AAA: Round Rock 6, Oklahoma City (LAD) 5 (10)
Round Rock: 9 hits, 4 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts
Record: 20-22, 8 GB
SP Ty Blach: 5.1 IP, 4 H (2 HR), 3 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 82 P / 52 S, 2.38 ERA
RP Emiliano Teodo: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 7.84 ERA
RP Peyton Gray: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 3.52 ERA
CF Alejandro Osuna: 2-4, 2B, HBP
SS Jonathan Ornelas: 1-3, 2 BB, .193/.311/.216
Emiliano Teodo (shoulder fatigue) pitched in Round Rock for the first time in a month, averaging 97 with the sinker and getting one whiff on an 84 slider. Alejandro Osuna had another two-hit game. The Express won in the 10th when OKC 2B Austin Gauthier couldn’t handle Alex De Goti’s two-out full-count grounder, allowing Cody Freeman to score.
Dustin Harris had back-to-back two-hit games in mid-April, but since then he has a total of two hits in 13 games. Justin Foscue donned a golden sombrero in Las Vegas April 24th. Since then: 15 games, 65 plate appearances, 3 strikeouts… and an OBP of. .338, which is low for him.
AA: Frisco 2, Corpus Christi (HOU) 4
Frisco: 6 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 14 hits, 2 walks, 14 strikeouts
Record: 21-15, 1 GB
SP Josh Stephan: 5 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 SO, 75 P / 54 S, 6.84 ERA
RP Skylar Hales: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 6.92 ERA
DH Aaron Zavala: 2-3, BB, .271/.444/.447
All the hits off Stephan were singles. He’s had a wild year, sometimes dominant sometimes very much the opposite.
Aaron Zavala has five two-hit games in May with 14 games on the calendar. His most in any month during 2023-2024 was six.
Hi-A: Hub City 11, @Greenville (BOS) 12 (11)
Hub City: 8 hits, 5 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 12 hits, 10 walks, 14 strikeouts
Record: 17-19, 3 GB
SP Kolton Curtis: 3.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 3 SO, 69 P / 40 S, 5.54 ERA
RP Willan Bormie: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 3 SO, 1.00 ERA
RP Josh Mollerus: 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2.16 ERA
RF Keith Jones II: 2-5, .255/.412/.396
3B Gleider Figuereo: 2-5, .202/.258/.303
A fun if not especially clinical game. The teams combined for 15 walks, eight errors and a few other miscues. Hub City entered the 9th with two runs on two hits and a seven-run deficit. Six more hits plus a walk and error tied the game, but the Burgers eventually succumbed. In the bottom of the 11th, a dismal safe call on a would-be 4-6 groundout added a runner and subtracted an out, and Anthony Susac would eventually walk in the winning run. Hub City managed to score 11 without an extra-base hit and only three hits with runners in scoring position.
Lo-A: Hickory 5, Kannapolis (CHW) 4 (10)
Hickory: 6 hits, 5 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 5 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 17-18, 2.5 GB
SP J’Brielle Easley: 3.2 IP, 4 H (2 HR), 3 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 69 P / 43 S, 3.42 ERA
RP William Privette: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 4.80 ERA
SS Chandler Pollard: 1-3, 2 BB, .293/.375/.323
C Beycker Barroso: 2-3, BB, .234/.373/.277
Similar to the high-A game, Hickory walked off in strange fashion, as pitcher Liam Paddack threw away Beycker Barroso’s leadoff sacrifice bunt, allowing gift-runner Pablo Geurrero to score from second.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBD
AA: Anderson
Hi-A: Davalillo
Lo-A: Scarborough
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
Deciding who was Texas’s best strikeout pitcher during 2007-2024 is tricky because we need to differentiate between starters and relievers and also account for the huge increase in strikeouts over the years. Weirdly, nobody during the post-covid period appears on the lists below. I rated everyone relative to the league average, and my guess is that with league rates so high compared to 10 or more years ago, standing out has become increasingly difficult. The league-average K rate in Texas’s low-A league was 19% in 2015. During 2021-2024, it was 26%.
The best strikeout-oriented season by a starter was Miguel De Los Santos in 2011. He had one of the best changeups I ever saw. In terms of longevity, Luke Jackson, Neil Ramirez and, yes, Kasey Kiker top the lists.
The best reliever for strikeouts during 2007-2024 was Demarcus Evans. Evans’ last four months of 2018 were the most dominant of any pitcher in the system. From mid-May onward he faced 175 batters, walking 14 and striking out out 89 (51%!) in 46 innings.
In the lists below, SO+ means strikeout rate relative to league, so for example, a 35% K rate in a league with a 25% rate means a 140 SO+ (35 divided by 25, indexed to 100).
Best relative SO%, 90+ IP season:
Miguel De Los Santos — 91.2 IP, 35.0% SO, 179 SO+ (2011)
Wilmer Font — 98.1 IP, 34.6% SO, 169 SO+ (2012)
Neil Ramirez — 98 IP, 28.9% SO, 161 SO+ (2011)
CJ Edwards — 93.1 IP, 32.4% SO, 151 SO+ (2013)
Neil Ramirez — 103 IP, 30.5% SO, 151 SO+ (2013)
Note: The best combinations of high strikeouts and high innings would be Edinson Volquez in 2007 (144.1 IP, 156 SO+, but a dubious inclusion because he was infamously demoted to high-A after reaching the Majors), Neftali Feliz in 2008 (127 IP, 150 SO+), and Derek Holland in 2008 (150 IP, 135 SO+).
Best relative SO%, 30+ IP season:
Demarcus Evans — 56 IP, 46.8% SO, 203 SO+ (2018)
Jeffrey Springs — 56.2 IP, 41.7% SO, 199 SO+ (2018)
Alexi Ogando — 30.2 IP, 35.3% SO, 194 SO+ (2010)
Pedro Strop — 42.1 IP, 32.9% SO, 193 SO+ (2010)
Demarcus Evans — 60 IP, 42.6% SO% 179 SO+ (2019)
Best relative SO%, 400+ IP career:
Luke Jackson — 569 IP, 25.0% SO, 125 SO+
Neil Ramirez — 531 IP, 24.3% SO, 124 SO+
Kasey Kiker — 429 IP, 22.9% SO, 122 SO+
Best relative SO%, 300-399 IP career:
Wilmer Font — 368 IP, 27.3% SO, 133 SO+
Jose Leclerc — 303 IP, 27.0% SO, 131 SO+
Cody Buckel — 366 IP, 25.5% SO, 127 SO+
Best relative SO%, 200-299 IP career:
Demarcus Evans — 200 IP, 39.0% SO, 167 SO+
Jeffrey Springs — 249 IP, 32.9% SO, 150 SO+
Neftali Feliz — 263 IP, 27.4% SO, 142 SO+
Best relative SO%, 100-199 IP career:
Miguel De Los Santos — 188 IP, 33.0% SO, 166 SO+
Cody Ege — 132 IP, 31.9% SO, 157 SO+
Lisalverto Bonilla — 148 IP, 30.9% SO, 152 SO+
During 2021-2024, the best seasonal strikeout rates belong to:
SP: Jack Leiter (146 SO+ in 2024), Alejandro Rosario (140 SO+ in 2024), Ryan Lobus (137 SO+ in 2024)
RP: Grant Anderson (168 SO+ in 2023), Justin Slaten (159 SO+ in 2023), Bryan Mgdaleno (156 SO+ in 2024)