Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 6, Sacramento (SFO) 5
Round Rock: 9 hits, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
Record: 16-25, 9 GB
SP Trey Supak: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 3 SO, 79 P / 59 S, 4.25 ERA
PH Aaron Zavala: 0-1, 2B, 3B, .284/.368/.422
SS Michael Helman: 1-4, HR (5), .202/.291/.361
1B Nick Pratto: 2-4, HR (2), .157/.200/.333
Aaron Zavala’s pinch-hit double drove in the tying and winning runs in the 9th. (The video lists Gilberto Celestino as the hitter, but Zavala had replaced him.) Michael Helman maintains employment with defensive versatility and hard, pulled flies; last night he played short and launched a moonshot to left.
Notwithstanding last night’s homer, Nick Pratto has yet to reclaim what once made him a top-100 prospect. 41 is his unlucky number. Entering the week, 41% of pitches have resulted in a called or swinging strike, 41% of pitches taken have resulted in called strikes, and 41% of his swings have resulted in a whiff. All figures are at or near league-worsts. Teammate Jonah Bride also takes a huge number of pitches for strikes, but he compensates with exceptional contact ability (83%). 
AA: Frisco 3, at Midland (ATH) 0
Frisco: 9 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 17-17, 3.5 GB
SP Blake Townsend: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 SO, 97 P / 61 S, 4.94 ERA
RP Wilian Bormie: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1.50 ERA
CF Dylan Dreiling: 1-3, BB, .302/.405/.510
DH Arturo Disla: 2-3, BB
RF Keith Jones II: 2-3, 2B, BB, .233/.349/.411
Arturo Disla announced his presence with authority, singling in his first AA at-bat and singling again to drive home a run in the 3rd.
Blake Townsend became the second Texas minor leaguer to reach 90 pitches, the other being veteran Austin Gomber on four different occasions. Per the Riders, Townsend is only the second Rider since 2018 to record an out in the 8th inning. 
Hi-A: Hub City 6, at Asheville (HOU) 4
Hub City: 9 hits, 5 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 8 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 18-16, 5.5 GB
SP Enrique Segura: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 71 P / 40 S, 5.75 ERA
RP Anthony Susac: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 3.38 ERA
RP Joey Danielson: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 0 SO, 0.66 ERA
2B Antonis Macias: 1-5, HR (2), .176/.279/.270
RF Yeison Morrobel: 1-3, HR (4), BB, .290/.349/.470
CF Quincy Scott: 1-3, HR (3), BB, .250/.409/.423
LF Chandler Pollard: 2-3, 2B, HR (2), BB, .214/.313/.371
What I neglected to mention in yesterday’s account of hitter-friendly conditions in Asheville is that, even accounting for the park and the MiLB-wide increase in offense, Asheville’s pitching has been terrible. The Tourists are worst in runs (8.3 per game, including 10.1 at home), hits, homers, walks, strikeouts and wild pitches. (And they’re a Houston affiliate, so maybe that will cheer you up a little.) Eight different Burgers have homered in the first two games of the series (yesterday: Figuereo, Hanson, Moore, Perich).
Absent other moves, Rafe Perich is likely the dominant 1B with Disla gone; he was already time-sharing with Disla and averaging barely over one game per week at the hot corner. It’s not uncommon for catchers to moonlight at first to get extra plate appearances, but so far, Malcolm Moore has never played there (nor did he in college). Moore has DH’ed a couple of times but otherwise caught a steady four games per week. 
Lo-A: Hickory 2, at Columbia (KAN) 8
Hickory: 7 hits, 5 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 4 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 17-16, 3 GB
SP Jesus Lafalaise: 3 IP, 5 H (2 HR), 7 R, 4 BB, 5 SO, 72 P / 41 S, 5.40 ERA
RP Owen Proksch: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 0.00 ERA
LF Paulino Santana: 3-5, 2B, 3B, .275/.424/.400
The fire at L.P. Frans Stadium last weekend will force next week’s homestand 75 miles northeast to Winston-Salem, the high-A affiliate of the White Sox. The next scheduled home game is June 2. Owen Proksch settled back into low-A comfortably after a two-inning, three-run outing subbing in Hub City last week.
Rookie
Ben Abeldt fanned six in 2.2 innings yesterday, allowing a run on two hits and two walks. Jay McQueen was 3-4 with a walk and is an early standout with a line of .444/.600/.611. The team OPS leader is 18-year-old Daniel (not to be confused iwth Elorky) Rodriguez at .500/.636/1.000 including a triple and two homers. On Tuesday, Jacob Johnson tossed four innigns with four hits and two in runs, walks and strikeouts. Two-way player Josh Owens pitched two scoreless with no walks and three strikeouts. He’s batting .200/.294/.400 as a 2B/SS/DH.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBD
AA: TBD
Hi-A: Easley
Lo-A: Deakins
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Formerly a pure fastball/curve pitcher, Joe Barlow was showing a cutter, slider and occasional change early in 2021. (This was based purely on my observations and probably a conversation with someone in the organization, as Statcast wasn’t available yet.) The slider would become his dominant pitch, but he never threw a change in the Majors. Cole Winn fanned eight in five scoreless innings for Frisco.
Five Years Ago The Day Before Yesterday
I forgot yesterday’s feature. I haven’t redeveloped the muscle memory after no games in 2020 and a missing April in 2021. In a doubleheader, Frisco righty Tyler Phillips struck out seven versus one walk and allowed one run in five innings. Unfortunately, as far as this timeline is concerned, this is the last news on Phillips that won’t be bad and/or weird. Other starter Jacob Latz held Corpus Christi scoreless and struck out six in five innings. Texas released right Mike Matuella, who emerged from the lost covid year missing several tics from his fastball. I’d had my worries after he didn’t receive an assignment following some appearances in “alt-site” games in April. Dealing with multiple injuries on draft day, Matuella was a high-risk pick that looked like it might pay off for a while. In March 2018, I witnessed what was probably his performance peak, when he offered a fastball that would touch 100 backed with a low-90s change and low-80s curve.
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