Rangers Farm Report: Games of Tuesday 29 July

Podcast
Sean Bass, Michael Tepid and I chatted this morning. Links at top right.

A Slew Of Moves
OF Alejandro Osuna up from Frisco to Round Rock
OF Paulino Santana up from Arizona to Hickory
RHP Joey Danielson up from Hub City to Frisco
RHP Eric Loomis up from Hub City to Frisco
RHP Jesus Gamez up from Hickory to Hub City
RHP Josh Mollerus released from Frisco

Santana is the second complex hitter to reach low-A after OF Braylin Morel. Danielson and Loomis are last year’s 17th and 16th-round choices, respectively, so reaching AA this soon is no small accomplishment. Danielson impressed me in March and has been effective in Hub City, if less so lately, while Loomis has been the statistical reincarnation of late-2010s Demarcus Evans, striking out 40% of opponents and allowing hardly any hits. Mollerus was the return for DFA’ed reliever Yerry Rodriguez last summer. I saw a decent if erratic mix in March and am slightly surprised to see him leave this soon, but that’s how it goes. 

Box Scores

AAA: Round Rock 4, El Paso (SDG) 3
Round Rock: 6 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 13-12, 5.5 GB, 47-53 overall

SP Carl Edwards Jr.: 6 IP, 2 H (1 HR), 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 8 SO, 86 P / 54 S, 3.88 ERA
RP Josh Sborz: 1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 SO, 4.91 ERA
3B Cody Freeman: 3-4, 2B, HR (16), .322/.371/.534

Josh Sborz allowed four hits and a walk in an inning, and the fastball peaked at 92.4 MPH. He’s 18 days into a maximum of 30 on rehab assignment. I vaguely remembered the possibility of an extension, but that appears to apply only to those recovering from UCL injuries. 

Carl Edwards did not get cute, straightforwardly delivering a ton of high fastballs to calm the Chihuahuas. 

I need to know what Cody Freeman is eating. 


AA: Frisco 4, San Antonio (SDG) 2
Frisco: 7 hits, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 10-18, 7 GB, 48-48 overall

SP Mitch Bratt: 5.2 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 1 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 84 P / 55 S, 3.18 ERA
RP Ryan Lobus: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 4.66 ERA
1B Abi Ortiz: 3-4, 2B, HR (14), .241/.341/.428

Mitch Bratt surrendered a on his third pitch of the game, uneasily recalling last week’s four-homer barrage. After that, Bratt was his usual self, although two late walks foiled an attempt at six full innings. Abimelec Ortiz had both of Frisco’s extra-base hits. 


Hi-A: Hub City 4, Asheville (HOU) 0
Hub City: 7 hits, 7 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 4 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 18-13, 1 GB, 49-47 overall

SP Mason Molina: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 SO, 75 P / 47 S, 2.63 ERA
RP Anthony Susac: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 4.96 ERA
RP Wilian Bormie: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 3.08 ERA
DH Anthony Gutierrez: 3-4, 2B, 3 SB (38), .249/.317/.313
CF Dylan Dreiling: 1-3, BB, SB (13), .214/.311/.345

In high-A, Mason Molina has one start with five runs and five others with a total of four. Absent Danielson and Loomis, Anthony Susac might be called on for more bridge innings. Last year’s 7th-rounder has more combined walks and HBP (33) than strikeouts (31).


Lo-A: Hickory 6, at Fayetteville (HOU) 2
Hickory: 7 hits, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 20-11, 2.5 GB, 53-43 overall

SP Caden Scarborough: 5 IP, 7 H (1 HR), 1 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 67 P / 45 S, 3.38 ERA
CF Yeremi Cabrera: 1-5, HR (6), SB (34), .243/.355/.334

Caden Scarborough didn’t have a clean inning and had to ward off eight plate appearance with runners in scoring position, but he worked through it with only a solo homer making permanent damage. Hickory scored everything in the 7th on just three hits including Yeremi Cabrera’s gran slam. 

Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
Welcome to Worst Week, where I’ll cover the worst Texas rookie team, short-season team and the four least impressive full-season clubs. I’m doing this because I think it’s interesting and fun, but I want to preface by saying that the Texas farm system has been pretty darn good over the years. 

Here’s the aggregate records for each classification during 2007-2024:
AAA: 1,240-1,187 (.511)
AA: 1,219-1,127 (.520)
Hi-A: 1,178-1,137 (.509)
Lo-A: 1,235-1,068 (.536)
Short: 647-643 (.502)
Rookie: 501-451 (.526)

All winners. That’s impressive. As I’ve said every year, winning is secondary to developing future Major Leaguers plus coveted prospects to be traded for existing Major Leaguers. But as I’ve also said, surrounding those prospects with quality “organizational” talent matters, too, and winning is more fun than losing. Most of the time, the Rangers have made things fun.

None of the Rangers’ minor league entries rank among the very worst of their leagues. By my accounting, the worst full-season squad ranks 28th (from the bottom) of 794 teams in my collection. Bad, but not historically so. The worst short-season and rookie teams aren’t even in the bottom 10% among their peers. Over the years, I’ve seen some squads with sketchy rosters in the final week of the season, but the Rangers have never outright punted team construction. 

The worst Texas rookie team played in 2016.

Actual record: 18-37 (.327)
Run-differential record: 23-32 (.411)
Component record: 26-29 (.475)

Straight off, you’ll notice a huge gap between the components and the actual record. The slash lines of the offense and the opposition were pretty close. But check out this offense:

Average: .269 (1st of 14)
OBP: .333 (5th)
Slug: .386 (2nd)
OPS+: 106 (3rd)
Runs: 4.6 per game (12th, and 11% below average)

What? Where are the runs? The Rangers weren’t especially bad with runners in scoring position or at striking out. Only two teams were caught on the bases less often. They were below average in homers but led in doubles by a wide margin. 

Best as I can tell, difference-makers were a league-leading 48 GIDP (15 more than the average of the other teams) and, weirdly, only 35 batters reaching on errors compared to an average of 58 for the competition. That, plus the chaotic nature of rookie ball. This “bad” offense” included above-average performances at the plate from Sam Huff, Curtis Terry, Yohel Pozo, Anderson Tejeda and Leody Taveras.  

The pitching and defense don’t require a thesis. They were just garden-variety bad, allowing an 8% excess of runs and an opposing 109 OPS+. Four of the top five in innings combined for a 6.50 RA and 5.52 ERA, both about 1.5 runs above the league average. (The outlier of the five was Joe Barlow.) Demacrus Evans, Cole Ragans and Alex Speas were there as well. 

This team played sub-.333 ball and was outscored by 57 runs in 55 games. They weren’t good. But as far as “worsts” go, you could do worse.