AAA: Round Rock 1, at Sugar Land (HOU) 6 (7)
Round Rock: 10 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts
SP Adrian Houser: 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SO, 65 P / 41 S, 7.36 ERA
RP Joe Barlow: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 4.73 ERA
SS Ezequiel Duran: 2-4, 2B
3B Cody Freeman: 3-3, 2B, BB, .308/.353/.473
LF Kellen Strahm: 3-3, 2 2B, .267/.357/.453
Round Rock faced lefties in both starts. Evan Carter started the first and would ground out and strike out against the starter.
AAA: Round Rock 8, at Sugar Land (HOU) 2 (7)
Round Rock: 8 hits, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
Record: 16-16, 6 GB
SP Trey Supak: 5 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 2 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 75 P / 50 S, 3.60 ERA
3B Ezequiel Duran: 1-3, 2B, BB, SB (5), .333/.391/.571
2B Justin Foscue: 1-2, HR (4), 2 BB, SB (2), .306/.402/.481
PH/LF Evan Carter: 1-2, HR (3), .221/.333/.416
Carter replaced Alex De Goti late and homered against a righty. Statcast lists the distance as 322 feet; if so, Sugar Land’s right-center alley is only about 280′. The Express batted around in the 7th so he also made the final out.
Ezequiel Duran has started eight games at short and three at third in AAA.
No sight of Jake Burger yet. Round Rock finishes the series today and heads to El Paso Tuesday.
Texas bumped the elder Trey Supak to AAA. He threw 57% four-seamers and sinker averaging 93 MPH with good movement, mostly mid-to-upper 70s curves as a secondary and some cutters, changes and sliders. He missed five bats.
AA: Frisco 5, Wichita (MIN) 2
Frisco: 10 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 16-10, 3 G up
SP Mitch Bratt: 5 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 1 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 77 P / 57 S, 2.45 ERA
RP Gavin Collyer: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1.29 ERA
LF Aaron Zavala: 1-4, HR (2), .148/.364/.315
CF Alejandro Osuna: 2-4, SB (6), .317/.387/.462
C Cooper Johnson: 2-4, 2 2B, .267/.380/.500
RF Josh Hatcher: 2-4, 2B, 2 SB (3), .308/.316/.505
Lefty. Mitch Bratt has four walks and 29 strikeouts in 25.2 innings.
Someone asked why Josh Hatcher was lounging in AA at the age of 26. The basic answer is Round Rock doesn’t have room for him right now. Maybe if Sam Haggerty has and takes an opt-out, or if Texas decides the depth is sufficient elsewhere and releases him, that would create a spot, although Alejandro Osuna could have first dibs. Also, Hatcher signed as a fifth-year senior in 2022 and was on the old side of 23 when he played his first professional game.
Hi-A: Hub City 5, at Rome (ATL) 1
Hub City: 6 hits, 6 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 15-10, 1.5 G up
SP David Davalillo: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 SO, 52 P / 31 S, 1.33 ERA
RP josh Mollerus: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO, 3.09 ERA
CF Anthony Gutierrez: 2-4, 2B, BB, SB (12), .271/.347/.306
This was the completion of Friday’s suspended contest. The regularly scheduled game was rained out. Hub City didn’t score Saturday but didn’t need to, as Josh Mollerus, Victor Simeon, Joey Danielson and Anthony Susac combined to shut out the Emperors over five innings.
Lo-A: Hickory 0, at Columbia (KAN) 10 (5)
Hickory: 3 hits, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 11-15, 7 GB
SP Aneudis Mejia: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SO, 30 P / 14 S, 4.11 ERA
2B Antonis Macias: 2-3, .230/.437/.311
The MVP was the rain that halted proceedings after five innings, meaning this game ended without further indignity. Hickory committed five errors and added two hit batters, a balk and a wild pitch. Columbia hit back-to-back triples and stole four bases.
Complex League: Rangers 4, Padres 3
The rookies squandered an early 3-0 league but walked off victorious on rehabbing OF Yeison Morrobel’s RBI single. The Rangers scored three in the 1st on a double by 1B Klemir Lemos plus a walk, HBP, wild pitch and sac fly. CF Paulino Santana, 3B Devin Fitz-Gerald, and Josh Springer all singled, and Santana swiped a base. The pitching was led by 34-year-old Ty Blach, out of contract since September and recently signed presumably to aid Round Rock in the near future.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Garcia
AA: Serrano
Hi-A: Gonzalez / TBD
Lo-A: Agreda
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The 16th-best position player season during 2007-2024 belongs to Abimelec Ortiz.
Born in Puerto Rico, Ortiz played for Florida SouthWestern State College and signed as a free agent with Texas in late July 2021. He was able to play 40 games in the Dominican Summer League because the season started so late. His initial foray to full-season ball was unexceptional: .226/.308/.380 with 11 homers in 94 games at Down East. His prospect stature exceeded his production at that point, but he’d yet to show much at a “show me” position. In the offseason, he was fitted with contacts.
The first month of 2022 was similar (.246/.329/.377), but Ortiz suddenly began torching the ball, hitting .400 and slugging .950 over an 11-game span that earned a quick promotion to high-A Hickory. There, Ortiz hardly ever slowed down, hitting five homers in his first ten games and batting .283/.358/.609 overall. Ortiz’s 33 homers tied for the fourth-most in minor league ball, and everybody ahead of him was older (although, for combined power and youth, Junior Caminero’s 31 homers at Age 19 were the true standout).
Since then, Ortiz has often struggled at AA. In 2024, he endure a long dry spell before resuming his earlier glory, and 2025 has been slow as well. Ortiz doesn’t strike out excessively and has more to offer than brute-forcing of bad pitches over the fence, but he has some miss in his bat. Watching him in person, you’re likely to say “wow, quick bat” and “wow… he missed that slider by a foot” in the same game. Ortiz was omitted from last year’s 40-man additions and will need to get back on track to be added this fall. He’s still below the average age for a Double A hitter.