Damn, the Phillies got fleeced in the Pence trade. So far all of the player we got in that trade are doing well in the system. With that said, the Phills would be dead in the water at this point if he wasn't on their team, so maybe they do not think the same thing.
I don't know if this will help, but this is the depth chart from Baseball America's Prospect Handbook. It's a little bit outdated, so I'll fill in the blanks and make a few changes here and there. And these are all guys who can be considered prospects. No Brian Bixler or Fernando Martinez or any of those other guys. LF Jake Goebbert Jordan Scott Brandon Meredith CF George Springer J.B. Shuck Austin Wates Jay Austin Emilio King Javaris Reynolds Brandon Barnes Justin Gominsky *King was primarily a right fielder in Lexington and got sent down to extended spring, but I think he might have been put here because of his plus arm strength. Austin is on the mend from a hand injury he suffered in the Arizona Fall League and I can't really consider him a prospect anymore. RF Domingo Santana Ariel Ovando Adam Bailey Wallace Gonzalez *I'd be pretty excited to see an outfield consisting of Wallace Gonzalez in left, Javaris Reynolds in center, and a draft pick or a GCL/DSL graduate in right in Greeneville. 3B (Mike Kvasnicka was here) Brett Wallace* Jonathan Meyer Matt Duffy *I would probably put Duffy over Meyer at this point, even though Meyer is a level ahead. Third, in my opinion, is probably the Astros' worst position (right next to catcher) in terms of Minor League talent. And I suppose I'll throw Brett Wallace in the mix here, since Luhnow looks like he's still pretty high on him, although his prospect status is fading fast. SS Jonathan Villar (Marwin Gonzalez was here) Jio Mier Chan Moon* Jose Fernandez *I'm putting Moon up ahead of Fernandez because he's actually on a roster right now. Moon has upside, but he has a better glove than bat at this point of his career. I think we'll see Fernandez either in Greeneville or the GCL. He just turned 19 on Sunday. Jean Carlos Batista, although he's not on the chart, could be another guy to watch. 2B Delino DeShields Enrique Hernandez John Hinson *Hinson can play anywhere on the infield. His bat has really impressed in a small sample size. He'll move quickly if he continues to hit. No surprise as to who tops this list. DeShields should stay in Lexington for the time being, then a move to Lancaster could happen after the Sally League's All-Star break. *Hernandez can be a super-utility guy down the line. He logged in some time at short in the GCL, at left field for Lexington last season, and he has played some games in left and center for Lancaster. I believe he was one of the youngest players selected in the 2009 draft. The Astros seem to really like his versatility, which is why he's in Lancaster at the ripe old age of 20. 1B Jonathan Singleton Telvin Nash Kody Hinze Chase Davidson C Chris Wallace Mike Kvasnicka* Roberto Pena Ben Heath Alfredo Gonzalez Rene Garcia Ernesto Genoves* *Kvasnicka is here since he's back at catcher. He's had a pretty rough go of things at the plate this season, but a promising sign comes from the defensive side. He's thrown out 39% of attempted base stealers this season. Nice to see that he's starting to get his bat going a bit, too. *Alfredo Gonzalez hit .172 in 93 at-bats in the GCL last season. The good news is that 93 ABs is a very small sample size, and I don't know too much about him other than the fact that he missed all of 2010 with an injury. *Ernesto Genoves is a guy who I think has some offensive potential. He hit .280/.375/.464 with 4 homers and 21 RBI in 38 games (125 at-bats) in Greeneville. I think the Astros could be satisfied with his offensive progress and will start him off in Tri-City. RHPs Starters Jarred Cosart Paul Clemens Mike Foltynewicz Adrian Houser Nick Tropeano Jake Buchanan R.J. Alaniz Ross Seaton Tanner Bushue Jose Cisnero Vincent Velasquez Jack Armstrong (Lucas Harrell was here) Sergio Perez Jonas Dufek Juri Perez Brandon Culbreth Zach Grimmett Tyson Perez Relievers Juan Abreu Jorge De Leon (Rhiner Cruz was here) Josh Zeid Jason Stoffel David Martinez Arcenio Leon (Lucas Harrell was here too. I guess they thought he would be a swingman.) Dayan Diaz Henry Villar Chia-Jen Lo *Jason Chowning isn't on because he's already 24 and still in Lexington. However, he should be on his way up, and a move like that is long overdue. LHPs Starters Brett Oberholtzer Dallas Keuchel Kyle Hallock Chris Lee Wes Musick Luis Cruz Tom Shirley Relievers Pat Urckfitz Alex Sogard Mitchell Lambson
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Jesse Wierzbicki promoted from EST to @<a href="https://twitter.com/LexingtonLegend">LexingtonLegend</a>. John Hinson to 7 day DL</p>— Mike Tauser (@farmstros) <a href="https://twitter.com/farmstros/status/205050005600468992" data-datetime="2012-05-22T21:38:25+00:00">May 22, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
3B is the worst position without question. Very deep at 2B with Paredes and Jose Martinez missing from your list.
