AAA: Round Rock 2, @ Sugar Land (HOU) 3 (10)
Round Rock: 5 hits, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 3 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 1-1, tied for 1st
SP Josh Stephan: 5 IP, 2 H (1 HR), 2 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 68 P / 45 S
RP Marc Church: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO
RP Alexis Diaz: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
RP Michael Otanez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
SS Cam Cauley: 1-3, 2 BB, SB (1)
2B Justin Foscue: 2-4, HR (1)
Cam Cauley returned to the lineup unaffected by the HBP that forced an early departure Friday. He saw 34 pitches across his five plate appearances, resulting in a seven-pitch called strikeout, a six-pitch lineout, a seven-pitch single, and walks of five and nine pitches. Cauley has only contacted one ball “hard” (defined as at least 95 MPH off the bat) out of four in play, but the other three are in the 93.7-94.7 range.
Justin Foscue homered and hit a single at 106.9 MPH, the hardest in play by either team. I’ve pondered since late last year whether his time on the 40 and/or in the organization was reaching an end, but he’s here, and if he’s the hot hand if Texas decides another right-handed bat is needed, he could get one more shot.
The undrafted Josh Stephan has a respectable mix with a sinker that has occasionally leaned into the mid-nineties but tends low. Tonight averaged 91.6. Stephan has good control but lost a fair number of his strikeouts upon reaching AA, and he was also far more prone to homers. Last year’s end-of-season promotion to AAA wasn’t really a reward conquering the Texas League, but he’s off to a nice start, throwing plenty of strikes and missing five bats with that sinker plus three more with secondaries.
Marc Church loaded the bases before recording the final out. The slider was feat or famine, accounting for all of his four swinging strikes but also seven of his nine balls.
Alexis Diaz averaged 94.6 MPH with his fastball, well above the 92.9 of spring and in line with his heyday as a Red. He also threw nine of 12 pitches for strikes. Michel Otanez didn’t land any of three sliders but missed three bats in-zone and got four calls with a fastball averaging 97.9.
Today’s Starter
AAA: Quantrill