Monday Morning Hot Links

The hits just keep on coming.

There is a plan currently working its way through MLB in which 42 minor-league teams - most of them in the short-season leagues - would essentially be contracted. Among them would be the Quad Cities DJs River Bandits, the Astros' Low-A Midwest League affiliate. In September, Travis Sawchik noted that the Astros reduced the number of their minor-league affiliates from nine to seven, with the article wondering if we even needed minor-league baseball. The New York Daily News' Bill Madden leads his article (1st link):
As if they aren't squarely involved in enough transgressions against baseball, we should not be at all surprised to know the Houston Astros - the Jeff Luhnow Houston Astros - were the ringleaders of the MLB plan to essentially destroy grass roots baseball and contract 42 of the 160 minor-league teams. 

You should click that link. Bill Baer has a good recap of the whole thing.

Why would MLB do this? Why would MLB put a slot value on each pick in the first ten rounds of the draft? Why would they cap international spending? To save money. You don't have to pay the pennies you pay for 1000 minor-league players, or staff. So if the outcry is going to be that MLB teams should take better care of their minor-league players, then MLB's answer is to have fewer minor-league players. Then you can pay them more and not be out any actual extra money.

What's the problem, exactly? Well, minor-league baseball provides affordable access to baseball for a large number of people, and that's not taking into account geography. I have never taken my daughter to an Astros game. Why would I spend that much money to go to a game when I know that she's going to want to go by the 6th Inning? I can take her to Round Rock (closer to me), and if she gets through six, it's fine, because I'm out maybe $40 total.

What if you're a baseball fan in Billings, Montana (one of the teams proposed to get the axe)? You lose your team, and you're a 12-hour drive from Seattle. It's a terribly short-sighted idea by people who have all the money in the world trying to save a little bit more of it. Baer:
They'll get their PR win by increasing pay for minor leaguers while drastically reducing its minor-league workforce. They may even save money overall. But the ripple effect of slashing 42 minor league teams across the country will stunt the sport's growth in the long-term. And that's bad for everyone.

Also included in that first link are the other components of the plan: Move the amateur draft to August and limit it to 20 rounds. Madden:
It was the contention of the Astros and most of the smaller market clubs, that there is too much money being wasted on players who will never come close to reaching the majors. They may have a point, but between the reduction of the draft and the limit on the number of players in an organization, who knows how many Mike Piazzas, Luke Voits, or John Gants, will ever be signed.

Interesting that - apparently - the three teams to spearhead this movement were Houston, Baltimore, and Milwaukee. Milwaukee GM David Stearns and Baltimore GM Mike Elias worked under Luhnow in Houston.

Or J.D. Martinez (2009 20th Round), or Tyler White (2013 33rd Round, or Josh Rojas (2017 26th Round, traded for Greinke), to be more personal. When we lived in upstate New York, the closest affiliated baseball team was the Oneonta Tigers. The stadium was terrible and I was wearing a sweatshirt in August, but I do remember seeing Casper Wells play for Oneonta. When Tri-City would come to Oneonta, I saw Jason Castro, J.B. Shuck, Fernando Abad, Bud Norris, and Brian Bogusevic. Apparently Chris Johnson was on that 2006 ValleyCats team but I don't remember him. We moved to Nashville about three months before Jose Altuve put up a .653 OPS for the 2009 ValleyCats. It was a very fun, cheap way to see guys that - clearly - I remember 10-13 years later. I don't know if the minor-league contraction thing is going to happen. I also don't think that one team/one person can destroy the very fabric of baseball, but between Taubman, trash cans, and taking away minor-league baseball in 42 communities across the country, the Astros are making a run at it.

Is Manfred going to make an example of the Astros? Well when Buster Olney writes that teams have treated him "like a high school crossing guard" it's certainly a possibility.

*Something I was recently thinking of FOR NO REASON AT ALL: Atlanta general manager John Coppolella got banned from baseball for life for being cute with international signings for a three-year period from 2015-2017. There is no way Atlanta was the only team playing with signing bonuses. To be fair, Coppolella was banned from baseball in part for trying to mislead MLB's investigation.

*Sean Pendergast notes that the email allegedly sent by Kevin Goldstein to scouts - the "see what you can (or can't) do email - came in August 2017. He found this Chronicle piece from August 18, 2017 about the Astros firing eight scouts.

*Wired: How the dumb design of a WWII plane led to the Macintosh.

*Yes, you can catch Insanity.

*Bloomberg: Inside the most watched YouTube channel in the world.

*A Musical Selection:

I'm a middle-class white guy who will be 40 in February. OF COURSE I love Ben Folds. I've seen Ben Folds play live at least three times. I have never seen anyone play a piano solo by banging the microphone on the actual strings inside the piano before, which I saw him do at Numbers (on Westheimer) in 1998 about ten days after my 18th birthday. Click here if you want to see this song live at Bonnaroo in 2015.

Where Did These Guys Come From: Quad Cities

Meet the 2019 Quad Cities River Bandits, with how each player was acquired:

2018 Record: 81-59
Playoff Result: Lost in 1st Round, 0-2.

Pitchers

Humberto Castellanos: International free agent, July 2015
Willy Collado: International free agent, April 2016
Brett Conine: Drafted - 11th Round, 2018
Devin Conn: Drafted - 19th Round, 2018
Brett Daniels: Drafted - 17th Round, 2018
Cody Deason: Drafted - 5th Round, 2018
Shawn Dubin: Drafted - 13th Round, 2018
RJ Freure: Drafted - 6th Round, 2018
Luis Garcia: International free agent, July 2017
Austin Hansen: Drafted - 8th Round, 2018
Mark Moclair: Drafted - 12th Round, 2018
Nivaldo Rodriguez: Minor-league free agent, June 2016
Matt Ruppenthal: Drafted - 17th Round, 2017

Catchers

Oscar Campos: Minor-league free agent, June 2014
Alex Holderbach: Drafted - 16th Round, 2018
Cesar Salazar: Drafted - 7th Round, 2018

Infielders

Trey Dawson: Drafted - 15th Round, 2018
David Hensley: Drafted - 26th Round, 2018
Jonathan Lacroix: Drafted - 12th Round, 2018
Jeremy Pena: Drafted - 3rd Round, 2018
Enmanuel Valdez: International Free Agent, July 2015

Outfielders

Ross Adolph: Acquired via trade with New York Mets for J.D. Davis, January 2019
Marty Costes: Drafted - 22nd Round, 2018
Andy Pineda: Minor-league free agent, March 2014
Scott Schreiber: Drafted - 9th Round, 2018

Sunday Morning Hot Links

Happy Father's Day! On Mother's Day I wrote a little thing about how Mother's Day isn't the easiest of days for a lot of people, for a variety of reasons. I suppose Father's Day has a few of the same characteristics. There's an awful lot of people who, for whatever reason, didn't have a father growing up. Or maybe you had a father, but you wished he was literally anyone else. Maybe today is your first Father's Day without your father. Whatever the reason, if today brings you sadness instead of joy, I'm truly sorry. And then there's Antonio Cromartie...

