Ranger’s pitching prospect Joe Wieland, made his Double-A debut with the Frisco RoughRiders last night. He went five innings with one earned run allowed, allowed six hits, and picked up five strikeouts with no walks. On the evening he threw 72 pitches, and 50 of them were for strikes. Not bad right?
The opposing pitcher for the Corpus Christi Hooks, Xavier Cedeno was even more outstanding. The Hooks are the Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros in the Texas League. Prior to Monday night, the franchise leader in strikeouts for the Hooks was Mitch Talbot with 12.
Xavier Cedeno picked up 14 strikeouts last night, setting the franchise record, this after Robbie Erlin of Frisco earned 14 strikeouts the night before (setting the RoughRiders franchise record). Cedeno had a perfect game going and was broken up with two outs in the sixth inning. His night ended at 6.2 innings pitched, one hit and the previously mentioned 14 strikeouts.
This was a truly impressive start from a player with an impressive season thus far. He did not factor into the decision last night, but now has 92 strikeouts on the season. Cedeno was named the Astros’ pitcher of the month in May. In that month opponents batted .211 against Xavier, and in five starts he was 2-1 with a 2.94 ERA.
Joe Wieland will certainly have his opportunities as well, but last night belonged entirely to Cedeno. The Texas League is certainly stacked with talent on both sides of the ball. On Wednesday morning, I’ll have a post about the Texas League All-Stars prior to the game that evening.