Written the week of June 8-14, 2026

In an earlier article I wrote about discovering our go-to guy. Of late, Trevor Austin has filled the position well. Yamal Encarnacion definitely has been instrumental in several go-to moments. Both have been incredible, and, from experience, I know that go-to guys end up gone. I’m already doing a daily check of baseball transactions with the hope I don’t find their names on the list.

I watched game 1 in Midland on Bally Sports LIVE, but only the middle portion and the final two innings. In the bottom of the 5^th, I tuned in to the game to see Midland leading 4-2. Then the RockHounds scored 3 more runs to increase their lead to 7-2.

I watched our at bat in the 6^th, where Jax Biggers scored on a Max Holy single, and Max scored on Joseph Sullivan III’s triple. When I left to prepare for the 2^nd day of a 3-day training seminar, we were close but still behind, 7-4.

Curious and tasks completed, I tuned back in to the game at the top of the 8^th. We were batting with the score tied 7-7. What happened?

Even better, Trevor Austin was still on the team. He hadn’t been called up, and he became the go-to guy when he clobbered his 11^th home run of the season. Hooks 8-RockHounds 7.

Amilcar Chirinos entered in relief, gave up a leadoff single, then got outstanding defensive support with a Holy to Biggers to Brutcher double play and, according to the television announcer, “a sensational catch by Yamal Encarnacion” in deep right field to end the inning. Yamal robbed Midland center fielder Ryan Lasko of a triple.

We did nothing in the top half of the 9^th, so we needed Amilcar Chirinos to shut the door and bring home the win. After a lineout and a strikeout, the announcer said, “[The Hooks are] one out away from a tremendous comeback win.”

They got that one out. The team also had 16 hits, which I believe is a season high.

I watched each game in part or in its entirety for the rest of the series. By the end, the Hooks took the series 4 wins against 2 losses. Certain trends persisted throughout the week in Midland.

First of all, watching a minor league game on TV has its limitations. The quality of the picture fluctuates between poor (any camera view from the outfield into home plate) to decent (all the other camera angles). It never quite reaches crisp, clear, and excellent, but then again Bally Sports LIVE airs all minor league games for free. I can’t complain.

Secondly, both teams had some exceptional defensive plays. In one game Joseph Sullivan III came flying out of centerfield to make an amazing catch of a fly ball hit to right center. In that particular case, I saw the ball’s trajectory but no Hooks’ player in view until, like magic, Sully flew across the screen like Superman to make the catch.

Jim Cologna and I sent text messages back and forth during the games. His son Jeremy managed the team during this series and did well.

An interesting thing happens during the season that I may have been vaguely aware of in previous seasons but am fully aware of now. Each of the coaches gets one week off during the season. Jeremy’s week off came after the team played in Springfield, Jeremy’s hometown. Ricky Rivera, Hooks’ manager, had the week off while the team was in Midland.

Jim and I commented about what we saw on the screen. I wrote, “Another great defensive play,” when Midland’s shortstop Leo De Vries made a diving catch of a grounder then threw our runner out at first.

Jim replied, “That kid is a good SS.”

“Yep!”

Our shortstop, Max Holy, proved to be every bit as good as DeVries, making his own spectacular plays throughout the series.

The biggest surprise for the week was what happened during our at bats. We hit. We scored. A lot. A whole lot.

Drew Brutcher was especially adept with a bat. He hit his 2^nd grand slam in a Hooks’ uniform on Sunday, had 2 home runs in the series, collected six doubles, a triple, and 14 RBIs, while hitting .542, walking 7 times, scoring 8, and striking out only 3 times. He was amazing.

In a previous post, I’m A Believer, I wrote: “As I watched the Hooks go into extra innings against the Travelers in Arkansas, I asked an important question. Who is the one player I want to see come up to bat? Who is our go-to guy at the plate?

I realized in that moment I had no answer.”

After the Midland series, I have lots of answers to the question. This week the hot bats belonged to Lucas Spence and Drew Brutcher, but the entire batting order supplied key hits during the series.

In the San Antonio series, Trevor Austin owned the hottest bat.

Will Bush has been a late-inning catalyst in the past, but he went on the 7-day IL. The “7-day” Injured List is misleading, because the injured status usually lasts weeks. Will remained on the IL for 3 weeks but has returned to the lineup, and the Hooks have won a series with his return. The fact that he didn’t go off to a lonely rehab stint in Florida but remained with the team during those 3 weeks was both surprising and wonderful news.

While the Hooks were in Midland, players moved off and on to the roster. Pitcher Michael Cuevas and catcher August Cuneo went to the Asheville Tourists, Houston’s High-A farm team. Pitchers Cole Hertzler and Jack Dashwood moved up to Double-A, both appearing in the series.

Hertzler started on Friday and got a win in his first appearance at this level. Dombroski started on Sunday and also got his first win of the season. He’s been here all season and started 9 times. In his last appearance, he left the mound in the sixth inning with a 6-0 lead, a game we lost 11-6. Oh, that particular loss still causes me to grind my teeth every time I think of it.

Which brings me to those pesky winning ingredients for the umpteenth time. The Hooks seem to have all the ingredients necessary for a championship run—solid pitching and timely hitting. They just seem to have them at separate times.

In this series, timely hitting showed up in five of the six games, and we won four of those. Solid pitching usually started the game but faded the moment relief took over. Even having a big lead, and we had some whopping big leads, couldn’t stop the feeling of white-knuckle, heart-racing anxiety in the late innings. 6-0 in the sixth, 11-6 final score will haunt the late innings for a while.

I don’t need the stat sheet to tell me our pitching has moved out of the penthouse, and our hitting isn’t anywhere near the basement anymore. I will only give you this stat one series short of a complete 1^st half of the season. With a respectable .239 team batting average, Corpus Christi sits tied with Midland at the #7 spot.

Since I took the time to look at Drew Brutcher’s OPS during the Midland series, I want to share the good news with you. After game 1, his OPS was .706, a little bit above the average, but not enough to get him moved up. After game 6, his OPS stood at 1.148. That will get noticed and means Drew got lots of hits, quite a few extra-base hits, and plenty of walks.

Trevor Austin ended the week with a .914 OPS, and Jason Schiavone with a .917 OPS. Having 3 players above the .800 threshold is phenomenal. Having more at the edge of .800 makes me anticipate a great 2^nd half run.

If only those relievers would join the winning formula!

And for those who are wondering what OPS stands for and what it is, On Base Plus Slugging. The on-base average includes hits and walks that put a batter safely on base. Slugging percentage takes the number of hits and multiplies it by the number of bases. A single x 1. A double x 2. A triple x 3. A home run x 4.

If you hit a single every time, you’d have a 1.000 slugging percentage. A home run every at bat would give you a 4.000 slugging percentage.

Corpus Christi Hooks 8- Midland RockHounds 7              W

Corpus Christi Hooks 5- Midland RockHounds 7              L

Corpus Christi Hooks 5- Midland RockHounds 8              L

Corpus Christi Hooks 17- Midland RockHounds 8            W

Corpus Christi Hooks 12- Midland RockHounds 3            W

Corpus Christi Hooks 15- Midland RockHounds 7            W

Texas League South standings

Frisco                              34-27

Amarillo                          31-31

Midland                           31-31

Corpus Christi                  29-34

San Antonio                     27-36