*It was so hot in Kansas City yesterday that Max Stassi and Yuli Gurriel had to be treated for dehydration.

*The Astros' win streak reached 10 games, their longest winning streak since winning 11 in a row from May 25 - June 5, 2017. Longest winning streaks, Astros history (Minute Maid Era):

12 games: 2004
11 games: 2017
10 games: 2018, 2015
9 games: 2006
8 games: 2008
7 games: 2016, 2014, 2010, 2005, 2003, 2002
6 games: 2013 (Ed. Note: I can't remember the 2013 Astros winning six games overall, much less in a row), 2000
5 games: 2012, 2007, 2001
4 games: 2011, 2009

They're 9-0 on this 10-game road trip, the best road trip in franchise history.

*Hinch:
I'm really happy with how consistently the guys are showing up and expecting to win, and then going out and doing it. We're a hard team to beat right now.

*Bregman:
What we do is we come here and show up and play hard every day, and that's it. We compete every at-bat, and winning streak, no winning streak, it doesn't matter to anybody in here besides the fact we compete every pitch, play our brand of baseball, and we know that if we do that, we'll have deja vu from what we did last year.

*Dallas Keuchel threw 6IP, 6H/2R (0ER), 5K:1BB. Keuchel's 60 Game Score is his best since May 13, when he threw a 78 against the Ramgers. Keuchel has allowed two extra-base hits to his last 66 batters dating back to the 3HR Seattle start on June 5. Keuchel:
I don't usually toot my own horn, but there was a few I could tell the shape out of my hand were back to normal movement. If we can keep that going, it's going to be a totally different ballgame.

*Brad Peacock, Will Harris, and Chris Devenski combined for 3IP, 0H/0ER, 7K:0BB.

*Marwin Gonzalez was 3x4 with two runs scored. After a 2x20 stretch, Marwin was hitting .164/.277/.273 on April 16. Since then he's hitting .288/.346/.448.
Marwin's multi-hit games, June: 6
Marwin's 0-1 hit games, June: 5

*Jose Altuve was 1x3 with 2BB and 2RBI.
Jose Altuve, home, 2018: .264/.317/.333 (.650 OPS)
Jose Altuve, road, 2018: .395/.447/.568 (1.015 OPS)

On this road trip, Altuve is hitting. .371/.463/.543 with 2K:6BB.

*Alex Bregman was 2x4 with 4RBI after hitting a 3-run home run in the 9th. Five of his 10 home runs in 2018 have come in June. He has a 27-game on-base streak.

*Max Stassi was 2x4 with a 3-run home run. It was the 10th home run of his career. Among 41 MLB catchers with a minimum of 100 PAs, Stassi's .512 SLG ranks 2nd behind J.T. Realmuto's .546 SLG.

Brian T. Smith: Max Stassi is finally making himself at home in the Houston lineup.

*Carlos Correa was 0x5 and committed his 2nd error of the season. It was Correa's 2nd 0x5 game of 2018.

*Did you see the latest Spot The Differences?

*Brian McTaggart writes that Yuli Gurriel has been playing Gold Glove-level defense at 1B, and is perfect in 21 chances of scooping the ball out of the dirt. Hinch:
He's the best in the league at picking balls, at least the most successful, I know that. His athleticism from being on the left side of the diamond his whole life has translated well to first base. 

*Interesting story from John Harper of the New York Daily News: Following the 2015 season the Astros made a strong push to sign Yoenis Cespedes, and offered a similar deal to the 4yr/$110m he ended up choosing with the Mets. The Astros wouldn't include a no-trade clause, the Mets did. The Astros won the World Series in 2017.

*Rob Manfred - an adult robot toddler who doesn't know when to get the hell out of the way and just tugs at your pants wanting more of something - acknowledged during the Owner's Meetings that the competition committee is in the discussion-analysis phase of looking at making some defensive shifts illegal. That doesn't sit well with Hinch:
I don't think the problem is the shift, I think the problem is the commitment to trying to beat it. You have guys that don't want to hit the ball the other way, then we're going to continue to shift. We've never had an offsides in baseball - that would be rare, that would be weird. 

Related, from Deadspin: The Astros' four-man outfield is spreading.

Also related: Rob Manfred wants to fix attendance. Here's my four-step plan to improve MLB attendance:
1. Lift blackout rules so people can watch regional home games.
2. Start games earlier so highly-impressionable kids can see the end of the damn playoff games. I guarantee you every kid under the age of 14 who was allowed to stay up for the end of World Series Game 5 is now a lifelong baseball fan and has now watched 40 games this season trying to chase that dragon.
3. A 24-ounce Montejo doesn't cost $13 anymore. It's now $5.
4. Kill A.J. Pierzynski.

In all honesty, organizations need to realize that how they run their team will impact their attendance.  Houston has had 33 home games and drawn 1,165,990 fans - an average of 35,333 fans, and up from the 29,675 fans they average in 2017. They're about 500,000 fans (or 17-ish home games) away from matching their 2013 home attendance marks.

Through games of last night, the ten teams with the worst attendance are:
1. Miami: 10,268 fans/game
2. Tampa Bay: 13,414
3. Oakland: 15,354
4. Pittsburgh: 16,748
5. Chicago White Sox: 17,095
6. Cincinnati: 18,746
7. Cleveland: 19,829
8. Baltimore: 19,986
9. Kansas City: 20,440
10. Detroit: 21,165

Those teams are a combined 119 games under .500. I don't know what Cleveland's problem is other than that their home attendance was rough in April, when it was freezing across the northern part of the United States and Cleveland's river was still on fire but also covered in ice, somehow, yet has rebounded with the temperature. Miami is a disaster of a franchise, Tampa Bay and Oakland have terrible stadiums, Pittsburgh has a gorgeous stadium but is also rebuilding. Chicago does not have a gorgeous stadium but are rebuilding. Cincinnati is rebuilding. Baltimore is a train-wreck of a team this year, and Kansas City and Detroit are rebuilding, as well. It doesn't take a rocket mathematician to realize there's a correlation.

