Rangers Farm Report: Games of Saturday 27 June

Evan Carter active, Wyatt Langford on IL, Chris Martin on rehab with Frisco. 

Kind of a slow day, so I updated the performances of everyone in the Gore trade near the bottom. 

Box Scores

AAA: Round Rock 1, at Tacoma (SEA) 5
Round Rock: 4 hits, 0 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 3-2, 34-46 overall

SP Nolan Kingham: 4 IP, 7 H (2 HR), 4 R, 3 BB, 2 SO, 87 P / 57 S, 7.43 ERA
SS Keyber Rodriguez: 1-3, HR (4), .164/.230/.343

No hit batters, no ejections. Tacoma’s Patrick Wisdom hit three homers, so I guess he got revenge for the perceived slights from the night before. Cam Cauley was replaced at second in the 4th by John Taylor. 


AA: Frisco 2, at Amarillo (ARI) 4
Frisco: 8 hits, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 3-2, 42-31 overall

SP Jordan Montgomery: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 20 P / 15 S, 0.00 ERA
2B Corey Joyce: 3-4, HR (9), .250/.343/.453

Montgomery breezed through two innings, getting strikeouts on two curves and a change. Round Rock hosts Albuquerque and Frisco hosts Midland next week. 


Hi-A: Hub City 1, Winston-Salem (CHW) 13
Hub City: 4 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 16 hits, 13 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 3-5, 37-37 overall

SP AJ Russell: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 3 SO, 46 P / 27 S, 1.80 ERA

Hub City has walked 50 and hit seven batters this week, both the most among the 120 full-season teams. In his not-quite-debut for Hub City, AJ Russell caught whatever ails this club, issuing three walks for the first time this season. Last night was his shortest outing and fewest pitches since May 9, when he made an impromptu start for Hub City during Hickory’s fire cancellations. 


Lo-A: Hickory 12, Hill City (CLE) 4
Hickory: 16 hits, 5 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 16 hits, 4 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 8-0, 42-30 overall

SP Aidan Deakins: 4 IP, 8 H (1 HR), 3 R, 3 BB, 5 SO, 70 P / 43 S, 2.19 ERA
SS Yolfran Castillo: 2-6, 2B, .299/.405/.420
CF Marco Argudin: 2-4, 2 2B, BB, .327/.479/.509
RF Marcos Torres: 2-5, 2 SB (32), .242/.329/.456
2B Daniel Flames: 3-4, BB, SB (3), .282/.357/.351

Both teams had 16 hits, and Hill City had 22 baserunners to Hickory’s 23, yet Hickory won in a rout. Returning to Hickory after one start for the Burgers, Aidan Deakins allowed a bunch of those runners but managed to avoid disaster. 

Marcos Torres has stolen six bases the last two nights to overtake the team lead from Yolfran Castillo. 

Elsewhere
IF Devin Fitz-Gerald is hitting .141/.191/.188 with a 31% K rate in 16 games for AA Harrisburg. He’d been given a fairly aggressive assignment to high-A to start the season after just ten games in low-A to close 2025 with the Rangers, and he was outstanding there (.267/.373/.530 in 51 games). I suspect he’ll be fine, but it appears he’s not at this level of competition just yet. Likewise, OF Yeremi Cabrera has cooled off considerably since promotion to high-A: .230/.317/.286 in 34 games after a .333/.465/.649 showing in low-A. Unlike DFG, Cabrera’s original assignment was conservative. I would have expected him to start the year in Hub City were he still a Ranger. 

OF Gavin Fien is hitting .318/.464/.773 in June after a very slow start and wrist trouble (the type of injury that can capsize a whole season). 1B Abi Ortiz is hitting .251/.348/.502 for AAA Rochester. Washington has been surprisingly competitive, but I see some weakness amongst the 1B/DH rotation, so perhaps Ortiz has a chance to make his MLB debut. On the other hand, much of his production was compressed into a 14-game stretch in May when he hit nine homers. He’s hitting an ordinary .219/.305/.438 in June, and he’s bomb-or-bust against lefties (.163/.255/.469).

In the first big move of the post-Minasian era, the Angels signed righty Dillon Tate to a minor deal. He’d been out of contract since November. 

Today’s Starters
AAA: TBD
AA: MacLean
Hi-A: McCarty
Lo-A: Siary

Five Years Ago Yesterday
We learned OF Evan Carter would be out until at least September with a stress fracture in his lower back. Though the season would end later than usual because of covid, he did not return. TK Roby would also disappear due to elbow trouble. He would miss the rest of the season but avoid the knife. (Roby would finally succumb last summer and is out for 2026. He’s dealt only 128.2 innings in nearly three years since being traded.)