I was wide awake at 3am so let's just get today over with, huh?
*Joe Musgrove will be SP4 to start the season, and the rotation will be Keuchel, McCullers, Morton, Musgrove, and Fiers.
*Which of course means that Collin McHugh and his dead arm will start the season on the DL. He'll make his Spring Training debut today, about three weeks too late.
*And now the only question is who will be the final arm out of the bullpen: James Hoyt or Jandel Gustave? Hinch:
It's miserable being this guy. Hoyt's been this guy for the last couple of years; Gustave is the first time being this close to the team, (Dayan) Diaz as well. I don't want them to put so much pressure on themselves in the last outing or two they're going to have.
Hinch is looking to see if they can get lefties out to help Sipp in times of trouble. The bullpen, as of now, is Giles, Gregerson, Harris, Feliz, Devenski, Sipp, and probably Brad Peacock to serve as a multiple-inning guy (read: Out-of-Options guy).
*And Tony Sipp was scratched from both weekend games due to a back issue.
*Josh Reddick wants to hit more lefty pitching.
*Nick Cafardo is the latest to write that the Astros are still in on Jose Quintana, though they're reluctant to part with Francis Martes in that deal. "One major league source" says that the White Sox could trade Quintana before Opening Day, which is in a week, of course.
*The Astros are impressed with Derek Fisher's base-stealing ability.
*New Astros play-by-play man Todd Kalas honored his Hall of Fame father with his home run call.
*The Astros traded catcher Tyler Heineman to, who else, the Brewers for "a player to be named later or cash considerations." How funny would it be if there was a player whose actual last name was Later. Or if their name was Cash Considerations. That'd be messed up. I'm very tired.
Heineman - the Astros' 8th Round pick out of UCLA in the 2012 draft - will be 26 in June. In 2015, between Corpus and Fresno, Heineman hit .285/.334/.379, good enough to spend all of 2016 in Fresno, where he hit .359/.344/.351. What with the emergence of Garrett Stubbs as a prospect, and with Juan Centeno's arrival, and Stassi's return to Fresno, there likely just wasn't playing time available for Heineman. Fare thee well, Tyler Heineman.
*The Astros released LHP C.J. Riefenhauser yesterday, and reassigned Jordan Jankowski, Tyson Perez, Alejandro Garcia, and Jon Kemmer to minor-league camp.
*Anthony Gose - who was an Astro for about eight minutes before getting traded to Toronto for Astros Great Brett Wallace - is about to be converted into a pitcher.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
Showing posts with label Tyler Heineman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tyler Heineman. Show all posts
Monday, March 27, 2017
Monday, March 28, 2016
Singleton is your starting 1B...
...For the Fresno Grizzlies.
Singleton was optioned to the minors, as were the following players (optioned, reassigned, whatever):
Joe Sclafani, Jake Buchanan, Tyler Heineman, Michael Feliz, A.J. Reed, Eury Perez, and Cesar Valdez.
A couple of notes:
After a Spring in which he "hit" .125/.176/.292, Singleton's optioning combined with A.J. Reed - who I'm sure was sent down for Triple-A experience/service time considerations - leaves Tyler White as the short-term heir apparent to 1B and a virtual lock to start at 1B at Yankee Stadium next Monday afternoon.
I thought this was Jon Singleton's year. I have thought this for multiple years now. Keep in mind this could still be Singleton's year, but it's going to take a little while longer. The scorched sun will drip fire onto the scalded earth 80 years from now and still I will think, "This is Singleton's year."
It's also worth noting that Evan Gattis - who will start 2016 on the DL - is likely going to Corpus for a rehab assignment.
Tyler Heineman's reassignment to the minors leaves the Astros moving in the direction of "hoping they find a backup catcher from outside." Heineman was 5x20 in 11 Spring games. Bert Pena is still with the team, but is hitting .208/.231/.250 this Spring. Don't sleep on the possibility of A.J. Hinch coming out of retirement to be manager/backup catcher.
Michael Feliz threw 14IP, 11H/2ER, 12K:6BB. He was impressive this Spring and you can bet he made a positive impression on the Astros. Should one of the starters falter, or the Astros find themselves in need of a reliever, Feliz should be first man up.
Singleton was optioned to the minors, as were the following players (optioned, reassigned, whatever):
Joe Sclafani, Jake Buchanan, Tyler Heineman, Michael Feliz, A.J. Reed, Eury Perez, and Cesar Valdez.
A couple of notes:
After a Spring in which he "hit" .125/.176/.292, Singleton's optioning combined with A.J. Reed - who I'm sure was sent down for Triple-A experience/service time considerations - leaves Tyler White as the short-term heir apparent to 1B and a virtual lock to start at 1B at Yankee Stadium next Monday afternoon.
I thought this was Jon Singleton's year. I have thought this for multiple years now. Keep in mind this could still be Singleton's year, but it's going to take a little while longer. The scorched sun will drip fire onto the scalded earth 80 years from now and still I will think, "This is Singleton's year."
It's also worth noting that Evan Gattis - who will start 2016 on the DL - is likely going to Corpus for a rehab assignment.
Tyler Heineman's reassignment to the minors leaves the Astros moving in the direction of "hoping they find a backup catcher from outside." Heineman was 5x20 in 11 Spring games. Bert Pena is still with the team, but is hitting .208/.231/.250 this Spring. Don't sleep on the possibility of A.J. Hinch coming out of retirement to be manager/backup catcher.
Michael Feliz threw 14IP, 11H/2ER, 12K:6BB. He was impressive this Spring and you can bet he made a positive impression on the Astros. Should one of the starters falter, or the Astros find themselves in need of a reliever, Feliz should be first man up.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Monday Morning Hot Links
The Astros beat the Braves yesterday 7-6 behind a 3-run Jose Altuve homer, but the biggest news of the weekend (and, apologies if you came here looking for some NOOZ and didn't find any, it was a rather busy weekend at ACHQ) was the injury bug that reared its ugly head:
*Lance McCullers has a sore shoulder and, despite a clean MRI taken on Friday, could still land on the DL to open the season. He was scheduled to start a game this past weekend, but the soreness prevented that from happening, and there is no timetable for his return. "150 games are more important than those first two (starts)," McCullers told the Chronicle.
*Max Stassi has an injured hamate bone which, as Hinch says in this MLB.com video, affects Stassi's hitting more than it does his catching. Stassi will see a specialist in Houston today and rejoin the team in Kissimmee on Wednesday.
*As far as depth, Alfredo Gonzalez is the only other catcher on the 40-Man roster (other than Castro, of course). Gonzalez has only played in 32 games for Corpus, but hit .321/.409/.378 across three levels in 2015. Tyler Heineman hit .285/.334/.379 between Corpus and Fresno last year, but would have to be added to the 40-Man roster.
*Jim Crane loves what he sees in the 2016 Astros. Try the first link if you have trouble with the second.
*Brian Smith loves how much fun the Astros are having.
*Luke Gregerson threw live BP for the first time, and is ready to go.
*Teoscar Hernandez - who struggled in Corpus last year (.219/.275/.362) - is impressing A.J. Hinch in camp.
*Correa's rise makes the Astros hungry for more.
*Colby Rasmus: We just love the game more than anybody else.
*The Astros' ESL program is paying off for pitching prospect Juan Minaya.
*The Astros' shift from development to domination is almost complete.
*Fresno State made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 15 years and alum Doug Fister couldn't be happier.
*Kevin Chapman and Jake Buchanan won an Astros basketball shooting contest.
*Guys like John Kruk and Dmitri Young are worried about Pablo Sandoval.
*Someone leaked the bracket halfway through the train wreck that was CBS' Selection Show.
*Lance McCullers has a sore shoulder and, despite a clean MRI taken on Friday, could still land on the DL to open the season. He was scheduled to start a game this past weekend, but the soreness prevented that from happening, and there is no timetable for his return. "150 games are more important than those first two (starts)," McCullers told the Chronicle.
*Max Stassi has an injured hamate bone which, as Hinch says in this MLB.com video, affects Stassi's hitting more than it does his catching. Stassi will see a specialist in Houston today and rejoin the team in Kissimmee on Wednesday.
*As far as depth, Alfredo Gonzalez is the only other catcher on the 40-Man roster (other than Castro, of course). Gonzalez has only played in 32 games for Corpus, but hit .321/.409/.378 across three levels in 2015. Tyler Heineman hit .285/.334/.379 between Corpus and Fresno last year, but would have to be added to the 40-Man roster.
*Jim Crane loves what he sees in the 2016 Astros. Try the first link if you have trouble with the second.
*Brian Smith loves how much fun the Astros are having.
*Luke Gregerson threw live BP for the first time, and is ready to go.
*Teoscar Hernandez - who struggled in Corpus last year (.219/.275/.362) - is impressing A.J. Hinch in camp.
*Correa's rise makes the Astros hungry for more.
*Colby Rasmus: We just love the game more than anybody else.
*The Astros' ESL program is paying off for pitching prospect Juan Minaya.
*The Astros' shift from development to domination is almost complete.
*Fresno State made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 15 years and alum Doug Fister couldn't be happier.
*Kevin Chapman and Jake Buchanan won an Astros basketball shooting contest.
*Guys like John Kruk and Dmitri Young are worried about Pablo Sandoval.
*Someone leaked the bracket halfway through the train wreck that was CBS' Selection Show.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Monday Morning Hot Links
*The Astros are more focused, more relaxed this Spring Training. And there are a variety of opinions as to why.
Five or six, seven years down the road from now, I hope to be a dynasty. And I think it's heading that way.
-Dallas Keuchel
*Jason Castro has been working on getting his bat in the strike zone earlier. He wants to stay in Houston and also found the arbitration process "awkward."
*Castro has a newfound respect for how hard Ken Giles throws.
*A.J. Hinch - who I just realized is six years older than me and now I'm in a depressive spiral - brings continuity to the 2016 Astros.
*Evan Gattis (hernia) isn't working out yet, but is involved in a lot of facets of camp. "We want his learning curve back into the baseball rhythm to be short. He'll do some tracking with the machine, he'll do some things with the cage that don't threaten his rehab, but I haven't given up on reintroducing catching to him once he gets healthy."
-A.J. Hinch
*Making the rotation is Mike Fiers' number one goal.
*The Astros are trying to shorten Lance McCullers' Spring Training.
*The Astros are interested in lefty reliever Randy Choate. Sipp and Kevin Chapman are the only lefty relievers on the 40-Man roster.
*Preston Tucker: First baseman?
*Tyler Heineman: Magician.
*Hardball Times: The fascinating enigma of the non-roster invitee
*Guy Fieri Felix Hernandez can't believe he hasn't been to the playoffs.
*Joel Sherman has some ideas to prevent "serial losers" like Jeff Luhnow and Theo Epstein from rebuilding their teams.
*A century of baseball memorabilia was found in a Vancouver attic.
Five or six, seven years down the road from now, I hope to be a dynasty. And I think it's heading that way.
-Dallas Keuchel
*Jason Castro has been working on getting his bat in the strike zone earlier. He wants to stay in Houston and also found the arbitration process "awkward."
*Castro has a newfound respect for how hard Ken Giles throws.
*A.J. Hinch - who I just realized is six years older than me and now I'm in a depressive spiral - brings continuity to the 2016 Astros.
*Evan Gattis (hernia) isn't working out yet, but is involved in a lot of facets of camp. "We want his learning curve back into the baseball rhythm to be short. He'll do some tracking with the machine, he'll do some things with the cage that don't threaten his rehab, but I haven't given up on reintroducing catching to him once he gets healthy."
-A.J. Hinch
*Making the rotation is Mike Fiers' number one goal.
*The Astros are trying to shorten Lance McCullers' Spring Training.
*The Astros are interested in lefty reliever Randy Choate. Sipp and Kevin Chapman are the only lefty relievers on the 40-Man roster.
*Preston Tucker: First baseman?
*Tyler Heineman: Magician.
*Hardball Times: The fascinating enigma of the non-roster invitee
*
*Joel Sherman has some ideas to prevent "serial losers" like Jeff Luhnow and Theo Epstein from rebuilding their teams.
*A century of baseball memorabilia was found in a Vancouver attic.
Monday, January 18, 2016
Astros Depth Charts: the Catchers
To whittle away the time between now and the start of Spring Training, Astros County plans to preview each positional group of Astros. We will look at the Major League roster, all relevant players who have played AA and above, and any available or realistic trade targets or free agents (mostly for the purposes of comparison). This is the first of the articles, but in future articles, we will provide links here. The primer to this article is here.
Starter: Jason Castro (28, will turn 29 in June)
Barring something weird, Jason Castro will be the Opening Day starter for the Astros. Castro was taken tenth overall in the 2008 draft as a fourth-year graduate out of Stanford, and will reach Free Agency after the 2016 season. In the 2008 draft, six of the nine picks prior to him were fourth-year collegiate players, with Buster Posey being the obvious standout of the entire draft. At the time, the Castro pick was panned as an overdraft (search "Castro" in the link or scroll down to 12:09PM PT, and you get legendary BP writers and future Astros' Front Office staff expressing initial disbelief and eventual disgust over the Castro pick).
What happened after the draft was a credit to the Astros' front office from the Ed Wade era. Castro cruised through the minors, twice making BA's Top-100 prospects list. He was promoted the Bigs for 67 games in 2010, and all he has done since then is accumulate either 7.7 fWAR or 8.6 bWAR, depending on what system you prefer. Note that Castro also sat out the 2011 season after he ruptured his ACL running to first base in Spring Training. With a complete 2011 season, Castro would probably have accumulated more WAR by either measure, and could have progressed to double figures WAR at the time of writing. 7-8 WAR in 504 career games in the Major Leagues isn't great, but this makes Castro a solid everyday player at a position where it is hard to excel for significant periods because of general wear-and-tear, and the extra demands of donning the Tools of Ignorance.
Castro is the owner of perhaps the best offensive year by a full-time Astros catcher during his 2013 season - a season where he raked to the tune of .276/.350/.485 with 35 doubles, one triple and 18 home runs. That season was worth around 4.4 f-WAR, but also remains the only year that Castro posted a wRC+ above league-average. 2013, in retrospect, looks more and more like an outlier for Castro, but if he were to repeat it, he would be in line for a solid payday in 2017. If he was to have a second hot offensive campaign, he would also probably head into free-agency with a qualifying offer, which may dampen his market a little as the Astros attempt to recoup a draft pick at a relatively rare free-agent position.
Repeating 2013 is no sure thing, however. Castro has had two very similar looking campaigns since he nearly singlehandedly carried the Astros offence two full seasons ago. In 2014, he hit .222/.286/.366 for an OPS+ of 84. In 2015, he hit .211/.283/.365 for an OPS+ of 77. He has a combined 67 walks against a whopping 266 strikeouts over the last two seasons, with 25 combined home runs. Those aren't the numbers that Castro wants heading into his free-agent season.
Castro has pretty decent career platoon splits: .249/.328/.424 against righties versus .199/.251/.297 against lefties. In his career 2013 year, he still demonstrated a decent split, but was notably better against lefties (.864 OPS against RHP versus .738 OPS against LHP). So Castro is certainly a player who would benefit from sitting against southpaw starters, and may look better just holding up the fat side of a platoon.
Arbitration figures have been exchanged, with the team filing for 5MM and Castro filing for 5.25MM. MLBTR projected Castro to earn around 5MM in 2016, so he won't be expensive for what he offers. The Astros look set to head to an arbitration hearing with Castro, which seems stupid because of the 250k difference between the figures exchanged. It seems odd that the Astros' intentions for the Castro arbitration have made it onto the media, and it is possible that this represents an attempt by the Astros to pressure Castro into a deal which buys out his first free-agent year. This would give whichever-prospect-listed-below another year of development before needing to step up and into the big-leagues. In my opinion, I think that a two-year 12MM deal would be a good deal for both sides, but Castro would be more likely to regret signing if he has a solid campaign in 2016.
In terms of the projections, all three of the projection systems used (ZIPS, Fangraphs' Steamer and B-R's Marcel) predict some improvement for Jason Castro in 2016 while he continues to exhibit below-average production at the plate. ZiPS likes Castro to the tune of .231/.303/.389, while Marcel sees Castro hitting .236/.304/.404, walking 36 times against 121 strikeouts, and hitting 14 home runs over 439 plate-appearances. Steamer is less bullish, predicting Castro hitting in the vicinity of .224/.296/.374 with 12 home runs in 436 plate appearances. Steamer sees Castro continuing to provide significant value of defence, however, and it is worthy noting that Castro's 2015 was his most valuable defensively in his career according to Fangraphs. His overall WAR - according to Steamer - projects as 1.6, or a little more valuable than Castro was last season.
For both Castro and the Astros, 2016 shapes to be a big year. Castro can create himself a nice market in a position where there is often a dearth of free agents. The Astros will be hoping for a 3-4 WAR season from Castro, which would give them a nice boost. Castro certainly has offensive potential, but his progression over the last few years have been troubling, as many AC Commentators have frequently mentioned. The projection systems are probably still hanging on to Castro's 2013 in predicting a bounce-back.
