Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 9, Tacoma (SEA) 3
Round Rock: 12 hits, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 5 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 40-32, , 71-76 overall
SP Dalton Pence: 4 IP, 2 H (2 HR), 2 R, 4 BB, 5 SO, 84 P / 50 S, 2.09 ERA
RP Joe Ross: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 4.91 ERA
RP Emiliano Teodo: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 3.79 ERA
CF Cameron Cauley: 2-5, HR (15), SB (37), .275/.368/.462
DH Kyle Higashioka: 3-5, HR (2), .231/.318/.436
2B Frainyer Chavez: 2-3, 2B, BB, .263/.333/.316
For the 29th consecutive season, Texas’s AAA squad will not finish ten or more games under .500. That’s the longest steak in baseball, followed by the Yankees with 24, Pirates (!) with 22, and the Brewers and Athletics with 11. It’s a weird stat, I admit, but to me it signifies putting a reasonably competitive team on the field year after year.
Dalton Pence had a so-so finale. The slider looked as good as I’ve seen in person, generating a bunch of calls and avoiding damage. Pence is known for a rising fastball, but I’ve noticed a high induced vertical break on everything he throws. For example, the average break on his slider was ten inches, in line with some pitchers’ fastballs. One in particular unexpectedly zipped over the bat of slugger Patrick Wisdom for a third strike. Wisdom gained revenge later with a moonshot homer. Pence walked three consecutive batters in a 32-pitch 4th and was done. Pence is a deserving organization pitcher of the year, but his dwindling ratio of strikeouts to combined walks and hit batters is something I’ll be watching in 2027:
Hi-A: 3.8
AA: 2.5
AAA: 1.4
Higgy looked great at the plate. He’s still not catching, though. 
AA Semifinals: Frisco 7, Amarillo (ARI) 12
Frisco: 9 hits, 8 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 14 hits, 10 walks, 8 strikeouts
Best-of-three tied 1-1
SP Cole Stasio: 3 IP, 2 H (1 HR), 1 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 56 P / 36 S
RP Austin Roberts: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 0 SO
SS Sebastian Walcott: 2-4, HR, BB, SB
1B Arturo Disla: 1-3, 2 BB
C Malcolm Moore: 2-3, 2 BB
2B Max Wagner: 1-3, 2B, BB
Frisco losing the David Hagaman start wasn’t a shock, but the manner of the loss was. Hagaman suffered his worst start of the year, walking three (Walcott, Perich, Disla) in front of two hits (Figuereo, Moore) and leaving down 3-0 after 30 pitches. Two more would score on a Max Wagner double. Frisco led 5-0, had chased Amarillo’s best pitcher and could feast on the dubious bullpen. Walcott hit a solo homer in the 2nd to stretch the lead to six. I was half-expecting Amarillo to eventually match those six runs, but I assumed Frisco would keep scoring as well.
That assumption proved false. In particular, Amarillo received four scoreless from Brian Curley, last year’s third-rounder and one of several “promising but lacking results” types on the Poodle roster. Frisco was limited to five singles after the Walcott homer and plated just one more on a game-tying Paxton Kling knock in the 7th.
Cole Stasio was solid through three, allowing only a solo homer by Alberto Barriga. Stasio wasn’t efficient and had exceeded three innings only once this season, but in the moment, I wondered about trying to squeeze at least another out or two from him, if not a full frame.
Instead, top reliever Austin Roberts appeared early again to prevent Amarillo from getting any ideas. Unfortunately, Roberts was shaky, as was the defense with one exception*. Roberts walked two, a liner sneaked under RF Dylan Dreiling’s glove for a double, and 1B Arturo Disla couldn’t corral a wide throw from 2B Max Wagner (ruled an error on Disla but definitely a team effort). Roberts was pulled after 20 pitches, nine for strikes. Erratic though he was, I worried about leaving so many innings to others. On five previous occasions, Roberts had thrown more than 20 pitches on one day’s rest, although most of the front-end outings involved fewer than the 31 pitches he threw Tuesday. Getting a total of 11 outs from Stasio and Roberts would turn out to be critical.
Against Joey Danielson, Jean Walters fouled off four two-strike fastballs and ignored a slider in the dirt before punching a breaker through the hole for a single. Frisco led 6-3. Kai Wynyard took over in the 5th and surrendered a leadoff homer. After two outs (both beginning with 3-0 counts), a single, walk and wild pitch, Brock Porter came on and ran the count to 3-1 before retiring Danny Serretti. 6-4 Frisco.
The 6th was a mess. Porter missed on 20 of 31 pitches, Amarilllo took a 7-6 lead on Jones’ two-run single, and replacement Zach Bryant walked another before fanning Serretti on a full count. Bryant was sharp in a brisk 7th, and Frisco tied the game after the stretch, but trouble returned in the 8th. Wily Villar entered with two out and two on, walked the bases full and yielded a clearing double to Serretti. A single and homer off Villar in the 9th widened the margin.
Frisco’s bullpen threw 180 pitches in six innings, issued nine walks and reached three-ball counts to eight other batters. Danielson, Porter, Bryant and Villar all entered with two outs and runners at first and second.
The good news is Josh Trentadue, Leandro Lopez and Bryan Magdaleno, three of Frisco’s four most effective relievers, didn’t pitch and will be on two days rest tonight, as will Jonathan Brand, the relief hero of Game 1. Neither team has announced a starter. I assumed Blake Townsend would start since he was assigned to Frisco from Round Rock on Tuesday, but Ismael Agreda was also activated fro the development list. Reliever J’Briell Easley is the only other Rider yet to appear.
* (The “one exception” was a nice nab of speedy Druw Jones by Malcolm Moore on a stolen base attempt. I’m 90% sure Jones was safe, but still, Moore did well to snare a low/outside pitch and deliver on point to second.)
Other News
Baseball America’s list of ten “sleeper AL prospect to watch in 2027” included two Rangers, infielders Rafe Perich and Pablo Guerrero. Guerrero was terrific (.331/.455/.567) but missed all but 37 games to knee trouble, and I wasn’t sure want to think of that short sample in comparison to a longer and much rougher 2025, but the article points out a trifecta of high exit velocities, good swing decisions and steady contact on swings. Another nae to watch in ’27.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Davalillo
AA: TBD
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Frisco lost 6-1 to Amarillo but maintained a half-game lead for the final playoff spot because every rival lost as well. High-A Hickory snapped a 16-game losing streak. Low-A Down East defeated Charleston again behind six scoreless with eight strikeouts from Mason Englert plus a double, single and HBP from DH Thomas Saggese.
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