Welcome to "Chatter from the Pressbox", the website dedicated to the Pressbox of the Frisco RoughRiders, the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.

Today's Matchups Around the Ranger's System

Today's (5/20) Match-Ups Around the Ranger's System

Round Rock: Martin Perez (3-3 5.27) vs. Fresno Grizzlies: Andrew Kown (3-1 2.61) @ 1:00 PM CT

Myrtle Beach: Kyle Hendricks (1-4 2.91) @ Wilmington Blue Rocks: Sugar Ray Marimon (3-0 2.65) @ 12:30 PM CT

Hickory : Santo Perez (2-2 6.19) @ Asheville Tourists: Daniel Winkler (4-2 6.06) @ 1:05 PM CT



Sunday, April 17, 2011

Game 10: Frisco RoughRiders (Carlos Pimentel) @ Arkansas Travelers (Kyle Hurst)

Time: 4:00 PM CT
Location: Dickey-Stephens Park (Little Rock, AR)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (4-5 2 games back in the Texas League South)... Arkansas Travelers (4-5 1 game back in the Texas League North)
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (0-1 9.00 ERA)... Kyle Hurst (1-0 3.60 ERA)


What to Watch for on the Mound: This is a rematch from this past Monday's game between Frisco and Arkansas... Carlos Pimentel breezed through the first 2 innings in his first start, and got through trouble in the 3rd inning, before getting roughed up a bit in the 4th and 5th innings. Overall, his line was 4+ IP 9 H 4 R 1 BB 5 K, with a wild pitch and a hit batter. Of the 9 hits, 6 of them came in the final 1+ innings. He sat 92-93 with his fastball for most of the game, reaching as high as 95 in the start... Kyle Hurst had a very solid start in the same game and picked up the win for it. He went 5 innings, gave up 6 hits, 2 runs, struck out 3, and did not issue a walk. Both runs came on a homerun given up to Joey Butler. Fortunately for Kyle Hurst, Butler (2 for 2 against Hurst) will not be playing for Frisco this time around.

Catching Fire: Tommy Mendonca homered in each game of the double header on Saturday and went 4 for 7 at the plate. He came into the year with 19 homeruns in 726 career PA in the minor leagues. He hit 10 last year in 477 PA in the California League, which is notorious for being an ofensive ballpark (see Wood, Brandon). But a little over a week into the season and Tommy Mendonca already has 4 homeruns in 33 plate appearances for Frisco. To put it into perspective, if Tommy didn't hit another homerun until July 30th and hit one then, he would equal the amount by the same point that he had in 2010. He had 2 homeruns in the first 3 months last year, which spanned 268 PA. He had 8 the rest of the year, which spanned 206 PA, which is still not great, but it's better. Mix in the 4 he's had to begin the year, and he has 12 in his last 239 PA. Less PA and 6 times the amount of homeruns.

Leading off: Engel Beltre hit 2nd for the Riders for the first 6 games of the season, then moved into the 3 hole with the absence of Butler in the 7th game. For the double header on Saturday, Beltre hit leadoff and with it may have come embraced patience at the plate. Through the first 7 games Beltre walked 1 time and struck out 6 times in 29 at bats. On Saturday, Beltre went to the plate 8 times total, struck out 1 time and walked twice, increasing his walk total to 3 on the season. Beltre hasn't displayed the patience at the plate that one would like to see out of the leadoff role, as his career high walk total is 22, which came in 2007 with all of it coming in short season ball. He walked 21 times in 2010, including 10 times in 47 games in AA. He does have the speed that you'd like to see out of the leadoff spot though.

Brigham Report: Jacob Brigham got his first AA win on Saturday. He pitched ok, as he went 5 innings, gave up 5 hits, 3 runs (all earned), 4 walks, and struck out 4 batters. He had 82 pitches, 48 of which went for strikes (59%) and 4 of the 5 hits were for singles, including 2 that were hit "softly" to the outfield. Two of the four walks were eliminated by double plays and only one of the walks ended up scoring.

