Tuesday Stories Quiet night. However, Delino DeShields continues his breakout season. Recap Corpus didn't do anything of note, as they were shut out 6-0 in Tulsa. They only had 4 hits tonight, 3 of which were doubles. Jonathan Villar had one of them. He also stole his 39th base of the season. Bobby Doran went 5 innings and allowed 4 runs on 6 hits (solo homer) and struck out 4. Lexington snapped their 6-game losing streak by knocking off Kannapolis 2-0 in the series opener. Delino DeShields went 2-4, scored both runs, and had 2 steals (64). Matt Duffy drove him in with a double in the 1st. DeShields did it himself in the 7th, taking Jeff Soptic deep for his 7th home run of the season. Zach Johnson also had a double. Mike Foltynewicz became the first pitcher in the organization to 10 wins, as he tossed 6 shutout innings. He allowed 4 hits and fanned 6. Murilo Gouvea pitched the next 2 innings, walking 1 and striking out 2. Dayan Diaz closed it out for his 11th save of the season. The GCLstros stormed out to a 9-2 lead over the Marlins, then hung on tight for the 9-7 win. Darwin Rivera went 2-3 with a 2-run homer (2) and 4 RBI. His other 2 RBI came on a sac fly and an RBI single. Brett Phillips went 3-5 with a double and scored twice. Juan Santana went 2-4 with 2 RBI. Wallace Gonzalez and Franny Polanco had RBI doubles. Yonathan Mejia went 2-4 with an RBI single. Jose Valdez, on a rehab assignment, got a strikeout in a 1-2-3 1st. Jandel Gustave got the win with 3 innings of relief. He allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on 1 hit, walking 4 and striking out 5. Erick Gonzalez got his 4th save of the year. Also, the Astros signed Edwin Gomez, an outfielder who last played in the Tigers' system. He was a 4th-round pick in 2009 out of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy and High School (aka Carlos Correa's school). Gomez was ranked 30th in the Tigers system following the 09 season, but he never played higher than low Class A during his time there. He was cut loose after going 2-15 in 5 games with short-season Connecticut. Looks like he was signed and placed on the GCL roster. Today, he hit 2nd and played left, getting a double in 4 at-bats. The Academy was smashed 13-1 by the Royals. No RBIs for the DSLstros. Brian Pena went 2-4 with a double and scored the only run. Arturo Michelena also had 2 hits. Rayderson Chevalier allowed 4 runs on 4 hits in 2 innings, walking 2 and striking out 2. The normally reliable Frangy Colon was shelled in his 5 innings, as he allowed 9 runs (5 earned) on 9 hits (grand slam) and struck out 2. Geronimo Franzua pitched 2 hitless and scoreless, walking 3 and striking out 2.
I saw he's been struggling, hitting .169 Perhaps he is just getting some extended time off get back his mojo?
Release: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523Astros">#Astros</a> release Kelvin Vizcaino who they signed out of the DR for $250K in 2010.Was hitting .087 in 2nd season in GCL.</p>— Appy Astros (@AppyAstros) <a href="https://twitter.com/AppyAstros/status/223055332195307520" data-datetime="2012-07-11T14:05:10+00:00">July 11, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Congratulations And finally, from Farmstros....a spreadsheet of everyone currently in the Astros organization, from Jose Altuve, to J.B. Shuck, to Jonathan Villar, to Jorge De Leon, to Jordan Scott, to John Neely, to Jimmy Howick, to Juan Hernandez
Wow. $250k down the tube in just 2 years. Amazing. That scout can't feel to secure with his job right now.
Jesus, I can't imagine how someone took the time to input all that data manually. Team intern: fine. But fanblog?!? That's why I've never fully bought into the international market. 16 y/o's get bonuses commensurate with 8-10th round slot bonuses but have a success rate orders of magnitude lower. By comparison Nick Tropeano got a $155,700 bonus as a 5th round pick last year. Team's like the Blue Jays have done an awesome job utilizing the international market, but for teams like the Astros, their investment is a giant crapshoot.
Here's an interesting write-up on Jake Arrieta of the Orioles. He's one of the Orioles former 'big 3' top-of-rotation prospects (him, Brian Matusz, and Chris Tillman) that have struggled in the bigs. I think a low-buy on one of them is probably one of the best trade options for Wandy.
Fontana is rounding into form With his 3rd o-fer in 6 games, Nolan Fontana's BA is down to .294. He did have 2 more BB (12 on the year) and his fourth SB. It's almost eerie how his stats are starting to match his college averages. It's still very early but its become easy to see how he could hit under .300 in college and have a .400+ OBP.
Lexington won their day game against Kannapolis 3-2. Starter Luis Cruz went 5 shutout innings to lower his era to 3.58. With his 3rd O-fer in 6 games, Nolan Fontana's average is down to .294. He did have two more walks (12 on the year) and his fourth SB. It's almost eerie how his stats are starting to match his college averages. It's still very early but it’s easy to see how he could hit under .300 in college and have a .400+ OBP. DDJ went deep for the second day in a row and his 8th HR of the season. No SB's but he did drive in 3 with his only hit of the day. His OPS is over .800 on the season Personal favorite of mine Chan Moon has been in a bit of a slump since Fontana got to town. He went 0-4 to drop his avg. to .256. Newcomer Ruben Sosa had another solid day at the plate going 1-2 with 2 walks and 1 stolen base. That brings him to 5 hits in 12 at-bat’s and 10 times on base in 17 plate appearances.
Two different pools of money, two different pools of players, at least in the past (haven't followed that much recently). I would very much like to see a separate international draft. It's a crapshoot. How are "teams like the Blue Jays" different than "teams like the Astros"? Outside of philosophy and willingness to spend money?
Any recent scouting report on 3B Matt Duffy? How does he project? Putting up pretty solid #s at Lexington and he just turned 23 in the spring. K/BB ratio is off, but not as much as some of the other more highly regarded propsects.
Agree with you. I've been wondering if it would be possible to get one of those guys plus 3B Nicky Delmonico from them for Wandy.
The concepts are sort of congruent with one another but I'd say the difference is the amount/quality of international scouting they do. The Jays' philosophy is that the international market is another, almost equally valuable player pool to the draft. Thus they spend a lot of money and resources on scouting. It's the same way with the draft actually. For a team like the Astros that doesn't put an emphasis on scouting the international market, their signees have a considerably lower success rate.
