AAA: Round Rock 1, at Tacoma (SEA) 6
Round Rock: 2 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 13 hits, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts
Record: 11-10, 4.5 GB, 45-51 overall
SP Michael Plassmeyer: 5 IP, 8 H (3 HR), 4 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 77 P / 46 S, 4.59 ERA
With 100 pitches, Tacoma’s 37-year-old Casey Lawrence threw the first nine-inning complete game in the league this season. Billy McKinney’s 1st-inning homer and Dustin Harris’s 9th-inning single were the hits.
AA: Frisco 5, at Wichita (MIN) 6
Frisco: 8 hits, 3 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 6 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 9-15, 4 GB, 47-45 overall
SP Leandro Lopez: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 SO, 66 P / 42 S, 0.00 ERA
DH Joc Pederson: 2-3, BB
SS Cam Cauley: 2-4, HR (9), .250/.321/.412
In his second AA appearance and first start, Leandro Lopez reached double-digit strikeouts for the first time in the US. Lopez missed on eight of his first ten pitches and received a visit from pitching coach Julio Valdez. Thereafter, Lopez destroyed a lineup containing top-20-overall prospect Walker Jenkins, top-100 OF Kaelen Culpepper and a couple of others in Minnesota’s top 30. Mixing a mid-90s fastball, curve, hard slider and change, struck out ten of the next 15 batters. The high-spin curve has typically drawn the most attention, but the entire repertoire contributed to third strikes. Thanks to occasional injuries and frequently poor control, Lopez has never ranked in any national publication’s top 30 to my knowledge, but he does has top-30 stuff that can devastate when properly harnessed.
34 seconds of strikeouts worth your time.
Hi-A: Hub City 3, at Greenville (BOS) 0
Hub City: 8 hits, 0 walks, 14 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 16-11, tied for first, 47-45 overall
SP Dylan MacLean: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 52 P / 40 S, 3.74 ERA
RP Victor Simeon: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO, 5.10 ERA
RP Joey Danielson: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 3.29 ERA
RP Erik Loomis: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1.91 ERA
C Malcolm Moore: 2-3, 2B, HBP, .207/.324/.315
3B Rafe Perich: 2-4, 2B, .182/.321/.295
2B John Taylor: 2-4, SB (6), .308/.375/.446
I saw 2020 fourth-rounder MacLean in Surprise returning from elbow surgery. His fastball was in the 88-91 range, a couple of ticks lower than what I remembered, and he wasn’t effective. He then began the season with five doubles, two homers and ten runs in his first ten innings. Uh oh. Since then, however, he’s been quietly effective: 33 IP, 2.70 ERA, .174/.241/.331 oppo line, 22% K rate. He has some BABIP luck, but he’s making things work lately. MacLean relies very heavily on his curve and change. The bullpen rebounded form two nights of ineffectiveness. Malcolm Moore reached based safely thrice for the second time this season.
Lo-A: Hickory 5, Augusta (ATL) 8
Hickory: 7 hits, 10 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 15 hits, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts
Record: 17-10, 2.5 GB, 50-42 overall
SP Brooks Fowler: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 73 P / 46 S, 2.86 ERA
CF Yeremi Cabrera: 2-4, 2B, .245/.361/.320
2B Antonis Macias: 1-3, 2 BB, .264/.399/.324
Hickory put 20 runners on base but stranded 13 and lost a couple on the bases. Maxton Martin (0-3, 2 BB) is having his first down month, hitting .200/.319/.267 in July. He’s still walking and not striking out excessively, so blame it on the Fates.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Abbott
AA: Davalillo
Hi-A: Pence
Lo-A: Horn
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The second-best Texas short-season team plated in 2010.
Actual record: 43-33 (.566)
Run-differential record: 47-29 (.612)
Component record: 45-31 (.589)
A .566 winning percentage, equivalent to a 92-70 record in MLB. Nice, but hardly awe-inspiring. Well, this group overplayed their actual record, struggling in one-run games but winning 19 of 29 blowouts.
Spokane led the league in scoring by nearly half a run per game. The top four in plate appearances — 3B Mike Olt, SS Jurickson Profar, OF Jared Hoying and OF Ryan Strausborger — would reach the Majors along with #7 C Brett Nicholas. Hoying batted .325/.378/.543 with ten homers and 20 steals, while Olt provided nine dingers and a .293/.390/.464 line. Pitching was solid, if not quite as strong, with Chad Bell, Ben Rowen and Roman Mendez eventually reaching MLB for a little while. Teenagers Randol Rojas and Nick McBride were the workhorses, both making 15 starts and exceeding 70 innings.
Spokane swept Yakima (also 43-33) by scores of 5-1 and 6-1 in the semifinals and defeated Everett 4-1 in the opener of the finals, but the AquaSox (49-27) claimed the championship by winning the next two.