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 14, 2011

Game 7: Frisco RoughRiders (Martin Perez) @ Springfield Cardinals (Nick Additon)

Time: 7:07 PM
Location: Hammons Field (Springfield, MO) 
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (3-3 2 games back in the Texas League South)... Springfield Cardinals (2-4 3 games back in the Texas League North)
Starting Pitchers: Martin Perez (0-0 6.00 ERA) vs. Nick Additon (0-0 3.00 ERA)

What to Watch for on the Mound: The re-match of last Friday's game in Frisco, Martin Perez and Nick Additon both take the mound for the 2nd time this season... Martin Perez struggled with command in his first minor league start of 2011 last Friday when he went 3 innings allowing 2 walks, 5 hits, and 2 runs. He made 71 pitches in the effort, while he struck out 3 batters. The Ranger's best prospect, Perez will look to regroup and turn in a better performance on the road... Nick Additon countered Perez with a solid performance, but still got a no decision in a 7-6 loss in 10 innings to Frisco. Additon went 6 innings, gave up 5 hits, 2 runs, a homerun, struck out 4, and the southpaw did not issue a walk. He left the game with a 6-2 lead before the Riders scored 5 runs over the last 5 innings. 

Promoting a Butler: The injury that Josh Hamilton suffered on Tuesday did not only affect the Texas Rangers, but also the teams within the Ranger's system. Hamilton was placed on the 15 day DL, and the Rangers promoted former Rider Chris Davis, who was hitting the cover off the ball for Round Rock on the early goings, and promoted Rider outfielder Joey Butler to Round Rock. To replace Butler, infielder Erik Morrison was activated from the DL. All of this will leave the Riders with 3 outfielders. Engel Beltre, Michael Bianucci, and David Paisano. As posed by the Riders Insider blog on Wednesday, the question will be who plays right field. Neither Paisano, nor Bianucci have played right field at great lengths in their minor league career, and both are more suited to play left field.

Joey Butler was hitting .316 with 2 homeruns and a team leading 2 steals on the early goings for Frisco.

Smoked Trout: The one game that I will probably miss all year came on Tuesday, a day game (11:00 AM). Three of the 4 regular pressbox staff was not at the game, leaving the Riders to use interns for 3/4ths of the positions. Of course that one game was also the game that Travelers outfielder and Baseball America's #2 prospect, Mike Trout, took off. After going through mostly a slow start this season, Trout had a break through game going 3 for 4 with 2 homeruns, including a grand slam. What makes Trout dangerous is his package of power, speed, and discipline. And he displayed all of it in the last 2 games of the 3 game set. He had a walk and a bunt single in the 2nd game and the 2 homeruns in the 3rd game. On the early part of the season, Trout is batting .318 with a .423 on base percentage, and a 1.150 OPS. His 3 homeruns ties him for 2nd in the Texas League with 2 others (San Antonio's Sawyer Carroll and Tulsa's Tim Wheeler).


Offensive Rankings: Despite struggling the last couple games, the Riders offense is still middle of the pack in the league in most of the stats. Their .802 team OPS ranks 4th out of the 8 teams in the Texas League. Their 8 homeruns (4 of which are from Bianucci) ranks tied for 2nd in the league. Of course the team leading the league in pretty much everything is San Antonio, but 23 of their 46 runs scored came in 1 game, leaving 23 for the other 5 games. This early in the season, a huge game like that can skew a lot of things.


Pitching Rankings: Many of the Rider's pitching stats are pretty good. Their only problem has been they've given up a lot of runs compared to runners on base. Figure that in 55 innings, they've given up 84 baserunners. Yet out of those 84 baserunners, they have given up 32 runs (38%). The Midland Rockhounds lead the league in WHIP, and have allowed 68 baserunners. Only 21 of those have scored (31%). Northwest Arkansas is even lower, as they've allowed 73 baserunners and only 21 have scored (29%).Tulsa has the highest amount of baserunners scoring this year at 51%, but like with San Antonio's offense, much of Tulsa's pitching stats will be skewed based on the one terrible game where they gave up 23 runs.


(Un)Earned Run-less: The Riders pitching staff is the only pitching staff in the Texas League to not have given up an unearned run yet this season.

Attendance: With 6 home games in the books, the Riders attendance ranked best among the 4 teams that have had home games so far in the Texas League. Annually tops in the Texas League and among the best in AA and the minor leagues, Frisco continues to have great support from a great community. The average attendance thus far in the 6 games is 8,104 for a total of 48,629. That is great to see and hopefully the attendance will continue to be that high throughout the year!

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

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