelandās inaugural season at short-A Spokane: .259/.308/.398, an 89 wRC+. He then became one of the best minor league hitters Iāve covered and a respectable MLB hitter as well. Debuts donāt always go well; not everyone is Wyatt Langford.
Brock batted .254/.318/.376 at low-A Down East, which sounds a slightly thin but is an above-average line for that league and park, and heāll be 24 in June. Stark was an undrafted signing and teammate of Dylan Dreiling at Tennessee.
Infielders: Casey Cook, Danyer Cueva, Arturo Disla, Gleider Figuereo, Esteban Mejia
2024 3rd-rounder Cook didnāt hit much at Down East, but refer to my Moreland comment above. Cook also barely played second base at UNC but hasnāt moved off the bag as a pro.
The 20-year-old Figuereoās 20 homers co-led the system (along with Blaine Crim) in 2024, but in other respects a midseason promotion to high-A proved stressful on his batting output, and lefties have always eaten his lunch. He responded well in repeating low-A last April, so hopefully he does the same this season.
The already large Disla got even larger over the winter, and, wellā¦ heās not going to play shortstop so who cares. He needed almost six weeks to bop his first homer in 2024 but ended up with 19 and hit .274/.349/.458 overall.
Outfielders: Dylan Dreiling (10), Anthony Gutierrez (18), Keith Jones, Quincy Scott, Marcus Smith
Dreiilng, last year’s second-rounder, drew walks in 18% of his plate appearances but batted .198 and slugged .279. I wouldn’t want to demean him with the “passive” epithet, but the combination of his patience and a bevy of control-impaired opposition might have pushed him a little in that direction. as for contact, Dreiling’s 4% swinging strike rate was the lowest in the entire system.
A year ago, Gutierrez won a mildly surprising promotion to high-A after getting by as an 18-year-old at Down East. He hit about the same last year but will repeat this time. Gutierrez morphed into seemingly more power-oriented approach last year but actually dropped from two homers in 2023 to just one.
Money-saving senior sign Keith Jones (2024, 9th round) clobbered the ball at very hitter-friendly New Mexico State (the entire team posted a 3/4/5 slash).
Low-A Hickory Roster
Pitchers: Ismael Agreda, Angel Anazco, J’Briell Easley, Brooks Fowler, Thomas Ireland, Nick Lockhart, Eric Loomis, Aneudis Mejia, Alberto Mota, Dalton Pence, Kamdyn Perry, Brock Porter, Luke Savage, Caden Scarborough (28), Michael Valverde, Kai Wynyard
Headline: 2022 4th-rounder (but paid like a 1st-rounder) Brock Porter received a full-season assignment. Recall that he was pulled after three extremely wild high-A starts last year, after which he pitched sporadically and no better at the complex. In terms of official games, he was shut down in late July. Unfortunately, I didnāt get a look at him in Surprise.
Agreda, Fowler (2024, 15th round) and Valverde are new to the level, and 11th-rounder Dalton Pence and undrafted ex-Jayhawk JāBriell Easley will be making their pro debuts. Thatās not many pure newcomers, but another five (Anazco, Loomis, Mejia, Perry, Scarborough) have faced fewer than 30 batters at the level.
The 19-year-old Perry is the youngest on the roster, a 2023 17th-rounder. A few months older and the one ranked prospect, Scarborough has delivered fastballs consistent in mid-90s velocity but inconsistent in direction. Agreda (21) caught my eye last March with an unhittable performance: half unhittable because he was so good, half because he was missing the zone by literal feet. Heās still pretty skinny and dialing it up to 98.
Catchers: Beycker Barroso, Ben Hartl, Jesus Lopez
As an 18-year-old, Jesus Lopez batted a robust .299/.353/.441 for two months but then crumbled to dust (.155/.237/.214 thereafter) and missed six weeks to injury. Ben Hartl had a fun debut, hitting .324/.481/.432 in 14 low-A games and grabbing a couple of hits for a depleted Round Rock team down the stretch. The 22-year-old Barroso hardly caught in 2025, instead spending the most time at first.
Infielders: Pablo Guerrero, Antonis Macias, Luis Marquez, Rafe Perich, Chandler Pollard
A common occurrence in recent years is Texasās international hitters destroying the complex league only to belly-flop their first dive into full-season ball. Iād guess a combination of weather (cooler and more humid outside Arizona), park (Down East was a deeply pitcher-friendly park in a pitcher-friendly league), and talent gap (no more short-season ball). Guerrero, Macias, and outfielders Cabrera and De Jesus all saw their production plummet upon arrival. In the final quarter of 2024, after most of the better hitters had moved on, Down East averaged 3.3 runs per game, poor even for the environment. The many repeaters will try to improve at the more forgiving stadium in Hickory.
