AAA: Round Rock 6, Reno (ARI) 5
Round Rock: 13 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 11 hits, 5 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 25-27, 7.5 GB
SP Ty Blach: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 SO, 90 P / 58 S, 3.54 ERA
RP Patrick Murphy: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 2.45 ERA
3B Cody Freeman: 2-5, .281/.332/.413
LF Kellen Strahm: 4-5, 2 SB (17), .266/.369/.405
C Cooper Johnson: 1-4, HR (2), .184/.310/.306
Strahm’s oppo single brought home Dustin Harris. Now 28, drafted as a senior out of San Jose State in 2019, Strahm is in his walk season. He’s a strong runner, adept outfielder and has handled AAA pitching well, with an ability to see and hit spinny stuff.
AA: Frisco 7, at Amarillo (ARI) 5
Frisco: 12 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 4 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 27-18, 1.5 G up
SP Daniel Missaki: 3 IP, 6 H (1 HR), 4 R, 2 BB, 2 HBP, 4 SO, 71 P / 39 S, 6.85 ERA
RP Ryan Lobus: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 4.97 ERA
RP Skylar Hales: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 5.63 ERA
LF Aaron Zavala: 2-4, 2B, BB, .256/.427/.393
SS Sebastian Walcott: 1-4, 2B, HBP, .242/.337/.424
DH Abi Ortiz: 2-4, HR (7), .250/.341/.428
CF Cam Cauley: 2-5, 2B, .228/.299/.373
Amarillo is the Texas League’s El Paso / ABQ / Reno / Salt Lake. Now is the week for Frisco’s hitters to pad their stats, and they collected seven extra-base hits. For pitchers, the idea is to escape intact, and only Missaki allowed a run. A league-average line right now for a Frisco hitter is about .247/.328/.389, so Walcott has a 112 OPS+.
Hi-A: Hub City 2, Winston-Salem (CHW) 4
Hub City: 7 hits, 4 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 5 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 24-22, 0.5 GB
SP Leandro Lopez: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 SO, 84 P / 55 S, 1.95 ERA
1B Arturo Disla: 2-3, 2B, 2 BB, .267/.328/.430
Another Monday night, another start with admirable control from Leandro Lopez. Normally reliable Wilian Bormie was tagged for three hits and three walks in the 9th, permitting four runs for the Dash.
Lo-A: Hickory 2, at Delmarva (BAL) 4
Hickory: 5 hits, 7 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 6 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 22-23, 3.5 GB
SP Ismael Agreda: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 5 BB, 4 SO, 66 P / 33 S, 2.15 ERA
CF Marcos Torres: 1-1, 3 BB, SB (6), .237/.352/.390
Ismael Agreda has good stuff but control is sometimes absent.
Down at the complex, 2024 fifth-round IF Devin Fitz-Gerald is the early standout, hitting .340/.462/.660 with four doubles, four homers, and more walks (10) than strikeouts (5). I’d caution against reading too much into that, as I’ve seen a good many destroy the rookie league only to struggle mightily in low-A (especially now, lacking the half-step of short-season ball). 18-year-old Yolfran Castillo has a .324/.385/.441 line with eight steals against one caught. Fellow 18-year-old OF Paulino Santana, homerless in his 2024 run through the Dominican Summer League, has two dingers, two triples and a .258/.361/.419 slash.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBD
AA: Drake
Hi-A: Curry
Lo-A: rain
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The seventh-best minor league relief season by a Ranger during 2007-2024 belongs to Cody Eppley in 2010.
Drafted in 2008’s 43rd round out of Virginia Commonwealth, where he’d started with decent success, Eppley immediately converted to relief as a pro and shredded opposing hitters with his sidearm delivery. He fanned 66 against just six walks in 67.2 innings for low-A Hickory in 2009. Assigned to high-A Bakersfield in 2010, Eppley produced 18 scoreless innings with one walk and 24 strikeouts. Promoted to Frisco, he was no longer flawless but still nearly unhittable, and after a an eight-inning scoreless stretch with five runners and 11 strikeouts, he jumped to AAA Oklahoma City. He began with two perfect innings and four strikeouts at Round Rock, which I missed because I was in New Orleans appraising the Dixie Brewery. Eppley leaned more toward the ordinary in AAA but established himself as a potential call-up. He got that call in April 2011.
Unfortunately, Eppley’s control became a problem in 2011, and by April 2012 he’d been waived and claimed by the Yankees. There, he enjoyed his finest season, pitching 46 effective innings and appearing in all four games of the ALCS (a 4-0 Detroit sweep). Eppley made the Yankees’ Opening Day roster in 2013 despite a poor spring. He’d somehow transformed instantly from “competent MLB middle reliever” to “unable to retire AAA hitters with any regularity.” He was quickly optioned, outrighted a month later and released a month after that. After a spell with Minnesota’s AAA squad, he joined Lancaster of the Atlantic League, and he would spend the next six seasons in indy ball.