Per local reports, reliever Marc Church will miss 7-10 days with an oblique strain. I always take the over on obliques (hamstrings, too), so we’ll see. RHP Winston Santos will miss 8-10 weeks with a stress reaction in his back. Santos had appeared only twice, on Opening Day and 11 days later. Finally, Hub City righty Paul Bonzagni has elbow inflammation and is awaiting results of further tests.
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 0, Las Vegas (ATH) 1 (suspended)
SP Jack Leiter: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 60 P / 40 S
In a rehab outing, Jack Leiter easily dispatched the Aviators. Leiter threw at least eight of five different pitches. He fanned four on a slider, curve, slider (looking) and fastball, and missed four other bats with a curve and three heaters. The fastball topped at 98.9. Leiter had a momentary control lapse to start the 2nd, getting CJ Alexander to swing through two pitches before running too many up and wide for a walk. He concluded the inning with three outs on just seven pitches, all strikes.
All told, a encouraging effort, and one more meaningful than the typical rehab. Leiter isn’t some 32-year-old just rebuilding stamina and whose rehab results can be ignored (within reason). He’s still progressing, still trying to build lengthy periods of consistency and success, so I was really hoping for an outing that would look suitable against Major Leaguers. He provided that.
He also narrowly avoided another injury. Statcast shows a hard but seemingly innocuous ball in play from Aviator Darell Hernaiz in the 4th: 103.6 MPH, four degrees, 125 feet in the air, groundout. In fact, the ball caromed off Leiter’s back to second baseman Jonathan Ornelas, who threw to first for the out. I’m no back specialist, but the ball didn’t quite hit him squarely and probably impacted the “best” spot: upper middle, not on the spine, not a kidney, not a collarbone or by the shoulder. Leiter received a house call from the trainer but was able to resume after some stretching and a warm-up throw.
Yipes!
AA: Frisco 3, at Corpus Christi (HOU) 2
Frisco: 6 hits, 5 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 11-5, 2 G ahead
SP Ryan Lobus: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 38 P / 26 S, 4.76 ERA
RP Daniel Missaki: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 3.38 ERA
RP Skylar Hales: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 10.50 ERA
RP Avery Weems: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0.00 ERA
CF Alejandro Osuna: 1-4, BB, .246/.329/.369
1B Abi Ortiz: 2-4, 2B, BB, .250/.344/.429
DH Luis Mieses: 1-3, HR (3), BB, .310/.356/.571
Skylar Hales broke a string of three appearances with multiple runs allowed. He endured a similar situation last April, yielding eight runs in two short outings before righting the ship.
LHP Bryan Magdaleno is off the IL. LHP Robbie Ahlstrom was promoted to AAA, where he belonged from the get-go but had to wait for the crowd of relievers in front of him to dissipate.
Hi-A: Hub City 1, Greenville (BOS) 0
Hub City: 3 hits, 4 walks, 15 strikeouts
Opponent: 3 hits, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 9-7, tied for first
SP Leandro Lopez: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 SO, 65 P / 46 S, 3.38 ERA
RP Mailon Felix: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 5.40 ERA
RP Josh Mollerus: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Willan Bormie: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1.00 ERA
3B Gleider Figuereo: 1-3, BB, SB (1), .167/.245/.190
Not only did the one-hour rain delay not faze the often control-averse Leandro Lopez, he threw five walk-free innings for the first time since July 2022 in the Dominican Summer League.
The only run scored without a ball in play. With runners at the corners and two out in the 5th, Gleider Figuereo broke for second. The throw from the catcher apparently got away (the camera was focused elsewhere, but the announcer said as much), and Julian Brock scored easily from third. The sequence was ruled a double steal.
Lo-A: Hickory 6, Salem (BOS) 12
Hickory: 7 hits, 9 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 11 hits, 5 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 8-8, 2 GB
SP Kamdyn Perry: 3 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 3 BB, 2 SO, 59 P / 36 S, 6.55 ERA
RP Luke Savage: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
CF Yeremi Cabrera: 1-4, 2B, BB, .188/.361/.208
LF Maxton Martin: 1-4, BB, .323/.348/.484
1B Pablo Guerrero: 2-5, .268/.288/.375
3B Rafe Perich: 2-5, HR (3), .228/.303/.421
2B Antonis Macias: 0-0, 4 BB, .189/.426/.324
Hickory allowed double-digit hits and runs for the first time in 2025. Kamdyn Perry participated in a no-hitter two weeks ago. Today, he sports a 6.55 ERA. Luke Savage appeared for the first time. The 23-year-old undrafted TCU alum had been on the IL.
Elsewhere
Former Texas relief prospect Chase Lee is a Major Leaguer. First opponent: Manny Machado. First result: double play.
Cleveland purchased the contract of righty Zak Kent. After being acquired from Texas, Kent was outrighted but re-signed with the Guardians.
RHP Neftali Feliz signed with Durango in Mexico. He’d attempted a US comeback with the Mariners but was released mid-March. (If anyone knows a site for Mexican League transactions, please let me know.)
David Robertson is still a free agent.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBD
AA: Drake
Hi-A: TBD
Lo-A: Easley
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
We’re staying outside the Rangers this week, mostly having fun with some of the worst teams to ever face a Texas-affiliated squad. Today, though, is the unluckiest full-season team during the 2007-2024 period, the 2013 High-A Carolina Mudcats, affiliated with Cleveland.
Carolina led the league in batting average (.266) and OBP (.345), had more hits, more combined doubles and triples and fewer strikeouts than any other club, and were a close second in combined walks and HBP. They did lag in homers. I calculate that they should have scored 681 runs, but they actually scored 637 and were only middle-of-the-pack in that regard. On the other side, Carolina’s pitching and defense allowed a roughly league-average .256/.336/.383 line (and notably, a lower OPS than their offense) but allowed 657 runs, second-most in the league. The Mudcats had 87 more baserunners than their opponents but scored 20 fewer runs. In terms of batting and pitching components, Carolina had the quality of a 73-67 team. In terms of runs scored and allowed, their record could have been 68-72.
Carolina was 57-83, underplaying their run-differential by 11 wins and their components by 16.
You’ve read about luck in one-run games, I’m sure. Conversely, a pretty good marker of team quality is record in blowouts (5+ runs). Carolina was 22-16 in blowouts but only 14-30 in one-run games, plus 5-20 in two-run games.
Incidentally, a terrific example of such weirdness in MLB is the 2022 Rangers, a not-terrible team that was 19-18 in blowouts but 15-35 in one-run games and finished 68-94. People lost jobs over that. Maybe they’d have lost them anyway, but it didn’t help! Another is the 2016 Rangers: only 18-24 in blowouts but a staggering 36-11 in one-run runs, permitting a division-winning 95-67 record despite a run differential of just +8.
Unbelievably, the second-unluckiest minor league team is the 2014 Mudcats, who finished 62-74 despite a +6 run differential and +253 baserunner differential.