22-year-old 3B Rafe Perich (2024, 7th round) is at least two years older than every other infielder and could be the quickest to advance despite limited pro experience. (That could also depend on the progress of Figuereo, who has spent all but four games in his career at third.)
Chandler Pollard (2022, 5th round) is repeating the level as a 20-year-old. He spent most of 2024 at 2B in favor of since-traded Echedry Vargas, but I donāt recall seeing him anywhere but shortstop last week in Arizona.
Conspicuously absent from this list is IF Yolfran Castillo, who impressed greatly in Surprise. He has only 15 games of complex experience but stood out among the contenders. Maybe heāll await more Arizona games, or maybe heās nursing an injury.
Outfielders: Yeremi Cabrera (16), Jose De Jesus, Max Martin, Wady Mendez, Marcos Torres
The 19-year-old Cabrera has drawn strong reviews for his combination of power and speed, but much to my aggravation, I have witnessed hardly any evidence of it in two Marches in Surprise. Perhaps Iām the problem, although fans in Kinston mostly saw what I saw last year (.185/.298/.247).
The returning Torresās nearly barren April and August of 2024 included ten-game stretches with just one hit. He did lead the team with 38 walks (a solid 11% rate) as a 19-year-old. Also 19 for a little while longer, Martin (2023, 11th-round) didnāt hit especially well at the complex but as a third-year pro has to prove he can hang at a higher level.
Departures
A host of players from yesterdayās āunassignedā list have been released:
RHP Tim Brennan (2018, 7th round) ā For a little while, he had a narrow path to the Majors as a control/command long reliever, but he missed the end of 2022 and all of 2023 to elbow surgery, and his control disappeared upon return to Round Rock.
RHP Bryan Chi ā 26-year-old Cuban employed as an across-the-system fill-in last year.
RHP Reid Birlingmair ā Signed from indy ball in 2023, Birlingmair quickly impressed enough to become an honest-to-goodness relief prospect, but two tilts at PCL hitters went poorly.
RHP Jacob Maton ā An undrafted sign from Coastal Carolina, good control but hittable in high-A. Ā
RHP Ivan Oviedo ā Used low-A Down East as a home base with ājust in caseā trips to Hickory and Round Rock during 2024.
RHP Andy Rodriguez ā Cuba-born, signed out of Miami Dade College, spent last year at Frisco. I referred to him yesterday as Adrian, a different pitcher who finished last year at Hickory and is also unassigned to my knowledge. Sorry about the mix-up.
LHP Justin Sanchez (2022, 18th round) ā Signed out of high school for the maximum that doesnāt impact the draft cap ($125,000). 50 strikeouts in 43 low-A innings as a 20-year-old but walk-prone.
OF Yosy Galan ā Iāve been doing this for a day or two, and I knew full well that Galanās plate approach might shipwreck him before he reached AA, but for a while, I was a big fan. Galan has 17 homers and 23 steals per 100 games played, and his wiry athleticism is a joy to watch. He actually walked at an acceptable rate, but 20% of his pitches resulted in a swinging strike. 24 next month, Galan would have been repeating high-A (and to be honest, I’d expected him to get a shot).
OF Tommy Specht (2022, 6th round) ā Last March, I suggested Specht ought to improve on his .288 slugging percentage because of a solid line-drive rate and acceptable K rate. He just seemed unlucky. Repeating low-A last year, Specht slugged .219.
RHP Bryce Bonnin, C Brandon Martorano ā offseason pickups
Elsewhere
Texasās Opening Day lineup of hitters played a combined 1,086 MLB games in 2024.Ā Miamiās hitters had a combined 1,059 MLB games in their entire careers. Former Express and Rangers OF Derek Hill was among them. Rule 5 pick Liam Hicks did not play. They beat the Skenes-led Pirates 5-4, so hereās to inexperience, I guess.
Five Years Ago Yesterday? Absolutely Not.
āI chilled in an Intex pool in my backyard, listened to depressing music, doomscrolled and sipped tequila. No minor league games were played.ā *
Five years ago was 2020. Instead of re-running the above every day, I’ve created a special quasi-daily feature I hope youāll enjoy. I might still reprise some of my intermittent 2020 content.
* In fairness, I also biked often and everywhere because the roads were so uncluttered. I was undoubtedly in the best shape of my post-40-years-old existence during the summer of 2020.
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