2012 Astros Minor League Thread

[xcrunner51]

Speed is another premium tool and the system has several guys who give pitchers headaches on the base paths.

System Leaders
Delino DeShields Jr (LoA) - 77 sb
Jonathan Villar (AA) - 39 sb
Jimmy Paredes (AAA) - 31 sb
George Springer (HiA) - 27sb
Grant Hogue (HiA) - 23 sb

Special props to Grant Hogue. At the age of 25, he's a relative non-prospect but he swiped his 23 bags in a total of 33 games.

Several of the names on the speed and power lists are projecting to interesting HR/SB combos. All are up-the-middle guys.
Springer: 25/35
DDJ: 10/100
Villar: 15/50 (pre-injury)
Paredes: 13/35

Props to Brad Snyder for his 16/14 season so far.

[REEKO_HTOWN]

Any one know anything about the Latin American prospects we've signed two years ago? Luis Reynoso and Arturo Michelena.

Edit: Never mind, look like Tellitlikeitis has it locked down, rep.

[Baseballa]

Am I crazy, or is this the best collection of hitters we've had in our system since the early/mid 90s?

Our system in the late 90s and early 2000s was stocked with pitching, but the only home-grown true hitters I can really remember us producing in the last 15 years were Berkman, Hidalgo, Pence, and I guess guys like Daryle Ward/Jason Lane. (Altuve could definitely join this group too.)

There's obviously a long way to go, but Singleton, Springer, Santana all have potential to be middle of the order mashers. Not to mention potential top of the order guys like DDJ and Correa and wildcards like Ovando. Paredes and Wallace have just killed the ball this year too.

[tellitlikeitis]

Yawn... too lazy today, so here's the WTHB recap and the Crawfish Boxes recap.

[juicystream]

Originally Posted by Baseballa Am I crazy, or is this the best collection of hitters we've had in our system since the early/mid 90s? Our system in the late 90s and early 2000s was stocked with pitching, but the only home-grown true hitters I can really remember us producing in the last 15 years were Berkman, Hidalgo, Pence, and I guess guys like Daryle Ward/Jason Lane. (Altuve could definitely join this group too.) There's obviously a long way to go, but Singleton, Springer, Santana all have potential to be middle of the order mashers. Not to mention potential top of the order guys like DDJ and Correa and wildcards like Ovando. Paredes and Wallace have just killed the ball this year too.

Carlos Guillen
John Buck
Morgan Ensberg
Bobby Abreu

We've had ones that failed as well:

Chris Burke
J.R. Towles
Mitch Melusekey

[tellitlikeitis]

Morning links, courtesy of Appy Astros:

Greeneville Hitters report

Observations from last night's game vs. Kingsport

Pitchers report

[tellitlikeitis]

Carlos Correa went 3-5 with an RBI as the GCLstros pounded the Cardinals 10-4. Best performance of the day went to Juan Santana, who was 4-5 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI.

[tellitlikeitis]

Brandon Meredith now has 12 home runs this season. Tonight is his 68th game for Lexington. The 12 homers are good for 4th on the team, despite the fact that he's played 20 fewer than Mike Kvasnicka (who leads with 15) and 40 less than Matt Duffy and Zach Johnson (who both have 13).

[tellitlikeitis]

Marc Krauss just did it again, guys...

[Zac D]

Stat I just noticed: Counting today, Tyler Heineman has struck out, I think, four times in 91 at-bats. He's really only hitting singles, but you gotta like the ratio. Especially with how good his defense is supposed to be.

[RocketFan007]

Originally Posted by tellitlikeitis Marc Krauss just did it again, guys...

Looks like a future DH to me.

[tellitlikeitis]

Originally Posted by RocketFan007 Looks like a future DH to me.

Yep. Lots of DH options now in the system.

And Krauss does it yet again.

[tellitlikeitis]

Mr. Springer just hit home run #22. So, I am waiting for his promotion to Corpus Christi

[codell]

More importantly, Cisnero pitching another gem for AAA OKC.

[The Real Shady]

Originally Posted by tellitlikeitis Mr. Springer just hit home run #22. So, I am waiting for his promotion to Corpus Christi

Thought they said August. What's the deal here?

[RocketFan007]

Originally Posted by The Real Shady Thought they said August. What's the deal here?

My guess is it has to do with strikeouts. He's still striking out way too much.

[juicystream]

Originally Posted by The Real Shady Thought they said August. What's the deal here?

We are 2 days into August.

[tellitlikeitis]

John Sickels' Preseason Top 20, Revisited

Just to make sure that I'm not stepping on John Sickels' fingers, I'm not posting the article.

[tellitlikeitis]

Thursday Stories

Jose Cisnero making a statement. We could see him in Houston in September...

Close, but no cigar for Corpus.

I eagerly await the mass promotions.

Tri-City being Tri-City.