Backup: Max Stassi (24, will turn 25 in March)
Stassi has been with the Astros since the 2012-2013 offseason, when he was traded as part of the Jed Lowrie deal, first edition. At the time of the trade, Stassi had just finished the 2012 season at Hi-A Stockton - he opened 2013 in Corpus, and made his ML debut later in 2013 when the Astros' hand was forced with injuries to the catching corps. Stassi had the opportunity for some playing time, but he quickly wore and up-and-in fastball from Texas' Tanner Scheppers in his second ever big-league game, and was subsequently done for most of the rest of the season, making his last appearance of 2013 just over a month later.
Stassi seems like he has been knocking on the door of regular time with Houston for a while, but the truth of it is that his 2013 debut was forced by injuries, and therefore rushed. Last offseason, the Astros traded for Hammerin' Hank the Dancin' Robot, which I thought was curious because Stassi and Castro form a natural platoon, whereas Conger is a switch-hitter in name only. The recent trade of Conger to the Rays could be seen as a supportive comment on Stassi's development, but is more likely to do with either Conger's noodle arm or a combination of factors.
You see, Stassi didn't have a great year in Fresno - the Grizzlies play in the offensively-friendly league Pacific Coast League. He struggled to remain above the Mendoza Line with his batting average, and also posted a sub-.300 OBP (.211/.279/.384). His big-league line has been more encouraging: .357/.386/.476, but that has been posted in a meagre 45 plate appearances spread over 2013, 2014 and 2015. So Stassi may not be the offensive monster that a backup catcher with power could be.
The knock on his development has always been around his average arm and the hit-tool. The various scouting reports that are available publicly suggest that he is a relatively strong catcher in terms of his receiving and ability to work with pitchers, with some pop in his bat. However, his ability to hit for average combined with a sub-.300 OBP may ultimately restrict his value.
The other question for Stassi - especially when combining with Castro - is whether he actually offers any platoon advantages. Given his 45 major-league plate appearances, very little useful information can be extrapolated from his triple-slashes at the highest level. Minor-league splits are a little harder to come by, but I noted that the 2015 season yielded a minor split in favour of facing lefties (.692 OPS versus .646 against RHP), boosted mainly by a 57-point advantage in slugging against LHP. His 2014 AAA numbers are more suggestive of a platoon advantage (.785 versus .628), whereas his 2013 AA numbers are suggestive of a reverse platoon split (.706 OPS against LHP versus .907 OPS against righties).
So it's not clear that Stassi offers significant platoon advantages, but he doesn't need to to assist Castro, whose splits have been discussed earlier in this article. At 24 years of age, Stassi's time is now, so look for him to break camp with the Astros in a backup role to open the year barring injury.
Marcel projects Stassi to hit a robust .279/.337/.437 in 211 plate appearances, including 6 home runs, 1 triple and 10 doubles. I would turn cartwheels if the Astros got that from Stassi in 2016. Steamer sees Stassi getting 153 plate appearances, with a triple-slash line of .213/.262/.349, and worth 0.2 WAR. I would be disappointed if the Astros got that in 2016 from Stassi. ZiPS agrees predominantly with Steamer: .217/.265/.359, 11HR in 376 PA's.
Also on the 40-Man: Alfredo González (23, will turn 24 in July)
Not a lot of open-source research material is available regarding Alfredo González, who was a surprise addition to the 40-man roster prior to the Rule 5 draft. The Venezuelan was signed as an international free agent in 2008 just after his 16th birthday. He played in the Dominican Summer League as a 16 year old, then sat out the next season with an injury. He then spent the next three seasons in Rookie ball then played Short Season ball at Tri-Cities as a 21 year old in 2014. His season at Tri-Cities saw the second consecutive year in which he demonstrated a strong walk rate, resulting in a triple-slash line of .246/.348/.369.
Then 2015 happened. González posted strong walk-rates over three levels, jumping from Lo-A to AA in the process. González acquitted himself well at AA (after the Jacob Nottingham trade), posting a 14% walk rate over 121 plate appearances for a combined slash line of .300/.395/.320. He could be accused of being somewhat punchless - he hit nothing more assertive than a double. His offensive profile has - at least in the last three years - always been associated with gaudy OBP numbers. Perhaps his power will develop later, but doesn't have to, because a catcher who can get on base at around a .350 clip is a very valuable asset.
It is probable that González remains in line for a call-up in the event of an injury. I would be stunned if he broke camp with the big club without an injury or trade, but if he did, it would be quite the meteoric rise through the minor leagues. Steamer forecasts González to receive 31 plate appearances, posting a .236/.295/.328 triple-slash line, whereas Marcel is silent on the matter, given a lack of ML plate appearances at this juncture. ZiPS is similarly unimpressed with González's minor-league OBP, projecting a .233/.294/.277 triple-slash, with a 22% K-rate versus a 7.8% walk-rate. It will be interesting to see whether his strong OBP rates continue as he climbs the minor-league ladder, although he is most likely to open 2016 in AA.
Invited to Spring Training: Tyler Heineman (24, turns 25 in June)
Heineman spent most of his 2015 at Fresno, where he caddied for Max Stassi. Heineman is a switch-hitting catcher who was drafted out of college in the eighth round of the 2012 draft. That meant that Heineman was Rule 5 eligible in the Winter Meetings just passed, but he remains with the organisation. He was offered a Spring Training invite for 2016.
Heineman has a solid career minor-league line (for a catcher) of .288/.364/.409. His work at Fresno in 2015 was only okay: .271/.312/.370 in 209 plate appearances, with three home runs. He is apparently a strong catcher defensively - at least that was the rep on him at draft time - but he appears to have struggled a little more with the bat as he has slowly climbed the minor-league ladder.
Steamer projects Heineman to hit .244/.295/.340. That is not palpably better than González's line described above, and Heineman has the disadvantage of needing to be added to the 40-man to be called up. ZIPS likes Heineman to the tune of .228/.283/.327, seeing some minor advantages in slugging percentage over González. Marcel has no projection. This all probably means Heineman is second in line - behind González - in terms of a big-league call up, but a hot half-season in Fresno would do a lot to change that.
Invited to Spring Training: Roberto Pena (23, turns 24 in June)
Pena, like Heineman, was Rule 5 eligible, having been drafted in the 7th round of the 2010 draft. He spent the entire season 2015 at Corpus, where he "hit" .237/.284/.288 in 280 PA's. He has a reputation as an excellent defensive catcher, but he seems to have a light bat (judging by his minor-league dashboard stats), so perhaps a defensive backup seems like the most obvious role for him.
Steamer sees him hitting .216/.255/.306, leading to a wRC+ of 51. Marcel and ZiPS offer no further insights. Hard to argue with Steamer's forecast, given his minor-league stats.
If Pena appears in the major-leagues in 2016, either he has discovered the long sought secret to hitting, or something has gone horribly wrong with the Astros and their catchers.
Possible Free Agent: Carlos Corporan (32, 33 in January 2017)
The class of free-agent catchers is very slim. Earlier in the offseason, I wondered whether Tyler Flowers may warrant a look from the Astros - he had just been non-tendered by the White Sox, and is a reasonable offensive catcher without much of a platoon split. However, he signed with the team that originally drafted him (the Braves) for a cool $5.3MM, which is waaaaay too much to sign a backup catcher for, as the Astros would likely have remained committed to Jason Castro.
The only realistic (yet highly unlikely) free agent worth discussing is our old friend, Carlos Corporan, who was with the Astros from 2012 through 2014. "Corp" was reasonable offensive backup on a bad Astros team for three years (OPS+'s of 103, 79 and 91), but he cratered with the Rangers last year, posting a .178/.244/.299 triple slash in 121 plate appearances, yielding an OPS+ of 46. Given that the Astros got Akeen Bostick for Corporan and then have the chance to sign him a year later (not that they will take that chance unless it is on a minor-league deal), Corporan proved to be a savvy trade for the Front Office, the timing of which was perfect.
Marcel has a soft-spot for Corp, projecting a .227/.289/.371 line from him, with 8 home runs and 10 doubles. Steamer sees Corp struggling to the tune of .218/.273/.299 with three home runs. ZiPS is mostly in agreement with Steamer, but believes more in Corporan's slugging abilities, forecasting a triple-slash of .218/.276/.345.
None of those projections are obviously better than the available in-house options for the Astros, but having Corp as a comparison case to project against seems like a useful exercise.
I cannot identify a potential or realistic Trade Target for the Astros for this offseason, which is likely to be more reflective of the catching market and the fact that the Astros seemed settled on their current roster. Buster Posey isn't coming to Minute Maid any time soon, sadly.
So the Astros appear to be largely set at catcher, with a veteran on the last year of his contract and a well-seasoned prospect set to split the duties behind the plate. As it happens, they potentially could form a platoon of sorts if that is how the Astros want to head into the 2016 season. Both are solid defensive catchers with reported strengths in receiving, which is what the Front Office seems to prioritise. Both have spectacular arms in comparison to Hank Conger, the outgoing 2015 backup, but probably possess at-best average arms when compared to the population of big-league catchers. Castro will see the majority of time behind the dish, but exactly how much will probably be determined by injuries and how his bat performs. For the other catchers in the 40-man, 2016 is an important year in nabbing a place on the depth-chart totem pole, given Castro's likely departure at the end of the season.
With Castro and Stassi behind the plate, ZIPS seems them combining for approximately 3 zWAR, once defence is taken into account. A hot offensive season by either could add significantly to that projection. Castro has a great season in his resumé, and Stassi seems to have hit well in a handful of major-league plate appearances, so Catcher could be a position where the Astros could potentially outplay their projected forecasts.
Starter: Jason Castro (28, will turn 29 in June)
Barring something weird, Jason Castro will be the Opening Day starter for the Astros. Castro was taken tenth overall in the 2008 draft as a fourth-year graduate out of Stanford, and will reach Free Agency after the 2016 season. In the 2008 draft, six of the nine picks prior to him were fourth-year collegiate players, with Buster Posey being the obvious standout of the entire draft. At the time, the Castro pick was panned as an overdraft (search "Castro" in the link or scroll down to 12:09PM PT, and you get legendary BP writers and future Astros' Front Office staff expressing initial disbelief and eventual disgust over the Castro pick).
What happened after the draft was a credit to the Astros' front office from the Ed Wade era. Castro cruised through the minors, twice making BA's Top-100 prospects list. He was promoted the Bigs for 67 games in 2010, and all he has done since then is accumulate either 7.7 fWAR or 8.6 bWAR, depending on what system you prefer. Note that Castro also sat out the 2011 season after he ruptured his ACL running to first base in Spring Training. With a complete 2011 season, Castro would probably have accumulated more WAR by either measure, and could have progressed to double figures WAR at the time of writing. 7-8 WAR in 504 career games in the Major Leagues isn't great, but this makes Castro a solid everyday player at a position where it is hard to excel for significant periods because of general wear-and-tear, and the extra demands of donning the Tools of Ignorance.
Castro is the owner of perhaps the best offensive year by a full-time Astros catcher during his 2013 season - a season where he raked to the tune of .276/.350/.485 with 35 doubles, one triple and 18 home runs. That season was worth around 4.4 f-WAR, but also remains the only year that Castro posted a wRC+ above league-average. 2013, in retrospect, looks more and more like an outlier for Castro, but if he were to repeat it, he would be in line for a solid payday in 2017. If he was to have a second hot offensive campaign, he would also probably head into free-agency with a qualifying offer, which may dampen his market a little as the Astros attempt to recoup a draft pick at a relatively rare free-agent position.
Repeating 2013 is no sure thing, however. Castro has had two very similar looking campaigns since he nearly singlehandedly carried the Astros offence two full seasons ago. In 2014, he hit .222/.286/.366 for an OPS+ of 84. In 2015, he hit .211/.283/.365 for an OPS+ of 77. He has a combined 67 walks against a whopping 266 strikeouts over the last two seasons, with 25 combined home runs. Those aren't the numbers that Castro wants heading into his free-agent season.
Castro has pretty decent career platoon splits: .249/.328/.424 against righties versus .199/.251/.297 against lefties. In his career 2013 year, he still demonstrated a decent split, but was notably better against lefties (.864 OPS against RHP versus .738 OPS against LHP). So Castro is certainly a player who would benefit from sitting against southpaw starters, and may look better just holding up the fat side of a platoon.
In terms of the projections, all three of the projection systems used (ZIPS, Fangraphs' Steamer and B-R's Marcel) predict some improvement for Jason Castro in 2016 while he continues to exhibit below-average production at the plate. ZiPS likes Castro to the tune of .231/.303/.389, while Marcel sees Castro hitting .236/.304/.404, walking 36 times against 121 strikeouts, and hitting 14 home runs over 439 plate-appearances. Steamer is less bullish, predicting Castro hitting in the vicinity of .224/.296/.374 with 12 home runs in 436 plate appearances. Steamer sees Castro continuing to provide significant value of defence, however, and it is worthy noting that Castro's 2015 was his most valuable defensively in his career according to Fangraphs. His overall WAR - according to Steamer - projects as 1.6, or a little more valuable than Castro was last season.
For both Castro and the Astros, 2016 shapes to be a big year. Castro can create himself a nice market in a position where there is often a dearth of free agents. The Astros will be hoping for a 3-4 WAR season from Castro, which would give them a nice boost. Castro certainly has offensive potential, but his progression over the last few years have been troubling, as many AC Commentators have frequently mentioned. The projection systems are probably still hanging on to Castro's 2013 in predicting a bounce-back.
Backup: Max Stassi (24, will turn 25 in March)
Stassi has been with the Astros since the 2012-2013 offseason, when he was traded as part of the Jed Lowrie deal, first edition. At the time of the trade, Stassi had just finished the 2012 season at Hi-A Stockton - he opened 2013 in Corpus, and made his ML debut later in 2013 when the Astros' hand was forced with injuries to the catching corps. Stassi had the opportunity for some playing time, but he quickly wore and up-and-in fastball from Texas' Tanner Scheppers in his second ever big-league game, and was subsequently done for most of the rest of the season, making his last appearance of 2013 just over a month later.
Stassi seems like he has been knocking on the door of regular time with Houston for a while, but the truth of it is that his 2013 debut was forced by injuries, and therefore rushed. Last offseason, the Astros traded for Hammerin' Hank the Dancin' Robot, which I thought was curious because Stassi and Castro form a natural platoon, whereas Conger is a switch-hitter in name only. The recent trade of Conger to the Rays could be seen as a supportive comment on Stassi's development, but is more likely to do with either Conger's noodle arm or a combination of factors.
You see, Stassi didn't have a great year in Fresno - the Grizzlies play in the offensively-friendly league Pacific Coast League. He struggled to remain above the Mendoza Line with his batting average, and also posted a sub-.300 OBP (.211/.279/.384). His big-league line has been more encouraging: .357/.386/.476, but that has been posted in a meagre 45 plate appearances spread over 2013, 2014 and 2015. So Stassi may not be the offensive monster that a backup catcher with power could be.
The knock on his development has always been around his average arm and the hit-tool. The various scouting reports that are available publicly suggest that he is a relatively strong catcher in terms of his receiving and ability to work with pitchers, with some pop in his bat. However, his ability to hit for average combined with a sub-.300 OBP may ultimately restrict his value.
The other question for Stassi - especially when combining with Castro - is whether he actually offers any platoon advantages. Given his 45 major-league plate appearances, very little useful information can be extrapolated from his triple-slashes at the highest level. Minor-league splits are a little harder to come by, but I noted that the 2015 season yielded a minor split in favour of facing lefties (.692 OPS versus .646 against RHP), boosted mainly by a 57-point advantage in slugging against LHP. His 2014 AAA numbers are more suggestive of a platoon advantage (.785 versus .628), whereas his 2013 AA numbers are suggestive of a reverse platoon split (.706 OPS against LHP versus .907 OPS against righties).
So it's not clear that Stassi offers significant platoon advantages, but he doesn't need to to assist Castro, whose splits have been discussed earlier in this article. At 24 years of age, Stassi's time is now, so look for him to break camp with the Astros in a backup role to open the year barring injury.
Marcel projects Stassi to hit a robust .279/.337/.437 in 211 plate appearances, including 6 home runs, 1 triple and 10 doubles. I would turn cartwheels if the Astros got that from Stassi in 2016. Steamer sees Stassi getting 153 plate appearances, with a triple-slash line of .213/.262/.349, and worth 0.2 WAR. I would be disappointed if the Astros got that in 2016 from Stassi. ZiPS agrees predominantly with Steamer: .217/.265/.359, 11HR in 376 PA's.
Also on the 40-Man: Alfredo González (23, will turn 24 in July)
Not a lot of open-source research material is available regarding Alfredo González, who was a surprise addition to the 40-man roster prior to the Rule 5 draft. The Venezuelan was signed as an international free agent in 2008 just after his 16th birthday. He played in the Dominican Summer League as a 16 year old, then sat out the next season with an injury. He then spent the next three seasons in Rookie ball then played Short Season ball at Tri-Cities as a 21 year old in 2014. His season at Tri-Cities saw the second consecutive year in which he demonstrated a strong walk rate, resulting in a triple-slash line of .246/.348/.369.
