2023 ALCS to Feature 19 Former Round Rock Express Players

ROUND ROCK, Texas – The 2023 American League Championship Series rosters were announced on Sunday morning for the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros. Nineteen former Round Rock Express players between the two teams will appear in the ALCS, including 12 for the Rangers and nine for the Astros.

“The 2023 ALCS will feature plenty of ties to the Round Rock Express and it will be an exciting series for our fans,” President Chris Almendarez said. “Since our inaugural season in 2000, we’ve seen MLB All-Stars, MVPs and Cy Young Award winners come through Dell Diamond. This series is just another reminder that our fans have an opportunity to watch the best players in the world at Dell Diamond as they continue their pursuit of a World Series.”

Game 1 of the series begins tonight at 7:15 p.m. from Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. The Express reunited as the Rangers Triple-A affiliate in 2021 after spending eight seasons as the club’s top affiliate from 2011-2018. Round Rock was previously a member of the Houston Astros organization from 2019-2020.

Along with the 19 players, three coaches also have ties to the Express. Astros Pitching Coach Joshua Miller appeared on the mound for the E-Train in 2007 & 2008. Rangers Pitching Coach Mike Maddux was the Pitching Coach for Round Rock from 2000-2002 while Rangers Bullpen Coach Brett Hayes appeared in 66 games for the Express in 2017.

The following list of former Round Rock Express players are set to appear in the ALCS:

Texas Rangers

LHP Cody Bradford (2023)

OF Evan Carter (2023)

C Mitch Garver (2022, 2023)

OF Travis Jankowski (2023)

INF Josh Jung (2021, 2022)

RHP Jose Leclerc (2016, 2018, 2022)

LHP Martin Perez (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018)

RHP Josh Sborz (2022, 2023)

INF Josh Smith (2022)

OF Leody Taveras (2021, 2022, 2023)

Houston Astros

RHP Bryan Abreu (2019)

INF Jose Altuve (2019)

INF Yordan Alvarez (2019)

RHP Ronel Blanco (2019)

RHP Cristian Javier (2019)

OF Chas McCormick (2019)

OF Kyle Tucker (2019)

RHP Jose Urquidy (2019)

LHP Framber Valdez (2019)