I'm not in favor of instituting a salary floor, but teams have to recognize that when they play a Quad-A roster, they're going to get minor-league attendance.

*Nick Cafardo says the Astros are still keeping tabs on Orioles closer Zach Britton, who is now recovered from an achilles injury.

*Fresno pitcher Trent Thornton threw 7.2 hitless innings and ended up with 8IP, 1H/0ER, 3K:2BB in a 6-1 Fresno win over Future Triple-A Affiliate Round Rock. Thornton:
That was a lot of fun. To get within four outs, it would have been nice to finish it. I hung a curve ball, and Noonan got it. Our defense was outstanding. The guys bailed me out of several tight spots.

Myles Straw was 3x5 with a single, double, and a triple in his Triple-A debut and stole his 36th base of the season. Kyle Tucker was 1x3 with a walk and 2RBI.

*The Corpus/Midland game got rained out with one out short of an official game, negating Yordan Alvarez's 2-run home run in his first game back since May 6.

*Here's a reminder that 2017 1st Round pick J.B. Bukauskas has only made two starts in 2018 and has not pitched since April 24.

*Quad Cities beat Burlington 2-1 to win the 1st Half division title and clinch a Midwest League post-season berth.

*The Ringer: An oral history of The Gaslight Anthem's "The '59 Sound."

*This dude's crazy-ass girlfriend wrecked his career and now owes him $375,000.

Saturday Morning Hot Links

Imagine being eight years old right now, born in 2010. You became really aware of the Astros when school got out last summer and watched them through the season. You went to 3rd Grade shortly before Hurricane Harvey hit and school was still closed when the Astros acquired Justin Verlander, your mom and/or dad telling you that it's a Very Big Deal. You didn't get to see his Astros debut at Seattle or his next start at Anaheim because they both started at 9pm, but you read that allowing one hit over 8IP is really good. Those afternoon playoff games that the adults were complaining about? They were perfect for you. It means you got to see Altuve hit three home runs in ALDS G1. You saw Bregman take Chris Sale deep. (Because your parents know what's up and picked you up at lunch so you could watch the games). You got to stay up late for ALCS G1 because it was a Friday, and then as soon as G2 was over you went out into the backyard to recreate Altuve's Mad Dash. You had missed too much school so you didn't have to see the Astros get shut down in Games 3-5 but, as Games 6 and 7 were on Friday and Saturday night, you watched the Astros win the Pennant. The World Series was a blur and, though you paid for it with a tardy on November 2, you remember jumping around and screaming with your family at 10:59pm on November 1. Now it's 2018 and all you expect when you wake up is an Astros win and another starting pitcher striking everybody out over the course of 7-8 innings. Don't worry about 2010-2016, kid. This is all worth it.

The Astros lived on the baselines last night, with balls down the lines finally bouncing on the right side of the chalk and leading to a 5-run 4th inning. Astros win 10-0 - their 3rd shutout of the season, and the second time they've put up 10+ runs. Hinch:
That was one of our best games, obviously, in all facets. We made some pretty good defensive plays, we swung the bats. We've been pitching like this almost the entire year. A really good night for us.

Correa:
We feel good. We've been swinging the bat better. It was about time. We had a sluggish week last week...this is what we like to do, this is what we do as a team when we put great at-bats together.

Houston put up 25 runs from April 9-17 (3-5 in that span). They've scored 26 runs in their last three games.

*Derek Fisher was 1x4 with and struck out looking to end a bases-loaded threat in the 2nd.

Jake Marisnick singled in the 2nd inning on April 10. Fisher doubled in the 6th last night. In between, the Astros were 0x34 with 19K:3BB from the 9th position in the lineup. Walks were drawn by Stassi on April 14, Fisher and Marwin on April 11. That's a .000/.081/.000 slash line.

*George Springer was 2x5 with 4RBI. Since the beginning of the Texas series (eight games) Springer is hitting .344/.405/.719 with as many extra-base hits (6) as strikeouts. It's the 11th 4+ RBI game of his career.

*Carlos Correa hit two home runs, the 69th and 70th of his career, and his first home run since April 3. Of the four home runs he's hit in 2018, three of them have come with runners on base. It's the 7th 2HR game of his career - he had three 2HR games in 2017.

*I like April Brian McCann. He was 1x2 with 2BB last night, giving him eight out of 13 games in which he's gotten on base 2+ times.

*Verlander: 6IP, 2H/0ER, 5K:3BB. It's the first time Verlander walked three batters in a game as an Astro, post-season starts included. Tim Anderson broke up Verlander's no-hitter bid in the 5th and Verlander took exception to Anderson's subsequent actions. Verlander:
Stealing third in a 5-0 game with two guys on in an inning where I was clearly struggling - I walked a guy on four pitches and went 1-0 to the next guy - and I pick you off on an inside move after the way he had kind of been jubilant about some other things, I was just as jubilant about that.

*Joe Smith, Collin McHugh, and Ken Giles retired the final nine batters of the game.

*White Sox reliever Danny Farquhar passed out in the dugout after his appearance in the 6th inning and was taken to a hospital for tests.

*George Springer told the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan that there's not a World Series hangover. Hector Rondon also said the 2018 Astros are "way better" than the 2017 Cubs:
Not now because I'm here, but the way they play, the way they focus, the way they prepare, I think that's the difference between those guys and here. I think we're better than the other guys.

You can read an expanded interview with Rondon in The Athletic (subscription required). Also check out Our Boy Tyler Stafford telling us (before last night's game) to chill out with the worry about the Astros' offense.

*Yuli Gurriel on his brother Lourdes, who was called up to Toronto yesterday and went 2x5 with 3RBI:
I don't want to give him too much pressure, but he hits better than me, runs better than me, and plays better than me defensively.

*Fresno won 12-4 and their 12-4 start (how's that for symmetry) matches the best start through 16 games in Grizzlies history. Oh, and if you want a replica World Series ring it may be cheaper to fly to Fresno next weekend and just be one of the first 5000 fans.

*Corpus beat up on Frisco 11-3. Ryne Birk went 5x5 with 2RBI; Yordan Alvarez was 2x5 with two doubles, a walk, and 4RBI. Taylor Jones (3RBI) and Stephen Wrenn each had three hits and a walk.

