AAA: Round Rock 3, at Oklahoma City (LAD) 4
Round Rock: 7 hits, 11 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 34-40, eliminated
SP Michael Plassmeyer: 4.1 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 3 R, 2 BB, 4 SO, 77 P / 49 S, 4.50 ERA
2B Cody Freeman: 2-4, BB, .298/.348/.416
Round Rock stranded 14. Cody Freeman lost his hitting streak earlier this week but has reached safely in 24 straight (.340/.393/.566).
AA: Frisco 2, at San Antonio (SDG) 3
Frisco: 7 hits, 1 walk, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 4 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 37-30, eliminated
SP Mitch Bratt: 5 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 9 SO, 89 P / 65 S, 2.15 ERA
CF Cam Cauley: 3-4, 2 HR (6), .240/.319/.393
3B Keyber Rodriguez: 2-4, 2B, .262/.310/.357
Frisco has held the division lead outright for 39 games and a portion for nine more, but they don’t lead now and won’t by the end of today. The Riders have lost four of five at San Antonio despite allowing only 11 runs. They’ve scored seven. Since peaking at 31-19, Frisco has lost 11 of 17, permitting only 3.8 runs per game but scoring just 2.9.
Cam Cauley nearly won the game by himself, leading off a rain-delayed 1st with a solo homer and retying the contest with another solo homer in the 8th. Veteran Keyber Rodriguez doubled for the third time this week, but additional help was not forthcoming. Abi Ortiz is o-for-16 with two walks and ten strikeouts this week, Sebastian Walcott is 3-for-21 with two walks, and Cauley himself was o-for-16 entering the day. It’s been a tough week.
Mitch Bratt was solid per usual. San Antonio broke a 1-1 tie in the 7th in especially aggravating fashion. After a leadoff double and sacrifice, Travis MacGregor intentionally walked Francisco Acuna and struck out Devin Ortiz. MacGregor then walked Brandon Valenzuela on eight pitches to load the bases and hit Moises Gomez on the sixth pitch after an 0-2 start. San Antonio’s walk-off sequence was textbook: walk, sacrifice, single. Some individual relief performances have been frustrating, but on the whole the pitchers have held their part of the bargain and then some.
Midland owns the tiebreaker and would clinch with either a win or San Antonio loss.
Hi-A: Hub City 1, @ Bowling Green (TAM) 7
Hub City: 7 hits, 2 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 8 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 0-2, 31-36 overall, 2 GB
SP Mason Molina: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 73 P / 48 S, 0.00 ERA
RF Keith Jones II: 2-4, HR (10), .266/.397/.467
Seth Clark walked five straight to open the 7th, and Bowling Green would eventually score four. Keith Jones is seventh in the league with his ten homers and also fifth in doubles (13) and third in walks (44). Jones is among 13 ninth-rounders last year drafted out of college and signed for under $100,000. Of course, upside is always hoped for, but the basic requirement for such a hitter is quality performance at the A levels, and Jones has certainly provided that.
Lo-A: Hickory 6, Delmarva (BAL) 4
Hickory: 10 hits, 6 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 1 walk, 9 strikeouts
Record: 2-0, 35-32 overall, tied for 1st
SP Caden Scarborough: 3 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 2 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 40 P / 30 S, 4.65 ERA
RP Thomas Ireland: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 2.83 ERA
LF Maxton Martin: 2-3, 2 2B, .277/.339/.473
RF Hector Osorio: 1-3, HR (3), BB, .206/.367/.321
Scarborough’s 40 pitches were a season low, for workload purposes I would assume. In the past 22 games, Hickory has outscored the opposition by 60 runs but is only 13-9, courtesy of a 1-6 record in one-run games. Hickory has a history of such misfortune (see below).
Today’s Starters
AAA: Abbott
AA: Supak
Hi-A: Gonzalez
Lo-A: TBD
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The unluckiest Texas-affiliated team (and sixth-unluckiest of 794 teams in my database) during 2007-2024 is the 2021 high-A Hickory Crawdads.
Record: 46-68
Run-Differential Record: 56-58
Component Record: 56-58
These Crawdads have the worst winning percentage (.409) of any Texas full-season team in the past 18 years. Purely in terms of runs and components, they’re perhaps 25th-worst. They weren’t good, starting the season 4-11 and never seriously hinting at a return to .500, but they somehow managed to go 20-17 in blowouts (margin of 5+ runs) and 26-51 in closer games including 9-22 in one-run contests.
On the morning of August 25th, Hickory had a record of 45-52 and a run differential of positive 37. Hickory then reeled off 16 consecutive losses, only three by one run, so this particular period was fairly well-earned. Future Majors Leaguers participating in the streak were Jonathan Ornelas, Dustin Harris, Ezequiel Duran, Grant Wolfram and Justin Slaten. Jared Walker, a 25-year-old ex-Dodger signed to help out, did not help out, going 3-for-50 with 30 strikeouts in this stretch. Bad weather and covid outbreaks capsized the season-ending series at Rome. The teams played only three of six games, and Hickory finally won 7-1 on a Friday night that turned out to be a season finale.