AAA: Round Rock 12, Tacoma (SEA) 17
Round Rock: 16 hits, 5 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 17 hits, 7 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 2-2, 1 GB, 36-43 overall
SP Michael Plassmeyer: 5 IP, 5 H (2 HR), 3 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 77 P / 47 S, 4.59 ERA
CF Dustin Harris: 2-5, 2B, .234/.329/.326
3B Cody Freeman: 3-4, 2 BB, SB (7), .321/.372/.500
DH Trevor Hauver: 3-6, 3B, .260/.370/.429
LF Kellen Strahm: 1-4, HR (6), .269/.367/.397
1B Blaine Crim: 2-5, 2B, HBP, .302/.380/.532
The Express led 12-3 after five, after which the Rainers posted four consecutive and increasingly large crooked numbers. Down the the final strike in the 9th, none other than Leody Taveras laced a three-run triple off Luis Curvelo to put Tacoma ahead, and Craig Kimbrel surrendered a two-run homer. Earlier, Taveras committed a ghastly error, jogging into position on an ordinary fly only for the ball to zip over his outstretched glove,allowing two runs to score.
Michael Helman was hitting .246/.306/.451 in 30 games for the Express at the time of his call-up. The Statcast data isn’t especially noteworthy. Helman likes to attack first pitches, tend to hit airborne, and has some pop despite lukewarm exit velocities. Probably more noteworthy is his selection over Dustin Harris. Helman does have more versatility, with the ability to play pretty much anywhere in a pinch, and he bats righty.
AA: Frisco 0, Tulsa (LAD) 11
Frisco: 4 hits, 3 walks, 15 strikeouts
Opponent: 14 hits, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 2-2, tied for 1st, 40-32 overall
SP Ryan Lobus: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 45 P / 29 S, 4.91 ERA
RP Frainyer Chavez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0.00 ERA
One of those nights. IF Frainyer Chavez retired the final side in order on seven pitches.
Hi-A: Hub City 5, Aberdeen (BAL) 6
Hub City: 11 hits, 5 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 6 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 3-4, 2 GB, 34-38 overall
SP Dalton Pence: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 33 P / 19 S, 0.00 ERA
LF Keith Jones II: 2-3, 2 SB (14), .274/.408/.461
DH Anthony Gutierrez: 3-5, 2B, .240/.310/.313
2B Casey Cook: 4-5, SB (18), .193/.274/.256
Down by three in the 9th with the bases loaded, Casey Cook lined to the gap, scoring two easily, but the tying run was thrown out at the plate by about one-twelfth of an inch. The runner was John Taylor, signed just yesterday and making his first appearance in affiliated ball as a pinch-runner for Gleider Figuereo. The 24-year-old was undrafted out of UL-Lafayette (a teammate of now-fellow Spartanbuger Julian Brock) and had been pummeling the ball for indy Southern Maryland (.288/.419/.513).
Lo-A: suspended
I’ll pick it up when it concludes.
Elsewhere
The “Blue” Rangers of the Dominican Summer league lost 29-0. 20 hits, 15 walks, four hit batters, seven wild pitches, seven errors, six stolen bases allowed.
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The 13th-best season by a Texas minor league position player during 2007-2024 belongs to Rougned Odor in 2013.
Odor was among Texas’s top ten prospects essentially from the day he signed in 2011. As a 17-year-old, he bypassed the complex for short-season Spokane, and he joined low-A Hickory the following season. In 2013, he jumped to high-A Myrtle Beach. In a tough park for hitters, Odor batted .305/.369/.454 with just five homers but a combined 37 doubles and triples in an even 100 games. Advanced to AA Frisco, he continued to hit for average while tapping into burgeoning power. He’d moved off shortstop for good after just one season, but he had established himself as a bat of potential All-Star quality and Texas’s top prospect.
The Rangers had no reason to rush him in 2014 since an offseason trade of Ian Kinsler had bestowed the starting role to Jurickson Profar. You know how that went. After scraping by at second with Josh Wilson and Donnie Murphy, Texas called up Odor for his MLB debut in early May. 2024 is recalled as a washout because of so many injuries, but it’s worth remembering that the Rangers still aspired to competitiveness despite all the bad luck, and they were 17-17 and two games out of first when Odor played his first game.
Odor looked like a future star despite some OBP issues but in 2017 commenced a slow, permanent backslide that resulted in a designation for assignment and trade to the Yankees for two minor leaguers of little consequence in 2021. In mid-2023, San Diego released him. He never took the field after signing in Japan and with the Yankees again, and his career appears over, meaning he played his final professional game before he turned 30.