AAA: Round Rock 5, Oklahoma City (LAD) 8
Round Rock: 8 hits, 9 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 15 hits, 6 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 18-22, 9 GB
SP Gerson Garabito: 2.2 IP, 6 H (2 HR), 6 R, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 3 SO, 68 P / 36 S, 11.74 ERA
RP Codi Heuer: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 3.07 ERA
CF Alejandro Osuna: 0-3, 2 BB
DH Justin Foscue: 1-4, HR (6), .292/.393/.496
1B Blaine Crim: 1-5, HR (8), .308/.359/.575
RF Kellen Strahm: 1-3, 2 BB, SB (13), .276/.375/.440
C Cooper Johnson: 1-3, HR (1), 2 BB, .176/.263/.353
OF Alejandro Osuna made his AAA debut. Righty Emiliano Teodo has been activated from his injury rehab at the complex.
Is it Cole Winn time? He hasn’t pitched in three days, and even if Chris Martin doesn’t need an IL trip, Winn would appear to be atop the depth list. He still hasn’t allowed an earned run, he still hasn’t allowed an extra-base hit, and opponents are hitting .147/.256/.147. To be clear, nobody produced these results without some luck, the question is how much.
Opponents are hitting and slugging .118 when they make contact on fastballs. The league rates are .358 and .582, respectively. Nearly all of the hard contact against his has rocketed directly into a glove. By my count, 14 balls in play against him have been what I classify as soft (meaning below-average exit velo but not at a favorable angle for a bloop hit) or unlucky (harder than average but tending to be caught on the fly). Ordinarily, three or four would be hits, but against him there have been none. He’s also allowed an unusually low hit rate against contact that usually results in a single.
A bunch of his Statcast metrics fall close to the league average. On the whole, he’s not been especially effective at getting strikes (also reflected in his 13% walk rate), getting ahead in the count early, or inducing more chases and misses on out-of-zone pitches. The slider is the go-to, with a 43% whiff rate (league is 35%).
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think he’s pitching badly, but I would say the amount of luck contributing to that 0.00 ERA is more than I expected.
Another thing I noticed was that he’d apparently junked his cutter, as Statcast doesn’t show a single one in 2025. But then I noticed a fair number of “sliders” over 90 MPH, and I charted his horizontal movement against his velocity for all pitches classified as sliders:
A ha. A gap of 1.2 MPH near the middle of this group plus a noticeable arm-side shift on the faster pitches. I’d call most of the yellow group cutters.
The current repertoire:
4-seamer: avg. 94.6, 30% of pitches
Sinker: 94.4, 22%
Cutter: 91.3, 10%
Slider: 86.3, 23%
Curve: 83.1, 9%
Splitter: 88.9, 6%
AA: Frisco 14, Corpus Christi (HOU) 20
Frisco: 15 hits, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 18 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 20-14, tied for first
SP Daniel Missaki: 0.2 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 6 R, 2 BB, 1 SO, 35 P / 22 S, 5.74 ERA
RP Jenser Lara: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 4.50 ERA
LF Aaron Zavala: 3-6, HR (3), .244/.426/.410
SS Sebastian Walcott: 2-5, HR (3), SB (8), .244/.352/.382
1B Abi Ortiz: 3-5, 2B, HR (4), .252/.331/.420
RF Josh Hatcher: 1-4, HR (5), BB, .261/.281/.461
CF Cam Cauley: 1-5, HR (3), SB (11), .221/.294/.344
Yes, 20-14. The final score hints at a back-and-forth affair, but no. Corpus Christi scored six in the 1st and led 9-0, 14-4 and 19-5 at various points. In an extreme example of not letting a pitcher throw too much in one inning, start Daniel Missaki was pulled in the middle of an at-bat after his 35th pitch.
Frisco’s three straight losses and Midland seven-game win streak have placed the Riders in a first-place tie for the first time in a while.
Is Aaron Zavala better? He’s hitting .429/.543/.679 during an eight-game hit streak to pull in slugging percentage for the season up to .410, a figure that might not impress, but he’s never slugged higher than .353 in any month since returning from an elbow injury in early 2023. Toward the end of 2022, Zavala appeared a lock to at least reach the Majors and potentially start in left (maybe not for the Rangers, but somewhere). He returned from that injury a different hitter, sad to say, still possessed of terrific plate discipline but with much less frequent and meaningful contact.
Hi-A: Hub City 3, @ Greenville (BOS) 4
Hub City: 2 hits, 4 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 17-17, 3 GB
SP Leandro Lopez: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 5 SO, 71 P / 44 S, 2.13 ERA
RP Eric Loomis: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 1.42 ERA
The Burgers committed three errors in Greenville’s three-run 1st and had only two hits. Leandro Lopez was fairly successful against that backdrop, although one error was his.
Lo-A: Hickory 7, Kannapolis (CHW) 0
Hickory: 9 hits, 5 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 1 hit, 5 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 16-17, 2.5 GB
SP Ismael Agreda: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 SO, 69 P / 44 S, 2.49 ERA
RP Dalton Pence: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 3.38 ERA
RP Michael Trausch: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 3.86 ERA
RP William Privette: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 5.54 ERA
LF Maxton Martin: 2-4, BB, .294/.333/.460
CF Yeremi Cabrera: 2-4, SB (10), .183/.327/.204
3B Rafe Perich: 2-4, 2B, SB (2), .204/.323/.320
In 33 games, Hickory has two no-hitters and two one-hitters. Per Mark Parker, statrter Ismael Agreda dealt a 95-96 fastball early and 93-94 with lesser command late. I saw him touch 97 in Surprise, but his one inning I saw was too quick to offer much.
Elsewhere
Toronto released catcher Matt Whatley and designated RHP Dillon Tate for assignment. Washington signed RHP Adrian Sampson. Angels righty Carl Edwards Jr. is headed to Mexico. Cleveland added pitchers Kolby Allard and Matt Festa to the 40. Reliever Jesse Chavez has probably been signed, released, and re-signed by the Braves today, who knows anymore.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBD
AA: Drake
Hi-A: Curry
Lo-A: Perry