*Quad Cities scored four runs in the top of the 9th at Burlington, but it just wasn't enough to overcome the 28-3 deficit they faced. Pitching lines:

Cesar Rosado: 0.2IP, 0H/4ER, 0K:3BB
Cole Watts: 1.1IP, 8H/6R (2ER), 4K:1BB
Carlos Hiraldo: 2IP, 2H/3R (0ER), 4K:2BB
Patrick Sandoval: 1.2IP, 10H/10ER, 0K:1BB
Carlos Sanabria: 1.1IP, 4H/5ER, 4K:1BB
Robert Corniel: 1IP, 0H/0ER, 1K:0BB

Robert Corniel is now the King of Quad Cities. Burlington got 17 singles, eight walks, four doubles, and three home runs in the win. Torii Hunter, Jr. was 1x6 with 4Ks.

*From the NY Times' Tyler Kepner: Meet the New Hampshire Fisher Cats' power trio Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., Bo Bichette, and Cavan Biggio.

*Shoutout to Elsik Soccer for their 3-1 State Semifinal win over Irving. The Rams play for the State Championship at 6:30pm this evening.

*I have A Thing tonight and there will not be Hot Links in the morning.

Where Did These Guys Come From: Quad Cities

At 79-59, the Quad Cities River Bandits had the best record in the Midwest League - Western Division, far behind the 91-45 West Michigan Whitecaps. But the Whitecaps couldn't make it out of the quarterfinals because baseball is a faithless whore. Your River Bandits are the reigning Midwest League champs. Where did these dudes come from?

Pitchers

Cole Watts: Drafted - 31st Round, 2017
Peter Solomon: Drafted - 4th Round, 2017
Carlos Sanabria: Signed as free agent - May 2014
Patrick Sandoval: Drafted - 11th Round, 2017 2015
Cesar Rosado: Signed as free agent - May 2015
Yohan Ramirez: Signed as free agent - July 2016
Parker Mushinki: Drafted - 7th Round, 2017
Colin McKee: Drafted - 18th Round, 2016
Cristian Javier: Signed as free agent - June 2015
Tyler Ivey: Drafted - 3rd Round, 2017
Robert Corniel: Signed as free agent - August 2013
J.B. Bukauskas: Drafted - 1st Round, 2017
Adam Bleday: Drafted - 27th Round, 2017

Catchers

Mike Papierski: Drafted - 9th Round, 2017

Infielders

Jake Adams: Drafted - 6th Round, 2017
Marcos Almonte: Signed as free agent - August 2015
Jonathan Arauz: Acquired via trade from Philadelphia with Ken Giles for Brett Oberholtzer, Harold Arauz, Mark Appel, Tom Eshelman, and Vince Velasquez (Oxford Comma comes with the price of a Page View) - December 2015
Cody Bohanek: Drafted - 30th Round, 2017
Roman Garcia: Drafted - 19th Round, 2017
Adrian Tovalin: Drafted - 16th Round, 2017

Outfielders

Bryan De La Cruz: Signed as free agent - July 2014
Corey Julks: Drafted - 8th Round, 2017
Jacob Myers: Drafted - 13th Round, 2017

Designated Hitter

Gabriel Bracamonte: Signed as free agent - June 2015
J.J. Matijevic: Drafted - 1st Round (Comp Pick), 2017

Year Acquired:

2013: 1
2014: 2
2015: 6
2016: 2
2017: 14

Sunday Morning Hot Links

Dallas Keuchel did Dallas Keuchel things yesterday afternoon as the Astros fought off Frankie Tuesday and Tony Sipp in an 8-6 win. The Angels beat the Rangers. The Indians beat the Royals to stay 1.5 up on Houston. The Astros are 90-58, becoming the 7th Astros team to win 90 games. The Magic Number is at 1. An Astros win today means we go dogpiling.

1998 Astros: 102-60

1999 Astros: 97-65

1986 Astros: 96-66

2001 Astros: 93-69

1980 Astros: 93-69

2004 Astros: 92-70

2017 Astros: 90-58

The Astros will need to go 13-1 down the stretch to overtake the 1998 team, but going 8-6 will put them in 2nd place in franchise history. Whatever happens, Cleveland needs to go a couple of games worse. 

*Hunter Atkins notes that the Mariners only got one hit on a Keuchel pitch that was at chest level or above. 

*Carlos Beltran, who was 3x4 yesterday:

Winning the division (will be) great but at the end of the day all you want is home-field advantage. 

Beltran has four hits in his last two games after collecting four hits in his previous 13 games (45 PAs). It was his 5th 3+ hit game, and his 27th multi-hit game, of 2017. His double tied him with Cal Ripken, Jr for 24th All-Time with 1,078 extra-base hits. 

Beltran has more extra-base hits than every Astro has hits, save for Jose Altuve and Brian McCann. 

*Hinch:

They're getting after it. They see what's at stake. They're playing hard. They're playing well, which is a good sign. 

*Jose Altuve had two hits, raising his season total to 193. 

Francis Martes and Tony Sipp combined to throw 20 pitches, recording zero outs on five hits and a walk. To be fair, Sipp only faced one batter, who got a hit. Martes allowed 4H/4ER, 0K:1BB to the five batters he faced. Martes' last six appearances: 6IP, 9H/10ER, 8K:5BB. Dude is young and inconsistent. In his prior eight appearances he threw 10.2IP, 10H/4ER, 15K:8BB. Then he gave up 5H/6ER, 4K:2BB in the two appearances before that. Gonna be interesting to see what his role is next season. 

*Joe Musgrove got his first career save. 

*Hunter Atkins did some work yesterday and has another good article on how the injuries to McCullers and McHugh means that their role in the postseason is somewhat up in the air. McCullers was not available for comment (and Hinch wouldn't talk about him yesterday) while McHugh opened up:

It's a good problem to have for us. More guys able to throw and ready to throw than there are spots to do it....I've been starting for the last four years. I'm a starter until they tell me different...There's a reason that nobody's saying what's going to happen because we don't know what's going to happen. Time is going to sort itself out.

*2017 1st Round pick J.B. Bukauskas is at Minute Maid Park this weekend:

I've never been down this far on a professional field like this, so it's cool taking it all in. It's a big deal for me to experience it this year as opposed to going into next year, like completely having not seen it. It's going to benefit me. 

*Derek Fisher is running out of time to prove he should be on the postseason roster, but is staying magnanimous about it.

*Jake Kaplan has a great recap from the Astros side of the Verlander deal.

*Congratulations to the 2017 Quad Cities River Bandits on their Midwest League championship! Quad Cities won 12-2 last night. Ronel Blanco threw 6.2IP, 4H/0ER, 10K:0BB while 21st Round pick Chuckie Robinson went 4x5 with a home run and 3RBI to earn Finals MVP.

