Texas notes: Roling starting to rock

Three up. Three down. Three outs. Three strikes.

Poetry has been written about baseball's patterns, but don't talk about the third time being a charm for Tulsa home run king Kiel Roling. He'd rather be doing his slugging in Triple-A.

In his third go-around with the Drillers, Roling has been putting up some of his best numbers as he sits among the league leaders with 20 home runs, 61 RBIs, 39 extra-base hits and 159 total bases. Only time will tell if it's finally good enough to get him back on his way up the ladder.

"I feel like I'm on schedule enough to just try and play every day," said Roling, who's battled injuries off and on since the Rockies drafted him in the sixth round out of Arizona State in 2008. "That's been my goal for awhile, to get back on the field and play as much as I possibly can and do the best I can -- try to make decisions for other people as hard as I can."

Roling slugged his way into Tulsa history July 15 against Northwest Arkansas when he belted his 45th homer with the Drillers, breaking a 27-year-old record held by Mike Rubel. While the record is impressive, it might not have occurred had injuries not kept Roling hovering around Double-A.

After batting .331 with 20 homers in his full-season debut at Class A Asheville in 2009, Roling skipped a level and hit .225 in 93 games with Tulsa in 2010 as he made three separate trips to the disabled list. He set his career high with 105 games played the next year at Class A Advanced Modesto, and was back with the Drillers in 2012.

"That's the biggest thing, trying to stay on the field," said Roling, who's appeared in 89 games this season, five more than he did all of last year. "You can't make teams, you can't get moved up when you're on the bench or on the DL, so playing every day and doing what you can is the best way to do that."

Strep throat sidelined Roling in the early part of this year, but he returned to post a torrid stretch in which he homered in five of eight games and slugged two grand slams over a span of six days.

It was all good enough to get Roling on to Texas League North Division All-Star team and earn him a spot in the Home Run Derby, where he fell in the final round to Naturals first baseman and current league home run leader Matt Fields.

Though he didn't win, Roling enjoyed the experience and has been a major contributor to the Drillers' success as they secured a playoff berth by winning the North Division first-half title. He just hopes he's on his way to the next level as well, preferably with the parent Colorado Rockies.

"I love the Rockies. I've been with the Rockies my whole career," Roling said. "I'm from Colorado, and I'd love to be able to play in Denver where all my family is and everything. So that's a dream come true there, but if something else came along, you've got to look at everybody you can."

In brief

Looking up: After finishing last in the North Division first-half race, Northwest Arkansas entered Monday tied with Arkansas for first in the second half. The outlook continues to improve for the Naturals as Kansas City's No. 1 prospect, 21-year-old right-hander Kyle Zimmer, joined the team and posted a seven-strikeout victory over Springfield in his Double-A debut Saturday.

Long arm: The most valuable arm for Frisco on Sunday may have belonged to an outfielder. RoughRiders center fielder Ryan Strausborger gunned down Jonathan Myer at the plate in the ninth inning to halt Corpus Christi's attempt at a comeback from a 10-run deficit in Frisco's 11-10 victory at Whataburger Field.

Medica alert: San Antonio first baseman Tommy Medica was hitting .133 against Midland entering their game Sunday, then hit two of his team's three home runs in a 6-3 win over the RockHounds. It was only the second multi-homer game of the year for the Missions.