Tuesday Stories Brett Wallace resurgence in progress. Yeah, I know. Hitter's parks. But it's nice to see him showing some signs of life. In a day game, could Lancaster salvage a game against High Desert? Nick Tropeano being Nick Tropeano. Recap OKC took the 2nd game of their series with Colorado Springs, winning 9-5. Brett Wallace had a 3-run homer (7) in the 2nd that put the Redhawks up 3-2. After that, they led the entire way. Jimmy Paredes went 2-5 with a solo homer (4) in the 3rd and scored twice. Scott Moore went 3-3 with a sac fly and an RBI double. The biggest hit of the night came from Brad Snyder, who came in as a defensive replacement for J.B. Shuck. He sealed the victory with a 3-run homer (5) in the top of the 9th. Paul Clemens wasn't particularly sharp, but he pitched well enough for the win. In 5 innings, he allowed 4 runs on 8 hits, walked 1, and struck out 4. Xavier Cedeno allowed 1 out of 3 runners he inherited from Sergio Perez to score, on a groundout. Other than that, he was perfect for 2 innings, striking out 3, and even hit a single in the 9th. He now sports an ERA of 0.45 out of the bullpen. Corpus was off. Lancaster couldn't avoid the sweep from High Desert despite attempting to storm back late, losing 12-8. Unfortunately, the Jethawks bullpen decided to fail badly in the top half of the 8th, as they allowed 5 to turn the game into a 12-3 hole. Tyson Perez couldn't replicate his first 3 starts, as he served up 3 homers: 2 2-run shots and a solo homer, to the Mavericks in 5 1/3 innings of work. He allowed 6 runs on 9 hits, walked 1, and struck out 5. The game was also significant.... for High Desert, as Stefen Romero became the first player in the Minors to hit for the cycle this season. The Jethawks were paced offensively by Domingo Santana and his 2 solo homers (7). He, George Springer (10), and Adam Bailey (8) went back-to-back-to-back off Jonathan Arias in a 5-run 8th. Ben Orloff, Ben Heath, and Enrique Hernandez also drove in runs. Springer is now on a 13-game hitting streak and has an OPS of 1.000 or better in 9 of his last 10. Lexington was held to 3 hits, but they still managed to beat West Virginia 3-2. Nick Tropeano was back to the form we're all used to seeing from him. In 6 1/3, he allowed 1 run (inherited) on 4 hits and struck out 8. Unfortunately, he had to settle for the no-decision as Carlos Quevedo allowed 2 runs (1 charged to Tropeano, 1 charged to him) allowed 2 in the 7th after Tropeano ran into some trouble. In the bottom half of the 7th, Drew Muren came to the rescue with a 2-run homer (2) that turned out to be the game-winner. Zach Johnson got the other RBI (his 48th) on a groundout scoring Delino DeShields, who went 1-3 with a double, and stole his 29th base. Jason Chowning worked around a hit by striking out the side to get his 8th save of the season. He has not allowed a walk in his last 7 appearances while striking out 19 in the same timeframe, a span of 11 2/3 innings. Game Scores Nick Tropeano: 69 Paul Clemens: 38 Tyson Perez: 30 Three Stars 3. Brett Wallace, 3B, Oklahoma City 1-4, 3-R HR (7), 2 R Well, it's nice to see Brett Wallace coming around. He's at .291/.309/.532 with 5 homers and 17 RBI this month. The .309 on-base percentage is largely because he has not drawn a walk in May, and it's already the 23rd. Well, his 3-run homer more or less set the tone for this game, as the Redhawks took the lead and never surrendered it. He also made some nifty plays at 3rd, which is always a good sign. He could be a serviceable defender there. 