Then 2015 happened. González posted strong walk-rates over three levels, jumping from Lo-A to AA in the process. González acquitted himself well at AA (after the Jacob Nottingham trade), posting a 14% walk rate over 121 plate appearances for a combined slash line of .300/.395/.320. He could be accused of being somewhat punchless - he hit nothing more assertive than a double. His offensive profile has - at least in the last three years - always been associated with gaudy OBP numbers. Perhaps his power will develop later, but doesn't have to, because a catcher who can get on base at around a .350 clip is a very valuable asset.
It is probable that González remains in line for a call-up in the event of an injury. I would be stunned if he broke camp with the big club without an injury or trade, but if he did, it would be quite the meteoric rise through the minor leagues. Steamer forecasts González to receive 31 plate appearances, posting a .236/.295/.328 triple-slash line, whereas Marcel is silent on the matter, given a lack of ML plate appearances at this juncture. ZiPS is similarly unimpressed with González's minor-league OBP, projecting a .233/.294/.277 triple-slash, with a 22% K-rate versus a 7.8% walk-rate. It will be interesting to see whether his strong OBP rates continue as he climbs the minor-league ladder, although he is most likely to open 2016 in AA.
Invited to Spring Training: Tyler Heineman (24, turns 25 in June)
Heineman spent most of his 2015 at Fresno, where he caddied for Max Stassi. Heineman is a switch-hitting catcher who was drafted out of college in the eighth round of the 2012 draft. That meant that Heineman was Rule 5 eligible in the Winter Meetings just passed, but he remains with the organisation. He was offered a Spring Training invite for 2016.
Heineman has a solid career minor-league line (for a catcher) of .288/.364/.409. His work at Fresno in 2015 was only okay: .271/.312/.370 in 209 plate appearances, with three home runs. He is apparently a strong catcher defensively - at least that was the rep on him at draft time - but he appears to have struggled a little more with the bat as he has slowly climbed the minor-league ladder.
Steamer projects Heineman to hit .244/.295/.340. That is not palpably better than González's line described above, and Heineman has the disadvantage of needing to be added to the 40-man to be called up. ZIPS likes Heineman to the tune of .228/.283/.327, seeing some minor advantages in slugging percentage over González. Marcel has no projection. This all probably means Heineman is second in line - behind González - in terms of a big-league call up, but a hot half-season in Fresno would do a lot to change that.
Invited to Spring Training: Roberto Pena (23, turns 24 in June)
Pena, like Heineman, was Rule 5 eligible, having been drafted in the 7th round of the 2010 draft. He spent the entire season 2015 at Corpus, where he "hit" .237/.284/.288 in 280 PA's. He has a reputation as an excellent defensive catcher, but he seems to have a light bat (judging by his minor-league dashboard stats), so perhaps a defensive backup seems like the most obvious role for him.
Steamer sees him hitting .216/.255/.306, leading to a wRC+ of 51. Marcel and ZiPS offer no further insights. Hard to argue with Steamer's forecast, given his minor-league stats.
If Pena appears in the major-leagues in 2016, either he has discovered the long sought secret to hitting, or something has gone horribly wrong with the Astros and their catchers.
Possible Free Agent: Carlos Corporan (32, 33 in January 2017)
The class of free-agent catchers is very slim. Earlier in the offseason, I wondered whether Tyler Flowers may warrant a look from the Astros - he had just been non-tendered by the White Sox, and is a reasonable offensive catcher without much of a platoon split. However, he signed with the team that originally drafted him (the Braves) for a cool $5.3MM, which is waaaaay too much to sign a backup catcher for, as the Astros would likely have remained committed to Jason Castro.
The only realistic (yet highly unlikely) free agent worth discussing is our old friend, Carlos Corporan, who was with the Astros from 2012 through 2014. "Corp" was reasonable offensive backup on a bad Astros team for three years (OPS+'s of 103, 79 and 91), but he cratered with the Rangers last year, posting a .178/.244/.299 triple slash in 121 plate appearances, yielding an OPS+ of 46. Given that the Astros got Akeen Bostick for Corporan and then have the chance to sign him a year later (not that they will take that chance unless it is on a minor-league deal), Corporan proved to be a savvy trade for the Front Office, the timing of which was perfect.
Marcel has a soft-spot for Corp, projecting a .227/.289/.371 line from him, with 8 home runs and 10 doubles. Steamer sees Corp struggling to the tune of .218/.273/.299 with three home runs. ZiPS is mostly in agreement with Steamer, but believes more in Corporan's slugging abilities, forecasting a triple-slash of .218/.276/.345.
None of those projections are obviously better than the available in-house options for the Astros, but having Corp as a comparison case to project against seems like a useful exercise.
I cannot identify a potential or realistic Trade Target for the Astros for this offseason, which is likely to be more reflective of the catching market and the fact that the Astros seemed settled on their current roster. Buster Posey isn't coming to Minute Maid any time soon, sadly.
So the Astros appear to be largely set at catcher, with a veteran on the last year of his contract and a well-seasoned prospect set to split the duties behind the plate. As it happens, they potentially could form a platoon of sorts if that is how the Astros want to head into the 2016 season. Both are solid defensive catchers with reported strengths in receiving, which is what the Front Office seems to prioritise. Both have spectacular arms in comparison to Hank Conger, the outgoing 2015 backup, but probably possess at-best average arms when compared to the population of big-league catchers. Castro will see the majority of time behind the dish, but exactly how much will probably be determined by injuries and how his bat performs. For the other catchers in the 40-man, 2016 is an important year in nabbing a place on the depth-chart totem pole, given Castro's likely departure at the end of the season.
With Castro and Stassi behind the plate, ZIPS seems them combining for approximately 3 zWAR, once defence is taken into account. A hot offensive season by either could add significantly to that projection. Castro has a great season in his resumé, and Stassi seems to have hit well in a handful of major-league plate appearances, so Catcher could be a position where the Astros could potentially outplay their projected forecasts.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Wednesday Morning Hot Links
So David Price just got a 7yr/$217m deal. Dallas Keuchel looks on from a leather chair and strokes his beard, knowingly...
*Tonight is the tender deadline, meaning that the Astros have until tonight to offer contracts to pre-arbitration and arbitration-eligible players for 2016, or to simply let them walk. Everyone who fits this set is expected back, but there is a question about Chris Carter, writes Evan Drellich. MLBTR predicts that Carter will receive $5.6m in arbitration.
*...But it won't be to Baltimore, who just traded for Seattle's Mark Trumbo.
*The Astros and Padres are planning exhibition games in Mexico City this spring.
*The Astros are expected to hire Alan Zinter's replacement soon.
*So I guess we can go ahead and assume the Astros will rejoin forces with Round Rock soon, as someone other than Jim Crane bought a 50% stake in the New Orleans Zephyrs. As early as 2013 it was rumored that Crane wanted to buy the team and move them to Montgomery County, and that interest was later confirmed. So now this news is most notable because the new Zephyrs owner seems intent on taking the team to Cuba, which is way cooler.
*I saw some light mockery of this on the Twotter yesterday, so take it for what it's worth, but FanGraphs released their Top 100 Prospects Projections (KATOH) list for 2016. There are five Astros on the list, and they are...
#21: A.J. Reed
#50: Alex Bregman
#51: Tyler Heineman
#72: Francis Martes
#76: Tyler White
*The Dodgers had to pay $44m in luxury tax.
*Here's a fascinating read from Vice Sports about the Mexican League ending their unwritten practice of blacklisting players who move to the United States before joining a Mexican League team.
*Tonight is the tender deadline, meaning that the Astros have until tonight to offer contracts to pre-arbitration and arbitration-eligible players for 2016, or to simply let them walk. Everyone who fits this set is expected back, but there is a question about Chris Carter, writes Evan Drellich. MLBTR predicts that Carter will receive $5.6m in arbitration.
*...But it won't be to Baltimore, who just traded for Seattle's Mark Trumbo.
*The Astros and Padres are planning exhibition games in Mexico City this spring.
*The Astros are expected to hire Alan Zinter's replacement soon.
*So I guess we can go ahead and assume the Astros will rejoin forces with Round Rock soon, as someone other than Jim Crane bought a 50% stake in the New Orleans Zephyrs. As early as 2013 it was rumored that Crane wanted to buy the team and move them to Montgomery County, and that interest was later confirmed. So now this news is most notable because the new Zephyrs owner seems intent on taking the team to Cuba, which is way cooler.
*I saw some light mockery of this on the Twotter yesterday, so take it for what it's worth, but FanGraphs released their Top 100 Prospects Projections (KATOH) list for 2016. There are five Astros on the list, and they are...
#21: A.J. Reed
#50: Alex Bregman
#51: Tyler Heineman
#72: Francis Martes
#76: Tyler White
*The Dodgers had to pay $44m in luxury tax.
*Here's a fascinating read from Vice Sports about the Mexican League ending their unwritten practice of blacklisting players who move to the United States before joining a Mexican League team.
Sunday, July 5, 2015
PreStros Morning Report: July 4
Fresno (48-35, 7.0 up)
Brett Oberholtzer gave up three first inning runs, but Fresno rattled off all the unanswered runs in a 10-3 win. Oberholtzer went 6IP, 6H/3ER, 4K:2BB; Jose Veras, James Hoyt (3K), and Tyson Perez (2K) combined for three scoreless innings of relief.
Tyler Heineman (3RBI), L.J. Hoes (2B, RBI) and Tyler White (2B) had three hits each; Tony Kemp was 2x5 with a three-run homer, Jonathan Villar was 2x5 with an RBI; Robbie Grossman was 1x3 with two walks.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman
Corpus (53-26, clinched playoff berth)
Corpus never trailed at Tulsa, holding the Drillers to three hits in a 5-1 win. Michael Feliz threw 5IP, 2H/1ER, 2K:1BB; Chris Cotton struck out two in 2IP and Travis Ballew retired the final six batters of the game.
Colin Moran was 2x4 with a double, triple, and 2RBI; Chan Moon was 2x2 with a walk and a stolen base; Conrad Gregor and Danry Vasquez each had an RBI; Brett Phillips was 1x4. Jon Kemmer was 1x2 with 2BB.
Man of the Match: Colin Moran
Lancaster (42-37; 5-4 in 2nd Half, tied)
Lancaster and Lake Elsinore went back and forth all game and headed into the 9th tied 4-4 before Lancaster plated a run in the top of the 9th to go ahead 5-4, only to give up two runs in the bottom of the 9th for a walk-off 6-5 loss. Bryan Radziewski threw 4.2IP, 7H/4R (3ER), 4K:5BB; Akeem Bostick went 3.2IP, 3H/2R (1ER), 4K:0BB. Yep, two unearned runs in a one-run loss.
Derek Fisher was 2x5 with a double and a solo homer; Jacob Nottingham was 2x5 with a double and 2RBI; Jack Mayfield was 2x3 with two walks and an RBI; A.J. Reed was 2x4 with a walk. Marc Wik was 2x3 with a double, walk, and an outfield assist.
Man of the Match: Jack Mayfield
Quad Cities (52-26 overall, clinched playoff berth)
Quad Cities had a 5-4 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th before Peoria tied it up to send the game to extra-innings. Then Quad Cities put up three in the top of the 11th and held on for an 8-5 win. Christian Powell threw 5IP, 7H/4ER, 5K:2BB; Jorge Perez gave up 4H/1ER, 2K:0BB in 2.1IP; Angel Heredia threw 3.2IP, 0H/0ER, 4K:1BB for the win.
Alex Bregman was 3x5 with a double, walk, and 2RBI, Nick Tanielu was 3x6. Ramon Laureano hit the go-ahead three run homer in the 11th to finish the day 2x6 with 3RBI. Trent Woodward was 2x5 with a walk. Bobby Boyd was 1x2 with a double, three walks, and 2RBI.
Man of the Match: Angel Heredia
Tri-City (7-9, 5.0 GB)
Ti-City gave up four runs in the 2nd and two more in the 3rd and rallied, but just couldn't overcome that 2nd inning in a 6-5 loss to division-leading Lowell. Rogelio Armenteros allowed 6H/6ER, 5K:0BB in 4IP; Elieser Hernandez struck out 10 and allowed just one hit in 4IP; Zac Grotz recorded the final three outs of the game. In 15.2IP in 2015, Hernandez has allowed 12H/3ER with 28K:0BB.
Pat Porter was 3x5 with two doubles, a homer, and 4RBI on the day; Drew Ferguson was 1x2 with three walks; Johnny Sewald was 0x2 with 2BB and 2SB. Bobby Wernes was 1x3 with a walk.
Man of the Match: Elieser Hernandez
Greeneville (7-4, 1.0 up)
Greeneville scored ten runs on Elizabethton by the end of the 4th, cruising to a 10-3 win. Junior Garcia threw 4IP, 1H/0ER, 4K:1BB; Jose Montero retired the side in the 5th; Ryan Deemes allowed 4H/1ER, 6K:0BB in 3IP; Brandon Culbreth allowed 3H/2ER, 1K:2BB in 0.2IP; and Joselo Pinales got the final out of the game.
Connor Goedert was 4x5 with a double and 2RBI; Osvaldo Duarte (2B, 3B, BB, 3RBI), Myles Straw (BB, RBI), Aaron Mizell (BB), Randy Cesar (2B, RBI), Brauly Mejia (RBI), and Ford Stainback (2BB, 2RBI) had two hits each.
Man of the Match: Connor Goedert
GCL Astros (1-11, 7.0 GB)
The 1-10 GCL Astros had a 6-0 lead and somehow ended up losing 7-6 to the GCL Blue Jays to slide to 1-11. Enrique Chavez threw 3.1IP, 5H/1ER, 3K:1BB; Junior Garcia struck out two in 0.2IP; Gerald Benzant allowed 1H/3ER, 0K:2BB, Balk in 0.0IP; Starlyng Sanchez allowed 4H/3ER, 1K:0BB and two of Benzant's runs in 1IP; and Diogenes Almengo struck out three in three scoreless, hitless innings.
Vicente Sanchez was 2x4 with a walk; Kyle Tucker was 1x4 with a triple and an RBI; Nestor Muriel, Reiny Beltre (3B), and Joan Muricio had your other hits.
Man of the Match: Diogenes Almengo
Brett Oberholtzer gave up three first inning runs, but Fresno rattled off all the unanswered runs in a 10-3 win. Oberholtzer went 6IP, 6H/3ER, 4K:2BB; Jose Veras, James Hoyt (3K), and Tyson Perez (2K) combined for three scoreless innings of relief.
Tyler Heineman (3RBI), L.J. Hoes (2B, RBI) and Tyler White (2B) had three hits each; Tony Kemp was 2x5 with a three-run homer, Jonathan Villar was 2x5 with an RBI; Robbie Grossman was 1x3 with two walks.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman
Corpus (53-26, clinched playoff berth)
Corpus never trailed at Tulsa, holding the Drillers to three hits in a 5-1 win. Michael Feliz threw 5IP, 2H/1ER, 2K:1BB; Chris Cotton struck out two in 2IP and Travis Ballew retired the final six batters of the game.
Colin Moran was 2x4 with a double, triple, and 2RBI; Chan Moon was 2x2 with a walk and a stolen base; Conrad Gregor and Danry Vasquez each had an RBI; Brett Phillips was 1x4. Jon Kemmer was 1x2 with 2BB.
Man of the Match: Colin Moran
Lancaster (42-37; 5-4 in 2nd Half, tied)
Lancaster and Lake Elsinore went back and forth all game and headed into the 9th tied 4-4 before Lancaster plated a run in the top of the 9th to go ahead 5-4, only to give up two runs in the bottom of the 9th for a walk-off 6-5 loss. Bryan Radziewski threw 4.2IP, 7H/4R (3ER), 4K:5BB; Akeem Bostick went 3.2IP, 3H/2R (1ER), 4K:0BB. Yep, two unearned runs in a one-run loss.
Derek Fisher was 2x5 with a double and a solo homer; Jacob Nottingham was 2x5 with a double and 2RBI; Jack Mayfield was 2x3 with two walks and an RBI; A.J. Reed was 2x4 with a walk. Marc Wik was 2x3 with a double, walk, and an outfield assist.
Man of the Match: Jack Mayfield
Quad Cities (52-26 overall, clinched playoff berth)
Quad Cities had a 5-4 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th before Peoria tied it up to send the game to extra-innings. Then Quad Cities put up three in the top of the 11th and held on for an 8-5 win. Christian Powell threw 5IP, 7H/4ER, 5K:2BB; Jorge Perez gave up 4H/1ER, 2K:0BB in 2.1IP; Angel Heredia threw 3.2IP, 0H/0ER, 4K:1BB for the win.