Recap

OKC got an impressive start from Jose Cisnero in their 7-1 drubbing of Tacoma. Cisnero won his 2nd straight start by going 7 innings and allowing a run on 5 hits, walked 2, and struck out 7. Crash Hessman had a 2-run shot in the 3rd, his 29th of the season. Chris Wallace had a 2-run double in the 6th. Travis Buck went 2-5 with an RBI single, and J.B. Shuck had an RBI forceout. Juan Abreu and Mark Hamburger pitched a scoreless inning apiece.

Corpus came close to completing their comeback, but they fell just short against San Antonio, losing 8-7. The Hooks fought back from a 4-0 deficit after the top of the 1st by answering with 3 in the bottom half, on a Jonathan Singleton RBI groundout and a 2-run homer from Drew Locke (6). The Hooks took the lead in the 2nd on the 1st of 2 2-run shots from Marc Krauss. Unfortunately, that would be all the scoring they did until the 9th, when Krauss sent another 2-run homer out. After that, Singleton grounded out and Locke struck out to end it. Krauss went 3-4 with the 2 homers (4; 19 season) and scored 3 times. Ross Seaton only lasted 3 innings and allowed 4 runs on 6 hits, walked 1, and struck out 5. Erick Abreu came off the DL to make his first outing and promptly allowed 4 runs on 5 hits (3 homers) in 4 innings. He walked 1 and struck out 3.

Lancaster doubled up Stockton in hits (10-5), but got doubled up in the run column, as they lost 6-3. George Springer went 2-5 with a solo blast in the 3rd, his 22nd of the season. Alex Todd was 3-5 from the leadoff spot. Erik Castro and Chris Epps drove in the other runs. Blair Walters got roughed up again, as he allowed 6 runs (5 earned) on 5 hits (2 home runs), walked 3, and struck out 3. Carlos Quevedo walked 2 and fanned 6 in 2 2/3 scoreless and hitless innings of relief, and Andrew Robinson struck out 2 in a 1-2-3 8th inning.

Lexington is continuing to claw their way back into contention in the Sally League, as they knocked off Asheville 9-5. Zach Johnson had an RBI double and a 2-run homer, his 14th. Brandon Meredith had an RBI single and a solo shot, his 12th of the season. Luis Alvarez and Nolan Fontana each drove in 1. Fontana had his customary multi-walk game, had 2 steals (8), and scored 3 times. Luis Ordosgoitti went 5 2/3 innings and allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 8 hits (2-run homer), walked 1, and struck out 4.

Tri-City just keeps winning. I don't even know how to describe it anymore. They put down Batavia 6-2 behind another Aaron West effort. He allowed a run on 5 hits, walked 1, and struck out 7 in 6 innings of work. His ERA somehow climbed to 1.05. Oh, the humanity. Everyone had a hit except for Jarrod McKinney, who still got 2 RBI on a groundout and a sac fly. Catfish Elkins hit a solo shot in the 3rd, his 4th of the year. Jobduan Morales went 3-4 with a double and an RBI single.

Greeneville continues to have their uneven performance as of late, as they fell to Kingsport 7-4. Brian Blasik had an RBI triple and an RBI single, driving in D'Andre Toney each time. Angel Ibanez had a 2-run double in the 7th. Francis Ramirez got knocked out early, allowing 5 runs on 4 hits in only 1 2/3 innings of work. He walked 2 and struck out 3. Christian Garcia threw 3 1/3 scoreless, allowing a hit and fanning 2. Tanner Bushue allowed 2 unearned runs on 3 hits in his 3 innings, and he walked 1 and fanned 7.

The GCLstros had some fun in a 10-4 romp over the Cardinals. Carlos Correa went 3-5 with an RBI. But, the best performance of the day went to Juan Santana, who was 4-5 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. The River had an RBI double, and Kenny Diaz also had an RBI. Wallace Gonzalez went 2-4 with an RBI and scored twice. Jandel Gustave went 1 1/3 innings and allowed 4 runs (1 earned) on 2 hits, walked 3, and struck out 2. Ricardo Batista got the win, allowing a hit, walking 2, and fanning 2 in 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

The Academy scored 10 in the 6th to take the lead against the Rays, but they still found a way to lose, walking off losers by a score of 12-11. Yeah, they scored 10 in an inning and still managed to lose. Mesac Laguna had a grand slam, his 5th homer of the season. Marlon Avea went 2-5 with a solo homer (1), a 2-run double, and scored 3 times. Luis Reynoso went 2-4 with 2 RBI singles in the 6th inning. Johan Tomas De La Cruz had an RBI single. Rayderson Chevalier went 3 2/3 innings and allowed 5 runs (4 earned) on 8 hits (solo homer) and struck out 2. The bullpen blew it.

[SupermoochieFro]

Originally Posted by RocketFan007 My guess is it has to do with strikeouts. He's still striking out way too much.

All his other numbers are way too eye-popping to warrant keeping him there IMO. I think if they want a guy to work on his S/O rate then it prob wouldn't be done in Lancaster. It's hard to blame a player for struggling to fight the urge to swing for the fences when it's such a realistic possibility every time they are at bat. But then again some guys just strikeout a lot no matter what.