Myles Straw doing Myles Straw things. Debuted in Lancaster to the tune of 3-4 with a double. Wrenn has started to adjust to full season ball and put up a 3-4 game with 2 doubles and Quad Cities HR #2. Hector Perez got the win with 5 and 1/3 innings, 10 Ks, and 3 runs allowed on 6 hits plus a walk. He's got 28 Ks in 18 innings in A ball, after 36 Ks in in 28 innings at Tri Cities, so that's an interesting arm that just turned 20.
Albert Abreu followed him for the other 4 innings to complete the shutout, allowing 3 hits, 1 walk, with 5 Ks. Nice game for Kyle Tucker as well -- 3 for 4 with a double, and gunned down a runner at 3rd from center field.
David Paulino made his return to Corpus after his rehab stint in the GCL. 6 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 6 K; the run came on a solo homer.
Not that we need more rookies on the team now but I'm interested to see what the timelines for Martes and Paulino are. Plenty has been written about Martes' upside but not the shortcomings he needs to address before the majors. He's obviously less polished than both Musgrove and Rodgers but how much. I read he's less ready than McCullers was when he was called up from double A. Same thing with Paulino. Fantastic numbers and upside but not much on command/control. Innings are obviously an issue.
I don't think either is Rule 5 eligible, so I'd imagine they'd hold off on them making the jump this year. Martes had an okay first half, but has been stellar in the 2nd half. Paulino's numbers are pretty great across the board, but he had some issue that led to a team suspension... I'd imagine that indicates some maturity issues.
Paulino is on the 40-Man roster already. I don't see a record of when Martes was signed, so no way to know for sure. It will be this year or next. I finally found Martes was signed in 2012, so assuming he was signed prior to December, he will be eligible this year.
Martes is a very good prospect and one the Astros have avoided discussing in trade. He is very likely to be a long term starter. He has three big league pitches and a fourth that he has been working on since June that has really helped (cut fastball). His top two pitches are not as good as McCullers when he was called up; but Martes has a far better third and fourth pitch. Also, Martes has a strong build with out any arm issues. The Astros expect that he will have no difficulty going deep into games. Martes would probably already be in the Astros rotation had he not had a rough start to the season. He has a complicated delivery, similar to Luis Tiant. Most pitchers lack the athleticism to repeat such a complicated delivery, but Martes can do it. Early in the season Martes' delivery was off and he struggled with command and was also dabbling with a cut fastball. Since then Martes has been very solid, and is probably a better prospect right now than most of the trade publications have him ranked. He has an era of 3.14 as a starter this season, and has been very good the middle of May. His FIP is only 2.70 and his strikeout numbers have increased with the level of competition.
Next years team looks promising for position players. But a little bit of patience will be needed. However I would think it is a team that could grow, and has potential to be special. Some pieces will likely not get it, but the minors is stacked with prospects who look promising too. Then there is Fisher who is slowly moving closer to the majors. RF - Springer CF - Teoscar LF - Kemp 4th OF - Marisnick 1B - Reed 2B - Altuve SS - Correa 3B - Bregman 4th IF - Gonzales C - Gattis BC - Free agent DH - Gurriel
From what little I've seen, he sometimes fades over to his left as he's delivering instead of driving at the plate, that'll cause you to throw across your body a bit and then pitches will stay up and out. I think with him it's just a consistency thing.
I would be surprised if either Martes or Paulino were called up this season. Both should know start in AAA next season (if not traded) and if effective will be called up as needed after the Super Two cutoff.
Hard to pencil in Kemp or Teoscar as an everyday player. The FA crop of OF/DH is the one area where there are some decent players and Houston will have some payroll flexibility. Houston also has the prospects to trade for a star OF/DH if one comes available. I think Luhnow will keep one everyday spot open to have some competition and allow him to break in a young player, plus there will be 1-2 bench spots open. Those 2-3 spots will be decided in spring among a huge group of young players who have yet to fully establish themselves (White, Singleton, Tucker, Moran, Marisnick, Kemp, Teoscar, Kemmer, Aplin, Stassi, Heineman, Fisher).
Martes’ delivery is different than most modern pitchers. He has a lot of movement in his body, from his arm down to his toes which makes him harder to pick up and he is quite deceptive. His hands are usually high above/behind his head when he begins his wind up. He steps toward first base, and elevates his front leg deep into his body. He also often will rotate his torso until he is facing third base and then quickly fires his arm towards home plate. He had never had any problems with his delivery since rookie ball until he began this season. He was off kilter and didn't locate his fastball or curve like he usually did. He still doesn't have his mechanics down perfectly, as he is walking more than he usually has (or that was the case the last time I saw him about a month ago). All of the issues wrong with Martes are correctable. He has #1-#2 big league stuff, he has very good stamina and his arm can pitch deep into games. He is a very good athlete so any issues with his delivery can be fixed.
The Astros should leave the pitching depth alone and just spend all of their dollars on hitting (Loudres and Riddick).
This was the first thing that googled, hell, I may be wrong. http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/francis-martes-cusp-astros/
