The farm was 6-18 with a -40 run differential last week. But I heard the parent club did pretty well.
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 8, at Tacoma (SEA) 1
Round Rock: 15 hits, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts
Record: 12-12, 5.5 GB, 46-53 overall
SP Trey Supak: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SO, 67 P / 46 S, 5.40 ERA
RP Josh Sborz: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0.00 ERA
1B Blaine Crim: 2-5, 2B, .288/.377/.516
3B Cody Freeman: 3-5, 3 HR (15), .317/.367/.519
CF Kellen Strahm: 1-3, 2 BB, .258/.360/.371
In his first three trips to the plate, Cody Freeman swung his bat four times, three of which resulted in a homer to nearly the same spot down the left field line. One was about as slow as possible (90.7 MPH) to achieve homer distance, while the others were missiles. Freeman’s 15 homers are a career high, and we’ve got a third of the season remaining. Freeman has availed himself of everything the PCL offers — livelier ball, smaller strike zone, multiple Colorado-like environments — to boost his OPS from .752 to .886. That only explains a portion of the increase, though. The rest is him, getting better.
On balls hit under 91 MPH this season, PCL batters have nine out-of-park homers, one per 4,420 trips to the plate. MLB has two, one per 59,133 PA.
Josh Sborz’s fastball averaged 93.0 yesterday, still two ticks below last year’s average but better than previous rehab results.
AA: Frisco 4, at Wichita (MIN) 6
Frisco: 7 hits, 2 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 9-18, 7 GB, 47-48 overall
SP Ben Anderson: 5 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 4 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 67 P / 43 S, 4.65 ERA
SS Sebastian Walcott: 2-4, .251/.346/.408
LF Aaron Zavala: 1-3, HR (9), BB, .243/.374/.396
Frisco fell below .500 for the first time since Opening Day. In the context of Frisco’s 2007 season that I covered Sunday (57-27 start, then 28-28), a reader asked what caused the current edition’s even steeper decline (31-19 start, 16-29 since).
The answer is offense. Frisco scored 5.0 runs per game during the winning period, only 3.9 since. Meanwhile, run prevention has barely budged. Based on run differential, that’s about a .110 decrease in expected winning percentage. Extreme good luck during the winning period (about four wins more than predicted) and bad since (an extra three losses) have exaggerated the decline. Here’s the change in OPS between the winning and losing periods for selected hitters and the team:
Cauley, +.099
Moller, +.093
Chavez, +.044
Rodriguez, -.003
Ortiz, -.075
Walcott, -.081
TEAM, -.095
Others, -.113
Zavala, -.126
Hatcher, -.171
Mieses, -.401
To be honest, I was unaware of Mieses’ descent until now. He’s a veteran free agent, so I’m just not paying him much attention, but until about seven weeks ago, he’d always hit pretty well since joining the organization in 2024.
Hi-A: Hub City 3, at Greenville (BOS) 4
Hub City: 5 hits, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 17-13, tied for first, 48-47 overall
SP Jose Gonzalez: 5.2 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 1 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 74 P / 50 S, 3.08 ERA
RP Erik Loomis: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 1.80 ERA
DH Anthony Gutierrez: 2-4, 2B, 2 SB (35), .242/.311/.303
This weeks’ starters: 26.1 IP, 17 baserunners, 2 runs
This week’s bullpen: 23.2 IP, 50 baserunners, 18 runs
Adrian Rodriguez hit a batter and walked two more to open the 9th with the scored tied at three, after which Anthony Susac surrendered a game-ending single. Erik Loomis did allow a rare run earlier in the week but on the whole continues to be a bright spot, striking out 25 of 54 batters across 15.2 innings over the last month.
Lo-A: Hickory 6, Augusta (ATL) 13
Hickory: 12 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 11 hits, 12 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 19-11, 3.5 GB, 52-43 overall
SP Ismael Agreda: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 7 SO, 71 P / 41 S, 2.77 ERA
LF Maxton Martin: 3-4, HR (9), BB, .266/.343/.446
RF Braylin Morel: 2-5, 2B
1B Marcos Torres: 2-3, BB, 2 SB (13), .247/.325/.371
Maxton Martin broke a 21-game homer drought with a game-tying grand slam in the 6th.
Brock Porter’s stretch of five walk-free outings ended less than a month ago but seems more distant. Since then: 9 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 14 BB, 1 HBP, 12 SO.
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
Spokane offered Texas’s best-ever short-season entry in 2008.
Actual record: 51-25 (.671)
Run-differential record: 47-29 (.623)
Component record: 45-31 (.595)
Spokane outscored the park-adjusted league-average by nearly a run per game. Only Joey Butler (.301/.417/.434) would reach MLB as a hitter; 2007 2nd-rounder Matt West would switch from infield to relief in the interim. Top performers included OFs Mike Biannuci and Jared Bolden, 1B Doug Hogan and IF Jacob Kaase.
Four of the top five starters would play in the Majors: 17-year-old Martin Perez, 18-year-old Wilfredo Boscan, 19-year-old Neil Ramirez and the ancient Richard Bleier (21). Joining them were Michael Kirkman and Justin Miller. Spoakne’s staff had an average age of 19.9, a full year younger than any other team.
Back then, the Northwest League didn’t use a split-season format, and Spokane coasted to the division title after a 28-8 start. In the finals, Spokane lost the opener but then took three straight by scores of 11-10, 11-10 and 6-5.