2. Nick Tropeano, P, Lexington ND, 6.1 IP, 4 H, ER, 8 K, 69 Game Score Tropeano being the Tropeano we've been used to seeing. His line this season: 2-3, 2.73 ERA, 52.2 IP, 42 H (2 homers), 17 R, 16 ER, 11 BB, 63 K, and a 1.01 WHIP. 1. Domingo Santana, RF, Lancaster 2-5, 2 HR (7) Well, I've just about run out of good things to say about how much Santana has turned the corner, so I'll just put this here. Honorable Mentions George Springer, CF, Lancaster: You can only hope to contain him at the moment, because he's just on fire. Definitely expecting him to be in Corpus by the middle or the end of June. Adam Bailey, LF, Lancaster: Yes, yes. Why is T.J. Steele ahead of him, yada, yada, yada. Don't think he'd get a lot of run in Corpus with Brandon Barnes doing well, but he should serve as a nice power source for the Hooks. Jason Chowning, P, Lexington: WHAT'S THE HOLDUP? PROMOTE HIM ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But hey, I'm not the one making the personnel decisions here, so I'll deal with it. Drew Muren, RF, Lexington: Clutch homer gets his team the victory. Xavier Cedeno, P, Oklahoma City: Would rather have him in the Houston bullpen than Abad or Del Rosario. But, seeing that he's not on the 40-man roster, he's not gonna be in Houston for the foreseeable future. Jimmy Paredes, 2B, Oklahoma City: Did you know that in 9 of his last 10 games, he's had at least 2 hits in all of them? Unfortunately for him, he's in OKC unless his 2.4% walk rate magically doubles or even triples. Goat Well, it's Brian Streilein and Kirk Clark sharing the ignominy. Tuesday just wasn't their day, as they uh... helped High Desert put the game out of reach. Some of my ire goes to Carlos Quevedo, for being unable to hold the lead for Lexington. But it's alright, he's done a fine job out of the bullpen this season. Looking Ahead OKC and Colorado Springs are at it in the 3rd game of the series. Aneury Rodriguez will match up against the Rockies' top prospect, Drew Pomeranz, at 6:05 Mountain. Corpus is back home to host Arkansas in the series opener at 7:05. Jake Buchanan and Orangel Arenas will be the pitching matchup. Lancaster has today off. They'll be back in action tomorrow as the Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino come in. Jorge De Leon will get the start against Ryan Crowley. Tomorrow's promotion: Backwards Night. Lexington will conclude their series with West Virginia at 7:05 Eastern. Luis Ordosgoitti will be the starter. Robby Rowland will oppose him.
If Wallace would take a damn walk, he'd be dominating AAA once again. Assuming the team is able to move Lee, he's at least ensured that he will be the one they call up. I'm with you on Chowning. There is zero reason for them not to promote him. 80.2IP 2.01ERA 93K 31BB in A ball. He's 24, and should be in a position to be on the big league roster at some point next year. Nobody is legitimately blocking him. Cut Erick Abreu (who turns 29 this season), and promote him to AA.
