AAA: Round Rock 2, Reno (ARI) 1
Round Rock: 5 hits, 5 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 2 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 26-28, 7.5 GB
SP Kumar Rocker: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 53 P / 35 S, 0.00 ERA
RP Marc Church: 1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 9.00 ERA
RP Luis Curvelo: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 1.80 ERA
2B Cody Freeman: 3-5, 2B, .295/.342/.443
Kumar Rocker retired 12 batters in order on just 47 pitches. Extended past the scheduled four innings because of the pitch count, Rocker walked Trey Mancini after an 0-2 start and was done. Yesterday, Statcast classified nearly all of his pitches as sinker or cutters. Today, the fastballs were re-classed as a mix of four-seamers and sinkers (which seems right) and a mix of cutters and sliders. In the latter case, I’d say many so-called cutters were just hard sliders, as his velocity was up about two ticks. (I can’t say for sure, but my impression is Statcast treats a pitcher’s first appearance in AAA as if he’s a newcomer, even if he has experience in MLB.)
In terms of effectiveness, last night was a continuation of his his previous outing with Frisco in that he simply overwhelmed the competition. He could pitch for Texas next time out. In terms of pitch mix, he wasn’t dealing like a typical starting pitcher. He threw three late changes to no effect, but the rest was essentially fastball-slider, so in that respect he arguably needs more work, plus perhaps an opportunity to extend to 70+ pitches.
AA: Frisco 3, at Amarillo (ARI) 1
Frisco: 7 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 28-19, 0.5 G up
SP Josh Stephan: 6 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 84 P / 58 S, 5.25 ERA
DH Sebastian Walcott: 2-5, 2B, .241/.332/.420
Not every game in Amarillo is a slugfest, and Josh Stephan produced his first walk-free and second scoreless outing of the season. He’s nearly decreased his ERA to a manageable level after allowing eight runs in his first start. OF Luis Mieses hit a solo homer and reached two other times.
Hi-A: Hub City 3, Winston-Salem (CHW) 4 (12)
Hub City: 7 hits, 5 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 9 walks, 17 strikeouts
Record: 25-23, 1 GB
SP Kolton Curtis: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 SO, 74 P / 43 S, 4.71 ERA
RP Josh Trentadue: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 6 SO, 1.16 ERA
DH Arturo Disla: 2-5, .264/.326/.420
Hub City didn’t lose another late lead but did lose late, surrendering two 12th-inning runs despite throwing out two Dash runners at the plate. Credit CF Dylan Dreiling and RF Keith Jones II for those. The Burgers drove in their gift-runner but couldn’t muster anything beyond that.
Lo-A: Hickory 6, at Delmarva (BAL) 4 (11)
Hickory: 7 hits, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 6 walks, 14 strikeouts
SP Dalton Pence: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 SO, 50 P / 35 S, 2.28 ERA
RP Enrique Segura: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 SO, 7.94 ERA
CF Yeremi Cabrera: 1-3, HR (2), 2 BB, SB (14), .217/.357/.297
Yeremi Cabrera homered to lead off the 11th, and reliever Luke Savage didn’t allow Delmarva’s runner to budge. Pence has been effective in a swing role, with a .147/.221/.274 opposing line and 39% strikeout rate. As I’ve mentioned, a fair number of 2024 picks have already reached high-A, and as he’s last year’s 11th-rounder from UNC, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him join Hub City before too long.
Lo-A: Hickory 7, at Delmarva (BAL) 5 (7)
Hickory: 5 hits, 8 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
Record: 24-23, 2 GB
SP J’Brielle Easley: 0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SO, 31 P / 18 S, 4.20 ERA
RP Kai Wynyard: 4.1 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 1 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2.83 ERA
RP Brock Porter: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 3 SO, 3.33 ERA
2B Antonis Macias: 2-3, BB, .246/.402/.315
3B Rafe Perich: 1-3, BB, .214/.337/.338
I’ll confess that Hickory doesn’t feel like a team two games out of first, but there they stand with 18 to play in the first half despite the division’s worst run differential (-24). The Crawdads overcame the first outright poor start of the season from J’Brielle Easley, Aiding that cause were two of the better innings in 2025 from Brock Porter. Assisting even more was Chase Allsup, not a Ranger but Delmarva’s starter, who walked five straight to open the 2nd. Four of those plus a later runner would score.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Garabito
AA: Anderson
Hi-A: Davalillo
Lo-A: Scarborough
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The 15th-best starting pitching performance by a Texas minor leaguer during 2007-2024 was by Michael Kirkman in 2010.
Drafted in 2005’s fifth round out of high school, Kirkman had a solid debut for the rookies but then spent three seasons trying to graduate from low-A. Injuries limited his innings, and until 2008 he was extremely walk-prone. In 2009, he was quickly bumped to AA after handling high-A. Texas policy was to hustle anyone with promise out of Bakersfield as soon as possible, and some (like Martin Perez) skipped the Cal League entirely. Frisco was a serious challenge foe the 22-year-old, but he outlasted some early rough outings and finished strong.
Stationed at AAA Oklahoma City to begin 2010, Kirkman blossomed into a legitimate starting prospect, more walk-prone than you’d like but able to limit extra-base damage and strike out 23% of opponents, well above average for the time.
That type of performance translated well to relief, and Kirkman was called up for his MLB debut in that role in late August. The Rangers were comfortably but not decisively leading the AL West at the time. He pitched as he had in OKC, walking ten in 16.1 innings but fanning 16 and surrendering only one extra-base hit. He also made three postseason appearances. In the span of two years, Kirkman had progressed from semi-successful low-A pitcher to Major Leaguer.
Kirkman would spend parts of 2011-2014 with the Rangers before his release in early 2015. He then appeared briefly with Milwaukee and San Diego.