Perplexing Numbers: Miguel De Los Santos made his 2nd start of the year and once again struggled with command in the one big, bad inning. He allowed a 2 out, 3 run homerun to Springfield first baseman Matt Adams in the 1st inning, but settled down with 3 consecutive very good innings where he faced the minimum, despite allowing a walk (eliminated by a double play). In the 5th inning, however, De Los Santos walked 3 batters to open the 5th inning, and was then replaced by newly acquired pitcher Ramon Aguero, who allowed all 3 to score in the inning. Miguel's final line was 4+ IP 2 H 6 R (all earned) 5 BB 5 K 1 HR 79 pitches-40 strikes. On the year he has struck out 13 in batters in 8 2/3 innings, but he has also walked 6 batters and given up 10 runs.

Mark It Down: Guilder Rodriguez hit a double in the 4th inning of the first game of the double header. It marked his 45th extra base hit in 2,545 minor league PA and first this season. The double also drove home 2 runs, which ended up being the difference in the game. Through 9 games this year, Rodriguez has 5 RBI.

Another One Bites the Dust: The battle of minor league teams got one shorter as the Modest Nuts gave up an unearned run in their 10-6 win on Saturday night. With 2 more games without an unearned run for both the Riders and the Jacksonville Suns, the battle between the two will continue into at least Sunday. While it may not seem like such a big deal, remember that there are 118 teams ou tthere who have given up an unearned run this year, most of whom have probably played 9 games, although some may not have with rain outs and only 2 that have not. And the Riders are one of them...

Trout Fishing: When Mike Trout left Frisco, the Riders pitchers were probably not too sad to see him go. Trout finished off a ho hum first 2 games with a flourish in the 3rd when he went 3 for 4 with 2 homeruns and 5 RBI. Throughout the series he showed a lot of why he's the #2 prospect in baseball. He showed the power (2 homers), the speed (a bunt single in game 2), and patience (walked 2 times and got on base 7 times out of 14 PA's). He can do a lot of things on the baseball field, but I would guess more than anything it's the speed and patience that intrigues a lot of baseball people. He stole 56 bases last year and has 3 through 9 games this year. He walked 73 times last year to 85 strikeouts and he has walked 7 times this year to 7 strikeouts.

Around the Ranger's System: 

Round Rock (AAA) defeated Omaha on Saturday by a score of 9-6. Doug Deeds had 2 doubles for the Express and former Riders Joey Butler and Chad Tracy went 2 for 7 with 2 walks and 4 RBI. Tanner Scheppers gave up 4 hits and 3 runs in 2 innings, but did not give up a walk and struck out 3 batters. Former Rider Cody Eppley pitched a scoreless 9th for his 2nd save. The pitching staff had 12 strikeouts to just 2 walks.

Myrtle Beach (high-A) showed great efficiency by scoring 11 runs on just 7 hits in their 11-4 blasting of Lynchburg. 7 of the 11 runs came in the 9th inning, however to blow things wide open. Jared Hoying had 2 homeruns for the Pelicans and 3 RBI. With the 2 for 4 day he is now hitting .400 on the young season. Barret Loux, who was drafted 6th overall in the 2010 draft, but didn't sign with Arizona, then was granted free agency and signed with Texas, made the start for Myrtle Beach and went 5 solid innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, and struck out 4 batters. Tyler Tufts, who was with Frisco briefly last year, got the save.

Hickory (low-A) scored 6 times in the 1st inning and 3 times in the 5th to win 9-5 over the Kannapolis Intimidators. Teodoro Martinez and Jake Skole combined to go 5 for 10 with 2 doubles, 2 RBI, and a stolen base in the game. Justin Grimm made the start for Hickory and went 4 innings, gave up 2 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), walked 3, and struck out 5.

Minor League Game of the Night: 

In other minor league news, a former affiliate of the Ranger's, the Bakersfield Blaze, are part of the game of the day probably. Bakersfield is down 20-19 against the Inland Empire 66ers in the top of the 9th inning. The two teams have combined for 44 hits and 7 errors. Inland Empire scored 10 runs in the 6th inning to go from down 16-7 to ahead 17-16 at that point. They were tied 19-19 going into the 9th inning. Dillon Baird for the Inland Empire is 5 for 5 with 2 homeruns, 1 double, 2 walks, and 5 RBI in the game.

As always...

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109
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