2012 Astros Minor League Thread

[juicystream]

Two Astros mentions in Jim Callis's chat today:

quote:

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Nils (Stamford): How would you rank these UConn alum: Barnes, Olt, Springer?

Jim Callis: Olt, Barnes, Springer. Nice trio of alumni.

Mark (Tacoma): Mike Zunino has looked really good. Do you think the Astros or Twins are rethinking their picks at all? ETA?

Jim Callis: No. It's too early to be second-guessing your pick, especially if you're doing it on a few summer at-bats. Zunino is a good prospect, but Buxton and Correa are better prospects. Zunino's position scarcity and higher floor are in his favor, but the other two have higher ceilings.

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[tellitlikeitis]

Jeff Luhnow in the house!

Sclafani with his first dinger of the year. Down 3-2 after 5.Going for best record in NYPL and home field advantage.

— Jeff Luhnow (@jluhnow) September 5, 2012

Heineman with two knocks tonight.Pretty much sealed up the NYPL batting title.

— Jeff Luhnow (@jluhnow) September 5, 2012

[tellitlikeitis]

Jonathan Singleton just tied it at 5 in the 8th with a solo homer to lead off the inning for Corpus.

[tellitlikeitis]

Crushing defeat for Corpus, as Drew Locke drops a flyball in the bottom of the 9th, allowing Leury Garcia to score all the way from 1st for a 6-5 Frisco win. It was scored as a double for Chris McGuiness, and Jay Fernandez just missed the tag on Garcia.

[xcrunner51]

I wonder if Heineman will force the issue on the catching spot at Lancaster next season. It'd be reasonable to have Perez repeat Lancaster, but with both of them hitting so well it might push Perez to Corpus and Heineman to the Cali league.

Heineman doesn't have anything to prove in Lexington. He Aplin'ed the NYPL.

[tellitlikeitis]

Wednesday's Top Story



Recap

Corpus dropped Game 1 of their series in heartbreaking fashion, walking off with a 6-5 loss in Frisco. An Andy Simunic error with 2 outs in the 3rd helped put the Hooks in a 5-2 hole, as the Roughriders got a 2-run double and an RBI single off Paul Clemens, who was knocked out of the game after the RBI single from Guilder Rodriguez. He went 2 2/3 innings and allowed 5 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits (solo homer), walked 1, and struck out 1.

The Hooks clawed back into the game with 1 from the 6th-8th innings. Drew Locke started it off with an RBI double in the 6th. Then, Ben Orloff hit an RBI single in the 7th, and finally, Jonathan Singleton tied it at 5 with a solo homer, his 1st of the series and 22nd of the season. Singleton started things off with an RBI double in the top of the 1st for Corpus' first run, and Orloff had another RBI single in the 2nd, part of a 3-4 night for The Wizard. Locke, Singleton, and Austin Wates finished with 2 hits apiece. Erick Abreu threw 4 scoreless innings of relief to keep the Hooks in it, allowing 1 hit, walking 1, and striking out 2. Kevin Chapman followed it up with 1 1/3 scoreless, allowing a hit and striking out 1. Unfortunately, Alex Sogard couldn't keep the game tied, as he only got 1 out before surrendering the game-winning hit to Chris McGuinness on a double that was dropped by Locke.

Lancaster's woes in Lake Elsinore continue, as they lost 1-0. The Jethawks only managed 3 singles in this one: 2 from Carlos Perez, and 1 from Delino DeShields. Tyson Perez was at his best, allowing a run on 3 hits, walking 1, and fanning 8 in 7 innings. Unfortunately for him, Matt Andriese outdid him, as he shut out the Jethawks for 8 innings, allowing 3 hits, walking 1, and striking out 7. Kenny Long had a strikeout in a 1-2-3 8th inning.

In the final game of their regular season, Tri-City fell 3-2 to Hudson Valley, just missing out on the opportunity for home-field advantage in the NYPL playoffs. Joe Bircher had a bare minimum quality start (allowing all 3 runs in the 3rd), allowing 6 hits, walking 2, and striking out 1. Catfish Elkins got the ValleyCats on the board in the 3rd by stealing 3rd (18) and scoring on the subsequent throwing error by Renegades catcher Geoff Rowan. Joe Sclafani hit his 1st pro homer to lead off the 5th. Jeremiah Meiners and John Neely shut out the Renegades for the final 3 innings, but TC couldn't get the tying run across.

[tellitlikeitis]

Here are the playoff series.

