As part of a weekly Texas Rangers Minor League summary, SBNDallas will be highlighting some of the most notable (and most forgettable) individual performances for the week. Check out the week 2 entries after the jump.
3 Up
Martin Perez
10IP, 4H, 0R, 2BB, 12K
Perez struggled last year in his first season of AA ball, sustaining various injuries and struggling with command and inconsistent velocity. In his first three starts (and the last 2 in particular), he's shown signs that he's ready to start . His last start was a 5 inning perfect game in which he was economical with his pitches. This is encouraging, as Perez has had problems putting away AA hitters so far. His FB, which tailed off towards the end of last season, has been consistently 93-96 and has touched 97-98. Oh, and he's still the youngest pitcher in the Texas League.
Tommy Mendonca
.429, 3HR, 9RBI, 5R
With these weekly reviews, small sample sizes are obviously at play. After making last week's 3 Down list, Tommy Mendonca's been scorching hot this week. He's still exhibiting alarming BB:K rates (1:7 during this week's games), but he's making solid contact and his power has never been in question. With his efforts this week, Mendonca has raised his season average above .300, but he still has all of 2 walks on the season. For someone who strikes out at a 33% clip, that's a poor portend for future success.
Joe Wieland
13IP, 13H, 1ER, 1BB, 13K
Wieland struggled towards the end of last year after his promotion to high-A Bakersfield. As a pitcher who's historically been pretty hittable, this flaw inevitably posed a sizable problem in the extremely hitter-friendly confines of Bakersfield. In Myrtle Beach, however, Wieland is operating under a much friendlier environment for pitchers. Even though he continues to give up a sizable amount of hits, Wieland is negating that with incredible control and a healthy dose of strikeouts.
3 Down (Hickory edition)
Braden Tullis
4IP, 16H, 12R, 10ER, 3BB, 2K
The first of what will be a trio of Hickory pitchers, Tullis, a sleeper prospect for many in the past, has struggled in his second swim through Hickory. Tullis, like Wieland, has been fairly hittable but has historically maintained a strong strikeout rate while racking up a tremendous number of groundballs. However, his transition to the Hickory bullpen has not gone well at all, capped off by a 1 inning, 8 hit and 6 earned run appearance on Friday.
Matt Thompson
3.1IP, 1H, 5R, 4ER, 6BB, 5K
Thompson, a guy who has tremendous walk rates in the past, was strangely wild in his outing this week. Usually Thompson is able to compensate for his extreme hittability (129.1IP, 167H last season) with excellent control. However, in what turned into a bizarre week for Hickory pitchers not named Roman Mendez, Thompson reversed those tendencies in his last start.
Carlos Melo
1.1IP, 1H, 5ER, 5BB, 3K
Melo's struggled with bouts of wildness in the past, but this is one of the more extreme cases that we've seen. While this start hardly negates his first two starts (an encouraging 9IP, 4H, 2ER, 6BB, 12K line), it does illustrate how much further development is needed for the 20 year old righty.