RoughRiders' Ibanez homers twice, drives in six

Andy Ibáñez spent more than a month on the disabled list. It took considerably less time to make an impact upon his return.
The Rangers' No. 12 prospect belted two homers and drove in a career-high six runs on a 4-for-5 night Wednesday as Double-A Frisco piled up 18 hits in a 13-2 rout of Northwest Arkansas at Dr Pepper Ballpark.

Ibanez saw action in nine games out of the gate with Frisco before landing on the DL with a finger injury on April 18. Activated on Tuesday, he singled in his first game back before busting out on Wednesday.

"When he's going good, he's getting into a good position early, and he has really good hands and eyes," RoughRiders hitting coach Jason Hart said. "He gets ready early. He sees the ball. He doesn't really try to do too much. His hand-eye coordination is phenomenal, and his hands are really strong."
Ibanez got to flex his muscle early. After flying out to right field in the bottom of the first inning, the Havana native blasted a three-run homer to left in a five-run second. In Frisco's six-run third, Ibanez clobbered another three-run shot to left.
"I swear he's got middle-oppo approach, but then once or twice a game, he'll just let it fly," Hart said of the right-handed-hitting middle infielder. "He just picks his spots and when he runs into it, it goes. He was feeling good tonight and he was letting it rip. He was trying to put some runs on the board for his team."

The win came in Ibanez's fourth game in the two-hole in the RoughRiders lineup. Batting there, the 24-year-old is a .375 hitter with a .500 on-base percentage and .813 slugging percentage. While it's a limited sample size, Hart likes what he's seen from Ibanez near the top of the order.
"It's enormous," he said. "It adds so much to have a guy that can change a game with one swing in the two-hole. This is what he does -- he throws together professional AB's. He does what the game asks him to do. One of those homers was with two outs, and the game asked him to drive the ball. He went up there and got a pitch he could drive. He has professional at-bats. He's very consistent at the plate."
Gameday box score
With 11 total bases, Ibanez matched the fifth-highest total in team history while showing no ill effects from the injury that kept him out for nearly six weeks.
"He came in and we tested it out that first day in," Hart said. "He told everybody he was ready to go and we trusted him. Our training staff is phenomenal. He went down to [the Rangers' complex in] Arizona and got it ready and came back ready to go."

Frisco totaled eight extra-base hits, getting homers from center fielder Jose Cardona and first baseman Eric Aguilera.
"These guys can hit. These guys have good swings," Hart said. "It's just about putting together good AB's and sticking with their approach the entire game. It was really fun to see them put it together tonight."
The RoughRiders had a 12-0 lead after the third inning and went 6-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
"It's a lot more relaxed," Hart said. "Those white-knuckle games, you have enough of those throughout the year that every once in a while, a game where you can kind of take a deep breath and relax a little bit, it feels good. It makes the clubhouse loose and makes the dugout pretty loose."
Rangers No. 3 prospect Ariel Jurado (6-3) tossed seven innings for his fifth straight win, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out four without issuing a walk.