Texas recalled 1B Blaine Crim. The Rangers were a man short, so there’s no corresponding removal. Crim is not in today’s lineup.
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 4, at Charlotte (CHW) 7
Round Rock: 6 hits, 9 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 5 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 24-27, 8.5 GB
SP Dane Dunning: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 SO, 68 P / 46 S, 6.06 ERA
RP Emiliano Teodo: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 1 SO, 8.10 ERA
LF Kellen Strahm: 1-2, 3 BB, .248/.357/.392
C Cooper Johnson: 2-4, BB, .178/.315/.244
Emiliano Teodo missed on 13 of his first 16 pitches. He’s walked or hit 22% of opposing batters in AAA. There might come a day where relievers are so unhittable they can shrug off that many free passes, but we’re not there yet.
OF Marcus Smith was 0-4 yesterday, but we’d may as well take a closer look because he’s been so much fun. Until promoted to Round Rock in early May, Smith had a line of .178/.316/.267 with a 40% K rate in 235 full-season games. That’s to say, he was promoted solely to help out a roster crunch, a task he also performed last year. With the Express, he’s hitting .319/.459/.702 with nine extra-base hits in 14 games. While his contact rate remains far below average, he’s been elite at ignoring out-of-zone pitches. And the contact! Smith has a 61% hard-hit rate and median exit velocity of 98.9 MPH, nearly eight above the league median. He’s put five fastballs in play and is hitting .800 with a 2.000 slugging percentage. Goodness knows what this means. Maybe nothing. But, for the moment, Smith has uncanny plate discipline combined with a sell-out swing on in-zone pitches.
Texas signed IF Richie Martin. I’ll confess to not knowing he was still in professional ball, but he spent 2024 and a month of 2025 with indy Gastonia, just down the road from Hickory and near Charlotte. Now 30, Martin last played in the Majors in 2022 for Baltimore.
AA: Frisco 2, Midland (ATH) 14
Frisco: 4 hits, 2 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 11 hits, 5 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 26-18, 1.5 G up
SP Trey Supak: 3 IP, 7 H (2 HR), 11 R, 2 BB, 2 HBP, 6 SO, 73 P / 44 S, 5.87 ERA
RP Larson Kindreich: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 3.00 ERA
Frisco wore their 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates unis this week, taking four of six from formerly division-leading Midland despite being outscored 33-18.
Hi-A: Hub City 4, Rome (ATL) 5
Hub City: 8 hits, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 12 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 24-21, tied for first
SP Jose Gonzalez: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 70 P / 42 S, 3.00 ERA
DH Arturo Disla: 2-4, HR (5), .259/.315/.420
3B Gleider Figuereo: 3-4, HR (7), .229/.299/.393
Joey Danielson was the unlikely victim of Rome’s comeback, allowing three runs on five hits in 0.2 innings. He hadn’t surrendered more than one run in any previous outing.
Lo-A: Hickory 8, Myrtle Beach (CHC) 7
Hickory: 9 hits, 6 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 11 hits, 6 walks, 15 strikeouts
Record: 22-22, 2.5 GB
SP Aneudis Mejia: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 48 P / 31 S, 6.65 ERA
RP Luke Savage: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 0.66 ERA
RP Brock Porter: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 3.60 ERA
RP Grant Cherry: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 5.14 ERA
2B Antonis Macias: 3-5, 2B, .237/.406/.314
3B Rafe Perich: 1-3, 2B, 2 HBP, .212/.337/.343
RF Marcos Torres: 2-4, HR (1), .224/.313/.379
Hickory trailed 7-3 entering the bottom of the 6th. A Marcos Torres two-run homer, some Pelican wildness and a Torres RBI groundout put the Crawdads back ahead for good. Brock Porter pitched a 1-2-3 7th when the score was knotted at seven.
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The second-best full-season team in a Texas-affiliated league during 2007-2004, and the best outside a season shortened by covid, was the 2011 AA San Antonio Missions.
Record: 94-46
Run-differential record: 95-45
Component record: 91-49
The Pads affiliate was 49-16 in games decided by at least four runs. San Antonio never lost more than three straight, and only on three occasions. Meanwhile, they produced nine streaks of at least five wins.
San Antonio led the league with 5.7 runs per game (18% above the league average) despite a pitcher-friendly stadium. On the flip side, they allowed only 3.8 per game (22% better than average). They were an amazing 55-15 at home with a margin of 2.6 runs per game. By my accounting, San Antonio had the tenth-best offense and third-best pitching/defense of 794 teams in my study.
In the playoffs, San Antonio dispatched of Frisco (79-61) in four games. One of my fondest memories was seeing Game 1 in person in San Antonio, where Joe Wieland outdueled Robbie Ross Jr. en route to a 3-0 victory. Nick Vincent pitched the 8th and Miles Mikolas notched the save. Frisco had only three baserunners. The Missions would sweep Arkansas in the finals, including a 20-inning 5-4 victory in Game 2 (no bonus runners back then).
A great many Missions reached the Majors, but impact was limited offensively. IF Jedd Gyorko had the best career (9.3 WAR in 846 games). OF Daniel Robertson eventually debuted with the Rangers in 2014. While no longer a prospect, perpetually injured Kyle Banks spent 78 games with the Missions while recovering from elbow surgery. On the mound, Nick Vincent forged a ten-year relief career. Highly regarded Casey Kelly didn’t pan out in the US, instead finding success in Korea. Anthony Bass debuted that year and pitched through 2023. Brad Brach pitched in MLB into the 2020s, and Miles Mikolas is currently in the St. Louis rotation after three years in Japan.