Road To Arlington: Rangers Minor League Report (4/22) — With A Full Breakdown Of Kasey Kiker’s Gem

FRISCO — As good as the box score line looks, Kasey Kiker’s seven shutout frames against Arkansas on Tuesday looked even better from the stands. Not necessarily because Kiker’s stuff was so great — it was at times; overall it was just good — but because of his mound presence and approach.

Locked in a pitchers dual with the Angels’ top prospect, Midlothian native RHP Jordan Walden (a 2006 draft-and-follow who signed for a seven-figure first-round bonus), Kiker delivered a big-league performance, locating his fastball in and out, changing speeds and throwing any of his three pitches for strikes in any count. He was thoroughly unpredictable.

Though his curve was off-and-on most of the afternoon (and he started to hang it in the last couple of innings), he set it up very well and managed to drop it in for strikes at very opportune times. His change was much, much better than expected. Big subtraction and great arm action. He’s much more confident in that pitch than I had imagined.

What stood out more than anything for me was his competitiveness and confidence. Kiker is clearly on the cocky side of confident, and he made that work for him on Tuesday. It was very much a “get ball, throw ball” approach and a clinic on the value of being in command of the pace of the ballgame.

After the jump, I’ll give you the pitch-by-pitch breakdown of Kiker’s dominant performance as well as recaps of yesterday’s games played by the other three Rangers minor league affiliates.

As you’ll see, Kiker throws his fastball anywhere from 88-94 mph (popping 97 mph once) and my impression was that if he wanted to throw every one of them at 93-94 mph, he could have most of the time. He seemed to have been taking a bit off with purpose. Rarely did he get into a rut where he was throwing a series of fastballs at the same velocity. And the location was outstanding almost all day. He worked in and out with purpose.

The fact that Kiker was not only commanding the fastball in the zone but also throwing his curve and change for strikes in any count made him virtually unhittable.

KEY: Pitch / Velocity / Result
FB = Fastball; CH = Changeup; CB = Curve Ball
c = called strike; f = foul; s = swinging strike; b = ball

So, “FB 91 f” is a 91 mph fastball that was fouled off and “CH 80 c” is an 80 mph changeup that was called for a strike, etc.

Kiker 1st:

Coby Smith: FB 90 c; FB 90 c; FB 91 b; FB 94 fly out short left / shortstop
P. Bourjos: FB 91 f; FB 88 b; CH 80 s; CH 79 s (K1)
W. Ortiz: FB? 86 b; CH 78 fly out center field

Notes: 12 pitches, 8 strikes; worked ahead to 2 of 3; Working very quickly with Chris Gradoville. He simply catches the ball, waits for the hitter to stand in and throws. He’s not leaving the mound.

Kiker 2nd:

B. Johnson: FB 90 popout pitcher
M. Trumbo: FB 88 b; CH 79 groundout 1b
H. Conger: CH 80 b; FB 87 c; ? 84 s; FB 90 s (K2)

Notes: 7 pitches, 5 strikes (19 / 13 overall); This whole sequence took about four minutes. Probably not even that long.

Kiker 3rd:

P. Breen: FB 89 c; FB 89 s; FB 88 b; CB 79 c (K3)
H. Statia: FB 90 f; CH 80 s; FB 91 groundout 1B
Sutton: FB 89 c; FB 91 popout short left field

Notes: 9 pitches, 8 strikes (28 / 21 overall); the curve he dropped on the outside corner for strike three against Breen was unfair.

Kiker 4th:

C. Smith: FB 94 c; FB 88 b; CH 84 lineout 3B
P. Bourjos: CH 84 b; CH 81 s; FB 93 b (inside); CH 79 f; CB 76 c (K4)
W. Ortiz: FB 90 c; FB 94 b; CH 81 popout 2B

Notes: 12 pitches, 8 strikes (40 / 29 overall); the Bourjos at-bat was brilliant. He threw a couple of those mid-80′s things and I’m not entirely sure what they were, but this time it worked out for him. He showed the offspeed thing to Bourjos, off the plate, then took more off of it over the plate to get him out in front of it for a swinging strike. He came back and busted him way inside with 93 mph heat and then went away with a change that Bourjos barely got a piece of before putting him away with a slow curve that Kiker dropped on the outside corner for called strike three. It was a nasty sequence.