Alex Bregman was 3x5 with a double, walk, and 2RBI, Nick Tanielu was 3x6. Ramon Laureano hit the go-ahead three run homer in the 11th to finish the day 2x6 with 3RBI. Trent Woodward was 2x5 with a walk. Bobby Boyd was 1x2 with a double, three walks, and 2RBI.
Man of the Match: Angel Heredia
Tri-City (7-9, 5.0 GB)
Ti-City gave up four runs in the 2nd and two more in the 3rd and rallied, but just couldn't overcome that 2nd inning in a 6-5 loss to division-leading Lowell. Rogelio Armenteros allowed 6H/6ER, 5K:0BB in 4IP; Elieser Hernandez struck out 10 and allowed just one hit in 4IP; Zac Grotz recorded the final three outs of the game. In 15.2IP in 2015, Hernandez has allowed 12H/3ER with 28K:0BB.
Pat Porter was 3x5 with two doubles, a homer, and 4RBI on the day; Drew Ferguson was 1x2 with three walks; Johnny Sewald was 0x2 with 2BB and 2SB. Bobby Wernes was 1x3 with a walk.
Man of the Match: Elieser Hernandez
Greeneville (7-4, 1.0 up)
Greeneville scored ten runs on Elizabethton by the end of the 4th, cruising to a 10-3 win. Junior Garcia threw 4IP, 1H/0ER, 4K:1BB; Jose Montero retired the side in the 5th; Ryan Deemes allowed 4H/1ER, 6K:0BB in 3IP; Brandon Culbreth allowed 3H/2ER, 1K:2BB in 0.2IP; and Joselo Pinales got the final out of the game.
Connor Goedert was 4x5 with a double and 2RBI; Osvaldo Duarte (2B, 3B, BB, 3RBI), Myles Straw (BB, RBI), Aaron Mizell (BB), Randy Cesar (2B, RBI), Brauly Mejia (RBI), and Ford Stainback (2BB, 2RBI) had two hits each.
Man of the Match: Connor Goedert
GCL Astros (1-11, 7.0 GB)
The 1-10 GCL Astros had a 6-0 lead and somehow ended up losing 7-6 to the GCL Blue Jays to slide to 1-11. Enrique Chavez threw 3.1IP, 5H/1ER, 3K:1BB; Junior Garcia struck out two in 0.2IP; Gerald Benzant allowed 1H/3ER, 0K:2BB, Balk in 0.0IP; Starlyng Sanchez allowed 4H/3ER, 1K:0BB and two of Benzant's runs in 1IP; and Diogenes Almengo struck out three in three scoreless, hitless innings.
Vicente Sanchez was 2x4 with a walk; Kyle Tucker was 1x4 with a triple and an RBI; Nestor Muriel, Reiny Beltre (3B), and Joan Muricio had your other hits.
Man of the Match: Diogenes Almengo
Friday, May 22, 2015
State of the Astros: Catcher
Over the next several days/couple weeks, I'd like to take a position-by-position look at the Astros, getting a quick overview of the current starters, backups, and minor league players who could contribute this season.
Starter - Jason Castro
Castro is starting to make people think that his 2013 All-Star year may have been his career year, even though he's still just 27. Despite his batting average dropping from even last season's, he's actually made some improvements offensively. His walk rate is up about 2% while he's dramatically cut down on his strikeouts, cutting about 7.5% from last year. He's regained some of his pop and his .237 BABIP this year indicates his batting average could see a rebound. He's even seen a good bump in his caught stealing rate, to the point where he's been above average in 2015. Looking at the most widely used projection systems for the rest of the season Castro is trending towards being a 2-3 WAR player this year. That would make him a middle of the pack starting catcher.
Reasonable end of season projection ranges
AVG - .215-.240
OBP - .285-.315
SLG - .380-.410
Backup - Hank Conger
The trade for Conger still looks like a bit of a head scratcher. We all heard about his pitch framing prowess, but with his limited playing time so far I can't help but wonder how much good that's doing for the club. When you factor in that the Astros gave up Nick Tropeano, a young starter with potential who's turned in one strong start for the Angels this year, and Carlos Perez, a backup catcher who has held his own in the majors so far with almost as much playing time this year as Conger, this one is looking like a needless trade. As far as his performance, 41 plate appearances isn't enough to give us an indication of how he'll perform over a season. His batting average is abysmal, but he's sporting a nearly 20% walk rate and two of his three hits have been home runs, so he's actually close to league average offensively in an extremely small sample size. His .176 BABIP indicates his average will come up, but his track record says his walk rate will come way down so his OBP probably is about right. Projections put him at a .5-1 WAR player by the end of the season, which is a small return for the above mentioned prospects.
Reasonable end of season projection ranges
AVG - .180-.230 (wide range due to small sample size so far)
OBP - .295-.330
SLG - .345-.375
Prospect - Max Stassi
We've heard for a couple years now that the front office thinks of Stassi as the "Catcher of the Future". Barring injury, I don't think he'll get any meaningful playing time until possibly September. Of course, if the Astros are still in the playoff hunt at that point in the year, even that may not happen. He's struggled quite a bit in AAA, especially so far this year, so the bloom may be off the rose with Max. So far this year he's striking out at a pace that would make Chris Carter proud. He's shown an ability to get hot fast in the past, albeit at AA, so I don't think it's quite time to give up on him yet, but this season is pivotal for him. But we'll always have the memory of him getting his first major league RBI by catching a pitch with his teeth.
Prospect - Jacob Nottingham
Nottingham has been creeping up the bottom of the Astros prospect lists the last couple seasons. He's expected to develop into a power hitter, though there's a little concern he may not stick behind the plate. After mixed results the last couple years with the Gulf Coast squad and in Greeneville, Nottingham is off to a strong start with Quad Cities, the best minor league team in baseball so far this year. He's cut down on his strikeouts and his power has been showing up more frequently, as he's currently sporting a .250 ISO, including six homers in 121 plate appearances. He's still a few years away, but behind Stassi he's the biggest hope at catcher down on the farm.
Prospect - Tyler Heineman
Heineman isn't appearing on many prospect lists, but this switch hitting catcher shouldn't be forgotten. In his second season at Corpus he's putting together a solid season. He doesn't look like a power guy, but he's been showing a solid ability to handle the strike zone with a solid walk rate and a very good strikeout rate (just 6.3% so far this year, 12 % last year). Defensively, he has a strong 43% caught stealing rate so far. He's not the kind of prospect you can dream on, but he could turn into a solid player.
Summary
Depending on the rest of Stassi's season, it looks like Castro is still the catcher of the next few seasons. He'll get more expensive as he works his way through his arbitration years, probably ending up around $8-10 million per season. If he can continue to produce between 2 and 3 WAR per year, that's about right. Conger is just as much of question mark as he was at the beginning of the year. Stassi may be playing his way out of his prospect status and Luhnow's Christmas card list and Nottingham is too far away to expect anything soon. I'd grade the Astros overall catcher situation as a C+.
Starter - Jason Castro
Castro is starting to make people think that his 2013 All-Star year may have been his career year, even though he's still just 27. Despite his batting average dropping from even last season's, he's actually made some improvements offensively. His walk rate is up about 2% while he's dramatically cut down on his strikeouts, cutting about 7.5% from last year. He's regained some of his pop and his .237 BABIP this year indicates his batting average could see a rebound. He's even seen a good bump in his caught stealing rate, to the point where he's been above average in 2015. Looking at the most widely used projection systems for the rest of the season Castro is trending towards being a 2-3 WAR player this year. That would make him a middle of the pack starting catcher.
Reasonable end of season projection ranges
AVG - .215-.240
OBP - .285-.315
SLG - .380-.410
Backup - Hank Conger
The trade for Conger still looks like a bit of a head scratcher. We all heard about his pitch framing prowess, but with his limited playing time so far I can't help but wonder how much good that's doing for the club. When you factor in that the Astros gave up Nick Tropeano, a young starter with potential who's turned in one strong start for the Angels this year, and Carlos Perez, a backup catcher who has held his own in the majors so far with almost as much playing time this year as Conger, this one is looking like a needless trade. As far as his performance, 41 plate appearances isn't enough to give us an indication of how he'll perform over a season. His batting average is abysmal, but he's sporting a nearly 20% walk rate and two of his three hits have been home runs, so he's actually close to league average offensively in an extremely small sample size. His .176 BABIP indicates his average will come up, but his track record says his walk rate will come way down so his OBP probably is about right. Projections put him at a .5-1 WAR player by the end of the season, which is a small return for the above mentioned prospects.
Reasonable end of season projection ranges
AVG - .180-.230 (wide range due to small sample size so far)
OBP - .295-.330
SLG - .345-.375
Prospect - Max Stassi
We've heard for a couple years now that the front office thinks of Stassi as the "Catcher of the Future". Barring injury, I don't think he'll get any meaningful playing time until possibly September. Of course, if the Astros are still in the playoff hunt at that point in the year, even that may not happen. He's struggled quite a bit in AAA, especially so far this year, so the bloom may be off the rose with Max. So far this year he's striking out at a pace that would make Chris Carter proud. He's shown an ability to get hot fast in the past, albeit at AA, so I don't think it's quite time to give up on him yet, but this season is pivotal for him. But we'll always have the memory of him getting his first major league RBI by catching a pitch with his teeth.
Prospect - Jacob Nottingham
Nottingham has been creeping up the bottom of the Astros prospect lists the last couple seasons. He's expected to develop into a power hitter, though there's a little concern he may not stick behind the plate. After mixed results the last couple years with the Gulf Coast squad and in Greeneville, Nottingham is off to a strong start with Quad Cities, the best minor league team in baseball so far this year. He's cut down on his strikeouts and his power has been showing up more frequently, as he's currently sporting a .250 ISO, including six homers in 121 plate appearances. He's still a few years away, but behind Stassi he's the biggest hope at catcher down on the farm.
Prospect - Tyler Heineman
Heineman isn't appearing on many prospect lists, but this switch hitting catcher shouldn't be forgotten. In his second season at Corpus he's putting together a solid season. He doesn't look like a power guy, but he's been showing a solid ability to handle the strike zone with a solid walk rate and a very good strikeout rate (just 6.3% so far this year, 12 % last year). Defensively, he has a strong 43% caught stealing rate so far. He's not the kind of prospect you can dream on, but he could turn into a solid player.
Summary
Depending on the rest of Stassi's season, it looks like Castro is still the catcher of the next few seasons. He'll get more expensive as he works his way through his arbitration years, probably ending up around $8-10 million per season. If he can continue to produce between 2 and 3 WAR per year, that's about right. Conger is just as much of question mark as he was at the beginning of the year. Stassi may be playing his way out of his prospect status and Luhnow's Christmas card list and Nottingham is too far away to expect anything soon. I'd grade the Astros overall catcher situation as a C+.
Friday, April 24, 2015
PreStros Morning Report: April 23
TL;DR
*Org goes 2-2 on the night; cumulative 37-21 (.638) record
*Fresno loses a pitcher's duel at Salt Lake, 1-0, despite Alex White's strong start.
*Corpus stormed back at Frisco to win 8-2 in a Mark Appel 4IP, 6H/2ER start. Tyler Heineman was 3x5 with two doubles and 2RBI.
*Lancaster's J.D. Davis was just a triple short of the cycle (see below for a joke) in an 11-5 loss to Modesto.
*Quad Cities got strong pitching from Austin Chrismon and A&M's Daniel Mengden to overcome three unearned runs in a 4-3 win.
Fresno (8-7)
While the Grizzlies held Salt Lake to one run on seven hits, Salt Lake did just a little bit better, holding the Grizzles to, um, no runs on two hits. Fresno loses, 1-0, which I imagine is a pretty rare thing in the Pacific Coast League. Alex White threw 5.2IP, 5H/1R (0ER - a Jon Singleton throwing error led to the run) - 2K:1BB; Darin Downs and Tyson Perez allowed a hit each in the last two innings.
Your only two hits came courtesy of Nolan Fontana, who had a double and a walk, and L.J. Hoes. The Grizzlies struck out ten times, walked twice, and were 0x3 w/RISP.
Man of the Match: Alex White
Corpus (9-4)
Corpus was down 2-1 at the end of the second and then got two in the 3rd and four in the 4th, cruising to an 8-2 win over Frisco. Mark Appel threw 4IP, 6H/2ER, 3K:0BB, HBP, with 51 of his 71 pitches for strikes and six groundouts to two flyouts. Angel Baez threw a perfect 5th inning, and Kyle Westwood threw 4IP of "relief," allowing 4H/0ER, 1K:1BB. So far for Appel, three outings, 14IP, 10H/3ER, 11K:2BB.
Tyler Heineman led the way, going 3x5 with two doubles and 2RBI; Colin Moran was 2x5 with two doubles and an RBI; Carlos Correa was 2x5 with a double and an RBI; Conrad Gregor and Brandon Meredith each went 2x4 with a double, walk, and an RBI. Tyler White was 1x3 with two walks, and Tony Kemp - back at 2B - was 1x4 with a walk.
Man of the Match: Tough one. How about Tyler Heineman?
Lancaster (8-7)
Modesto scored early and often as the JetHawks fall 11-5. Blaine Sims allowed 6H/4ER, 3K:3BB in 5IP, Randall Fant allowed 4H/4ER in 0.1IP; Tyler Brunnemann gave up 2H/0ER, 5K:2BB in 2.2IP, and Frederick Tiburcio allowed 2H/3ER, 1K:2BB in the 9th.
J.D. Davis was just a triple short of the cycle (reminder: a triple short of the cycle is like being a second girl short of a threesome. That's copyrighted by me, by the way.) going 3x4 with 3RBI. Brett Phillips (two doubles) and Chan Moon (2B) were each 2x5. Chase McDonald hit his 5th homer of the year, and Jose Fernandez hit his first home run of the year.
Man of the Match: J.D. Davis
Quad Cities (12-3)
Quad Cities overcame two errors and a 3-0 deficit in the 5th to defeat Peoria, 4-3. Austin Chrismon threw 5IP, 5H/3R (0ER), 6K:0BB, and Daniel Mengden allowed just 2H/0ER, 5K:1BB in 4IP.
Alfredo Gonzalez (BB, RBI) and Mott Hyde (2B, BB) had two hits each; Sean McMullen (2B), Jacob Nottingham (BB, RBI), Alex Hernandez, and Thomas Lindauer (2BB, SB) had your other hits.
Man of the Match: Chrismon and Mengden.
*Org goes 2-2 on the night; cumulative 37-21 (.638) record
*Fresno loses a pitcher's duel at Salt Lake, 1-0, despite Alex White's strong start.
*Corpus stormed back at Frisco to win 8-2 in a Mark Appel 4IP, 6H/2ER start. Tyler Heineman was 3x5 with two doubles and 2RBI.
*Lancaster's J.D. Davis was just a triple short of the cycle (see below for a joke) in an 11-5 loss to Modesto.
*Quad Cities got strong pitching from Austin Chrismon and A&M's Daniel Mengden to overcome three unearned runs in a 4-3 win.
Fresno (8-7)
While the Grizzlies held Salt Lake to one run on seven hits, Salt Lake did just a little bit better, holding the Grizzles to, um, no runs on two hits. Fresno loses, 1-0, which I imagine is a pretty rare thing in the Pacific Coast League. Alex White threw 5.2IP, 5H/1R (0ER - a Jon Singleton throwing error led to the run) - 2K:1BB; Darin Downs and Tyson Perez allowed a hit each in the last two innings.
Your only two hits came courtesy of Nolan Fontana, who had a double and a walk, and L.J. Hoes. The Grizzlies struck out ten times, walked twice, and were 0x3 w/RISP.
Man of the Match: Alex White
Corpus (9-4)
Corpus was down 2-1 at the end of the second and then got two in the 3rd and four in the 4th, cruising to an 8-2 win over Frisco. Mark Appel threw 4IP, 6H/2ER, 3K:0BB, HBP, with 51 of his 71 pitches for strikes and six groundouts to two flyouts. Angel Baez threw a perfect 5th inning, and Kyle Westwood threw 4IP of "relief," allowing 4H/0ER, 1K:1BB. So far for Appel, three outings, 14IP, 10H/3ER, 11K:2BB.
Tyler Heineman led the way, going 3x5 with two doubles and 2RBI; Colin Moran was 2x5 with two doubles and an RBI; Carlos Correa was 2x5 with a double and an RBI; Conrad Gregor and Brandon Meredith each went 2x4 with a double, walk, and an RBI. Tyler White was 1x3 with two walks, and Tony Kemp - back at 2B - was 1x4 with a walk.
Man of the Match: Tough one. How about Tyler Heineman?
Lancaster (8-7)
Modesto scored early and often as the JetHawks fall 11-5. Blaine Sims allowed 6H/4ER, 3K:3BB in 5IP, Randall Fant allowed 4H/4ER in 0.1IP; Tyler Brunnemann gave up 2H/0ER, 5K:2BB in 2.2IP, and Frederick Tiburcio allowed 2H/3ER, 1K:2BB in the 9th.
