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



Thursday, April 21, 2011

Game 13: Corpus Christi Hooks (Ross Seaton) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Jacob Brigham)

Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (5-7 3 games back in the Texas League South)... Corpus Christi Hooks (4-8 4 games back in the Texas League South)
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10 games: 3-7
Starting Pitchers: Jacob Brigham (1-0 5.40 ERA)... Ross Seaton (0-0 12.86 ERA)

What to Watch for on the Mound: Both the Riders and Hooks face a division opponent for the first time this season and each pitcher makes their 3rd start of the season...

Jacob Brigham takes the mound for the Riders coming off his first AA win in his last outing. He hasn't dominated in either start, but Brigham has been consistent in the two starts. In each start he's gone 5 innings, given up 5 hits, and 3 runs. In his last start, he gave up 4 walks and struck out 4 batters. Both of his starts came against the Springfield Cardinals. On the season, Brigham has allowed 10 hits, walked 5 batters, and struck out 11 hitters in 10 innings pitched...

21 year old Ross Seaton on the other hand, has struggled so far on the season, although his last start was a bit better than his first start. Despite carrying a 12.86 ERA into the third start of the season, however, Seaton has yet to get the loss in a game. The 2008 3rd round pick has given up 16 hits in 7 innings this season, while allowing just 1 walk and recording 8 strikeouts. In his last outing, Seaton went 5 innings, gave up 9 hits, 4 runs, walked 1 batter, and struck out 5. Seaton had a solid first year in the minor leagues in 2009 as a 19 year old for Lexington (low-A), when he went 8-10 with a 3.29 ERA in 24 starts. He struck out 88 batters and allowed just 39 walks in 136 2/3 innings. Last year, however, Seaton struggled to an ERA of 6.64 and a 6-13 record in 28 starts in the offensive minded California League.

Bianucci/Mendonca duo: Coming into the day, Michael Bianucci and Tommy Mendonca are tied with the Double Decker duo in San Antonio for the most homeruns by a pair of hitters in the Texas League with 9. Bianucci is tied with Cody Decker with 5 homeruns for the league lead and Tommy Mendonca and Jaff Decker are tied at 4.

Running Games: One of the interesting things to watch in the series this weekend will be the running game of Corpus Christi vs. the catchers of Frisco. Jose Felix has had 2 baserunners attempt steals against him this year, and both have been successful. Corpus Christi have 3 of the top 4 players in steals in the Texas League on their team and the trio has been successful in 21 of their 24 attempts. The other interesting thing will be how the Riders handle running against the Hook's catchers, who have allowed 10 stolen bases in 13 attempts.

RBI Man: Corpus Christi's outfielder, J.D. Martinez comes into this series with an 8 game RBI streak. He is hitting .341 on the year, including .435 with runners on and .467 with RISP.  Martinez leads the Texas League in RBI and is 3rd in the minors in RBI right now. Martinez has 12 more RBIs than the next closest player on the team.To put it this way, no Rider has more than 11 RBI right now, let alone 12 more than the next closest.  Martinez has driven in a run in 10 of the 12 games that Corpus Christi has played.

Battle Over Who Will Give In: Both teams, the Riders and Hooks, struggle at the plate with discipline. Frisco has walked 32 times as a team, which is the lowest in the Texas League. Corpus Christi is 2nd worst, however, with 34 walks. Both team's pitching staffs, however, are among the worst in the league in giving up walks, as well. So it will be interesting to see which side of the ball for both teams struggles the most over the next 4 games. The Riders hitters have walked only 19 times over their last 70 innings at the plate, including just 1 time over their last 20 innings.

Defensive Difference: If there is one thing that could separate the games between these two teams it is the defensive play. Frisco comes into the series with just 4 errors and a .991 fielding%, both of which are best in the Texas League. The Corpus Christi Hooks have committed 13 errors and a .974 fielding%, both of which are at the bottom of the league. Now, errors and fielding% doesn't tell the whole story, but it does help explain why the Riders have a league low 1 unearned run, while the Hooks have given up a league high 13 unearned runs. Neither team's catchers have given up a passed ball through 12 games.

Around the Ranger's System: 

Round Rock (AAA) held off a late rally from Oklahoma City to win 5-3. Of the 8 runs combined in the game, 6 of them were scored in the 8th and 9th innings. Chad Tracy went 2 for 4 at the plate with a double and 2 RBI. Esteban German continues to hit the ball well as he went 3 for 4 with a double and a walk. He's batting .368 on the year. Joey Butler went 1 for 4 at the plate with a strikeout. Zach Jackson got the win as he went 8 1/3 innings pitched, gave up 4 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, and struck out 5. Cody Eppley got the final 2 outs for his 3rd save.

Myrtle Beach (high-A) scored a run in the 8th inning to tie the game and defeated Winston Salem 5-4 in 12 innings. Michael Olt went 0 for 3, but walked 3 times as well. Chris McGuinness who played for Frisco late last year, went 2 for 4 with 2 doubles and 2 walks. The Pelican's 8th and 9th hitters, Santiago Chirino and Travis Adair, went a combined 6 for 12 with 2 runs, a double, and a RBI. Myrtle Beach went just 4 for 17 with RISP in the game and left 14 on base as a team total. Robbie Erlin started for Myrtle Beach and gave up 4 hits and 4 runs (3 earned) in 5 innings. He walked 1 batter and struck out 3. Joseph Ortiz (3 innings), Kennil Gomez (3 innings), and Kasey Kiker (1 inning) combined for 7 shutout innings of relief. Former Rider Kiker, who didn't walk a batter, got his first win of the season for the Pelicans. 

Hickory (low-A) scored 4 in the 6th and 3 in the 8th to turn a 3-1 defecit into an 8-3 victory over the Hagerstown Suns. Jake Skole went 2 for 4 with a triple, a walk, and 2 runs. Tomas Tellis went 2 for 4 with a double, 3 RBI, and a walk. Josh Richmond, Odubel Herrera, and Christian Villanueva combined to go 7 for 15 with 2 doubles, a triple, 3 RBI, and 4 runs. Jonathan Roof, who has been playing in for Jurickson Profar while he's hurt, went 3 for 4 with a run in the 9th spot. Nick Tepesch, who got the start for Hickory, gave up 9 hits and 3 runs in 4 innings. He struck out 3 batters and did not issue a walk. Colby Killian got his 2nd win, as he combined with Ryan Rodebaugh for 5 shutout innings of relief.


Minor League Performance of the Night

John Ely (Albuquerque Isotopes- AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers) struggled in his first start of the season in AAA for the Albuquerque Isotopes, but on Wednesday night he brought his best stuff to the table in the second game of a double header. Ely took a no-hitter to the last hitter of the 7th inning before giving up a double to Marquez Smith. Still, he got the final out and settled for a 1 hit shutout, where he walked 4 batters and struck out 7. Albuquerque defeated the Iowa Cubs 3-0 to split the double header. John Ely got the win and lowered his ERA through 2 starts to 3.46.

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
Follow Us on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/pressboxchatterFollow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540
And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

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