*You have to scroll down a bit but there's a cool note about catcher Abraham Toro-Hernandez in David Laurilia's FanGraphs column.

*Former Astros Great Jesse Crain is holding a Harvey benefit at Karbach on Monday. 

*Jerry Crasnick: Why hasn't MLB fixed this roster expansion madness yet?

*According to Jon Heyman, the Mariners are the best guess to land approximately 30 of the Top 25 Free Agents this winter. CTRL-F indicates Heyman thinks the Astros' winter will be quiet.

*Ken Burns and the Vietnam War? Okay.

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

The Indians won for the 19th time in a row. The Astros are 1.5 back. The Dodgers have lost 11 in a row. Short Hot Links today as the rest of the baseball world has seemingly, and acceptably, forgotten the Astros exist.

*Francis Martes had to grow up quickly.

*In a curious move, the Hooks named lights-out reliever J.D. Davis as their 2017 Player of the Year.

*Quad Cities beat Cedar Rapids 6-1 last night to advance to the Midwest League finals. Kit Scheetz threw 6.2IP, 3H/1ER, 9K:1BB. They'll face Fort Wayne in the finals in G1 on Wednesday.

*After 14 seasons the Astros made a weird decision to unaffiliate themselves with Greeneville, effective immediately. The Astros will not field an Appalachian League team in 2018; they'll roll with the GCL, Tri-City, and the four full-season minor league teams. No explanation was given, other than that attendance was down 15% from last season.

*Projection Check!
-FanGraphs: Astros face Red Sox, 57% chance of advancing to ALCS.
-FiveThirtyEight: Astros face Red Sox, 11% chance of winning World Series
-Baseball Prospectus: Astros face Red Sox, 12.5% chance of winning World Series

*Want to work for the Astros?

*Verlander vs. Garrett Richards, who will be making his 3rd start of the season, tonight at 9:10pm Central.

Thursday Morning Hot Links

*Cameron F. Maybin did it again, hitting yet another home run for the Astros - this time a 2-run shot in the 9th to break a 3-3 tie. It's his second consecutive game-winning home run for the Astros. Not a bad week. Astros win 5-3. The Angels lost, so the division lead is at 14.5 games. The Indians won  and remain three games back of the Astros. The Astros are 86-53. There are 23 games left, and the Magic Number is nine.

*The Indians have won 14 in a row and 17 of their last 20 and have picked up just four games on the Astros in that span.

*Maybin came to Houston having hit six home runs with 22 RBIs. In six games with Houston he has three home runs and 8 RBIs. Hinch:
He's been a nice spark for us on a lot of levels. He's come in with some energy, he's come in with a ton of enthusiasm. He's a good player. We knew everybody would like him. He's obviously performing at a high level, earning more at-bats. Big swing tonight. 

*Lance McCullers threw 5.1IP, 4H/3ER, 4K:1BB in his first start since July 30. He threw a first-pitch strike to just 11 of the 22 batters he faced. That said, he made it into the 6th on 76 pitches. Hinch:
He came out with a little extra adrenaline, a little extra conviction. He was going to enter the game with his best stuff and I thought he did well. There's a lot that goes into coming back after a long layoff. I was proud of him how he attacked their hitters. 

*Daggum Kyle Seager hit a home run in all three games against the Astros. This season he's hitting .293/.382/.603 against Houston pitchers.

*Given two of the next five days off, Justin Verlander will next pitch on six days' rest, getting his next start on Tuesday against the Angels. If you were on the Verlander mini-season-ticket-plan, you would want tickets to the Sunday, Sept 17 game against Seattle and the Saturday, Sept 23 game against Anaheim.

*Bob Melvin, manager of the upcoming opponent A's, is happy for the Astros in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Melvin:
You understand they're playing for a little bit more and it's kind of cool to see.

*Tony DeFrancesco - the Astros' Triple-A manager since 2011 - will not return to the organization in 2018. DeFrancesco was the interim manager for 41 games in 2012 following the firing of Brad Mills, during which the Astros went 16-25 (.390). They went 39-82 (.322) under Mills. As the manager of the Oklahoma City...Somethings and the Fresno Grizzlies, DeFrancesco managed (get it) a record of 532-463 (.535). In 2015, a year after battling cancer, the Grizzlies won the PCL Championship and DeFrancesco was named Baseball America's Manager of the Year. DeFrancesco, in the Fresno Bee:
It was a great opportunity being with the Astros. Seven years with one organization is a long time. Now it's time to see what else is out there. 

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/mlb/fresno-grizzlies/article171674607.html#storylink=cpy

*Quad Cities lost G1 of their best-of-three series against Peoria on a walk-off. Michael Feliz threw a perfect first inning and Colin Moran was 1x3 with a double.

*Elizabethton shut out the Greeneville Astros 6-0 to move on to the Appalachian League championship against Pulaski. Greenville needed to win just one of the two games at Elizabethton to advance.

*How Indians reliever Nick Goody got people in Nederland to safety.

*This Delta flight out of San Juan, Puerto Rico raced Irma and won.

*The Lima Time Time Bozoathon for Harvey Relief starts TOMORROW evening. Here are the details, with an updated guest list and a link to donate. 36 hours before we even start, we're already over 10% of our goal.

*

Andre Johnson distributing cleaning supplies and a hot meal Thursday 11-2 at Fifth Ward Church of Christ: 4308 Stonewall St, Houston, TX

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) September 6, 2017

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

My life changed five years ago today. My wife and I have had our fair share (and some other people's fair shares) of pregnancy complications. Six miscarriages - three of which were ectopic, two of those almost killed her - led, in part, to the creation of Astros County. I needed a project where I could channel some attention that didn't have anything to do with how awful life was at times. But on July 10, 2012 I got to drive on the shoulder of Interstate 40 through the middle of Nashville to get to the hospital because my wife's water had broken.

As a noted idiot I thought that, when your water broke, it meant that a baby would coming falling out within minutes, so I wasn't prepared for the 21-hour wait until we got to meet our daughter. That night, as we waited for, um, conditions to get right, I tried to keep friends and family updated. My wife was laying there, focusing on her breathing. I brought a book. About 7:00 that evening, five hours after her water broke, I looked over at my wife and told her she was beautiful. Starting in a matter of minutes was the 2012 All-Star Game, and Jose Altuve would be playing. I asked her, "Hey, here's a tv, can I watch the All-Star Game?" The look that she gave me indicated, "No, it is not acceptable for you to watch a baseball game while I'm in labor." Her only audible response was "And I don't care that Altuve is playing." I chalked that up to the labor pains and don't hold that betrayal against her. Altuve went 0x1.