J.D. Davis was just a triple short of the cycle (reminder: a triple short of the cycle is like being a second girl short of a threesome. That's copyrighted by me, by the way.) going 3x4 with 3RBI. Brett Phillips (two doubles) and Chan Moon (2B) were each 2x5. Chase McDonald hit his 5th homer of the year, and Jose Fernandez hit his first home run of the year.
Man of the Match: J.D. Davis
Quad Cities (12-3)
Quad Cities overcame two errors and a 3-0 deficit in the 5th to defeat Peoria, 4-3. Austin Chrismon threw 5IP, 5H/3R (0ER), 6K:0BB, and Daniel Mengden allowed just 2H/0ER, 5K:1BB in 4IP.
Alfredo Gonzalez (BB, RBI) and Mott Hyde (2B, BB) had two hits each; Sean McMullen (2B), Jacob Nottingham (BB, RBI), Alex Hernandez, and Thomas Lindauer (2BB, SB) had your other hits.
Man of the Match: Chrismon and Mengden.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Eight More Depart for Minor League Camp
The Astros have cut eight more from their Spring Training squad, reassigning Carlos Correa, Darin Downs, Tyler Heineman, James Hoyt and Gregorio Petit while optioning Jake Buchanan, Matt Dominguez and Max Stassi.
Downs, Hoyt, Heineman and Petit will all remain with the team for the exhibition part of Spring Training
The Astros now have 32 players in camp. Their last cut reduced them to 41 players, then Dan Johnson departed via trade to reduce that to 40.
These cuts clear up a couple of position battles that were becoming kind of obvious anyhow. Firstly, at catcher, Castro and Conger will split the catching duties (with Gattis available only for emergencies given he has yet to appear behind the plate in the Spring Training game). No surprise there, although Stassi could encourage the Astros to make a trade with a strong year at Fresno. Stassi logged 19 plate appearances, walking three times and striking out twice. He managed 6 hits, including 2 doubles and a home run. If he needed a good offensive season, this was a reasonable start - small sample size be damned.
Secondly, Valbuena looks poised to assume the third base duties, which has been becoming increasingly obvious for a while as well. Valbuena has the huge advantage of swinging from the left side of the dish, which helps address the Astros' struggles against right-handed pitching last year. Additionally, Dominguez had a horror 2014 which resulted in a WAR well into negative figures. He looked lost at the plate at times last year, swinging a pitches out of the strike zone as well as having contact issues with pitches inside the strike zone.
In Spring Training this year, Matty D had 38 plate appearances, walking twice, striking out 5 times, and hitting 9 singles. His triple-slash of .250/.282/.250 looks similar to the 2014 regular season, except for the total lack of power. So Valbuena gets the third base job to start the season, and Dominguez appears ticketed for the minors. The real question is whether Dominguez can hold his 40-man roster spot - especially if Joe Thatcher and/or Roberto Hernandez make the 25-man roster. My pick is that he does hold his roster spot until at least mid-season-ish.
Correa and Heineman had no real chance of making the team by virtue of their relatively junior status. I was watching when Correa effortlessly drove a curveball that he was out on front of over the LF fence against the Phillies the other day. Correa had 43 plate appearances, walked twice and struck out 10 times, and had 14 hits, of which 1 was a double and two were home runs. I am looking forward to watching him everyday in the majors, perhaps as soon as later this year.
Heineman was unsurprisingly used sparingly in Spring Traning - if he is the catcher of the future, then he is a wee way away, after all. He had 7 plate appearances, and recorded a double against no strikeouts and no walks. His focus was not really on his hitting this Spring - he was more in camp to learn how to work with the pitching staff and get tips from the older guys.
Hoyt, Buchanan and Downs had an opportunity to add their names to a crowded 'pen situation, but all represent easy cuts for the Astros to make.
James Hoyt has not yet made the the majors, so the chances were that he was always going to be cut prior to the roster being set. He equipped himself well, pitching 8.1 innings in 7 games, allowing 8 baserunners (3 hits and 5 walks) while striking out 11.
Jake Buchanan was also an easy cut because he seems - and always seemed - destined to be shuttling between the majors and minors this season. He also threw 8.1 innings pitched, but gave up 7R / 5ER on 12 hits and 3 walks against 4 strikeouts. He was doing well until he had one bad outing, I seem to remember, but he has marginal stuff and needs to locate his pitches to be effective.
Darin Downs was on the outside-looking-in from early in spring training, thanks to the offseason additions of Thatcher (in the LOOGY role) and the various other additions like Straily and Hernandez in the starting role. He struggled in a small sample: 4.2IP, 11 hits and 4 walks, 7 runs / earned runs, and 3 strikeouts. Downs can pitch better than that, and will have an opportunity to work it all out at Fresno.
Finally, Gregorio Petit lost out on a battle for a utility job thanks to the combined efforts of Marwin Gonzalez - who has been a solid bench guy for the Astros for a couple of seasons - and Jonathan Villar - whose demise has been greatly exaggerated.
Petit managed 27 plate appearances, recorded 8 hits, walked 3 times, and struck out five. He hit two doubles. Petit did his stock no harm at all, and will be a very useful AAA depth-piece for the Astros going forward.
The next cut will be the big one, and will probably occur shortly. At least this year, the Astros have actual competition, and actual options.
Stay posted.
Downs, Hoyt, Heineman and Petit will all remain with the team for the exhibition part of Spring Training
The Astros now have 32 players in camp. Their last cut reduced them to 41 players, then Dan Johnson departed via trade to reduce that to 40.
These cuts clear up a couple of position battles that were becoming kind of obvious anyhow. Firstly, at catcher, Castro and Conger will split the catching duties (with Gattis available only for emergencies given he has yet to appear behind the plate in the Spring Training game). No surprise there, although Stassi could encourage the Astros to make a trade with a strong year at Fresno. Stassi logged 19 plate appearances, walking three times and striking out twice. He managed 6 hits, including 2 doubles and a home run. If he needed a good offensive season, this was a reasonable start - small sample size be damned.
Secondly, Valbuena looks poised to assume the third base duties, which has been becoming increasingly obvious for a while as well. Valbuena has the huge advantage of swinging from the left side of the dish, which helps address the Astros' struggles against right-handed pitching last year. Additionally, Dominguez had a horror 2014 which resulted in a WAR well into negative figures. He looked lost at the plate at times last year, swinging a pitches out of the strike zone as well as having contact issues with pitches inside the strike zone.
In Spring Training this year, Matty D had 38 plate appearances, walking twice, striking out 5 times, and hitting 9 singles. His triple-slash of .250/.282/.250 looks similar to the 2014 regular season, except for the total lack of power. So Valbuena gets the third base job to start the season, and Dominguez appears ticketed for the minors. The real question is whether Dominguez can hold his 40-man roster spot - especially if Joe Thatcher and/or Roberto Hernandez make the 25-man roster. My pick is that he does hold his roster spot until at least mid-season-ish.
Correa and Heineman had no real chance of making the team by virtue of their relatively junior status. I was watching when Correa effortlessly drove a curveball that he was out on front of over the LF fence against the Phillies the other day. Correa had 43 plate appearances, walked twice and struck out 10 times, and had 14 hits, of which 1 was a double and two were home runs. I am looking forward to watching him everyday in the majors, perhaps as soon as later this year.
Heineman was unsurprisingly used sparingly in Spring Traning - if he is the catcher of the future, then he is a wee way away, after all. He had 7 plate appearances, and recorded a double against no strikeouts and no walks. His focus was not really on his hitting this Spring - he was more in camp to learn how to work with the pitching staff and get tips from the older guys.
Hoyt, Buchanan and Downs had an opportunity to add their names to a crowded 'pen situation, but all represent easy cuts for the Astros to make.
James Hoyt has not yet made the the majors, so the chances were that he was always going to be cut prior to the roster being set. He equipped himself well, pitching 8.1 innings in 7 games, allowing 8 baserunners (3 hits and 5 walks) while striking out 11.
Jake Buchanan was also an easy cut because he seems - and always seemed - destined to be shuttling between the majors and minors this season. He also threw 8.1 innings pitched, but gave up 7R / 5ER on 12 hits and 3 walks against 4 strikeouts. He was doing well until he had one bad outing, I seem to remember, but he has marginal stuff and needs to locate his pitches to be effective.
Darin Downs was on the outside-looking-in from early in spring training, thanks to the offseason additions of Thatcher (in the LOOGY role) and the various other additions like Straily and Hernandez in the starting role. He struggled in a small sample: 4.2IP, 11 hits and 4 walks, 7 runs / earned runs, and 3 strikeouts. Downs can pitch better than that, and will have an opportunity to work it all out at Fresno.
Finally, Gregorio Petit lost out on a battle for a utility job thanks to the combined efforts of Marwin Gonzalez - who has been a solid bench guy for the Astros for a couple of seasons - and Jonathan Villar - whose demise has been greatly exaggerated.
Petit managed 27 plate appearances, recorded 8 hits, walked 3 times, and struck out five. He hit two doubles. Petit did his stock no harm at all, and will be a very useful AAA depth-piece for the Astros going forward.
The next cut will be the big one, and will probably occur shortly. At least this year, the Astros have actual competition, and actual options.
Stay posted.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Correa, Appel, Others Receive Spring Training Invites
The Astros announced they are inviting Mark Appel, Carlos Correa, Nolan Fontana, Colin Moran, Joe Sclafani, Andrew Aplin, Preston Tucker, Luis Flores, Tyler Heineman, Roberto Pena, Brady Rodgers, Jason Stoffel, Jordan Jankowski, Gregorio Petit, Matt Duffy and Dan Johnson to Spring Training for the upcoming season.
The invites range from top prospects with no chance to make the big club, to potential role players aiming to win jobs out of spring training, to Dan Johnson, who you might have missed is now in the organization.
This is one of the joys of spring training for me, seeing the future playing alongside with the present. Also, Dan Johnson. Pitchers and catchers report on February 20. Now that the Hall of Fame ballot watching is over, I'm getting a little antsy for real baseball to start. Just around the corner.
The invites range from top prospects with no chance to make the big club, to potential role players aiming to win jobs out of spring training, to Dan Johnson, who you might have missed is now in the organization.
This is one of the joys of spring training for me, seeing the future playing alongside with the present. Also, Dan Johnson. Pitchers and catchers report on February 20. Now that the Hall of Fame ballot watching is over, I'm getting a little antsy for real baseball to start. Just around the corner.
Friday, October 24, 2014
A Look at the Astros in Arizona - Part II
The Salt River Rafters continue to dominate the Arizona Fall League, sitting with a leagues best 11-3 record and a 3 game lead in the East Division. And Astros prospects continue to be in the middle of it.
Mark Appel
Appel continues to impress, as he now has 12 innings with 0 runs, 4 hits, 3 walks and 12 strikeouts, in 3 starts. His last start was his best, going 5 innings, with only two hits and zero walks allowed. Scouts have liked what they've seen with his stuff, for the most part, and he seems to be regaining some of that top prospect sheen. Really, best case scenario for Appel in the desert.
Vincent Velasquez
Velasquez has had two starts, and they could not have been any more different. He was shelled his first go round, going three innings and giving up 5 runs on 6 hits and two home runs. He struck out two, against zero walks, which as the only positive to be gleaned from that outing. His second start was a different story. Against a tough Peoria lineup, he went 4 scoreless innings, allowing only 1 hit, again striking out two. His AFL season numbers are still ugly, but they are trending in the right direction.
Andrew Aplin
Aplin has cooled off considerably, going hitless in his last 4 games. He is still hitting .300/.344/.500, which only looks good if you forget he was hitting .500 just over a week ago.
Rio Ruiz
As Aplin has cooled, Ruiz has taken off, as he is hitting .294 with a .415 OBP in his last 10 games. The power is still not showing up, as he has only two doubles and no other extra base hits. He is showing a good eye, and I'm sure the power is right around the corner.
Tyler Heineman, Tyson Perez, Mitch Lambson and Joe Sclafani continue to perform well in limited roles. Perez, in particular, has pitched 7 innings, allowing zero runs on 5 hits with 7 strikeouts, against only 1 walk. Lambson hasn't been quite as good in his 6 innings. He's matched Tyson with 7 strikeouts and allowed two fewer hits, but has been plagued by 5 walks. He's got a 3.00 ERA on the season. Heineman has only appeared in three games, going 2-5 with 2 walks. Sclafani has seen action in 4 games, and has gone 4-14 with two walks and a homer un.
Obviously, these are incredibly small samples, and nothing meaningful can be gleaned from these numbers. But it's still fun to see the Astros prospects perform well. The AFL All Star Game is set for November 4, and I think you can expect to see some Astros prospects take part in that.
Mark Appel
Appel continues to impress, as he now has 12 innings with 0 runs, 4 hits, 3 walks and 12 strikeouts, in 3 starts. His last start was his best, going 5 innings, with only two hits and zero walks allowed. Scouts have liked what they've seen with his stuff, for the most part, and he seems to be regaining some of that top prospect sheen. Really, best case scenario for Appel in the desert.
Vincent Velasquez
Velasquez has had two starts, and they could not have been any more different. He was shelled his first go round, going three innings and giving up 5 runs on 6 hits and two home runs. He struck out two, against zero walks, which as the only positive to be gleaned from that outing. His second start was a different story. Against a tough Peoria lineup, he went 4 scoreless innings, allowing only 1 hit, again striking out two. His AFL season numbers are still ugly, but they are trending in the right direction.
Andrew Aplin
Aplin has cooled off considerably, going hitless in his last 4 games. He is still hitting .300/.344/.500, which only looks good if you forget he was hitting .500 just over a week ago.
Rio Ruiz
As Aplin has cooled, Ruiz has taken off, as he is hitting .294 with a .415 OBP in his last 10 games. The power is still not showing up, as he has only two doubles and no other extra base hits. He is showing a good eye, and I'm sure the power is right around the corner.
Tyler Heineman, Tyson Perez, Mitch Lambson and Joe Sclafani continue to perform well in limited roles. Perez, in particular, has pitched 7 innings, allowing zero runs on 5 hits with 7 strikeouts, against only 1 walk. Lambson hasn't been quite as good in his 6 innings. He's matched Tyson with 7 strikeouts and allowed two fewer hits, but has been plagued by 5 walks. He's got a 3.00 ERA on the season. Heineman has only appeared in three games, going 2-5 with 2 walks. Sclafani has seen action in 4 games, and has gone 4-14 with two walks and a homer un.
Obviously, these are incredibly small samples, and nothing meaningful can be gleaned from these numbers. But it's still fun to see the Astros prospects perform well. The AFL All Star Game is set for November 4, and I think you can expect to see some Astros prospects take part in that.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
A Look at the Astros in the Arizona Fall League
The Astros sent 8 players to Arizona this fall to play for the Salt River Rafters, including big names like Mark Appel, Rio Ruiz and Vincent Velasquez. The Salt River team also contains other big name prospects, including Byron Buxton and Archie Bradley. They have now played 7 games and are playing like the star studded team they are, going 6-1. And the Astros prospects have had a lot to do with that.
Mark Appel
Mark Appel's fall appearance is helping to erase the memory of the disastrous 2014 season. He pitched well in AA after his promotion, and so far in Arizona has been close to dominant. In two starts, he has pitched 7 innings, allowing only 2 hits and three walks compared to 8 strikeouts. He has yet to allow a run. Keith Law (insider) wrote up his first outing, and noted his velocity and slider were good, but he was lacking fastball command.
Andrew Aplin
Mark Appel
Mark Appel's fall appearance is helping to erase the memory of the disastrous 2014 season. He pitched well in AA after his promotion, and so far in Arizona has been close to dominant. In two starts, he has pitched 7 innings, allowing only 2 hits and three walks compared to 8 strikeouts. He has yet to allow a run. Keith Law (insider) wrote up his first outing, and noted his velocity and slider were good, but he was lacking fastball command.
Andrew Aplin
Aplin has been pretty clearly the MVP of the Rafters so far, batting .500/.500/.857 in 14 at bats. His biggest game came on October 10, in a 12-2 walloping of Peoria. The Rafters scored 11 runs in the 5th inning in that game, and Aplin was 2-2 with a grand slam in that inning alone. He that day 4-5. He also drove in the only run of the night last night, with a triple in the 8th.
Rio Ruiz
Ruiz has struggled a bit in the early going, batting only .217/.308/.268 in in 23 ABs, although he went 2-2 with a walk last night. Law (insider) commented on some extra weight and a resulting slower bat speed.
The remainder of the Astros have received minimal playing time. Velasquez has only pitched in 1 inning, and gave up two hits and a walk, but avoided any runs by striking out 2. Mitch Lambson and Tyson Perez have both pitched 4 innings, with a Lambson home run the only run allowed between them. Perez earned the save last night. Tyler Heineman has gone 2-5 with two walks and Joe Sclafani is 0-3 so far.
For more on the Astros in the Arizona Fall League, go read these first hand account of a very Astros-Centric game last night over at What the Heck, Bobby?
