In March, I mentioned a focus of mine would be MLB starting depth, since “the last time Texas used fewer than ten starters in a season was 2011.” When minor league rosters were announced in late that month, I wrote: “The [AAA] rotation could be [Jose] Corniell, [Austin] Gomber, [Patrick] Murphy, [Cal] Quantrill, [Josh] Stephan and [Trey] Supak. None is tickling my fancy as an MLB replacement starter at present. I’d ultimately prefer Corniell, who made his MLB debut late last season, but he has only 34 innings above high-A.”
Corniell turned out to need more tie to heal and isn’t at the the late-season form of 2025 that earned his MLB debut. Gomber was released.* Murphy is injured. Quantrill was called up for relief depth. Stephan has a homer-filled 6.14 ERA. Supak has been better but doesn’t miss many bats and was IL’ed last week. At some point earlier in the season I suggested then-Frisco starter David Davalillo, but I lacked conviction, and now he’s in Arizona after a stunning loss of control upon promotion to Round Rock. Current Frisco starter Winston Santos (called up today) has an opposing line of .312/.394/.526 with ten homers in 42 innings. AA starter Leandro Lopez is hurt and hasn’t been in the picture regardless.
Two months ago, it wasn’t unreasonably to assume that one of Davalillo, Corniell and Santos would be viable depth by late June, but that’s not the case. Honestly, the best internal option might be stretching out Cal Quantrill or even Joe Ross. I wasn’t overjoyed when Texas selected Quantrill’s contract, but he’s gotten by.
The mess created by Leiter’s absence is exacerbated by Texas’s perpetual status as a fringe contender. The 44-35 Rangers would have to Do Something. The 34-45 Rangers could commence the tear-down. The 38-41 Rangers (as of this morning), under .500 but just 2.5 out of first and one from a wild card? Well, they certainly must do something, but that’s caught up in the daunting question of what kind of team this really is. I’m inclined at that point to believe the Texas isn’t significantly better or worse than what’s on display, but that doesn’t lead to a solution, just more crossing of fingers and hoping for the best.
Texas signed righty Marco Gonzales, but he’s purely a stopgap for the AAA rotation, which is in even worse shape with the losses of Supak, Davalillo and Corniell (who was optioned back to AAA today). He was dreadful with El Paso (except, annoyingly, against the Express) and is barely capable of stringing together outs against AAA competition, but such are the times.
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 7, at Tacoma (SEA) 6
Round Rock: 12 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 1-0, 32-44 overall
SP Marco Gonzales: 4 IP, 6 H (2 HR), 3 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 69 P / 45 S, 7.89 ERA
RP Wilian Bormie: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 2.84 ERA
RP Thomas Ireland: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 4.60 ERA
RP Emiliano Teodo: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO, 3.82 ERA
SS Josh Smith: 1-4, 2B, BB, .222/.341/.389
LF Aaron Zavala: 3-5, 2B, .267/.366/.426
2B John Taylor: 2-5, 2B, .226/.388/.434
3B Jonah Bride: 2-4, HR (7), .270/.399/.412
DH Trevor Hauver: 2-2, HR (6), 2 BB, .249/.389/.385
The Express scored the game’s final six runs including three in the 9th.
On the road trip, Emiliano Teodo made three appearances and walked or hit seven of 23 batters, and in eight June appearances he has more walks (10) than strikeouts (9). He’s in a better place than April, but relying on him for MLB outs is a stretch.
The Express acquired more catching depth in the form of 35-year-old Austin Wynns, released from Atlanta last week after having served briefly for both the A’s and Halos. Also joining Round Rock is 30-year-old Spencer Adams, who last pitched in an MLB organization in 2019 and doesn’t appear anywhere during 2020-2024. Texas purchased him from indy Gastonia, where he posted a 4.42 ERA with 18 walks and 64 strikeouts in 57 innings. 
AA: Frisco 7, at Amarillo (ARI) 3
Frisco: 20 hits, 6 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 1 walk, 9 strikeouts
Record: 1-0, 40-29 overall
SP Aidan Curry: 6.2 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 3 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 93 P / 61 S, 7.46 ERA
RP Anthony Susac: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Cole Stasio: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 4.91 ERA
SS Frainyer Chavez: 1-3, HR (9), 3 BB, .288/.402/.463
CF Dylan Dreiling: 4-6, SB (9), .293/.382/.437
3B Rafe Perich: 3-4, HR (6), BB, .298/.398/.607
C Malcolm Moore: 3-5, HR (1), .261/.308/.522
Frisco put 26 runners aboard but settled for a relatively modest seven runs. Malcolm Moore hit his first AA homer. Amarillo is hitter-friendly, but fortunately I don’t have to provide an Asheville-type caveat to the performances there.
Hi-A: Hub City 5, Winston-Salem (CHW) 4
Hub City: 7 hits, 6 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 7 walks, 14 strikeouts
Record: 2-2, 36-34 overall
SP Enrique Segura: 4.2 IP, 4 H (2 HR), 4 R, 4 BB, 4 SO, 85 P / 51 S, 7.29 ERA
RP Cole Roland: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 2.50 ERA
RP Adrian Rodriguez: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 3.48 ERA
CF Hector Osorio: 2-4, BB, .281/.379/.491
3B Gleider Figuereo: 1-4, HR (9), .240/.344/.442
RF Maxton Martin: 1-2, HR (6), 2 BB, SB (9), .209/.279/.376
Trailing 4-2 in the 9th, Hub City won without a hit. Poor Garrett Wright walked five, and catcher Boston Smith didn’t appear to even deflect much less catch an inside pitch from replacement Jack Young, and Carter Garate scampered home with the winning run.
Texas promoted righty AJ Russell and lefty Owen Proksch to high-A. Two days ago, I wondered aloud whether he’d reach five five innings before Hub City, and the answer is no. Sometimes I know of such moves beforehand and am being sly, but in this case it was just a feeling. I don’t want to oversell Proksch, but he’s clearly not in the same competitive class as low-A hitters. 
Lo-A: Hickory 11, Hill City (CLE) 10
Hickory: 14 hits, 6 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 7 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 4-0, 38-30 overall
SP Alejandro Chiquillo: 5.1 IP, 4 H (2 HR), 7 R, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 3 SO, 81 P / 51 S, 3.60 ERA
RP JD McReynolds: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 3.57 ERA
RF Marco Argudin: 2-4, HR (1), BB, SB (1), .311/.426/.467
3B Angel Arredondo: 2-3, HR (7), 2 BB, .249/.382/.421
2B Daniel Flames: 3-4, 2B, BB, .282/.352/.356
LF Marcos Torres: 2-3, BB, .226/.312/.432
No late comeback. Instead, Hickory trailed 5-0 before batting, led by four after the 6th and stranded Hill City’s tying run at second to end the run.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBD
AA: Townsend
Hi-A: Easley
Lo-A: Morales
Elsewhere
The Diamondbacks called up lefty Kohl Drake, but he did not appear in a game before being optioned. He’s had a very tough season that isn’t all the Reno environment (7.83 ERA with matching peripherals).
Replacing Drake on the Arizona roster is righty Mitch Bratt, who has a 2.84 ERA and 42 strikeouts versus 12 walks in 44 innings for the Aces.
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Down East’s Jayce Easley stole his 22nd base of the stlll-young season. He would go on to swipe 70, most in all the minors that year and most by a Ranger since George Crum in 1983.
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