Stars of the Day: May 17
Rangers (22-22): 2.5 games out
RedHawks (24-19): 1st place
RoughRiders (27-14): 1st place
Blaze (26-17): 3 games out
L-Kings (28-10): 1st place
A leading hitter; one winningest pitcher; the OPS leader in three leagues; the Home Run leader -- in two leagues. The OBP leader -- in two leagues.
Another five-for-five sweep.
Max, Renny, Gac, CD, Kennil G, Neftali, Borbon, Vallejo, Whittleman, Hunter, Mayberry, Teagarden, Harrison, Murphy.... Prospects breaking out all over the place.
Top colts like Michael Main, Neil Ramirez and Wilmer Font haven't even been let out of their stalls yet. Fabio still loping along, waiting for the rider to give him his head.
Doug Mathis coming through.
Brandon Boggs worthy of that spot on the 40.
David Murphy and Kason Gabbard proving that, whether or not Engel Beltre ever reaches his ceiling, the Gagne deal was a felony theft.
Ramon Vazquez proving to be the right guy.
Freakin' Milt. Practically for free.
Josh Hamilton leaving no doubt whatsoever that he is the most talented player in baseball.
And you just know that you're never more than a week away from the next "fire Jon Daniels" column from some idiot columnist who doesn't actually pay any attention to this great game or what is happening in this system.
He hasn't been perfect. He's made mistakes -- they all do. But he's gotten a lot of things right too, and anyone who doesn't see that Jon Daniels has this thing headed in the right direction is nothing less than a complete buffoon.
Good times.
With 72 Triple-A at-bats under his belt, Junior Mayberry (.361 / .395 / .667) is getting to the point where things like his 4-5 outing yesterday (including a game-winning RBI in the 10th) can't be dismissed as an anomoly. He's evidently found something that he didn't find in his 327 Double-A at-bats.
Rob Tejeda (2.67 ERA) was brilliant, holding Memphis to two runs on three hits, punching out 11 in seven innings of work.
The Renny Osuna (.373 / .446 / .548) free-for-all continues to roll through the corn fields of Iowa as the 23 year old Venezuelan native went 3-4 with a double as Clinton improved to 28-10 with a 10-5 victory over Cedar Rapids.
One month ago today, Osuna was hitting .225 / .311 / .350. Yesterday, he seized the lead in the Midwest League batting race.
Cristian Santana (.233 / .316 / .427) belted a three-run homer and ultimately drove in four runs while going 1-4 with a walk and Jonathan Greene (.248 / .356 / .438) -- who didn't creep over the Mendoza line until the last day of April -- doubled, homered and walked in a 3-4 outing to drive in three.
Kennil Gomez (7-0; 2.45) surrendered one single, one double and one triple in five innings, walking two and fanning six while limiting the Kernals to three runs. In 44 innings of work this year, Gomez has allowed 33 hits and eight walks, giving him a WHIP of 0.93.
Bakersfield banged out 19 hits in an 11-10 victory at Lancaster, improving to 26-17. Jose Vallejo (.299 / .352 / .446) remained hot, going 3-6 in a rare appearance at the top of the order as Julio Borbon took the night off. Over the last ten games, Vallejo is hitting .325 with five walks, four strikeouts, a home run and four doubles.
Truan Mehl and Mauro Gomez each went 3-5 with three RBIs.
Johnny Whittleman (.287 / .400 / .453) went 3-6. Over his last ten games, Whittleman is hitting .351 / .455 / .486), while striking out nine times and drawing seven walks in 44 plate appearances.
In Frisco, Elvis Andrus and Corey Ragsdale turned 4 double plays during starter Michael Schlact's six innings of work and Frisco came from behind to post a 6-5 victory at Dr. Pepper Ballpark.
Dustin Majewski's eighth double of the year in the eighth capped his 2-4 performance and delivered what would be the winning run.
Excellent points! Even since this time last year, you have so many places to look for exceptional talent that simply weren't there one year ago. I can't believe the depth or breadth of Ranger pitching talent. Michael Schlact breaking through, but so many others on every level. Kennil Gomez is an example of someone under the radar until his performance won't allow him to be overlooked any longer. The hitters, the catchers and finally some guys who look to be legit centerfielders and your head snaps around again when you notice more talent someplace else you haven't seen recently.
It is an interesting time & place to be a Ranger fan. How glad should we all be that we whiffed on Torii Hunter? And if David Murhpy is a "4th outfielder" as advertised in last year's trade, I need a new definition of "4th outfielder"! Milton Bradley being a pro the way that Wash knew he would be.
And just watching Josh Hamilton leaves me grasping for adjectives! Well, an adjective worthy of his play. I am frightened at what will happen if he ever gets locked in. As good as he has been, he hasn't truly been locked in yet for an extended period.
Every visible marker would say that the bar has been raised for the Ranger organization. I am excited about what the Rangers will do if they keep winning ever series they play in and keep playing the kind of really smart, crisp ball that they have played. I love the small ball success that simply puts more pressure on the other guys.
I am excited about the upcoming draft and with confidence I believe that JD and his staff will simply add more talent and I will watch intently to see who and what they bring in. I am excited about the progress of the minor leagues at every level and some incredible performances that these guys have racked up. And, it is just great fun to see our Rangers playing smart, winning baseball in Arlington.
Finally, I had felt strongly heading into the season, that this whole season was about "D" as in DEVELOPMENT(hardly an original thought, but I still felt this strongly). For ongoing Ranger success, the huge talent base in the minors must make their normal strides as they simply DEVELOP. Columns like this one today point out that the DEVELOPMENT process proceeds faster and stronger that anyone might have hoped.
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I noticed that Ian Gac has not been playing the past 5 or six games. Anybody have any idea why.
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Ian was hit with a pitch in the face, but not put on the DL, so the assumption is that he is day to day.
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