I don't stay up late. If I see 2am, I've already been asleep and - for whatever reason - have awakened. So as the clock crept closer to midnight, I started getting sleepy. I knew that, if I couldn't watch the All-Star Game, I sure as hell couldn't take a nap, so I drank coffee, took walks around the floor of the hospital, checked Twitter, answered texts. 2am turned into 3am, which turned into 4am. At that point I was delirious. I had been awake since 4:30am the previous day and I don't do well in that situation. So as I went to get my 85th cup of coffee and stretch my legs. 

A personal character flaw is how I try to use humor as a defense mechanism. I also have a very hard time understanding when it's okay to make a joke, and when I should just let the moment pass. Factor that character flaw into being awake for 24 hours and I get dumb. So when I walked into our room (right next to the nurse's station) at 4:30am and yelled "I SEE A LADY TONIGHT WHO SHOULD BE HAVING MY BABY...BABY." Well, you can imagine - or maybe you can't - the fury that erupted from my wife who, eight hours later would deliver our only child, a perfect little girl, who turns five years old today. 

---

*Richard Justice writes of the paths each of the Astros All-Stars took.

*2013 still weighs on the minds of Jose Altuve and Dallas Keuchel:
It's a motivating factor. Just the other day I was talking with Dallas about that. For all the players on the team, what we're going through now is special, but for me and him there's a little something extra because we were on that team that lost more than 100 games. 

*Washington Post: The Astros are a playoff team, but not yet a World Series contender

*Jeff Bagwell jumped on Jerome Solomon's podcast.

*Jonah Keri talked to Chris Devenski.

*Collin McHugh made another rehab start for Corpus last night, throwing 4.1IP, 4H/3R (0ER), 4K:2BB. He threw 47 of his 74 pitches for strikes in a 6-5 Corpus win. Garrett Stubbs was 4x5 with 3RBI

*Franklin Perez was promoted from Buies Creek to Corpus after last night's game in which he threw 4IP, 3H/0ER, 5K:2BB. In 54.1IP for BCA, he allowed 38H/18ER, 53K:16BB. Last week Baseball America named Perez as their #32 prospect.

*Quad Cities are working faster and smarter in the heat.

*The White Sox still want Francis Martes and Kyle Tucker for Jose Quintana. Heyman:
The price for Quintana is high enough that the Astros are looking elsewhere, having known to have called on Teheran and even Mets star Jacob deGrom...And word is, the Astros don't actually see Quintana as an ace at this point.

*Here's a cool story on Astros scout Hank Allen.

*Chris Carter is looking for a job.

*FanGraphs: The recent history of free-agent pricing.

*The Art and Science of Throwing Batting Practice

*Come get your boy:

Possibly the worst call I have ever seen. pic.twitter.com/9HaQJt28UV

— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) July 10, 2017

Monday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros prevailed over the hated A's yesterday, sweeping the three-game series at home. Cockroach has the recap. The Astros have gone 11-2 since the last time they played the Rangers.

*The Rangers swept the Mariners in Arlington and the Angels beat the Pirates, meaning the Mariners and A's were the only AL West teams to lose yesterday. The division looks like this:
East Fort Worth: -
Seattle: -3
Houston: -7
Anaheim: -8
Oakland: -9.5

*FanGraphs has the Astros at 43.5% to make the playoffs, raising their playoff odds by 22.8% since getting swept by South Oklahoma.

*Check David Nuno's postgame interviews with Correa, Marisnick, and Hinch regarding their optimism heading into Northwest Duncanville.

*Hinch:
It's not a surprise to me, it's more we're playing our brand of baseball and being rewarded for it with some wins. We've been playing good baseball. There's nothing we can't do on the field. We have a lot of confidence now. We don't feel that nervous energy when you fall behind.

*Richard Justice notes that the Astros are 0-10 in their last ten games in Northeast Mansfield.

*The Astros hope that Carlos Gomez's first homer of the season will spark his confidence. Gomez would like to show you the callouses on his left hand as evidence of how hard he is working:
Sooner or later, it had to pay off. Because it's not like I'm chilling at my locker and doing nothing. Look at my hands. This is a sign that I am working my ass off every time.

Carlos Correa got his 100th RBI in his 156th game, setting the franchise record for quickest to 100 RBIs - two games quicker than Hunter Pence.

*Will Harris got his first save of the season yesterday, and Hinch said they're easing off Gregerson as the only 9th inning guy on the team. Just so you know, and you probably do, but Will Harris this season has thrown 26.2IP, 15H/1ER, 29K:4BB. That's a 0.34 ERA/0.72 WHIP.

*Quad Cities has dropped 14 1-run games and are now 23-33. Manager Omar Lopez was pissed about Sunday's loss and held a team meeting:
It's these guys' careers. If they are tired of playing or are frustrated, I told them to let me know, we can tell the organization that if they are not committed to competing the right way...this is a team game. It's not tennis or ping-pong. They have to be in it together. We spend a lot of time putting information to give them to help them. It's all part of our preparation, but if they do not use it, if they do not go to the plate with a plan and execute it, these are the results. If they do not want it, there are 70 guys in the organization looking for an opportunity to be here. 

*The Astros are expected to sign 16-year old Dominican shortstop Freudis Nova for about $1.5m. Nova had a deal for about $1m more with Miami, but tested positive for a steroid and Miami backed away. They're also expected to sign Venezuelan catcher Yorbin Cueta for over $1m.

*It looks like Minute Maid Park will be the host of some first round games in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

*For the second straight Mock Draft, Keith Law has the Astros taking a college pitcher - this time it's Pitt RHP T.J. Zeuch.

*A man with a mullet tackled a man in a tank top at Minute Maid.

*.187-hitting Prince Fielder wasn't happy about sitting for two straight games against Seattle.

*The Dodgers decided to eat $35m and DFA Carl Crawford and his .185/.230/.235 slash line. Not for nothing, but Carlos Gomez - even after his first home run of the season and a double - is hitting .191/.247/.279. Three active Astros have more strikeouts than they do total bases: Gomez (53K:38TB), Castro (50K:48TB), and Marisnick (25K:23TB).

*A Marlins minor-leaguer stabbed another Marlins minor-leaguer in a prank.

