This week’s four-game series against the Albuquerque Isotopes will not only complete Round Rock’s 2010 campaign, it will also mark the end of their franchise-long affiliation with the Houston Astros. Not long after it was announced that Nolan Ryan‘s bid for ownership of the Texas Rangers went through, Ryan-Sanders Baseball (the owners of the Express and the Corpus Christi Hooks) announced that Round Rock would become the Rangers’ AAA affiliate beginning in 2011. Corpus Christi will remain affiliated with Houston through at least 2016. Full disclosure: I’m an Astros fan. I’m thrilled to have had Houston’s top prospects playing just a short drive from my home for the last decade. Roy Oswalt and Brad Lidge put up stellar numbers with the Express on their way to success in the show. Fans were treated to rehab assignments from the likes of Jeff Kent, Lance Berkman, and the now-infamous Roger Clemens – just to name a few. Still, Houston has one of the worst farm systems presently in Major League Baseball, and most of the talent they do have has already been called up to the bigs due to a lack of talent in the parent club (bye-bye, Berkman and Oswalt; too bad they couldn’t move Carlos Lee). The Rangers, on the other hand, have one of the strongest farm systems in the league. It’ll be nice to get to know their franchise a little more intimately as we watch their top prospects (hopefully) prosper. As for the current-day Express, there’s a lot of talk coming out of camp lately about right-handed starting pitcher Jordan Lyles. Promoted in early August at the tender age of 19, Lyles is on the fast track to Minute Maid Park and is Houston’s top-rated prospect still in the minors. I’m not sure how the rotation is set up for the final four games, but let’s hope we get one more chance to see this young star on the rise. Vs. Albuquerque: Fri.-Sat., Sept. 3-4, 7:05pm; Sun., Sept. 5, 6pm; Mon., Sept. 6, 12noon. Dell Diamond, 3400 E. Palm Valley Blvd., Round Rock. $6-30. www.roundrockexpress.com.
This article appears in September 3 • 2010.