Minor league opening day -- Texas Rangers minor league starting pitchers

Minor league opening day:  The Texas Rangers' four full season minor league affiliates all kick off their campaigns this evening.

At 6 p.m. Central, the low-A Hickory Crawdads will face off against Hagerstown, with 19 year old righthander Ariel Jurado (who put up a 1.63 ERA in 38.2 IP in the AZL last season) taking the mound for Hickory.

Two affiliates have games at 7:05 Central -- the AA Frisco Roughriders, who are sending Alec Asher to the mound against the Arkansas Travelers, and the AAA Round Rock Express, who are expected to throw Anthony Ranaudo against Oklahoma City (whose starter will be 2014 Texas Ranger Scott Baker).

And then we have our late night game...with the Rangers returning to the California League, their high-A affiliate, High Desert, will be playing its night games at 9:00 p.m. Central time this year.  The MiLB website has "TBD" as the High Desert Mavericks' starter, but 21 year old lefthander Frank Lopez, who split last season between the AZL and Hickory while putting up a 2.73 ERA, is expected to go for the Mavericks.