Thanks tellitlikeitis for all that minor league data. I am optimistic that our later round picks (not our 1st rounder) will address 3B and C. Personally, id like our first 5-6 round picks to be almost all pitchers. You just cant have too many, and as the saying goes: Good pitching beats good hitting (most of the time).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The Astros released Diory Hernandez, who was at AAA Oklahoma City.</p>— Zachary Levine (@zacharylevine) <a href="https://twitter.com/zacharylevine/status/205414597308583936" data-datetime="2012-05-23T21:47:11+00:00">May 23, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Jonathan Villar hit his 1st homer of the season for Corpus Christi. They're battering Arkansas 8-1 in the 5th.
Wednesday Stories An unexpectedly quiet night on the farm. Unscheduled day off for OKC. Corpus stormed out of the gates against Arkansas, but did they end up as the hare? Lexington looked to finish off a brief home series with a win before hitting the road once more. Recap OKC and Colorado Springs were rained out. Their series finale is today, so they'll finish it off with a doubleheader starting at 5:05. Corpus tacked on 5 runs in the bottom of the 1st off of Arkansas starter Orangel Arenas, capped by a 3-run homer from Brandon Barnes (5). The Hooks built enough of a cushion to withstand a 4-run 9th by Arkansas, where Jake Buchanan was knocked out trying to go for the complete game, and Josh Zeid uncorked two consecutive wild pitches. Fortunately, Zeid had enough about himself to finish off the game, which ended in a 9-5 Corpus Christi win. Offensively, everyone had a hit except Jake Gobbert (who went 0-4). Jonathan Villar went deep for the first time this season with a 2-run homer off Arenas in the 4th. Jose Martinez (1-4) had an RBI single in the 1st, and one batter later, Jonathan Singleton (2-4 with 2 runs scored) followed up with a double. Jair Fernandez went 2-4 with an RBI single in the 4th. Jordan Kreke grounded into a force play in the 5th but was credited with an RBI. Jake Buchanan went 8 1/3 innings, allowing 5 runs (3 earned, 2 unearned were inherited) on 8 hits, walking 1 and striking out 4. He threw 104 pitched (76 strikes) and induced 18 groundball outs without getting a flyout. Zeid went wild in the 9th, but was able to get the final 2 outs of the inning. Lancaster got the day off. They will welcome Inland Empire to The Hangar tonight on Backwards Night at the ballpark. Lexington got a solid start from Luis Ordosgoitti as they defeated West Virginia 4-0 to win their pit-stop series. Ordo shut out the Power for 7 1/3 innings, as he allowed 4 hits, walked 3, and fanned 4 to get his 1st win of the season. Murilo Gouvea and Dayan Diaz finished off the game. They did walk 3, but they didn't allow a hit either, and Diaz struck out 2. The Legends got a nice game from Matt Duffy, who went 2-4 with 2 RBI (on a double and a single). Drew Muren and Delino DeShields drove in 1 each. Mike Kvasnicka is slowly clawing his way back from oblivion, as he went 2-4 with a run scored to bring his average up to .185. Jesse Wierzbicki made his season debut in the 8 spot and played 1B, went 1-3 at the plate and finished off 2 double plays on the defensive side. Game Scores Luis Ordosgoitti: 71 Jake Buchanan: 54 Three Stars 3. Matt Duffy, 3B, Lexington 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R Duffy had a great April, and he has really turned it on during the month of May. I would argue that he's the Astros' top 3B prospect over Jonathan Meyer right now. Had a couple of nice defensive plays out there too. 2. Brandon Barnes, CF, Corpus Christi 3-4, 3-R HR (7) It's too bad the Astros decided to sign all of those outfielders in the offseason. Barnes certainly has nothing to prove in Corpus. 