AAA: Round Rock 6, at Las Vegas (ATH) 5 (12)
Round Rock: 10 hits, 4 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 14 hits, 4 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 11-7, 1.5 GB, 45-48 overall
SP Kohl Drake: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 72 P / 49 S, 5.11 ERA
RP Jose Ruiz: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Skylar Hales: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 12.60 ERA
RP Peyton Gray: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 2.08 ERA
DH Michael Helman: 3-6, 3B, SB (7), .270/.327/.496
3B Josh Jung: 1-6, .205/.225/.410
Drake survived Las Vegas. Of 13 balls in play, our four were hit hard (95+ exit velocity) and all resulted in outs. All the mid-level contact found holes, plus three reached on infield singles. He missed 11 bats, four on the changeup (although Statcast is still having trouble classifying his pitches).
Josh Jung reached on a hard grounder. He struck out once, and none of the other contact was noteworthy. For the weekend, he was 3-for-16 with two homers and three strikeouts.
AA: Frisco 6, Corpus Christi (HOU) 11
Frisco: 8 hits, 5 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 6 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 8-13, 4 GB, 46-43 overall
SP Ben Anderson: 3 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 62 P / 29 S, 4.48 ERA
RP Bryan Magdaleno: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 7.17 ERA
RP Leandro Lopez: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA
LF Aaron Zavala: 1-3, HR (8), 2 BB, .245/.380/.387
SS Sebastian Walcott: 2-4, 3B, SB (23), .248/.344/.400
Gadzooks. (Sorry about the language.) Frisco led 5-3 entering the top of the 9th, but Gavin Collyer and Travis Macgregor combined to allow eight runs on five hits, three walks and a Sebastian Walcott error. Walcott did have his best weekend at the plate in some time (6-for-13, triple, homer).
Up from Hub City is 23-year-old righty Leandro Lopez, who held opponents to a .200/.281/.294 line and 2.16 earned runs per nine in 65 innings. He’s down the list some among possible 40 additions this fall but is at least in the discussion.
Hi-A: Hub City 3, Brooklyn (NYM) 13
Hub City: 7 hits, 0 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 13 hits, 8 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 15-9, 2 G up, 46-43 overall
SP Jose Gonzalez: 4 IP, 7 H (1 HR), 5 R, 3 BB, 1 SO, 65 P / 40 S, 3.19 ERA
RP Adrian Rodriguez: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 0.00 ERA
C Malcolm Moore: 1-4, HR (2), .188/.311/.294
2024 first-rounder Malcolm Moore connected on his first homer and first extra-base hit since coming off the IL. Is the finger still an issue. I don’t know, but he’s hitting .145/.210/.200 since breaking it.
Facing one of the league’s best offenses, Gonzalez tied season-highs in hits, earned runs and walks.
Lo-A: Hickory 7, Charleston (TAM) 5
Hickory: 10 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 17-7, 0.5 GB, 50-39 overall
SP Ismael Agreda: 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 64 P / 36 S, 2.64 ERA
RP Michael Trausch: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2.79 ERA
DH Hector Osorio: 1-3, BB, .257/.397/.372
3B Esteban Mejia: 3-3, 3B, .262/.371/.369
Ismael Agreda sneaked away with four strikeouts despite only three missed bats. I like Agreda but was pretty skeptical of his stability in a starting role, even on a limited workload, but he’s maintained just-good-enough control (13.6% BB/HBP) while predictably limiting contact (.176/.287/.255).
Draft
In their updated rankings, Baseball America has placed top pick Gavin Fien fourth in the organization, 2nd-rounder AJ Russell seventh, and two-way player Josh Owens 18th. Also per BA, Texas has signed 18th-rounder RHP Julius Sanchez of Illinois.
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The best team in the short-season Northwest League (where the Rangers played from 2003 through 2019, after which the classification was eliminated) was the 2007 Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, an affiliate of the Giants.
Actual record: 57-19
Run-differential record: 55-21
Component record: 50-26
This team had the second-best offense and pitching of the 104 teams in my database. In a slightly hitter-friendly park, they outscored the league average by 1.43 runs per game and allowed 1.30 fewer. How dominant were they (or, how precisely mediocre was every other team)? Salem-Keizer had the only winning record in the entire eight-team league. The others finished in a range of 33-43 to 37-39. They were 30-7 in games decided by five runs. They scored at least six runs in just over half their games and were 38-2. S-K lost the first games of the finals to 37-39 Tri-City but won the next three, twice by shutout.
A good number of Volcanoes reached the Majors but none is a household name. Best was righty Dan Otero drafted in that year’s 21st round and eventually a quality reliever for the A’s and Cleveland for a few years.
Salem-Keizer was the oldest team in the league, but I’m not holding it against them as I did the ’23 Arizona Rockies. Back in 2007, the draft was 50 rounds, the Giants picked plenty of college guys, and one of the primary uses of the Northwest League was to sort out which of them were worthy of full-season ball.