Monday Morning Link Dump

*Richard Justice: The Astros are an absolute joy to watch

*Collin McHugh and spin rate - with a shoutout to our old friend Daren Willman

*Dallas Keuchel had not allowed 2+ homers in a game since July 2013. "I came out pretty bad," he said.

*Here's the Quad Cities paper on how they're so good on the road (17-5 this season)

*The Astros and Tigers had themselves an anthem showdown

*Bud Norris was so sick last week he lost 14 pounds and his parents came to stay with him.

This is the ballpark in Quad Cities right now

@CSNHouston Astros Class A Affiliate Quad Cities ballpark is a floating Island Resort pic.twitter.com/4LZLysfQ35

— RGuill (@QCBanditPhotog) July 5, 2014

Quad Cities Prospects' Birthday - Briefly, for Mobile Phones

Again, full analysis is here, but below is the raw data in a more friendly format for smaller screens.

-3.4 to -4.4 years: 0 with 0 top 43 prospect
-2.4 to -3.4 years: 0 with 0 top 43 prospects
-1.4 to -2.4 years: 1 with 1 top 43 prospects
-0.4 to -1.4 years: 7 with 4 top 43 prospects
+0.4 to -0.4 years: 3 with 1 top 43 prospects
+1.4 to +0.4 years: 9 with 0 top 43 prospects
+2.4 to +1.4 years: 4 with 0 top 43 prospects

Thanks.

Happy Prospects' Birthday: Quad Cities.

In the final instalment of the Prospects' Birthday series, we look at the last remaining full-season affiliate, the Quad Cities River Bandits.

The average age of a Midwest League prospect clocks in at 21.5.  This compares to the Hi-A California League average age (22.7) which is more than a year older.  (For the sake of completeness, the Texas Leave has an average age of 24.2, and the Pacific Coast League has an average age of 26.7)

Without further ado, to the awesome graph:

Age of Prospects, Quad Cities, as at 29 June 2014

                                                        X            XXX  
                                                       XXX           XXX     X
                                                 X     XXX    XXX    XXX    XXX 

Older Age Range:   -5.4 | -4.4 | -3.4 | -2.4 | -1.4 | -0.4 | +0.4 | +1.4 | +2.4 
  (in years)
Younger Age Range: -6.4 | -5.4 | -4.4 | -3.4 | -2.4 | -1.4 | -0.4 | +0.4 | +1.4 


The most striking thing about this graph is that it is quite unlike the graphs for the other affiliates.  In the graphs for all of the other affiliates, the average - or even median - age was definitely younger than the league average.  There were normally at least a couple of prospects 3-5 years younger than league average.

Not Quad Cities.  Their ages are cluster pretty much around the mean, with all the prospects in the lower half of that cluster.  The oldest players (on the right) are position players (Brett Booth, Tyler White, Jon Kemmer and Ronnie Mitchell), and the next group includes a bunch of pitchers, including Frederick Tiburcio (who is pretty dominant this year, but that may be why), Andrew Walter and Chris Cotton.

The prospect on the far left (ie. the youngest) is Brett Philips, and the four prospects in the -0.4 to -1.4 range (click on the hyperlinks for their baseball-reference pages) are the pitching quartet of Michael Feliz, Jandel Gustave, Adrian Houser and Chris Lee.

This is the least interesting or exciting of the prospect graphs, especially given the middling performance of the River Bandits this year.  I think the age of the Hooks, for example, put their around-.500 performance into perspective (ie. they are younger, and therefore have more room to improve).  But this graph suggests that the River Bandits are struggling more from a lack of overall talent.  Their performance cannot be accounted for simply by age.

Of course, the point also needs to be made that the average age of the prospects in the Midwest League is also very young at 21.5.  For a prospect to be, for example, five years younger than 21.5, then they would have to be (uses fingers.... moves lips...) 16.5 years.  Simply put, not many 16, or even 18, year olds are up to playing full season baseball.  I would expect that the "left tail" in any Lo-A would be far smaller than for, say, Corpus.  But that also makes Lancaster's left tail even more impressive, especially given that they are a bunch of games over .500, and have secured the best record in the league for the first half.

I would, of course, be interested in hearing any additional comments, hypotheses or feedback, as this concludes the Prospects' Birthday series.  Except, that is, for the Mobile phone version, which will be put up shortly.

PreStros Morning Report: May 21

TL;DR

*Astros affiliates go 2-1 on the day; Composite 98-85 record
*OKC wins 6-1 and Asher Wojciechowski strikes out five in his return to the mound
*Corpus wins 7-2 behind Tommy Shirley's stupid good outing and homers from Preston Tucker and Rene Garcia.
*Lancaster lost on a 10th inning walkoff despite Carlos Correa's 2x5, HR, 2RBI, SB day.
*A literal power outage suspended the Quad Cities/Burlington game with the score tied 4-4 in the top of the 7th.

Oklahoma City (26-21)

OKC took a 3-0 lead into the 4th, gave up a run, and then tacked on three more in the 5th for a 6-1 Random Daygame Win over New Orleans.  Asher Wojciechowski made a triumphant return to the mound for the first time since injuring his lat in early February: 4IP, 4H/1ER, 5K:1BB, and 41 of his 66 pitches for strikes. Oddly enough, Wojo didn't record a groundball out but whatevs. Bobby Doran threw 1IP, 1H/0ER, 0K:2BB; Paul Clemens got the win with 3K:2BB in 2IP; Chia-Jen Lo allowed 1H/0ER, 1K:2BB in 1IP and Kevin Chapman lowered his ERA to 1.29 with 2K:1BB in 1IP.

Jonathan Meyer was 2x3 with an RBI; Domingo Santana was 1x3 with an RBI and two walks; Erik Castro was 1x2 with 2BB; Enrique Hernandez was 1x3 with a walk and two runs scored; Jon Singleton was 0x4 with a walk and is now hitting .269/.398/.563.

Man of the Match: Asher Wojciechowski!

Corpus (24-21)

Never in doubt. Corpus had a 6-0 lead before Arkansas got two in the bottom of the 7th, but Corpus coasted to a 7-2 win. Tommy Shirley did what Tommy Shirley does: 6IP, 1H/0ER, 5K:0BB. For the season, Shirley has thrown 47.2IP and allowed 30H/8ER, 51K:12BB, which is just stupid. Alex Sogard allowed 2H/2R (1ER), 2K:1BB in 2IP and Andrew Robinson allowed 2H/0ER, 2K:0BB in 1IP.