Saturday, July 5, 2014
PreStros Morning Report: July 4
TL;DR
*Domestic affiliates go 5-2 on the day; 205-187 overall
*OKC gets four in the bottom of the 8th to defeat Iowa
*Corpus dominates Springfield behind Kyle Smith's strong outing
*Lancaster continued its 2nd-half struggles, falling to red-hot Rancho Cucamonga. Mark Appel made a half-decent start.
*Quad Cities disintegrated in the 9th in a loss to Wisconsin
*J.D. Davis and A.J. Reed - The Initials - go 5x8 in a Tri-City win
*Joshua James struck out seven in 3IP as Greeneville destroys Kingsport.
*The GCL Astros whipped the GCL Blue Jays behind Marlon Avea's perfect day.
Oklahoma City (46-43, 2.0 GB)
Iowa had a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th before the RedHawks exploded for four runs, winning 4-3. Asher Wojciechowski threw 5IP, 4H/3ER, 3K:2BB and allowed homers by Kris Bryant and Javier Baez. Pat Urckitz threw 2IP, 1H/0ER, 3K:0BB, Jason Stoffel got the win with 1.2IP, 1H/0ER, 4K:0BB, and Kevin Chapman got the last out for his 3rd save.
OKC only managed six hits, but Jonathan Villar had 2RBI, with Joe Sclafani and Ronny Torreyes adding RsBI. Robbie Grossman had a hit and a walk.
Man of the Match: The bullpen. 4IP, 2H/0ER, 7K:0BB
Corpus (7-8, 3.0 GB; 41-44 overall)
A pair of three-run innings put the game out of reach with Corpus dominating Springfield 8-0, holding the Cardinals to four hits. Kyle Smith allowed 4H/0ER, 6K:1BB in 6IP; Mitchell Lambson threw two perfect innings, striking out two, and Travis Ballew walked one in the 9th.
Tyler Heineman was 3x4 with a double and a walk; Tony Kemp (2B, BB, RBI), Delino DeShields (BB, 3RBI), and Jonathan Meyer (2RBI) had two hits each. Ruben Sosa was 1x1 with a walk and two runs scored in a pinch-runner/DH role. Andrew Aplin drew two walks and had an outfield assist.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman - called the game behind the plate and provided three hits.
Lancaster (5-10, 9.0 GB; 49-36 overall)
A quick note. Lancaster has struggled in the second half, going 5-10 as you see above, but freakin' Rancho Cucamonga is 14-1 in the 2nd half, so... anyway. It's Rancho Cucamonga who got out to a 3-0 lead by the middle of the 2nd, which was all they needed as Lancaster fell 4-2, despite out-hitting RC 9-6. Mark Appel got the start, throwing 5IP, 5H/4R (3ER), 3K:2BB getting nine groundball outs. Brian Holmes came in for the final 4IP and allowed just 1H/0ER, 3K:0BB.
Conrad Gregor was 2x3 with two walks (hitting .374/.459/.634 in 32 games since getting promoted); Roberto Pena and Jack Mayfield (2B) added two hits each. Jordan Scott (SB), Teoscar Hernandez (2B) each got a hit and drew a walk, and Austin Elkins got a hit and two walks.
Man of the Match: Brian Holmes
Quad Cities (8-7, 3.5 GB; 43-41 overall)
Quad Cities plated two runs in the 4th, and had held Wisconsin to two hits before Frederick Tiburcio allowed a hit and three walks in the 9th and Andrew Walter allowed all those runs to score plus one of his own. Quad Cities got a run back in the bottom of the 9th, but it wasn't enough as Quad Cities falls 5-3. Adrian Houser threw a gem: 6IP, 2H/0ER, 8K:1BB with eight groundball outs; Tyler Brunnemann threw 2IP, 0H/0ER, 2K:0BB to set up the 9th. Tiburcio's final line is 1H/4ER, 0K:3BB in 0.1IP and Walter's 0.2IP, 2H/1ER.
Jose Fernandez hit a two-run homer and Brian Holberton provided your 9th inning RBI. Ronnie Mitchell added a double, with Marc Wik and Brett Phillips getting your other hits.
Man of the Match: Adrian Houser
Tri-City (13-8, 2.0 up)
Back-and-forth game with Lowell, with the score going 1-0 Tri-City, 1-1, 3-1 TC, 3-2 TC, 3-3 before a pair of two-run innings put the game out of reach for a 7-4 Tri-City win. Brandon McNitt allowed 2H/2ER, 3K:3BB in 3.2IP; Kevin Ferguson got the final out of the 4th inning; Austin Chrismon allowed 2H/1ER, 3K:0BB in 3IP, and Chris Munnelly allowed 3H/1ER, 4K:0BB in 2IP.
J.D. Davis was 3x4 with a double and 3RBI; A.J. Reed was 2x4 with a double and an RBI; Terrell Joyce was 1x4 with a two-run homer; Alfredo Gonzalez was 2x4.
Man of the Match: J.D. Davis
Greeneville (7-8, 2.5 GB)
Good GAWD that was ugly. Greeneville put up six runs in the bottom of the first, and then scored the next eight runs of the game before Kingsport got a consolation run in the top of the 9th. 14-1 Greeneville. Jose Montero threw 5IP, 2H/0ER, 4K:3BB; Joshua James then came in for 3IP, allowing one hit, no runs, striking out seven and walking one. Jorge Perez allowed 2H/1ER, 2K:1BB in the 9th.
Kingsport's pitching staff line: 8IP, 11H/14ER, 7K:13BB, 7 wild pitches. Jason Martin was 2x3 with three walks and an RBI; Juan Santana (BB, 2RBI), Sean McMullen (2 doubles, BB, RBI), and Luis Reynoso (2RBI) had two hits each; Jacob Nottingham was 1x4 with a walk and 3RBI; Antonio Nunez was 1x2 with two walks.
Man of the Match: Jason Martin.
GCL Astros (6-7, 1GB)
The GCL Astros put up four in the 1st inning on the GCL Blue Jays, who responded in the bottom of the 3rd with three of their own. Then the GCL Astros scored nine of the next ten runs in a 13-4 win at the Blue Jays. Junior Garcia allowed 6H/3ER, 3K:2BB in 4IP, Alejandro Solarte allowed 2H/1R (0ER), 2K:0BB in 2IP; J.D. Osborne threw 1IP, 1H/0ER, 1K:0BB and Aaron Vaughn threw 2IP, 0H/0ER, 2K:1BB.
Marlon Avea was 4x4 with a walk and 3RBI; Alexander Melendez (2SB, RBI) and Will Dupont (2RBI) had three hits each. Randy Cesar added two hits. Kristian Trompiz was 1x5 with a walk.
Man of the Match: Marlon Avea
*Domestic affiliates go 5-2 on the day; 205-187 overall
*OKC gets four in the bottom of the 8th to defeat Iowa
*Corpus dominates Springfield behind Kyle Smith's strong outing
*Lancaster continued its 2nd-half struggles, falling to red-hot Rancho Cucamonga. Mark Appel made a half-decent start.
*Quad Cities disintegrated in the 9th in a loss to Wisconsin
*J.D. Davis and A.J. Reed - The Initials - go 5x8 in a Tri-City win
*Joshua James struck out seven in 3IP as Greeneville destroys Kingsport.
*The GCL Astros whipped the GCL Blue Jays behind Marlon Avea's perfect day.
Oklahoma City (46-43, 2.0 GB)
Iowa had a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th before the RedHawks exploded for four runs, winning 4-3. Asher Wojciechowski threw 5IP, 4H/3ER, 3K:2BB and allowed homers by Kris Bryant and Javier Baez. Pat Urckitz threw 2IP, 1H/0ER, 3K:0BB, Jason Stoffel got the win with 1.2IP, 1H/0ER, 4K:0BB, and Kevin Chapman got the last out for his 3rd save.
OKC only managed six hits, but Jonathan Villar had 2RBI, with Joe Sclafani and Ronny Torreyes adding RsBI. Robbie Grossman had a hit and a walk.
Man of the Match: The bullpen. 4IP, 2H/0ER, 7K:0BB
Corpus (7-8, 3.0 GB; 41-44 overall)
A pair of three-run innings put the game out of reach with Corpus dominating Springfield 8-0, holding the Cardinals to four hits. Kyle Smith allowed 4H/0ER, 6K:1BB in 6IP; Mitchell Lambson threw two perfect innings, striking out two, and Travis Ballew walked one in the 9th.
Tyler Heineman was 3x4 with a double and a walk; Tony Kemp (2B, BB, RBI), Delino DeShields (BB, 3RBI), and Jonathan Meyer (2RBI) had two hits each. Ruben Sosa was 1x1 with a walk and two runs scored in a pinch-runner/DH role. Andrew Aplin drew two walks and had an outfield assist.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman - called the game behind the plate and provided three hits.
Lancaster (5-10, 9.0 GB; 49-36 overall)
A quick note. Lancaster has struggled in the second half, going 5-10 as you see above, but freakin' Rancho Cucamonga is 14-1 in the 2nd half, so... anyway. It's Rancho Cucamonga who got out to a 3-0 lead by the middle of the 2nd, which was all they needed as Lancaster fell 4-2, despite out-hitting RC 9-6. Mark Appel got the start, throwing 5IP, 5H/4R (3ER), 3K:2BB getting nine groundball outs. Brian Holmes came in for the final 4IP and allowed just 1H/0ER, 3K:0BB.
Conrad Gregor was 2x3 with two walks (hitting .374/.459/.634 in 32 games since getting promoted); Roberto Pena and Jack Mayfield (2B) added two hits each. Jordan Scott (SB), Teoscar Hernandez (2B) each got a hit and drew a walk, and Austin Elkins got a hit and two walks.
Man of the Match: Brian Holmes
Quad Cities (8-7, 3.5 GB; 43-41 overall)
Quad Cities plated two runs in the 4th, and had held Wisconsin to two hits before Frederick Tiburcio allowed a hit and three walks in the 9th and Andrew Walter allowed all those runs to score plus one of his own. Quad Cities got a run back in the bottom of the 9th, but it wasn't enough as Quad Cities falls 5-3. Adrian Houser threw a gem: 6IP, 2H/0ER, 8K:1BB with eight groundball outs; Tyler Brunnemann threw 2IP, 0H/0ER, 2K:0BB to set up the 9th. Tiburcio's final line is 1H/4ER, 0K:3BB in 0.1IP and Walter's 0.2IP, 2H/1ER.
Jose Fernandez hit a two-run homer and Brian Holberton provided your 9th inning RBI. Ronnie Mitchell added a double, with Marc Wik and Brett Phillips getting your other hits.
Man of the Match: Adrian Houser
Tri-City (13-8, 2.0 up)
Back-and-forth game with Lowell, with the score going 1-0 Tri-City, 1-1, 3-1 TC, 3-2 TC, 3-3 before a pair of two-run innings put the game out of reach for a 7-4 Tri-City win. Brandon McNitt allowed 2H/2ER, 3K:3BB in 3.2IP; Kevin Ferguson got the final out of the 4th inning; Austin Chrismon allowed 2H/1ER, 3K:0BB in 3IP, and Chris Munnelly allowed 3H/1ER, 4K:0BB in 2IP.
J.D. Davis was 3x4 with a double and 3RBI; A.J. Reed was 2x4 with a double and an RBI; Terrell Joyce was 1x4 with a two-run homer; Alfredo Gonzalez was 2x4.
Man of the Match: J.D. Davis
Greeneville (7-8, 2.5 GB)
Good GAWD that was ugly. Greeneville put up six runs in the bottom of the first, and then scored the next eight runs of the game before Kingsport got a consolation run in the top of the 9th. 14-1 Greeneville. Jose Montero threw 5IP, 2H/0ER, 4K:3BB; Joshua James then came in for 3IP, allowing one hit, no runs, striking out seven and walking one. Jorge Perez allowed 2H/1ER, 2K:1BB in the 9th.
Kingsport's pitching staff line: 8IP, 11H/14ER, 7K:13BB, 7 wild pitches. Jason Martin was 2x3 with three walks and an RBI; Juan Santana (BB, 2RBI), Sean McMullen (2 doubles, BB, RBI), and Luis Reynoso (2RBI) had two hits each; Jacob Nottingham was 1x4 with a walk and 3RBI; Antonio Nunez was 1x2 with two walks.
Man of the Match: Jason Martin.
GCL Astros (6-7, 1GB)
The GCL Astros put up four in the 1st inning on the GCL Blue Jays, who responded in the bottom of the 3rd with three of their own. Then the GCL Astros scored nine of the next ten runs in a 13-4 win at the Blue Jays. Junior Garcia allowed 6H/3ER, 3K:2BB in 4IP, Alejandro Solarte allowed 2H/1R (0ER), 2K:0BB in 2IP; J.D. Osborne threw 1IP, 1H/0ER, 1K:0BB and Aaron Vaughn threw 2IP, 0H/0ER, 2K:1BB.
Marlon Avea was 4x4 with a walk and 3RBI; Alexander Melendez (2SB, RBI) and Will Dupont (2RBI) had three hits each. Randy Cesar added two hits. Kristian Trompiz was 1x5 with a walk.
Man of the Match: Marlon Avea
Saturday, April 12, 2014
PreStros Morning Report: April 11
TL;DR
*Astros affiliates go 2-2 on the day.
*Jon Homerton homered, but Mike Foltynewicz allowed 5ER in 1.1IP and OKC drops its home opener.
*Corpus knocked Jonathan Gray out of the game in the 1st inning, but managed to blow an 8-1 lead and lose to Tulsa, 10-9.
*Vince Velasquez allowed one hit in 5IP and Teoscar Hernandez hit two triples in a Lancaster win over Lake Elsinore.
*Jack Mayfield was 3x5 with a homer and a double and five River Bandits hitters got two hits each in a win over Great Lakes.
Oklahoma City (6-3)
After starting the season 6-2 in an 8-game road trip and sweeping New Orleans, of course OKC is gonna drop their home opener to New Orleans 8-4. Rudy Owens got the start and went 5IP, 5H/2ER, 4K:0BB. Now I'm not worried about Mike Foltynewicz, but I have an eyebrow raised in his general direction after he gave up 5H/6R (5ER), 1K:1BB in 1.1IP. In his last two outings, Foltynewicz has allowed 9H/9ER, 3K:3BB in 3.2IP. Darin Downs struck out five of the eight batters he faced (one walk) and Raul Valdes gave up a hit in a scoreless 9th.
Jon Singleton was 2x4 with a walk and his 3rd homer of the season; Gregorio Petit was 2x4 with a double and a wak, and Domingo Santana was 2x5 with a double. Japhet Amador had a three-run double and a walk, and George Springer was 1x4 with a walk and a stolen base. The RedHawks were 1x11 with RISP.
Man of the Match: Jon Singleton
Corpus (6-2)
Somehow Corpus managed to blow an 8-1 lead, losing to Tulsa 10-9. Matt Heidenreich was spotted a 6-0 1st inning lead, and in 3.1IP allowed 8H/6ER, 2K:0BB; Andrew Robinson allowed 2H/1ER, and two of Heidenreich's charged runs in 1.2IP, and Tommy Shirley gave up 5H/3R (1ER), 3K:1BB in 4IP.
The Hooks blasted 2013 #3 overall pick Jonathan Gray to the tune of 7H/6ER in just 0.2IP. Enrique Hernandez hit a two-run homer in a two-hit day; Tyler Heineman was 3x4 with a double and 2RBI. Matt Duffy was 1x5 with a double and 3RBI; Delino DeShields and Nolan Fontana (RBI) were each 1x3 with a walk.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman
Lancaster (7-2)
Lancaster gave Vince Velasquez a 2-run lead in the top of the 1st at Lake Elsinore and that's all he needed, throwing 5IP and allowing 1H/0ER, 4K:0BB (39 of his 60 pitches for strikes). Kyle Westwood allowed 3H/1ER, 2K:1BB in a 5-1 win.
Teoscar Hernandez was 2x4 with two triples and 3RBI; Caros Correa was 1x3 with 2RBI; Justin Gominsky was 3x4 with a run scored and Rio Ruiz was 2x4. Tony Kemp was 1x4 with a walk and two runs scored.
Man of the Match: Teoscar Hernandez
Quad Cities (4-4)
The River Bandits got 16 hits in a 6-4 win over Great Lakes. Adrian Houser allowed 2H/1ER, 3K:3BB in 4IP. END TIMES ALERT: Gonzalo Sanudo walked two batters in 3IP, 2H/0ER. Chris Cotton allowed 5H/3ER in 1IP and Andrew Walter walked one in the 9th.
Jack Mayfield was 3x5 with a double and a homer; James Ramsay (3B, BB, RBI), Brett Phillips (RBI), Conrad Gregor (RBI), Austin Elkins (RBI), and Jobduan Morales (BB, RBI) had two hits each.
Man of the Match: Jack Mayfield
*Astros affiliates go 2-2 on the day.
*Jon Homerton homered, but Mike Foltynewicz allowed 5ER in 1.1IP and OKC drops its home opener.
*Corpus knocked Jonathan Gray out of the game in the 1st inning, but managed to blow an 8-1 lead and lose to Tulsa, 10-9.
