Notes from Frisco

Gotta stop tweeting all the good shit and start posting more here at LSB, my home. Folks just use Twitter to yell at me about how much Gallo sucks and how crappy the Rangers front office is anyways.

Yohander Mendez started for Frisco tonight and YO, WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO WITH YO???? Overall the lefty looked pretty similar to the kid who pitched in Frisco last year. That’s actually a good thing because at times this season, he’s looked worse than the kid who gave up a crapton of bombos last season. His walks have been way up this year and his Ks have been down against his previous MiLB seasons. And then there’s the Kansas City calamity. No idea what went down in the land of the Chiefs, but it clearly wasn’t good. I was happy to hear the Rangers dispatched fellow Venezuelan and hero to all, Guilder Rodriguez to Kinston with orders to help get Yo back on the proper mental track. That’s a good move and now that he’s been bumped up to AA, he oughta be ready to put it all back up on the good shelf. Seemed strong mentally tonight. As a matter of fact, he clipped 95 on the gun after getting a little pissy with the ump following a squeezed out 2-0 pitch that should’ve been called a strike. But that’s only half the battle with Yo. You still gotta have the stuff to send big leaguers hitters back to their dugout unsuccessful. In all honesty, that’s where my worry lies. He missed armside a fair amount again, but I also didn’t see nasty CHs or biting SLs enough. I have a scout friend who put an up/down (long-man) grade on Yo a few years ago and broke my heart. Turns out, there’s a reason scouts are paid in US dollars. And the ancillary issue is that he is, of course, out of options. There’s still a healthy portion left in this season’s schedule, and this was his first game back in AA, but even my blogging eye could tell there wasn’t enough mojo in his hurled beans tonight to rip through a couple rotations of a big league lineup. I’d love to tell ya the lefty’s got a lock on the 4/5 spot in next year’s rotation, but that’d be a salty lie. He might still get there cause you just know if they DFA him he’s gonna throw about 135 league-average innings for the Pirates next season and they’re gonna look like goofups, but I can’t imagine there’s a lot of folks in Texas’ FO penciling him in with confidence.

Mendez gave up 2 bombos tonight, but battled hard. As I said, he wasn’t pouty or any crap like that, at least not that I saw, but he made some mistakes. Josh Naylor can really hit, and Yo should’ve known that before starting him off at 0-0 with a meatball. Naylor hit it to Prosper. In the 7th inning, my man Mendez just seemed to run outta gas. Admittedly, as you all know, it was face-melting hot tonight. With Frisco leading 3-2, Yo gave up a blistered single to the leadoff hitter, then got the 2 man to pop up 4UA. Next, Yo went up against 27 year-old Nick Schulz who came into the game hitting .159 (.304 SLG) in a month with San Antonio following a demotion from AAA El Paso. Yo fell behind 2-1. Nick is a smart man who’s been around the block and has played for San Antonio since 2016. I’m too lazy to look it up, but I feel confident he’s faced Yo before and he seemed ready for Yo’s best pitch, the CH, and drilled it over the LF fence for a bombo that gave San Antone a 4-3 lead. [sad trombone] Gotta make a better pitch there. Anyways, that’s what I saw from Yo and I officially have no idea what his future holds. Thank you for your time.

Lemme quickly mention Anthony Gose. Peep this: coming into tonight, he had 9.2ip for Frisco. 12 walks, 10Ks. He’s very left handed. Tonight he walked no one and featured prominently in the matchup of the night. With Tatis Jr sidelined, Josh Naylor is San Antone’s best hitter. And he’s a good one. He’s their Willie Calhoun. He might have 60 hit, 70 power and he’s playing LF cuz they gave Hosmer $2billion and 30-years. It ain’t pretty in LF and it ain’t pretty on the bases, but the dude can flat out hit. I mention this because he ultimately won the battle. He turned around 99 and smoked it to the base of the wall in LCF for an oppo double (to go with the HR he crushed of Yo). But listen, this battle was hot and the reason I’m mentioning it is because Gose hit 100mph 4X(!) in that single plate appearance. Look, walks are bad and the man is 27 and still a neophyte at pitching, but if you’re left handed and dial up Trackman-certified hundos, I’m interested. Just keepin’ ya in the loop here, my friends.

Gotta go.

As Always, Enjoy Baseball!

Love Ya!

-Tepid