AAA: Round Rock 8, Toledo (DET) 4
Round Rock: 11 hits, 5 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 3 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 1-3, 2 GB
SP Dane Dunning: 2 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 4 R, 3 BB, 2 SO, 61 P / 28 S, 13.50 ERA
RP Matt Festa: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Emiliano Teodo: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 0.00 ERA
2B Justin Foscue: 2-5, HR (1)
RF Trevor Hauver: 1-4, HR (1)
3B Cody Freeman: 3-3, 2 HR (2)
I’m not going to see Emiliano Teodo down here much longer if he keeps pitching like last night. Toledo had no chance, missing on all four hacks at sliders and two of six sinkers. The Mud Hens couldn’t even afford to lay off the slider, as six of eight taken landed for called strikes. Technically, “only” two of his 14 sinkers reached 100 proper, but another six would round up to three digits on a tv screen. I have video.
If I had to nitpick, I noticed in real time that he began overthrowing to Jace Jung with two out in his second inning once he gained an 0-2 advantage. The next three pitches were errant, and Statcast would display them as his two hardest heaters and hardest slider of the night. But on a 3-2 count, Teodo gathered himself, buried Jung with a slider, and celebrated (it’s in the video).
Evan Carter had a bad night. Facing a lefty in his first four trips to the plate, Carter struck out twice, walked and softly lined out. A 4th-inning appearance against slider-heavy Carlos Pena was especially difficult. On the first two pitches, Carter immediately initiated a swing, tried to check and couldn’t, resulting in a miss and foul tip with his bat moving at quarter speed. After a foul and outside sinker, Carter again check-swung through a low-outside slider. He did later draw a walk against lefty Bailey Horn, who mostly worked inside and really didn’t know where he was aiming. In the 8th, he fanned on a check-swing through a fastball from ex-Rangers righty Tyler Owens. In the field, Carter made a swell sliding catch of a dying liner. In the 1st, he took a slightly looping route on a scorched liner over his head, but I don’t blame him. The outbound wind was ferocious last night but not so apparent at field level, so balls would suddenly shift course once reaching a decent height. Toledo in particular made an absolute mess of several pops and flies.
Cody Freeman will not forget his home AAA debut. His first homer was a seven-iron propelled by the wind to just clear the left-field wall. He next laced a sac fly, then crushed a no-doubter to the upper deck in left and singled sharply to right. Freeman had me, the most stolid baseball observer ever, murmuring “woah!” (or something maybe less polite) on multiple occasions. 2024 was Freeman’s best offensive year by a fair margin, and in the early going he’s showing it was no fluke.
Ideally, Dane Dunning would have made an immediate case for reinstatement on the 40. He did not. Dunning’s basic control was deficient, he didn’t miss many bats (even relative to his standards), and five of nine balls in play were at least 100 MPH. Supporting defense was poor, playing a role in three of the four runs, but the pitches were his.
Best as I can tell, Texas and Detroit were meeting in a minor league game for the first time since 2008, when both fielded squads in the low-A Midwest League. AAA has introduced very limited interleague play in 2025, mostly involving the Express for some reason.
Cody Freeman:
The lineup, plus someone who wanted a particular shot more than me, I guess:
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The 12th-best team during 2007-2024 is the 2012 Frisco Roughriders.
Record: 80-60
Run-Differential Record*: 77-53
Component Record**: 77-53
This wasn’t the flashiest statistical team ever created, just nicely above average in nearly all respects, finishing with the third-best offense and second-best run prevention in an eight-team league. Frisco presented a formidable primary infield of Chris McGuiness, Leury Garcia, Jurickson Profar and Mike Olt, who led the offense with a line of .288/.398/.579 and 28 homers in 95 games. He would be called up to the Rangers in early August, and Profar was gone by early September. Engel Beltre wasn’t the best hitter but collected 47 extra-base hits and 119 starts in center. The busiest starters were Barret Loux, Jake Brigham, Nick Tepesch and Justin Grimm. By the playoffs, Wilfredo Boscan and Cody Buckel had joined the rotation. 29-year-old Ross Wolf was the short-relief specialist, aided by Ryan Rodebaugh. Frisco clinched a postseason berth by midseason with a division-winning record of 41-29.
In the playoffs, Frisco swept Houston-affiliated Corpus Christi but lost 3-1 in the finals to a solid Springfield Cardinals club featuring Oscar Taveras (RIP), Kolton Wong, Carlos Martinez, Seth Maness and Kevin Siegrist.
* Estimated record based on runs scored and allowed
** Estimated record based on singles, homers, walks, etc., by gained by offense and allowed by pitching/defense