Preston Tucker went 3x5 with his 10th homer and 2RBI total; Rene Garcia was 2x5 with a two-run homer; Delino DeShields (SB) and Matt Duffy had two hits each. Nolan Fontana was 1x4 with a double, walk, and 2RBI. MP Cokinos (BB, RBI) and Jio Mier (SB) added hits.

Man of the Match: Tommy Shirley

Lancaster (27-20)

Lancaster carried a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the 8th before Bakersfield tied it up and then walked off on Seth Mejias-Breen's 10th inning homer for a 5-4 win over the JetHawks. Kyle Westwood allowed 7H/3ER, 4K:3BB in 5IP; Gonzalo Sanudo gave up 4H/1ER, 1K:1BB in 4IP, and Juan Minaya took the loss by giving up the walkoff.

Carlos Correa was 2x5 with his 3rd homer of the season, 2RBI, and a stolen base; Teoscar Hernandez was 2x5 with a triple, RBI, outfield assist, and a stolen base. Tony Kemp was 1x4 with a stolen base and a walk.

Man of the Match: Carlos Correa

Quad Cities (21-23)

Play was suspended after the 6th inning when the power went out at Modern Woodmen Park in Quad Cities with the score tied at 4-4 and will resume in Burlington next week. In order to keep things straight, we'll suspend the recap here.

Monday Lunchtime Hot Links

Here are a few items of interest as you get ready to eat your anger and drink a cup of your own tears:

*Dexter Fowler has been working with Barry Bonds over the last few months. On what? "It's a plethora of things...mentally, it's physically, it's everything...We might just sit there and talk for an hour." Good luck getting into the Hall of Fame, now, Dexter.

*Jason Castro expects the team to be better this year.

*Assistant GM David Stearns is not surprised by Jon Singleton's start at OKC.

*Here's an interesting piece on how Quad Cities is using the running game to power their offense. 

Where Did These Guys Come From: Quad Cities

How the Quad Cities River Bandits (Low-A Midwest League) were acquired:

Pitchers

Tyler Brunnemann: 40th Round draft pick, 2013
Pat Christensen: 27th Round draft pick, 2013
Chris Cotton: 14th Round draft pick, 2013
Kent Emanuel: 3rd Round draft pick, 2013
Michael Feliz: Signed as amateur free agent prior to 2010 season
Evan Grills: 10th Round draft pick, 2010
Jandel Gustave: Signed as amateur free agent prior to 2010 season
Adrian Houser: 2nd Round pick, 2011
Chris Lee: 4th Round pick, 2011
Albert Minnis: 25th Round pick, 2013
Zach Morton: 32nd Round pick, 2013
Gonzalo Sanudo: Acquired via trade with Minnesota for Mike Kvasnicka - March 2013
Andrew Thurman: 2nd Round pick, 2013
Andrew Walter: Signed as an undrafted free agent, July 2011

Catchers

Brett Booth: 34th Round pick, 2013
Brian Holberton: 9th Round pick, 2013
Jobduan Morales: Acquired via trade with Miami for Justin Ruggiano - May 2012

Infielders

Austin Elkins: 19th Round pick, 2012
Conrad Gregor: 4th Round pick, 2013
Jack Mayfield: Signed as an undrafted free agent, June 2013
Chase McDonald: 12th Round pick, 2013
Chan Moon: Signed as an amateur free agent, September 2009
Tyler White: 33rd Round draft pick, 2013

Outfielders

Jon Kemmer: 21st Round pick, 2013
Tanner Mathis: 27th Round pick, 2012
Brett Phillips: 6th Round pick, 2012
James Ramsay: 7th Round pick, 2013

Quad Cities wins Midwest League

With a chance to sweep South Bend in the Midwest League finals, the River Bandits got to work early. Josh Hader (who came to Houston in the Bud Norris trade) retired the top of the 1st in order and Tony Kemp singled to lead off the bottom half. A Teoscar Hernandez sac bunt and throwing error sccored Kemp, and Hernandez scored on Danry Vasquez's single to take a 2-0 lead after one inning. South Bend got a single in the second, but a Rio Ruiz homer and a a Tony Kemp RBI double made it 4-0 Quad Cities after two.

There were threats on both sides for the rest of the game, and Andrew Walter gave up a two-run homer in the top of the 9th, and had the tying run at the plate for two batters, but got a popout and a fly out to end the game and preserve a 4-2 Championship-clinching win.

Hader threw 7IP, 3H/0ER, 8K:1BB; Mitchel Lambson walked one in 1IP and Walter gave up 2H/2ER, 1K:1BB in the 9th. Tony Kemp was 3x4 with a double and an RBI; Danry Vasquez and Rio Ruiz (HR) each had a hit and a walk.

Man of the Match: Josh Hader

Series: Quad Cities wins 3-0
Next Up: 2014

Craziness in the Quad Cities game

The Batguy mentioned this in his Morning Report today, but there was some craziness in the Quad Cities/Clinton game last night - and this on the same night as the crazy Lansing/Great Lakes game that Deadspin highlighted today.

With the score tied at six with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th and Jordan Scott up, Scott lifted a fly ball to the warning track, which would get the winning run home. Except Jabari Henry allowed the ball to drop and Austin Elkins crossed home plate, the ballpark and the RiverBandits erupting. This is precisely what Jabari Henry was going for.

Brett Phillips, who was on 2nd, never reached 3rd plate. Clinton appealed, tagged, and then threw to 2nd, hoping that it was determined that Teoscar Hernandez never reached second base

Here's Steve Batterson in the Quad Cities Times:
But, umpires ruled that Hernandez had touched second base and was retreating toward first as the celebration started, prompting a sometimes-heated discussion of more than 10 minutes between managers of both teams and the umpires that continued even as a postgame fireworks display began.

River Bandits manager Omar Lopez:
The umpire at first (Larry Allen) saw Hernandez on top of second base and because Teoscar had gotten there, there was no double play. Brett Phillips did not touch third and the out was called. Everybody was excited, running around. This is A ball, but hopefully he learns the next time he is in that situation that he has to advance. Baseball is a crazy game. It teaches you something every day.

Three River Bandits named to Midwest League All-Star team

The Quad Cities River Bandits have announced that Carlos Correa, Jordan Jankowski, and Lance McCullers have been named to the Midwest League All-Star team.

SS Carlos Correa - last year's 1.1 pick, of course - is hitting .275/.383/.401 with 36K:26BB.
RHP Jordan Jankowski has allowed 42H/14ER, 42K:9BB in 48.1IP
RHP Lance McCullers has allowed 37H/9ER, 51K:22BB in 47.2IP