Enoli Paredes struck out three over three perfect innings last night for Quad Cities. He didn't appear in a game after May 31 last season, so there's an injury flag on him, and at 22, he'll need to get a move on. He may not be in Quad Cities long if he picks up where he left off before getting shut down. The Astros got him for $10,000 in the 2015 offseason when he was 20, so he could be shaping up to be a nice find for the international scouting department.
Kit Scheetz with another scoreless outing... he allowed four hits and struck out five over 3.2 innings to earn the save. Scheetz has three saves, a 1.16 ERA, and 38 strikeouts against 5 walks in 23.1 innings this season. Opponents are hitting .181 off of him and his WHIP now stands at 0.86.
Kemp also got tossed, which forced Tim Federowicz to play 2B. In ten years of professional baseball, that marked the first time in his career that Federowicz appeared at second base.
Corbin Martin vs. Midland: 5.1 IP, 2 H, unearned run, 2 BB, 6 K The run that was charged to him was an inherited runner that scored. Corpus leads Midland 5-1 as Taylor Jones is 3-3 with an RBI double.
Taylor Jones finished 4-4 with an RBI double and a solo home run (6) in Corpus Christi's 8-3 win over Midland. He's now slashing .376/.489/.661 this season.
Jones’ sample size in AA is approaching the point where it becomes pretty meaningful imho. His BABIP is still unsustainably high. His k and bb rates are close to what he’s done the last 2 seasons. But he seems to have tapped into some power he previously hasn’t shown, and as long as he can sustain that, he’s probably got a major league future, and sometimes a breakout like that can be the the predecessor of further improvement, which while unlikely means Jones (with his build) could be on his way to an ultra-rare late-bloom into a star. For now I still see the strikeouts and am skeptical he will add/sustain the power needed to be a star to overcome that (along with being limited to 1B), but we can always hope.
A few releases to pass along... none were big names, but one of them was a marquee IFA signing back in 2014. OF Ronny Rafael signed for $1.5 million shortly after the 2014 IFA signing period opened. He received the largest bonus from the Astros during that signing period. Unfortunately, Rafael could never put his tools together. Rafael spent three seasons in the system and failed to get out of the complex leagues, finishing his Astros career with a cumulative slash line of .179/.291/.285 with 6 home runs and 39 RBI. A 36.5% strikeout rate (183 in 501 plate appearances) was one of the factors that did him in. In 2017, he spent time with the DSL Blue and the GCL team, hitting a combined .165/.290/.331 with 4 home runs and 19 RBI. 1B Angel Tejeda originally signed sometime before the 2015 DSL season began. He slashed .304/.398/.411 with 23 RBI between the GCL and the DSL Blue teams. RHP Chauncey Nuñez signed as an undrafted free agent following the 2017 draft out of Doral Academy in Hialeah, Florida. In 11 relief appearances in the GCL, Nuñez was 0-1 with an 8.49 ERA. In 11.2 innings, he allowed 15 runs (11 earned) on 17 hits (2 HR), walked 11, and struck out 10. Opponents hit .340 against him and he had a WHIP of 2.40. RHP Matthew Merrill was the Astros 37th-round pick in the 2017 draft; he was home-schooled in Oklahoma City and passed on a committment to Division II Pittsburg State to turn pro. In 6 appearances (2 starts) in the GCL, Merrill was 1-1 with an 11.57 ERA. He allowed 14 runs (12 earned) on 16 hits (1 HR), walked 7, and struck out 6 in 9.1 innings. C Randy Vasquez had been assigned to Quad Cities but had not appeared in a game due to an injury. He was originally signed in 2015 out of the Dominican Republic and performed well in his debut season, although he was an older player for the DSL. Vasquez appeared in 11 games in 2017; 7 with Tri-City and 4 with Buies Creek, slashing .257/.316/.257 (9-35) with an RBI in Tri-City.
Here's a video of some of Corbin Martin's strikeouts from yesterday. If he can excel at AA then he'll be a borderline top 100 guy by the season's end.
Josh James keeps making the Fangraphs Fringe Five list and is the leader for the season. Going back to 2013-2015, that list has a pretty good track record considering it doesn’t include any top prospects. These future big leaguers were in the cumulative top 5 for these seasons: 2015: Max Kepler, Jose De Leon 2014: Austin Barnes, Jose Ramirez 2013: Mookie Betts, Danny Salazar, Marcus Simien, Wilmer Flores, Maikel Franco
Patrick Sandoval had a good outing again recently. Hopefully he can get promoted soon. Anyone know what date Whitley will be eligible?
Taylor Jones is quickly becoming an interesting prospect. Here's his 4-hit performance from yesterday.