*Vince Velasquez allowed one hit in 5IP and Teoscar Hernandez hit two triples in a Lancaster win over Lake Elsinore.
*Jack Mayfield was 3x5 with a homer and a double and five River Bandits hitters got two hits each in a win over Great Lakes.
Oklahoma City (6-3)
After starting the season 6-2 in an 8-game road trip and sweeping New Orleans, of course OKC is gonna drop their home opener to New Orleans 8-4. Rudy Owens got the start and went 5IP, 5H/2ER, 4K:0BB. Now I'm not worried about Mike Foltynewicz, but I have an eyebrow raised in his general direction after he gave up 5H/6R (5ER), 1K:1BB in 1.1IP. In his last two outings, Foltynewicz has allowed 9H/9ER, 3K:3BB in 3.2IP. Darin Downs struck out five of the eight batters he faced (one walk) and Raul Valdes gave up a hit in a scoreless 9th.
Jon Singleton was 2x4 with a walk and his 3rd homer of the season; Gregorio Petit was 2x4 with a double and a wak, and Domingo Santana was 2x5 with a double. Japhet Amador had a three-run double and a walk, and George Springer was 1x4 with a walk and a stolen base. The RedHawks were 1x11 with RISP.
Man of the Match: Jon Singleton
Corpus (6-2)
Somehow Corpus managed to blow an 8-1 lead, losing to Tulsa 10-9. Matt Heidenreich was spotted a 6-0 1st inning lead, and in 3.1IP allowed 8H/6ER, 2K:0BB; Andrew Robinson allowed 2H/1ER, and two of Heidenreich's charged runs in 1.2IP, and Tommy Shirley gave up 5H/3R (1ER), 3K:1BB in 4IP.
The Hooks blasted 2013 #3 overall pick Jonathan Gray to the tune of 7H/6ER in just 0.2IP. Enrique Hernandez hit a two-run homer in a two-hit day; Tyler Heineman was 3x4 with a double and 2RBI. Matt Duffy was 1x5 with a double and 3RBI; Delino DeShields and Nolan Fontana (RBI) were each 1x3 with a walk.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman
Lancaster (7-2)
Lancaster gave Vince Velasquez a 2-run lead in the top of the 1st at Lake Elsinore and that's all he needed, throwing 5IP and allowing 1H/0ER, 4K:0BB (39 of his 60 pitches for strikes). Kyle Westwood allowed 3H/1ER, 2K:1BB in a 5-1 win.
Teoscar Hernandez was 2x4 with two triples and 3RBI; Caros Correa was 1x3 with 2RBI; Justin Gominsky was 3x4 with a run scored and Rio Ruiz was 2x4. Tony Kemp was 1x4 with a walk and two runs scored.
Man of the Match: Teoscar Hernandez
Quad Cities (4-4)
The River Bandits got 16 hits in a 6-4 win over Great Lakes. Adrian Houser allowed 2H/1ER, 3K:3BB in 4IP. END TIMES ALERT: Gonzalo Sanudo walked two batters in 3IP, 2H/0ER. Chris Cotton allowed 5H/3ER in 1IP and Andrew Walter walked one in the 9th.
Jack Mayfield was 3x5 with a double and a homer; James Ramsay (3B, BB, RBI), Brett Phillips (RBI), Conrad Gregor (RBI), Austin Elkins (RBI), and Jobduan Morales (BB, RBI) had two hits each.
Man of the Match: Jack Mayfield
Monday, March 17, 2014
Hot Links
Here's what you may have missed over the weekend...
*A great story from Jose de Jesus Ortiz on the cultural development of the Astros' minor-leaguers.
*Tyler Heineman highlights the Astros' depth behind the plate, and is slated to start 2014 at Corpus.
*Jesse Crain is at least two weeks away from throwing off a mound, any mound.
*Quad Cities got their championship rings.
*Brad Peacock has a new changeup.
*At the end of this dumb Bill Madden piece on Barry Bonds and Pete Rose, a rival GM told Madden that George Springer was the best player in the minors.
*Jordan Lyles is in the mix to be the Rockies' SP5. Erik Bedard is in the mix to the Rays' SP5.
*A great story from Jose de Jesus Ortiz on the cultural development of the Astros' minor-leaguers.
*Tyler Heineman highlights the Astros' depth behind the plate, and is slated to start 2014 at Corpus.
*Jesse Crain is at least two weeks away from throwing off a mound, any mound.
*Quad Cities got their championship rings.
*Brad Peacock has a new changeup.
*At the end of this dumb Bill Madden piece on Barry Bonds and Pete Rose, a rival GM told Madden that George Springer was the best player in the minors.
*Jordan Lyles is in the mix to be the Rockies' SP5. Erik Bedard is in the mix to the Rays' SP5.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
PreStros Playoff Report: September 9
Lancaster
Well, this is unexpected. Inland Empire took a 3-0 lead by the end of the 3rd, and rode it out for a 6-2 win over Lancaster to take a 2-1 series lead. Aaron West allowed 7H/4ER, 4K:0BB in 3.1IP; Tyson Perez (0.2IP) and Blair Walters (0.1IP) allowed hits but no runs; Michael Dimock gave up 3H/2ER, 2K:1BB in 2IP and Gera Sanchez retired the five batters he faced.
Nolan Fontana (2B), Tyler Heineman (2B, RBI) and Chris Epps (RBI) had two hits each. Brandon Meredith was 1x3 with a walk and a stolen base. The JetHawks were 2x9 w/RISP.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman?
Series: Inland Empire leads 2-1 (Best-of-Five)
Next Up: Tuesday @ Inland Empire, 9:05pm Central
Quad Cities
Quad Cities were up 5-0 before Beloit got on the board and continued to tack on runs, earning a place in the Midwest League finals with a 9-5 win. Daniel Minor allowed 6H/2ER, 6K:0BB in 6IP; Juan Minaya gave up 3H/3ER, 1K:1BB in 1IP; Mitchell Lambson gave up 2H/0ER (but allowed the hits that gave Minaya two of his earned runs) in 2IP.
Despite going 3x21 w/RISP, the River Bandits plated nine runs. Bobby Borchering (2B) and Jordan Scott (2B, 3B, SB, RBI) had three hits each. Carlos Correa was 2x5 with a triple, home run and 3RBI; Tony Kemp (2B), Teoscar Hernandez (HR), Rio Ruiz (HR, 2RBI), and Brian Blasik all had two hits each.
Man of the Match: Carlos Correa
Series: Quad Cities wins 2-1
Next Up: At South Bend in MWL Championship, 6:05pm Central (Best-of-Five)
Tri-City
Tri-City will begin the Best-of-Three NYPL Championship tonight vs. State College, 6:05pm Central
Well, this is unexpected. Inland Empire took a 3-0 lead by the end of the 3rd, and rode it out for a 6-2 win over Lancaster to take a 2-1 series lead. Aaron West allowed 7H/4ER, 4K:0BB in 3.1IP; Tyson Perez (0.2IP) and Blair Walters (0.1IP) allowed hits but no runs; Michael Dimock gave up 3H/2ER, 2K:1BB in 2IP and Gera Sanchez retired the five batters he faced.
Nolan Fontana (2B), Tyler Heineman (2B, RBI) and Chris Epps (RBI) had two hits each. Brandon Meredith was 1x3 with a walk and a stolen base. The JetHawks were 2x9 w/RISP.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman?
Series: Inland Empire leads 2-1 (Best-of-Five)
Next Up: Tuesday @ Inland Empire, 9:05pm Central
Quad Cities
Quad Cities were up 5-0 before Beloit got on the board and continued to tack on runs, earning a place in the Midwest League finals with a 9-5 win. Daniel Minor allowed 6H/2ER, 6K:0BB in 6IP; Juan Minaya gave up 3H/3ER, 1K:1BB in 1IP; Mitchell Lambson gave up 2H/0ER (but allowed the hits that gave Minaya two of his earned runs) in 2IP.
Despite going 3x21 w/RISP, the River Bandits plated nine runs. Bobby Borchering (2B) and Jordan Scott (2B, 3B, SB, RBI) had three hits each. Carlos Correa was 2x5 with a triple, home run and 3RBI; Tony Kemp (2B), Teoscar Hernandez (HR), Rio Ruiz (HR, 2RBI), and Brian Blasik all had two hits each.
Man of the Match: Carlos Correa
Series: Quad Cities wins 2-1
Next Up: At South Bend in MWL Championship, 6:05pm Central (Best-of-Five)
Tri-City
Tri-City will begin the Best-of-Three NYPL Championship tonight vs. State College, 6:05pm Central
Monday, August 19, 2013
PreStros Morning Report: August 18
Oklahoma City (73-56), 6.0 up
OKC scored the first five runs of the game, Albuquerque got the next four, and that's how it ended with a 5-4 OKC win. Asher Wojciechowski threw 7.1IP, 7H/3ER, 8K:1BB; Pat Urckfitz allowed a hit to the only batter he faced, and Jason Stoffel allowed a hit which scored Wojo's inherited runner. Jorge De Leon allowed 2H/1ER, 1K:0BB in the 9th.
Seven RedHawks combined for seven hits, with Che-Hsuan Lin getting 3RBI. Jimmy Paredes had an RBI triple, and George Springer hit his 16th homer with OKC - 35 overall for the season.
Man of the Match: Asher Wojciechowski
Corpus (33-23, 2.0 GB), 75-51 overall
Arkansas got on the board in the bottom of the 1st, Corpus tied it up in the 6th, and that's where it was heading into the 10th. Two Corpus singles and a Max Stassi HBP loaded up the bases with two outs in the 10th, and Erik Castro singled to center to provide the runs for a 3-1 Corpus win. Mike Foltynewicz allowed 2H/1ER, 4K:0BB in 6IP; Ruben Alaniz gave up a hit and two walks in 3IP, and Jonas Dufek got his 2nd Corpus save.
Erik Castro was 3x5 with the aforementioned 2RBI; Enrique Hernandez hit his 12th homer of the season.
Man of the Match: Mike Foltynewicz
Lancaster (35-21, 8.0 up) 74-52 overall
The JetHawks never trailed in this one, and with four runs in the bottom of the 7th cruised to a 9-3 win over High Desert. Colton Cain threw 6.1IP, 5H/3ER, 2K:3BB while a bullpen of Jordan Jankowski (0.2IP, 1K), Kenny Long (0.2IP, 1K) and Travis Ballew (1.1IP, 2K:1BB) held High Desert hitless over the final 2.2IP.
Tyler Heineman was 2x4 with a triple, homer and 2RBI and has a seven-game hit streak (a four-game multi-hit streak) and is hitting .371/.465/.686 in his last ten games with 6K:5BB. Joe Sclafani was 2x3 with a walk; Nolan Fontana was 1x5 with a triple and 2RBI; MP Cokinos was 1x4 with 2RBI;
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman
Quad Cities (31-23, 5.5 GB) 69-54 overall
Burlington tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the 9th when Wendell Soto hit a ball off pitcher Juan Minaya, allowing the tying run to score, but Rio Ruiz made sure to get it back, hitting a lead-off, walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th for a 3-2 win. Brian Holmes threw 5.1IP, 7H/1R (0ER), 6K:3BB; Zach Morton threw 2.2 perfect innings, and Minaya allowed 3H/1ER, 1K:1BB in the 9th.
Every River Bandit got on base at least once. Carlos Correa was 1x4 with an RBI triple; Jobduan Morales hit his 2nd homer of the season, and Ruiz hit the walk-off. Danry Vasquez got a single and a walk on the day.
Man of the Match: Rio Ruiz
Tri-City (35-24) 0.5 up
Mike Martinez hit a game-tying two-run homer in the top of the 9th, but Staten Island's Eric Jagielo got his 4th hit of the game in the 11th with a walk-off homer for a 3-2 Staten Island win. Kevin Comer allowed 3H/0ER, 5K:2BB in 3.2IP; Evan Grills gave up 7H/2R (1ER), 1K:0BB in 4IP; Richard Rodriguez allowed two baserunners in 0.2IP; Gonzalo Sanudo struck out two more batters (36K:3BB in 29IP), and Tyler Brunnemann took the loss in the 11th.
The ValleyCats only managed five hits: D'Andre Toney, Conrad Gregor (2BB), Mike Martinez (HR/2RBI), Jack Mayfield and Jake Rodriguez.
Man of the Match: Conrad Gregor
Greeneville (34-23), 2.5 up
Greeneville had a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 7th, but Elizabethton got four runs in the bottom half for a 5-2 win over the Gastros. Edison Frias allowed 5H/1ER, 4K:2BB in 6IP; Kevin Ferguson gave up 4H/4ER, HBP in 1IP and Sebastian Kessay allowed a hit to the only batter he faced before rain called the game early.
Tanner Mathis was 2x3 with a walk; Juan Santana was 1x3 with two walks; Angel Ibanez was 0x2 with two walks and an RBI; Chase McDonald was 1x3 with a walk and an RBI.
Man of the Match: Edison Frias
GCL Astros
Off.
OKC scored the first five runs of the game, Albuquerque got the next four, and that's how it ended with a 5-4 OKC win. Asher Wojciechowski threw 7.1IP, 7H/3ER, 8K:1BB; Pat Urckfitz allowed a hit to the only batter he faced, and Jason Stoffel allowed a hit which scored Wojo's inherited runner. Jorge De Leon allowed 2H/1ER, 1K:0BB in the 9th.
Seven RedHawks combined for seven hits, with Che-Hsuan Lin getting 3RBI. Jimmy Paredes had an RBI triple, and George Springer hit his 16th homer with OKC - 35 overall for the season.
Man of the Match: Asher Wojciechowski
Corpus (33-23, 2.0 GB), 75-51 overall
Arkansas got on the board in the bottom of the 1st, Corpus tied it up in the 6th, and that's where it was heading into the 10th. Two Corpus singles and a Max Stassi HBP loaded up the bases with two outs in the 10th, and Erik Castro singled to center to provide the runs for a 3-1 Corpus win. Mike Foltynewicz allowed 2H/1ER, 4K:0BB in 6IP; Ruben Alaniz gave up a hit and two walks in 3IP, and Jonas Dufek got his 2nd Corpus save.
Erik Castro was 3x5 with the aforementioned 2RBI; Enrique Hernandez hit his 12th homer of the season.
Man of the Match: Mike Foltynewicz
Lancaster (35-21, 8.0 up) 74-52 overall
The JetHawks never trailed in this one, and with four runs in the bottom of the 7th cruised to a 9-3 win over High Desert. Colton Cain threw 6.1IP, 5H/3ER, 2K:3BB while a bullpen of Jordan Jankowski (0.2IP, 1K), Kenny Long (0.2IP, 1K) and Travis Ballew (1.1IP, 2K:1BB) held High Desert hitless over the final 2.2IP.
Tyler Heineman was 2x4 with a triple, homer and 2RBI and has a seven-game hit streak (a four-game multi-hit streak) and is hitting .371/.465/.686 in his last ten games with 6K:5BB. Joe Sclafani was 2x3 with a walk; Nolan Fontana was 1x5 with a triple and 2RBI; MP Cokinos was 1x4 with 2RBI;
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman
Quad Cities (31-23, 5.5 GB) 69-54 overall
Burlington tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the 9th when Wendell Soto hit a ball off pitcher Juan Minaya, allowing the tying run to score, but Rio Ruiz made sure to get it back, hitting a lead-off, walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th for a 3-2 win. Brian Holmes threw 5.1IP, 7H/1R (0ER), 6K:3BB; Zach Morton threw 2.2 perfect innings, and Minaya allowed 3H/1ER, 1K:1BB in the 9th.
Every River Bandit got on base at least once. Carlos Correa was 1x4 with an RBI triple; Jobduan Morales hit his 2nd homer of the season, and Ruiz hit the walk-off. Danry Vasquez got a single and a walk on the day.
Man of the Match: Rio Ruiz
Tri-City (35-24) 0.5 up
Mike Martinez hit a game-tying two-run homer in the top of the 9th, but Staten Island's Eric Jagielo got his 4th hit of the game in the 11th with a walk-off homer for a 3-2 Staten Island win. Kevin Comer allowed 3H/0ER, 5K:2BB in 3.2IP; Evan Grills gave up 7H/2R (1ER), 1K:0BB in 4IP; Richard Rodriguez allowed two baserunners in 0.2IP; Gonzalo Sanudo struck out two more batters (36K:3BB in 29IP), and Tyler Brunnemann took the loss in the 11th.
The ValleyCats only managed five hits: D'Andre Toney, Conrad Gregor (2BB), Mike Martinez (HR/2RBI), Jack Mayfield and Jake Rodriguez.
Man of the Match: Conrad Gregor
Greeneville (34-23), 2.5 up
Greeneville had a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 7th, but Elizabethton got four runs in the bottom half for a 5-2 win over the Gastros. Edison Frias allowed 5H/1ER, 4K:2BB in 6IP; Kevin Ferguson gave up 4H/4ER, HBP in 1IP and Sebastian Kessay allowed a hit to the only batter he faced before rain called the game early.
