Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 5, at El Paso (SDP) 4 (10)
Round Rock: 10 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 7 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 18-30, 11 GB
SP David Davalillo: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 4 SO, 88 P / 47 S, 7.71 ERA
RP Alexis Diaz: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 2.50 ERA
RP Ryan Brasier: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 3.26 ERA
RP Emiliano Teodo: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 5.48 ERA
LF Aaron Zavala: 2-5, 2 2B, .278/.358/.459
Two of David Davalillo’s three worst starts in terms of control have occured in his first two outings for Round Rock. After a career-high nine combined walks and hit batters in his debut, he walked five last night and threw only 53% of his pitches for strikes. Not necessarily worrisome yet, but worth watching. He wasn’t hit too hard and managed to strand seven to avoid mortal damage to his ERA.
The Express needed several critical outs from Emiliano Teodo, and he was up to the task, albeit not without excitement. Entering a tie game with one out in the 9th, Teodo allowed two singles before getting the third out. Up a run in the 10th, he immediately sent the gift-runner to third on a very wild fastball but was able to strand him with two grounders and a strikeout. Teodo wasn’t pounding the zone and registered only two whiffs, but El Paso swung at a bunch of out-of-zone pitches for fouls or outs in play.
We’re not done with Teodo. He threw a sinker recorded at 103.1 MPH. That is the fastest by any Texas minor leaguer in the Statcast era and 19th-fastest among all teams. Only Raimon Gomez, Edgardo Henriquez and Luis Mey have thrown harder. This pitch also exceeds any other recorded pitch he’s thrown by 1.2 MPH (also last night), and his fourth and fifth-fastest pitchest in AAA were from last night as well. So… generously calibrated radar? I don’t know. Regardless, it’s in the books.
Cam Cauley (1-5) stole bases 15 and 16. His season-best is 38 back in low-A in 2022. He’s yet to be caught this season.
The Express are still tied for the worst AAA record but have a better run differential than five other teams.
Per local reports, Texas has signed 33-year-old Joe Ross to a minor deal. Ross had signed a similar deal with Arizona and made the club out of Spring Training but lasted only three appearances before being deisgnated and outrighted. In 21 innings for AAA Reno, he had a 4.29 ERA, quite impressive for the location, but also just 12 strikeouts in 21 innings.
Atlanta signed recently released lefty Austin Gomber and assigned him to AAA Gwinnett. 
AA: Frisco 1, San Antonio (SDP) 5
Frisco: 7 hits, 0 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 5 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 21-20, 1.5 GB
SP Dalton Pence: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 82 P / 54 S, 3.48 ERA
All the runs off Pence scored during an annoying four-hit 4th that included a liner just beyond the reach of 2B Frainyer Chavez and two grounders to right that might have been corraled by 1B Arturo Disla had they been a foot or so in a different direction. A passed ball by Juian Brock didn’t help. (In Brock’s defense, he’s been among the league’s best at nabbing base-stealers.)
Texas released lefty Seth Clark and righty Josh Hejka. The latter was an offseason signing who appeared sparingly in Frisco and Round Rock. The undrafted Clark signed out of Georgia State in 2022 and had some success through 2024 including at AA Frisco, but his already iffy control became troublesome last year, and in five innings at Hub City this season he walked 15. 
Hi-A: Hub City 4, Rome (ATL) 3
Hub City: 8 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 6 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 23-18, 6.5 GB
SP J’Briell Easley: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 SO, 38 P / 28 S, 4.34 ERA
RP Brock Porter: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 1.93 ERA
RP Joey Danielson: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0.52 ERA
1B Gleider Figuereo: 2-4, SB (4), .220/.315/.418
SS Luke Hanson: 1-2, BB, HBP, .240/.309/.472
Hub City walked it off. Quincy Scott beat out a grounder to third with one out and stole second on a strikeout. That extra base would prove critical, as Luke Hanson lined through to left with two out. Scott might have been caught just in time at the plate (hard to tell from the camera angle), but the tag dislodged the ball from the catcher’s mitt. The 23-year-old Scott is having a nice year so far (.282/.429/.465) after two not-so-nice seasons at the same level.
J’Briell Easley made a pretty good offense look hopeless, tying a career-best seven strikeouts in just three innings. Easley’s sitting on an ordinary 4.34 ERA because of a two-homer, four-run night last week in dreaded Asheville, but he’s held opponenets to a .197/.289/.394 line.
Hub City’s recent strong play has been for naught in the standings. The Burgers are 14-5 since a 9-13 start, but division-leading Bowling Green is 15-4 over the same recent period.
Active in Hub City are righties Case Matter and Adrian Rodriguez, both of whom had been rehabbing in Arizona. 
Lo-A: Hickory 5, Charleston (TAM) 2
Hickory: 7 hits, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 22-18, 1 GB
SP Aidan Deakins: 6 IP, 6 H (1 HR), 2 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 73 P / 52 S, 1.54 ERA
RP Wily Villar: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 SO, 2.89 ERA
LF Paulino Santana: 1-3, HR (3), BB, HBP, .268/.404/.403
C Josh Springer: 1-2, BB, HBP, .305/.396/.341
Ordinarily, I’d take a peek at the outings of Deakins and Nivar, but we have no video of the relocated games in Winston-Salem this week.
19-year-old Josh Springer has only six strikeouts in 97 trips to the plate, and his 4.9% swinging strike rate is best in the system among regulars. That’s no guarantee of success (he whiffed even less last year and batted .220/.238/.268), but he’s off to a nice start and has solid defensive stats as well.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Stephan
AA: Santos
Hi-A: Adametz
Lo-A: Perry
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Here’s a very 2021 image:
It appears I attended consecutive games in San Antonio. Unlike my review of Cole Winn, I was skeptical of Yerry Rodriguez’s likelihood of sticking as a starter. His former curve had evolved into more of a slider, but it had a wide range of velocities and angles that I didn’t think were intentional. His change had promise, and if I remember correctly, I never wanted him to ditch it, but it was very much a work in progress. Indeed, he would shift to a relief role three months later. That might have been partly for workload — he had a history of fragility, and all clubs were being extra careful adter the lost 2022 — but regardless, I remember seeing one of his shorter outings upon promotion to AAA and thinking I liked that version much better.
Rodriguez is now employed by the Yankees and working his way up through the A levels after an IL stint.
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