Corpus Christi vs. Frisco

Frisco leads 1-0

Game 1: Frisco 6, Corpus Christi 5
Game 2 @ Frisco: Rob Rasmussen vs. Wilfredo Boscan, 7 PM
Game 3 @ Corpus Christi: Ross Seaton vs. Nick Tepesch, Friday, 7:05 PM
Game 4 (if necessary) @ Corpus Christi: TBA, Saturday, 7:05 PM
Game 5 (if necessary) @ Corpus Christi: TBA, Sunday, 6:05 PM

Lancaster vs. Lake Elsinore

Lake Elsinore leads 1-0

Game 1: Lake Elsinore 1, Lancaster 0
Game 2 @ Lancaster: Nick Tropeano vs. Chris Fetter, 7 PM Pacific
Game 3 (if necessary) @ Lancaster: David Martinez vs. Burch Smith , 7 PM Pacific

Tri-City vs. Auburn

Game 1 @ Auburn: TBA, Friday, 7:05 PM Eastern
Game 2 @ Tri-City, TBA, Saturday, 7 PM Eastern
Game 3 @ Tri-City, TBA, Sunday, 5 PM Eastern

[tellitlikeitis]

Originally Posted by Doyle1228 also a couple of rumors i have heard are that Houston might get rid of its affiliation with the Tri City Valleycats because they already have Greeneville and GCL and they dont really need a 3rd Short Season A team... and also have heard that Houston is trying to get into the FSL league which is High A so maybe try and get out of Lancaster or cancel Tri City and move to Florida and have 2 Low A's and have 2 High A's i dont have sources otherwise i would gladly share but if i come across something i will be sure to post it... also supposedly the Astros GM is supposed to show up at Tri City this week... would be nice to see Luhnow and ask him questions but dont know what kind of info he will share....

The @astros and @valleycats have renewed their PDC through 2014 bit.ly/QdkvGZ

— Astros County (@AstrosCounty) September 6, 2012

[Raven Lunatic]

I have been trying to read this thread every day for a while now, but there are still some things that I'm not sure about.

Are the leagues that Carlo Correa played in over now? What were his final stats?

[bobrek]

Originally Posted by Raven Lunatic I have been trying to read this thread every day for a while now, but there are still some things that I'm not sure about. Are the leagues that Carlo Correa played in over now? What were his final stats?

http://www.baseball-reference.com/mi...d=correa000car

[tellitlikeitis]

Tri-City's playoff rotation for the Auburn series is set.

Game 1: Aaron West vs. Brett Mooneyham
Game 2: Brady Rodgers vs. David Fischer
Game 3 (if necessary): Brian Holmes vs. Nick Lee

[tellitlikeitis]

@AstrosCounty: Tyler Heineman not only won the NYPL batting title, he was 2nd in OBP, 9th in SLG, and 2nd in OPS.

I agree, sending Heineman to Lex wouldn't do him much good.

Here's how I think the ladder at catcher would look like next year:

OKC: Wallace/Fernandez
CC: Carlos Perez/Rene Garcia or Roberto Pena
Lancaster: Heineman/Pena or Garcia
Lexington: Jobduan Morales/Ernesto Genoves

[tellitlikeitis]

@brianmctaggart: I'm not too funny, but #Astros SS Jed Lowrie is on his way to Corpus Christi to join the Hooks.

[juicystream]

MLB.com has updated their prospect rankings. Our top 20 with (overall)(For position):

1. Jonathan Singleton (27) (1)
2. Carlos Correa (38) (10)
3. George Springer (55)
4. Jarred Cosart (84)
5. Delino DeShields (85) (2)
6. Lance McCullers
7. Mike Foltynewicz
8. Rio Ruiz
9. Kevin Comer
10. Joe Musgrove
11. Nick Tropeano
12. Asher Wojciechowski
13. Matt Dominguez
14. Nolan Fontana
15. Vincent Velasquez
16. Jonathan Villar
17. Domingo Santana
18. Rob Rasmussen
19. Carlos Perez
20. Paul Clemens

[juicystream]

Originally Posted by tellitlikeitis @AstrosCounty: Tyler Heineman not only won the NYPL batting title, he was 2nd in OBP, 9th in SLG, and 2nd in OPS. I agree, sending Heineman to Lex wouldn't do him much good. Here's how I think the ladder at catcher would look like next year: OKC: Wallace/Fernandez CC: Carlos Perez/Rene Garcia or Roberto Pena Lancaster: Heineman/Pena or Garcia Lexington: Jobduan Morales/Ernesto Genoves

Ben Heath?

[tellitlikeitis]

Originally Posted by juicystream Ben Heath?

Whoops, brain fart. I'll slide him in behind Perez in Corpus.

[tellitlikeitis]

Again, don't put too much stock in what MLB.com puts out. Don't mean to sound like a broken record, but they had Mike Kvasnicka ahead of Ariel Ovando and Jordan Scott at #11.

[juicystream]

Originally Posted by tellitlikeitis Again, don't put too much stock in what MLB.com puts out. Don't mean to sound like a broken record, but they had Mike Kvasnicka ahead of Ariel Ovando and Jordan Scott at #11.

No doubt Baseball America is better, but their list won't be out for 4-6 months.

[Joe Joe]

Will SS look like the following next season?
MLB Lowrie
AAA Villar
AA Mier
A+ Fontana
A Correa

[DoitDickau]

Originally Posted by Joe Joe Will SS look like the following next season? MLB Lowrie AAA Villar AA Mier A+ Fontana A Correa

I think you nailed it although I'm not sure lowrie's time with the team is long. Wouldn't be surprised to see him moved this offseason, particularly if he looks strong when he comes back this year.