Larsen continues hot run for Travs
TEXAS LEAGUE
TRAVELERS 9, ROUGHRIDERS 0
Jack Larsen wasn’t the flashiest headline from the Arkansas Travelers’ 9-0 rout over the Frisco RoughRiders on Thursday night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
Taylor Dollard dominated from the mound yet again, pitching 7 1 /3 scoreless innings of four-hit ball and lowering his earned-run average to 0.82 — the best in all of professional baseball in the U.S.
Joe Rizzo blasted two home runs — including a 415foot shot in the Travs’ five-run fourth inning — as he moved into the top five in the Texas League in home runs.
Larsen, who was not one of the 1,215 selections in 40 rounds of the 2017 MLB Draft, has never been all that heralded. He’s never been on any of the Mariners’ prospect lists and didn’t reach Class AA until the end of his fourth season in pro ball.
Not that anyone would know from watching Larsen over the past three weeks.
“My whole career I’ve kind of been a no-name and it’s been motivation for me,” Larsen said. “[I’ve just been] keeping things simple and getting my pitch.”
In his last 18 games, the 27-year-old outfielder is hitting .343 with 14 RBI and a .967 on-base plus slugging percentage. That included a 3-for-4 outing against Frisco Thursday night.
Larsen, batting cleanup, led off the second inning with a double and came around to score the night’s opening run on Patrick Frick’s single.
He doubled again in the fourth, sending a liner over the head of the RoughRiders’ center fielder as the Travs loaded the bases with no outs — only to leave them stranded.
Then in the fifth, Larsen smoked a single just inside the first-base line before picking up his second run of the game on Cade Marlowe’s three-run homer to right-center.
It’s not as if Larsen has never had a good stretch before.
He hit .308 with a 1.000 OPS over his final 21 games at High-A Everett last July before getting promoted to the Travs. And after acclimating to Class AA ball, Larsen hit .333 during 17 games in September 2021.
But now it doesn’t seem so much like separate streaks.
Rather, it’s signs of continued progression from a player who played Division II baseball at San Diego and says he still has “a chip on my shoulder.”
He’s been around the likes of Julio Rodriguez, Zach DeLoach, and Marlowe — some of the Mariners’ top hitting prospects.
Larsen doesn’t carry that reputation. But it won’t stop him from earning a promotion to Class AAA Tacoma later this season if he keeps going like this.
“This organization’s great,” Larsen said. “They gave me an opportunity. Our coaching staffs are great at all levels. … You’ve just got to keep doing your thing every day [in order to make that next step].”