Late, bad news: Jakob Junis is on the IL with an adductor strain. Winston Santos is up.
A Trade
The Rangers acquired catcher Logan O’Hoppe and righty reliever Chase Silseth for 19-year-old low-A infielder Angel Arredondo. Like the Hartl-for-Peoples deal, my initial reaction was “… what?”
The 26-year-old O’Hoppe is having his worst season at the plate: .209/.271/.295 with just four homers following last year’s 19 and 2024’s 20. For now, Texas will keep him in Round Rock. Pending other moves and injury updates, perhaps O’Hoppe is nothing more than a depth catcher, but Texas needed a depth catcher.
Silseth, also 26, has a 2.72 ERA and .230/.330/.331 opposing line with a 28% K rate (yay) and 13% BB+BP rate (boo). For his career but not in 2026, lefties have hit him better. Just over half his pitches are four-seamers or sinkers averaging 96. He adds an upper-80s split and some sweepers. Silseth was quite homer-prone at the beginning of his MLB career (in 2022, the year after he was drafted in the 11th round, because it’s the Angels), but lately he’s far less generous albeit still fly-prone. He’s out of options.
Trading Silseth saves the Angels about $850,000 and an arbitration decision come winter. Not a pittance, but neither a huge savings. Silseth won’t be arb-eligible until after next season.
Arredondo’s had a good year, hitting .243/.371/.392 as a teenager at Hickory. He’s patient and makes consistent contact, although he’s not hitting for a high average. He’s grown into some power as well, collecting eight homers and 17 other XBH, although the available Statcast data is lackluster (99.6 MPH 90th-percentile exit velocity, 27% hard-hit). Along with a greater percentage of fly balls has come a large increase in popups. Arredondo was playing mostly at third, and not only became Yolfran Castillo is his teammate. We’ll see if he shifts to more frequent shortstop play in the Cal League.
Angels beat writer Jeff Fletcher quoted new GM John Mozeliak as saying Arredondo belongs in his system’s top ten. I’m no scout, and plenty of people have seen more of him than me, but I wouldn’t have considered him a top-30 type. I’d heard he was worth an eye, and I’ve been covering him with more frequency than the average random guy at that level. That’s what he was to me, just someone to watch as opposed to ignore. Reaching the Majors for even a day would be a terrific outcome. If he maintains his contact up the ladder while generating more oomph, it’s possible.
This is a weird trade. Undoubtedly, the Angels think far more of Arredondo than us outsiders, and the Rangers probably do as well. But still, really? Arredondo for Silseth alone would have been swell. (I guess the idea is O’Hoppe has negative value, but I wouldn’t go that far.) If the announcement had been Arredondo plus, say, AA reliever Joey Danielson, I wouldn’t feel any differently.
The Rangers gained an opportunity to improve this year’s club for what seems to be a very modest expense. Thumbs up.
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 1, Reno (ARI) 4
Round Rock: 6 hits, 5 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 7 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 16-13, 5 GB, 47-57 overall
SP Trey Supak: 4 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 3 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 56 P / 35 S, 5.57 ERA
CF Jarred Kelenic: 2-5, 3B, .375/.449/.661
Jarred Kelenic! Happy to have him back yet again. He’s worthy depth, and he certainly makes the Express better.
Elsewhere, Detroit is calling up OF Max Clark for his MLB debut. He might have been a Ranger had Detroit selected Wyatt Langford as expected. 
AA: Frisco 13, Corpus Christi (HOU) 12
Frisco: 11 hits, 7 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 17 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts
Record: 17-12, 2 G up, 56-41 overall
SP Ben Anderson: 6 IP, 8 H (1 HR), 4 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 83 P / 53 S, 5.61 ERA
RP Josh Trentadue: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 5.94 ERA
SS Corey Seager: 0-3
DH Sebastian Walcott: 1-4, HR (3), BB, .366/.422/.707
CF Dylan Dreiling: 2-4, HR (16), .293/.370/.496
1B Arturo Disla: 1-3, HR (11), 2 BB, HBP, .305/.392/.543
3B Rafe Perich: 2-5, HR (11), .287/.377/.580
Seager was hitless but busy in the field. Walcott hit another monster homer. Not to detract from his accomplishments the past two nights, but Corpus might want to reconsider their strategy of belt-high breakers. Dylan Dreiling cleared the pool beyond right-center.
Frisco led 13-4 entering the 9th but had to call on Bryan Magdaleno for a two-out save after Thomas Ireland surrendered a walk and seven hits (all doubles!). Ireland has been a serviceable reliever at three levels (mostly Round Rock), but last night’s disaster raised his ERA to 6.38. 
Hi-A: Hub City 1, Rome (ATL) 12
Hub City: 4 hits, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 15 hits, 6 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 10-22, 12 GB, 44-54 overall
SP AJ Russell: 2.2 IP, 2 H (1 HR), 2 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 51 P / 29 S, 4.50 ERA
RP Owen Proksch: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 2.00 ERA
3B Gleider Figuereo: 1-4, HR (18), .242/.337/.460
AJ Russell’s strike rate in high-A is 59% compared to 64% at Hickory. One extra ball per 20 pitches may not seem excessive, but it really does affect the walk rate and creates more favorable counts for hitters. Eventually, it can be the difference between pitching in the Majors and pitching in AAA. The key word is “eventually.” Russell is very early into his pro career, and I wouldn’t even call this a concern right now, just something to watch. 
Lo-A: Hickory 10, at Delmarva (BAL) 1 (7)
Hickory: 11 hits, 5 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 1 hit, 1 walk, 12 strikeouts
SP Alejandro Chiquillo: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 SO, 37 P / 27 S, 2.93 ERA
RP Julius Sanchez: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0.00 ERA
CF Paulino Santana: 3-5, 2B, HR (11), .263/.393/.428
LF Marco Argudin: 1-3, BB, HBP, .252/.406/.351
DH Pablo Guerrero: 1-3, 2 BB, .306/.424/.408
3B Angel Arredondo: 2-4, 2B, .247/.372/.397
Hickory chased young righty Esteban Mejia in the 1st. Mejia throws 100 at will but has some of the worst control in the minors, although the Dads beat him mostly with hits. Julius Sanchez is last year’s 18th-rounder out of Illinois. He was recovering from elbow surgery when drafted and made his pro debut only two weeks ago at the complex.
Lo-A: Hickory 1, at Delmarva (BAL) 4 (7)
Hickory: 1 hit, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 22-9, 4.5 G up, 56-39 overall
SP Aidan Deakins: 4.1 IP, 5 H (2 HR), 4 R, 2 BB, 6 SO, 71 P / 43 S, 2.61 ERA
3B Angel Arredondo: 0-0
Arredondo was in the lineup but replaced by Luis Marquez without batting or playing the field.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Veneziano
AA: MacLean
Hi-A: Perry
Lo-A: Siary
Five Years Ago Yesterday
“Yohel Pozo homered yet again. In 1,034 full-season plate appearances entering 2021, he homered 21 times, or 1 per 49 trips to the plate. At Round Rock, he’s hit 18 in 236 PAs, 1 per 13. I’ve written multiple times about his free-swinging style. My gut feel is that approach would falter against MLB competition, but some hitters make it work.”
Pozo was two weeks from his MLB debut. He has a .316 batting average in AAA and .247 in MLB, so I was correct. (Pozo hardly ever walks, so I’ve stated average instead of OBP.) On the other hand, he’s still employed and on than MLB team right now. so he’s made it work.
Skip to content
tantamount to cordial