Kiker 5th:

Johnson: CB 75 b (steps off mound for first time); CH 81 b; FB 93 b (high); FB 91 b (high)
Trumbo: FB 92 b (high); CH 81 c; CH 81 b — runner caught by Gradoville; FB 92 c; CB 74 s (K5)
Conger: CH 81 b; FB 94 f; FB 92 f; FB 91 ground out 1B

NOTES: 13 pitches, 6 strikes (53 / 35 overall); after losing the perfecto, I thought maybe he was going to lose focus; it was interesting to me that he actually stepped off the mound during the Johnson at-bat, which turned out to be the first baserunner he allowed. There were just signs that he was losing focus. But when Gradoville nailed Johnson attempting to steal, Kiker got his groove back on. The slow curve that he got Trumbo with on a 2-2 count was an arrogant pitch.

Kiker 6th

Breen: CB 73 b; CB 74 c; FB 91 s; FB 89 b (across body); CB 76 b; FB 90 f; CH 77 s (K6)
Statia: CH 83 s; CH 81 f; CB 77 b (hung it badly); FB 91 groundout 3B
Sutton: FB 94 f; FB 97 s; FB 91 b; CB 76 single to center field
C. Smith: FB 90 b; FB 90 b; CH 80 s; CH 84 c; CH 80 f; CB 75 f; CH 81 popout to catcher

NOTES: 24 pitches; 15 strikes (77/50 overall); This was the first inning during which Kiker made some really bad pitches and the curve that Sutton hit to end the no-hit bid hung up over the middle of the plate (it was foreshadowed by the one he hung to Statia but got away with). His curve didn’t have plus break most of the time today, but it was decent and he dropped it on the corner pretty consistently to make it work for him nonetheless. He dialed up the velocity on the fastball against Sutton but, as you can see, basically lost confidence in it during the final at-bat against Coby Smith (who came into the game hitting about .450). Still, he battled hard enough to get out of the inning and didn’t lose focus after the no hit bid went down the tubes.

Kiker 7th:

Bourjos: FB 90 f; CB 72 lineout to LF
Ortiz: FB 91 b; FB 90 b; FB 92 b; FB 92 b (walk #2)
—- pitching coach Slusarski to mound —-
Johnson: CH 77 f; FB 88 f; FB 88 popout to 1B
Trumbo: CH 78 b; FB 92 f; FB 88 f; CB 78 b; FB 91 f; CH 81 s (K #7)

NOTES: During the Trumbo at-bat, Kiker had Ortiz picked off when Ortiz took off as Kiker threw to first, but Smoak made a very poor throw to second and Ortiz made it to the bag safely. A solid final frame on a great day for Kiker. He stopped trying to overthrow his fastball, took a little off to command it better and regained some trust in it. I thought that ending the day with a strikeout on a 3-2 changeup was pretty cocky.

I don’t want to leave this before acknowledging the outstanding work by C Chris Gradoville in this effort. Kiker didn’t waste a second shaking him off and Gradoville didn’t waste a second looking to the bench for a pitch call. The Creighton alum called a brilliant game and showed off an excellent arm.

Now, continuing down that old Road to Arlington….

Triple-A: Omaha 15 @ Oklahoma City 9

RHP Neftali Feliz needed 75 pitches to get through three innings, during which he surrendered five runs on seven hits and a pair of walks, punching out just two. RHP Thomas Diamond struggled for the first time this year, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk in 2.1 innings of relief.

CF Julio Borbon (.291 / .361 / .327) remained red hot, going 2-for-5 with a walk and a stolen base. It was Borbon’s fifth multi-hit performance in the last eight games from the top of the order and C Kevin Richardson doubled and homered in a 3-for-4 outing that included a base on balls. RF Greg Golson (.342 / .395 / .500) had a two-run shot, an RBI sac fly and a walk in five trips.

Former Rangers farmhands Tug Hulett and Travis Metcalf each had multi-hit performances for the Royals.

Advanced-A: @ Visalia 5, Bakersfield 2

RHP Blake Beavan struggled, giving up five runs on eight hits and three walks, punching out six in five innings of work. LF Tim Smith (.390 / .432 / .512) remained Bakersfield’s hottest hitter, going 2-for-4 and 1B Mitch Moreland (.294 / .339 / .451) delivered the Blaze’s only extra-base hit with a double in a 1-for-5 outing.

Class-A: @ Hickory 12, Lexington 0

RHP Wilfredo Boscan (2-1; 0.51 ERA) dominated with seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits and a walk while fanning eight proving yet again that it just might be better to have good stuff, great command and a great idea than great stuff, so-so command and not much of an idea. Hickory’s extremely young pitching staff has now dealt the Sally League five shutouts in 13 games.

SS Jacob Kaase — who many believe emerged as a sleeper in spring training (for his tremendous glove work if nothing else) — upped his season line to .341 / .356 / .545 with a 4-for-5 outing that included a double and two RBIs. RF Mike Bianucci (.405 / .480 / .714) remained white hot with a 3-for-3 outing that included a double and two walks.