Rangers Top 30 Prospect's 'Immaculate Inning'

The pitcher, in his second full season in the Texas system, moved into the Rangers' Top 30 prospects recently.

The Texas Rangers have had three immaculate innings tossed against them in 2022. It’s about time the organization returned the favor.

The Rangers can thank Hickory Crawdads pitcher Tekoah Roby for giving the system an immaculate inning, which came in the fifth inning of Friday’s game with Winston-Salem.

Roby, the No. 15 prospect in the Rangers’ system, according to MLB.com, helped the Crawdads win that game 4-3. Roby ended up tossing five shutout innings. He struck out eight and allowed four hits while walking one.

But that last inning was immaculate.

An "immaculate inning" is when a pitcher retires the side on nine pitches, all strikes, and strikes out all three hitters.

Roby started by fanning Winston-Salem’s Jason Matthews, who fouled off the first pitch, looked at the second pitch, a strike, and then swung and missed at the third pitch.

Roby then faced Duke Ellis, who stared at the first strike before swinging and missing at the next two for the second out.

Colson Montgomery wrapped up the frame by fouling off Roby’s first offering and then swinging and missing at the next two offerings.

Roby is in his second season of professional baseball and his first with Texas' High Class-A affiliate. In 19 games and 18 starts he is 3-9 with a 4.80 ERA. He has an impressive 102 strikeouts against 34 walks in 90 innings, with a 1.29 WHIP.

Roby was the Rangers’ third-round pick in 2020 out of Pine Forest High School in Pensacola, Fla. He was unable to start his professional career in 2020 due to the cancellation of Minor League Baseball. In 2021, he was assigned to Low Class-A Down East and went 2-2 with a 2.45 ERA in six starts for the Wood Ducks. He threw just 22 innings before he was placed on the seven-day injured list and missed the rest of the season.

---

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and Twitter.