1. Luis Ordosgoitti, P, Lexington W, 7.1 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 71 Game Score After getting knocked around in his first 3 starts, Ordo came out and probably had the best outing of his brief career. http://minorleaguecentral.com/player.php?pid=595833 My only concern with Ordosgoitti is that he pitches to too much contact. And the culprit to that is.... an unbelievably high BABIP. In Greeneville, it was .341 (Appy League average: .320). Through 4 starts in Lexington, it's .403 (Sally League average: .311). His line drive rates have always been above the league average, too. He had a 4.50 ERA in Greeneville last season, but a 2.70 FIP. This outing lowered his ERA to 5.21, and he now has a 3.78 FIP. So, in conclusion, I believe Luis Ordosgoitti is a much better pitcher than his numbers suggest. However, I will also add the following disclaimer: Everything that I have said about him should be taken with a grain of salt, because this is his first full season. Honorable Mentions Jonathan Villar, SS, Corpus Christi: Turning the corner? I hope so. He's the shortstop version of Anthony Gose, IMO. If he can be at least average offensively (.255-.260/.340-.350/.400-.415), he'll be an MLB player for at least 10 years. Jake Buchanan, P, Corpus Christi: Rather unsightly line he had, but it looks like the wheels fell off for him in the 9th when he was trying for the CG. 22 of his 25 outs were either by groundout or strikeout. I like. Mike Kvasnicka, C, Lexington: I like how he's turned it around this month after I was screaming for his release in April. Goat A little harsh, but Jake Goebbert missed out on the party the rest of the Corpus offense had last night. Looking Ahead Let's play 2 in Colorado Springs! The doubleheader begins at 5:05 Central, that's 4:05 Mountain. In Game 1, Jordan Lyles will look to claim the scalp of another top pitching prospect, as he matches up with the top prospect in the Rockies system, Drew Pomeranz. The nightcap will feature Dallas Keuchel against one of the biggest surprises of the 2011 MLB season, Guillermo Moscoso. Jarred Cosart will take the hill for Corpus in game 2 of their series with Arkansas, who counter with Eddie McKiernan. First pitch 7:05. Lancaster begins a series with Inland Empire at 7 Pacific. Jorge De Leon will go up against Ryan Crowley. Lexington hits the road to begin a series with the Hickory Crawdads, the Rangers' propaganda machine in the South Atlantic League. Mike Foltynewicz will face off against Victor Payano at 7:05 Eastern. Before you give me the spiel of how the W-L column in the Minors doesn't matter.... Oh, hey look Nolan! Our A team is better than your A team too! Your A club might be in 3rd, but take a look at your division!
Well, no Astros game today, so why not talk about the minor league clubs? Jarred Cosart will be on the mound tonight. Let's hope he can back up what he said on Twitter this week.
OKC has 4 regulars hitting .320 or better...and Fernando Martinez is at .310. I thought that'd be impressive, but there's more than 20 guys hitting .320 in the PCL. Just saw they pinch hit and replaced Lyles...is that because of the rain out yesterday and not wanting to mess up his schedule too much? Hopefully nothing more?
The Astros have a doubleheader on Memorial Day against the Rockies. So I think they'll move him up to pitch one of the games then send him down.
Delino DeShields now has 30 steals on the season. Lexington leads Hickory 2-0 with Mike Foltynewicz on the hill. Audio link to Lexington game Fernando Martinez is 3-4 for OKC in Game 1 of their doubleheader against Colorado Springs. Justin Ruggiano has a 3-run homer, as well.
I feel like Cosart could be a lot better if he took a little off the fastball. 100 is nice, but what good does it do if you can't control it?
Phillies fans on this other msg board I post on realize they really gutted there farm in that trade and that's it win now for them because in 3-4 years they will be rebuilding like the 2007 Astros
Jonathan Homerton strikes again! 3-3 with a 2-run homer and 4 RBI as Corpus is just pouring it on Arkansas. Less notable is Jarred Cosart having a blah outing, but the Hooks are up 12-3.
