Road To Arlington: Rangers Farm Report (4/20)

Luis Mendoza

Oklahoma City was the lone bright spot, getting another encouraging effort from a pitcher whose fall from grace was as meteoric as his unexpected rise back in the second half of the 2007 season.

It’s been a very long road with a lot of bumps, but if for no other reason than his perseverence, you have to wonder if at some point you might could use a little bit of Luis Mendoza.

Triple-A: @ Oklahoma City 6, Memphis 0

Quietly, sinkerballing RHP Luis Mendoza is rounding back into the form that took him from suspect to prospect back in 2007. After yesterday’s 5.1 shutout frames, during which he fanned seven and induced six ground ball outs against three fly outs, Mendoza is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA, a K/9 of 11.33 and a G/F ratio of 1.83 while holding the opposition to a .108 batting average.

His pitch count was too high (98 in 5.1 innings = 18.39 per inning), and he walked four, but it appears that the surprisingly good stuff that Mendoza came up with back in 2007 that carried him unexpectedly to the big leagues is back after taking a year off.

Mendoza, a native of Mexico, was busy getting his rear end handed to him by double-A Eastern League hitters (6.38 ERA; .356 opponents average) during his second stint in the Red Sox organization (they had initially signed him as a 16 year old) when Texas acquired him off the scrap heap for RHP waiver-wire reliever Bryan Corey back in the summer of 2006 and Mendoza was no better after arriving in Frisco that summer (7.75 ERA; .333 opponents average), but he experienced an epiphany during the 2007 season.

At first, it appeared that Mendoza was more lucky than good. While he went 8-0 for the Riders before the all-star break, his ERA was 5.35, primarily the result of extreme inconsistency. Then Mendoza found his groove with the slider he added to his repertoire before the season and and by the end of the year, it was arguably the best of his five offerings (two-seam, four-seam, change, curve, slider).

In spite of the winning record, 2007 was a tale of two seasons for Mendoza, who made 26 starts for Frisco last season. Only two of his first 13 starts qualified as quality starts while only three of his last 13 failed to meet the requirements of a QS. Before the all-star break Mendoza’s ERA was 5.35. After the break, it was 2.59. In 72.1 innings before the break, he had fanned 40 and walked 29, in 76.1 innings after the break, he fanned 54 and walked 19.

His scorching second half earned him a September callup to Arlington in 2007 which went well (2.25 ERA in six appearances, including three starts). And in 2008, Mendoza broke camp as the Rangers number five starter. He was overmatched, got sent down, and yo-yoed between Oklahoma and Arlington in what became a lost summer (8.67 ERA in 25 appearances for Texas and 5.14 ERA in eight apperances for Oklahoma).

CF Julio Borbon (.298 / .340 / .340), going 2-for-5 with an RBI and scoring once from the top of the order while 1B Scott Thorman doubled twice and drew a walk in four trips to drive in one.

RHP Brian Gordon delivered 2.2 scoreless innings of relief before turning it over to RHP Pedro Strop who righted his drifting ship with a perfect ninth, fanning one.

Double-A: Arkansas 8 @ Frisco 2

The RHP Guillermo Moscoso who made the start for Frisco yesterday was not the Guillermo Moscoso you’ve read about. It wasn’t the guy who pitches off of a deceptive 91-92 mph fastball that plays up a tick or two because of his deceptive delivery, gets ahead and confidently pounds the zone. No. This was the one who throws two offpseed pitches for every fastball, gets behind, grooves an 89 mph fastball and loses his composure.

He lasted just 2.2 innings, needing 75 pitches to get that far (50 were strikes), and surrendered eight runs on 11 hits, a walk and a wild pitch. But it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. On a windy day, most of the hits Moscoso gave up were Texas Leaguers (bloopers) that drifted in the left-to-right wind before dropping into the netherland of the short outfield.

Obviously, it was more of a developmental outing than a showcase.

The Frisco bullpen, on the other hand, was brilliant. RHP Kea Kometani got Moscoso out of the third and then went on to deal two more no-hit frames, LHP A.J. “Pirate” Murray — an original RoughRider who debuted in Frisco with the inaugural 2003 club — stymied the Travelers for two shutout innings with his new, low three-quarters delivery, fanning the first two hitters he saw on a curve and a change. RHP Clayton Hamilton finished things off with two scoreless frames, allowing a hit and a walk.

LF Chad Tracy gave Frisco their only multi-hit performance, going 2-for-4 with a double to drive in one and Marcus Lemon extended his season-opening nine-game hitting streak with a single for his only hit in four trips.

Advanced-A: Lake Elsinore 5 @ Bakersfield 1

LHP Tim Murphy’s (1-2; 9.95 ERA) struggles continued for a third consectutive start as the UCLA alum surrendered four runs on seven hits and four walks in 4.1 innings. Bakersfield’s lineup managed just three hits including a double from CF Engel Beltre, who still hasn’t drawn a walk in 48 at-bats.

Class-A: Hickory @ Asheville

Wet. They’ll squeeze in a twinbill today. LHP Cliff Springston and RHP Wilfredo Boscan figure to get the starts for Hickory.