Tanner Mathis was 2x3 with a walk; Juan Santana was 1x3 with two walks; Angel Ibanez was 0x2 with two walks and an RBI; Chase McDonald was 1x3 with a walk and an RBI.
Man of the Match: Edison Frias
GCL Astros
Off.
Friday, August 16, 2013
PreStros Morning Report: August 15
Oklahoma City (70-56), 3.0 up
Oklahoma City snapped a five-game losing streak in an 8-2 win over Tucson. Jake Buchanan did what Jake Buchanan does, throwing 7.2IP, 7H/2ER, 3K:1BB; Wade LeBlanc allowed a hit in 0.1IP, and Jorge De Leon threw a perfect 9th inning.
The top of the lineup was 6x12 - Trevor Crowe was 2x5, Jose Martinez was 2x4 with a double and a walk, and George Springer was 2x3 with a home run, two walks, and 3RBI. It's his 4th HR in his last seven games, and he has 10K:10BB in his last ten games. Jon Singleton was 1x3 with a homer, 2BB and 2RBI. Jimmy Paredes was 1x3 with a triple, walk, and 2RBI.
Man of the Match: George Springer
Corpus (31-22, 2.0 GB), 73-50 overall
Down 4-1 heading into the 8th at NW Arkansas, the Hooks jumped up and scored three in the 8th and two in the 9th (and allowed one in the bottom of the 9th) for a tight 6-5 win. Ross Seaton threw 6IP, 7H/4ER, 6K:2BB; Carlos Quevedo struck out two in 1IP and Jonas Dufek allowed 2H/1ER, 2K:0BB in 2IP - the first run Dufek had allowed in seven appearances for Corpus (sporting a hefty 15K:0BB rate).
Preston Tucker (2B, BB, RBI) and Drew Muren (2B) each had three hits. Ryan McCurdy was 1x2 with 2BB. But the offensive story is Max Stassi - his double in the 8th scored two runs to tie the game, and his double in the 9th scored the two go-ahead runs.
Man of the Match: Max Stassi
Lancaster (33-20, 6.5 up) 72-51 overall
Inland Empire was up 7-0 before Lancaster got on the board in the 6th. 8-2 Inland Empire win. Mike Hauschild allowed 6H/4ER, 6K:2BB in 4.2IP; Tyson Perez gave up 3H/3R (2ER) 2HBP in 1IP; Michael Dimock (0.2IP - 2H/1BB) and Kenny Long (0.1IP) got scoreless outings, and Gera Sanchez allowed 2H/1ER, 2K:0BB in 2.1IP.
Delino DeShields (SB), Nolan Fontana (SB) and Tyler Heineman (2B, 3B, 2RBI) had two hits each.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman
Quad Cities (30-21, 3.5 GB), 68-52 overall
Clinton got three straight two-out singles to walk off with a 6-5 win over Quad Cities. Lance McCullers had a rough one, giving up 5H/5ER, 2K:4BB in 4IP; Andrew Walter threw 3IP, 3H/0ER, 2K:1BB and Juan Minaya took the loss with 3H/1ER in 1.2IP.
Bobby Borchering was 2x4 with a 2-run HR and 4RBI total. Tony Kemp was 1x3 with 2BB. The River Bandits were 1x10 w/RISP.
Man of the Match: Bobby Borchering
Tri-City (33-23), 1.5 up
Tri-City scored a run in each of the last three innings for a 3-1 win at Connecticut. Adrian Houser allowed 4H/1ER, 2K:1BB in 5IP; Andrew Thurman allowed 2H/0ER, 3K:2BB in 2.1IP and Gonzalo Sanudo (acquired in the Mike Kvasnicka trade) made his Tri-City debut with 3K in 1.2IP. He now has 34K:3BB in 27.1IP this season.
Tyler White was 3x4, Mike Martinez was 1x2 with a homer, walk, and 2RBI. Chan Moon had the other hit for the ValleyCats.
Man of the Match: How about Mike Martinez?
Greeneville (33-21, 2.5 up)
Greeneville took a 4-0 lead and then gave up four runs to Pulaski in the 6th. In the bottom of the 9th, Pulaski's walk-off run scored with a walk, stolen base, and a throwing error. 5-4 Pulaski. Chris Lee allowed 2H/2ER, 5K:2BB in 5.1IP; Sebastian Kessay allowed 4H/2ER, 2K:0BB (2HR) and Chris Munelly took the loss with 0H/1R (0ER), 4K:2BB in 2.1IP.
Eight Astros recorded eight hits (total, not each) and drew ten walks, but were 2x15 w/RISP. Brian Holberton hit a three-run homer and drew a walk.
Man of the Match: Brian Holberton.
GCL Astros (23-25) 7.0 GB
The GCL Astros beat up on the GCL Yankees2 (yeah, that's their actual name) with 22 hits in a 14-5 win. Jose Montero threw 5IP, 5H/3R (2ER), 2K:2BB; Joe Musgrove allowed 2H/0ER, 3K:0BB in 3IP; Matt Heidenreich allowed 3H/2ER in 1IP.
Jose Solano was 5x5 with four doubles and a home run for 5RBI. Ydarqui Marte was 4x4 with two doubles and 2RBI; Pedro Coa was 3x3 with a double and 2RBI. Jean Batista was 3x5 with a triple and a solo homer.
Man of the Match: Jose Solano
Oklahoma City snapped a five-game losing streak in an 8-2 win over Tucson. Jake Buchanan did what Jake Buchanan does, throwing 7.2IP, 7H/2ER, 3K:1BB; Wade LeBlanc allowed a hit in 0.1IP, and Jorge De Leon threw a perfect 9th inning.
The top of the lineup was 6x12 - Trevor Crowe was 2x5, Jose Martinez was 2x4 with a double and a walk, and George Springer was 2x3 with a home run, two walks, and 3RBI. It's his 4th HR in his last seven games, and he has 10K:10BB in his last ten games. Jon Singleton was 1x3 with a homer, 2BB and 2RBI. Jimmy Paredes was 1x3 with a triple, walk, and 2RBI.
Man of the Match: George Springer
Corpus (31-22, 2.0 GB), 73-50 overall
Down 4-1 heading into the 8th at NW Arkansas, the Hooks jumped up and scored three in the 8th and two in the 9th (and allowed one in the bottom of the 9th) for a tight 6-5 win. Ross Seaton threw 6IP, 7H/4ER, 6K:2BB; Carlos Quevedo struck out two in 1IP and Jonas Dufek allowed 2H/1ER, 2K:0BB in 2IP - the first run Dufek had allowed in seven appearances for Corpus (sporting a hefty 15K:0BB rate).
Preston Tucker (2B, BB, RBI) and Drew Muren (2B) each had three hits. Ryan McCurdy was 1x2 with 2BB. But the offensive story is Max Stassi - his double in the 8th scored two runs to tie the game, and his double in the 9th scored the two go-ahead runs.
Man of the Match: Max Stassi
Lancaster (33-20, 6.5 up) 72-51 overall
Inland Empire was up 7-0 before Lancaster got on the board in the 6th. 8-2 Inland Empire win. Mike Hauschild allowed 6H/4ER, 6K:2BB in 4.2IP; Tyson Perez gave up 3H/3R (2ER) 2HBP in 1IP; Michael Dimock (0.2IP - 2H/1BB) and Kenny Long (0.1IP) got scoreless outings, and Gera Sanchez allowed 2H/1ER, 2K:0BB in 2.1IP.
Delino DeShields (SB), Nolan Fontana (SB) and Tyler Heineman (2B, 3B, 2RBI) had two hits each.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman
Quad Cities (30-21, 3.5 GB), 68-52 overall
Clinton got three straight two-out singles to walk off with a 6-5 win over Quad Cities. Lance McCullers had a rough one, giving up 5H/5ER, 2K:4BB in 4IP; Andrew Walter threw 3IP, 3H/0ER, 2K:1BB and Juan Minaya took the loss with 3H/1ER in 1.2IP.
Bobby Borchering was 2x4 with a 2-run HR and 4RBI total. Tony Kemp was 1x3 with 2BB. The River Bandits were 1x10 w/RISP.
Man of the Match: Bobby Borchering
Tri-City (33-23), 1.5 up
Tri-City scored a run in each of the last three innings for a 3-1 win at Connecticut. Adrian Houser allowed 4H/1ER, 2K:1BB in 5IP; Andrew Thurman allowed 2H/0ER, 3K:2BB in 2.1IP and Gonzalo Sanudo (acquired in the Mike Kvasnicka trade) made his Tri-City debut with 3K in 1.2IP. He now has 34K:3BB in 27.1IP this season.
Tyler White was 3x4, Mike Martinez was 1x2 with a homer, walk, and 2RBI. Chan Moon had the other hit for the ValleyCats.
Man of the Match: How about Mike Martinez?
Greeneville (33-21, 2.5 up)
Greeneville took a 4-0 lead and then gave up four runs to Pulaski in the 6th. In the bottom of the 9th, Pulaski's walk-off run scored with a walk, stolen base, and a throwing error. 5-4 Pulaski. Chris Lee allowed 2H/2ER, 5K:2BB in 5.1IP; Sebastian Kessay allowed 4H/2ER, 2K:0BB (2HR) and Chris Munelly took the loss with 0H/1R (0ER), 4K:2BB in 2.1IP.
Eight Astros recorded eight hits (total, not each) and drew ten walks, but were 2x15 w/RISP. Brian Holberton hit a three-run homer and drew a walk.
Man of the Match: Brian Holberton.
GCL Astros (23-25) 7.0 GB
The GCL Astros beat up on the GCL Yankees2 (yeah, that's their actual name) with 22 hits in a 14-5 win. Jose Montero threw 5IP, 5H/3R (2ER), 2K:2BB; Joe Musgrove allowed 2H/0ER, 3K:0BB in 3IP; Matt Heidenreich allowed 3H/2ER in 1IP.
Jose Solano was 5x5 with four doubles and a home run for 5RBI. Ydarqui Marte was 4x4 with two doubles and 2RBI; Pedro Coa was 3x3 with a double and 2RBI. Jean Batista was 3x5 with a triple and a solo homer.
Man of the Match: Jose Solano
Thursday, July 25, 2013
PreStros Morning Report: July 24
(Check MLBFarm for a minor-league site far more useful than MiLB.com)
Oklahoma City (56-49), 3.0 GB
The RedHawks put up seven runs in the 8th and two more in the 9th to stun Omaha with an 11-4 win. Brad Peacock threw 6IP, 8H/4ER, 6K:1BB and two homers allowed. Phil Humber got the win with 3IP, 0H/0ER, 4K:0BB.
Jose Martinez (two doubles, RBI), George Springer (2B, RBI), and Jimmy Paredes (2RBI) were each 3x5; Brandon Laird was 2x4 with a two-run homer and a walk, Ruben Sosa was 2x4 with a two-run homer.
Man of the Match: Jose Martinez
Corpus (59-43), 1.5 GB
The Hooks gave Mike Foltynewicz a 1-0 lead in the first, and that was all he would need in a 5-0 win over San Antonio. Foltynewicz needed 109 pitches to get through eight scoreless innings, allowing six hits, eight strikeouts and two walks to run his record to 5-1 and drop his ERA to 2.49.
Drew Muren was 2x4 with a double and an RBI; Max Stassi hit his 11th homer of the season, a two-run shot. Domingo Santana was 1x3 with a walk and a stolen base.
Man of the Match: Mike Foltynewicz
Lancaster (61-43), 3.5 up
Wild one in Lancaster as the JetHawks overcame three deficits to win on a 9th-inning walkoff courtesy of Chris Epps, defeating San Jose 8-7. Tommy Shirley allowed 8H/4ER, 5K:4BB in 7IP; Cameron Lamb walked the only batter he faced; Kenny Long gave up a hit that scored Lamb's runner; and Travis Ballew allowed 2H/2ER, 4K:1BB in 1.2IP to get the BS/W.
Tyler Heinenam was 4x5 with three doubles and a homer, leading to 3RBI, and scored the game-winning run; Chris Epps was 3x4 with a double, a walk, and 2RBI. Delino DeShields was 2x3 with two stolen bases; Joe Sclafani (RBI) and Matt Duffy (2B) had two hits each.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman
Quad Cities (17-13), 3.5 GB
A 5-run 2nd inning paced Quad Cities to an 8-5 win over Burlington. Lance McCullers threw 5IP, 2H/2ER, 6K:4BB, and needed just 49 pitches to do it. Juri Perez allowed 1H/2ER but 0K:4BB; Gera Sanchez threw 2IP, 1H/0ER, 2K:0BB and Jordan Jankowski gave up 3H/1ER in 1IP.
Teoscar Hernandez was 2x4 with a HR, BB, 2RBI and Roberto Pena added two hits, including a double. Rio Ruiz hit a two-run triple; Dan Gulbransen was 1x3 with a walk and an RBI and two runs scored.
Man of the Match: Teoscar Hernandez
Tri-City (25-12), 4.5 up
A four-run 5th was all the ValleyCats needed, and all the scoring there was in a 4-0 Tri-City win over Hudson Valley. Chris Cotton threw 5.1IP, 3H/0ER, 4K:1BB (lowering his ERA to 0.51); Andrew Walter allowed 2H/0ER, 3K:0BB in 2.2IP; J.D. Osborne gave up a hit and a walk, but struck out the side.
Mike Martinez was 2x4 with an RBI; Conrad Gregor was 1x4 with 2RBI; Chan Moon had a double and a walk, and James Ramsay added a triple and a walk.
Man of the Match: Chris Cotton
Greeneville
Off.
GCL Astros
Off.
Oklahoma City (56-49), 3.0 GB
The RedHawks put up seven runs in the 8th and two more in the 9th to stun Omaha with an 11-4 win. Brad Peacock threw 6IP, 8H/4ER, 6K:1BB and two homers allowed. Phil Humber got the win with 3IP, 0H/0ER, 4K:0BB.
Jose Martinez (two doubles, RBI), George Springer (2B, RBI), and Jimmy Paredes (2RBI) were each 3x5; Brandon Laird was 2x4 with a two-run homer and a walk, Ruben Sosa was 2x4 with a two-run homer.
Man of the Match: Jose Martinez
Corpus (59-43), 1.5 GB
The Hooks gave Mike Foltynewicz a 1-0 lead in the first, and that was all he would need in a 5-0 win over San Antonio. Foltynewicz needed 109 pitches to get through eight scoreless innings, allowing six hits, eight strikeouts and two walks to run his record to 5-1 and drop his ERA to 2.49.
Drew Muren was 2x4 with a double and an RBI; Max Stassi hit his 11th homer of the season, a two-run shot. Domingo Santana was 1x3 with a walk and a stolen base.
Man of the Match: Mike Foltynewicz
Lancaster (61-43), 3.5 up
Wild one in Lancaster as the JetHawks overcame three deficits to win on a 9th-inning walkoff courtesy of Chris Epps, defeating San Jose 8-7. Tommy Shirley allowed 8H/4ER, 5K:4BB in 7IP; Cameron Lamb walked the only batter he faced; Kenny Long gave up a hit that scored Lamb's runner; and Travis Ballew allowed 2H/2ER, 4K:1BB in 1.2IP to get the BS/W.
Tyler Heinenam was 4x5 with three doubles and a homer, leading to 3RBI, and scored the game-winning run; Chris Epps was 3x4 with a double, a walk, and 2RBI. Delino DeShields was 2x3 with two stolen bases; Joe Sclafani (RBI) and Matt Duffy (2B) had two hits each.
Man of the Match: Tyler Heineman
Quad Cities (17-13), 3.5 GB
A 5-run 2nd inning paced Quad Cities to an 8-5 win over Burlington. Lance McCullers threw 5IP, 2H/2ER, 6K:4BB, and needed just 49 pitches to do it. Juri Perez allowed 1H/2ER but 0K:4BB; Gera Sanchez threw 2IP, 1H/0ER, 2K:0BB and Jordan Jankowski gave up 3H/1ER in 1IP.
Teoscar Hernandez was 2x4 with a HR, BB, 2RBI and Roberto Pena added two hits, including a double. Rio Ruiz hit a two-run triple; Dan Gulbransen was 1x3 with a walk and an RBI and two runs scored.
Man of the Match: Teoscar Hernandez
Tri-City (25-12), 4.5 up
A four-run 5th was all the ValleyCats needed, and all the scoring there was in a 4-0 Tri-City win over Hudson Valley. Chris Cotton threw 5.1IP, 3H/0ER, 4K:1BB (lowering his ERA to 0.51); Andrew Walter allowed 2H/0ER, 3K:0BB in 2.2IP; J.D. Osborne gave up a hit and a walk, but struck out the side.
Mike Martinez was 2x4 with an RBI; Conrad Gregor was 1x4 with 2RBI; Chan Moon had a double and a walk, and James Ramsay added a triple and a walk.
Man of the Match: Chris Cotton
Greeneville
Off.
GCL Astros
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