AAA: Round Rock 6, at Las Vegas (ATH) 5
Round Rock: 9 hits, 7 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 6 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 9-7, 2.5 GB, 43-48 overall
SP Michael Plassmeyer: 5 IP, 2 H (2 HR), 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 65 P / 40 S, 4.38 ERA
CF Michael Helman: 2-4, HR (6), BB, .254/.317/.476
3B Josh Jung: 1-5, HR (1), .214/.241/.393
1B Blaine Crim: 2-4, 2 HR (17), .302/.388/.550
Josh Jung was eligible for recall yesterday, but the gap between option and arrival in Round Rock, multiple rainouts and the All-Star break had limited him to just four games before last night. The statcast data is better than his line, but one item I notice is a 53% swing rate on out-of-zone pitches, about double the league average. Eligible or not, the idea of bringing him back hadn’t occurred to me.
Instead, Texas purchased the contract of 24-year-old Cody Freeman. Drafted in 2019’s fourth round, Freeman was headed for minor league free agency unless the Rangers placed him on the 40 or talked him into staying. Freeman spent much of 2021-2023 behind the plate, and when the Rangers ended that lengthy experiment my first thought was “uh oh,” because his bat wasn’t looking capable of carrying a corner position. But in 2024, he upgraded his contact while finding another level of power. That continued this season at Round Rock, where he’s hitting .315/.367/.494 with 20 doubles and 12 homers. He’s played most of his time at third but has slid over to second more frequently of late, and for the first time since 2019, he’s spending time at short. It isn’t his ideal spot, but he can manage. He has never played outfield professionally.
Freeman is selective at the plate, but that judiciousness tends to result in balls in play rather than walks. His minuscule swinging strike rate of 5% is fourth among the 150 busiest PCL hitters. He he just exceptionally difficult to strike out, and that applies to all pitch types. For example, by my count, he’s swung at 87 sliders in Round Rock and missed only ten while putting 43 in play. That is just an outrageous ratio; the average AAA hitter has an equal number of balls in play and whiffs on sliders.
Freeman’s contact is solid, if not special. He hits plenty of medium-hard balls but tapers off at the high end. Some of those 12 homers aren’t leaving MLB parks. That and lower-than-average launch angles make his ultimate power more doubles-oriented, but he may yet have a little more oomph to provide. As to what that could mean in the Majors, I’m almost scared to guess at this point. Both Justin Foscue and Blaine Crim have terrific contact profiles as well, and they’ve combined for three hits in 63 plate appearances. But in general, he’s a potential utility player, dependent on where that contact lands and how much positional flexibility his manager is willing to contemplate.
Blaine Crim homered twice, as one does in Sin City (well, Summerlin).
AA: Frisco 3, Corpus Christi (HOU) 7 (10)
Frisco: 7 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 6 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 7-12, 4 GB, 45-42 overall
SP Josh Stephan: 2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 45 P / 29 S, 5.53 ERA
RP Josh Sborz: 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 SO, 9.00 ERA
RP Mitch Bratt: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2.70 ERA
1B Abi Ortiz: 2-4, HR (13), BB, .228/.338/.408
Don’t worry about the lines from Josh Stephan and Mitch Bratt. They and others throughout the system received what I would deem brief post-break outings to stay fresh while managing workload. Corpus Christi scored more runs in the 10th (four) than they average per game (3.7).
Frisco activated Bryan Magdaleno, who’d spent three weeks on the development list. He’s had great difficulty building on last year’s breakout, walking or hitting 27 in just 20.2 innings.
Hi-A: Hub City 5, Brooklyn (NYM) 4
Hub City: 5 hits, 4 walks, 15 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 14-8, 3 G up, 45-42 overall
SP Dalton Pence: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 45 P / 27 S, 1.29 ERA
RP Mason Molina: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 3.86 ERA
RP Wilian Bormie: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 2.58 ERA
CF Dylan Dreiling: 2-4, 3B, .218/.313/.364
3B Gleider Figuereo: 1-3, HR (16), BB, .217/.289/.399
1B Arturo Disla: 2-4, 2B, .237/.305/.369
Hub City scored three in the bottom of the 9th, punctuated by Arturo Disla’s walk-off gapped double. 3B Rafe Perich’s arrival late last month hasn’t cut into Gleider Figuereo’s time much. Figuereo actually has more plate appearances (56 to 41) while they’ve been teammates, and Perich has four of his last six games at first. The promotion to Hub City hasn’t presented any trouble to Dalton Pence.
Lo-A: Hickory 1, Charleston (TAM) 7
Hickory: 5 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 11 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 16-6, 0.5 G up, 49-38 overall
SP Garrett Horn: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 65 P / 41 S, 2.51 ERA
RP Caden Scarborough: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 3.44 ERA
Given one inning to shine, Caden Scarborough fanned his side in order on 12 pitches, including highly regarded Theo Gillen, who mostly just stood and stared. Scarborough connected for strikes on 11 of 12 pitches (three swinging), and the one miss wasn’t by much, if any.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Abbott
AA: Davalillo
Hi-A: Curtis
Lo-A: Hagaman
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The worst rookie-level team out west during 2007-2024 was the 2008 Brewers.
Actual record: 13-42 (.236)
Run-differential record: 14-41 (.248)
Component record: 16-39 (.293)
This was not a fluke. Three of the five worst teams during this period were theirs, and 14 of the worst 82 (roughly the bottom third of all teams). This squad joined the league in 2001 and has five winning teams of 26 fielded, and 11 squads finished .400 or worse. For the most part, the Brewers have been run well during this period. They just don’t appear to have any interest in the competitiveness of these squads when putting them together. This particular bunch had the youngest hitters and pitching staff in the league.
This team was not unlucky. They were 2-24 in games decided by 5+ runs. The offense was the worst of the era, hitting .213/.297/.308 (68 OPS+) and scoring 3.6 runs per game, 35% under the league average. The pitching was poor, too, if not historically so, “only” 20% worse than average in runs allowed. Defensively, they committed 64 more errors than the average of the other teams (more than one per game) and allowed 61 more steals than average.
The only player to reach the Majors off this squad was Jake Odorizzi.
The worst short-season team from the Northwest League (Texas’s home from 2003 through 2019, after which the classification was eliminated) was the 2013 Eugene Emeralds.
Actual record: 27-49 (.355)
Run-differential record: 24-52 (.320)
Component record: 24-52 (.322)
As worsts go, a .355 winning percentage isn’t that terrible. This Padres affiliate did have the extra indignity of underplaying their record. San Diego also had an extra short squad in the Pioneer League (unlike the Rangers and the majority of teams), so their lower system was stretched thinner. Run scoring and allowance were both about 20% worse than the league average. They allowed the most homers despite playing in the most pitcher-friendly park. For discussion purposes, they weren’t “fun bad” like the Brewers, just bad, which is why I combined the teams into one entry. Several Emerald regulars would go on to lengthy MLB career including Hunter Renfroe, Adam Cimber and Franmil Reyes.