AAA: Round Rock 2, Oklahoma City (LAD) 1 (11)
Round Rock: 5 hits, 7 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 6-7, 3 GB
SP Dane Dunning: 4 IP, 2 H (1 HR), 1 R, 1 BB, 6 SO, 72 P / 44 S, 7.71 ERA
RP Cole Winn: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Codi Heuer: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Matt Festa: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
CF Sam Haggerty: 2-4, BB, SB (3), .348/.423/.348
1B Justin Foscue: 2-4, BB, .320/.393/.420
Hyeseong Kim homered on Dane Dunning’s third pitch. That would complete OKC’s scoring. Dunning was effective for the first time, missing more bats than usual and generating a bunch of calls with his sinker against a squad in a taking mood. OKC swung more often against Cole Winn and put the ball in play almost at will but accomplished little. Justin Foscue continues to swing (and miss) more than usual but his hitting as well as ever.
IF Cody Freeman took Sam Haggerty’s place on the IL. Evan Carter was off.
AA: Frisco 11, at NW Arkansas (KAN) 2
Frisco: 15 hits, 7 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts
Record: 5-2, tied for 1st
SP Mitch Bratt: 6 IP, 6 H (1 HR), 2 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 6 SO, 75 P / 56 S, 2.79 ERA
RP Ryan Lobus: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 6.75 ERA
CF Alejandro Osuna: 2-5, 2B, HBP
SS Sebastian Walcott: 2-5, 2B
2B Cam Cauley: 3-4, 3B
3B Keyber Rodiriguez: 3-5
Both Walcott and Osuna are off to slightly slow starts, but we’re barely a week in. Mitch Bratt has exhibited good control in both starts, as he must if he’s to reach his potential. Keyber Rodriguez became a free agent last winter but re-signed.
Hi-A: wet
Two today.
Lo-A: Hickory 1, Augusta (ATL) 5
Hickory: 8 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 7 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 4-3, tied for 1st
SP Mason Molina: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 71 P / 41 S, 5.87 ERA
RP Thomas Ireland: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 3 SO, 5.68 ERA
1B Beycker Barroso: 2-4, 2 SB (2)
RF Wady Mendez: 2-3, HR (1), BB
Molina had control issues, not a surprise given his career at Arkansas and Texas Tech. None of Molina’s four pitches are show-mes, and his low-90s high-spin fastball will baffle a good many hitters at this level, but he’ll need to walk fewer in the long run.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBD
AA: Supak (Santos listed for Sunday)
Hi-A: Davalillo / TBD
Lo-A: Mejia
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The 11th-best full-season team during 2007-2024 is the 2011 Round Rock Express.
Record: 87-57
Run-Differential Record: 79-65
Component Record: 75-69
2011 was Round Rock’s first year as a Rangers affiliate. In the previous four years with the Astros, the team never finished better than 64-79. The new Express barreled out to a 12-4 start, hovered around that many games above .500 through the mid-point, and went 46-26 in the second half. At that time, AAA didn’t use a split-season format, and the Express won the division by 17 games.
At times, the lineup included Chris Davis (still trying to breach the Texas roster), Craig Gentry, an up-and-down Julio Borbon, upcoming Leonys Martin, Esteban German and bruisers like Chad Tracy (who would reach 100 RBI in consecutive seasons), Brad Nelson and Joey Butler. Pitching was a mixed bag, led by a comeback-wanting Brett Tomko, ever-in-recovery Eric Hurley, 22-year-old Neil Ramirez, 20-year-old Martin Perez, and relievers such as Darren O’Day, Pedro Strop, Tanner Scheppers, and Mark Hamburger.
Ah, The Legend Of Joey Butler. Butler batted .322/.388/.493, and I was fielding many, many questions about “Why Wasn’t He In Arlington?!?” Butler was a good hitter with an arm for right at the time, and he’d eventually reach the Majors, but he also batted an absurdly unsustainable .453 on balls in play that season. Butler’s wRC+ by my account was 119, very impressive but not nearly at the level of anyone who’ll appear on my list of best seasons by hitters.
A funny thing, though. The Express greatly outplayed their run differential, and they also scored more and allowed fewer runs than expected based on their production in plate appearances. The offense had a 104 OPS+, and the pitching and defense held opponents to a 97 OPS+. Good, hardly amazing. If I ranked only by win-loss record, this team would be 5th. In my playoff preview, I described the rotation as “startlingly weak,” rated opposing 79-53 Omaha better in all respects and predicted the Storm Chasers would win the series in four games. Round Rock was missing several key contributors (Davis, Brian Barden, German, several relievers) while Omaha was more intact. The Storm Chasers won the series in four games.
I’ll never forget Game 2. Starter Martin Perez was still on the young side of 20, at times visibly unsure of himself and overwhelmed by AAA hitters (6.98 ERA, 72 hits in 49 innings). What he did not need was a bumbling defender. My account of the 2nd inning: “Following a medium-hard grounded single by Kila Ka’aihue, Irving Falu bunted almost straight back to Perez. Perez could have retired the plodding Ka’aihue at second with ease, but he instead turned toward first and… ate the ball because 1B Jose Ruiz was standing slack-jawed twenty feet from the bag. A clearly flustered Perez immediately received a pep talk from catcher Kevin Cash. Still, he began his sequence to Joaquin Arias with two balls and received another talk from pitching coach Terry Clark. Arias then hit a soft grounder off the glove of Perez, who recovered and threw to first. Ruiz dropped it.”
I thought Perez might strangle Ruiz. I thought I might. Omaha would eventually plate three and win 7-2. Ruiz did not play in the remaining two games of the series. In fact, he never played in affiliated ball again, spending seven more seasons amongst various winter leagues and US indy squads.