Baseball America's Prospect Hot Sheet http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/prospect-hot-sheet/2012/2613725.html 3. Ross Seaton 7. Delino Deshields In the Team Photo Adrian Houser
Wates' walk-off: <iframe src='http://www.milb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=22984033&width=400&height=224&property=milb' width='400' height='224' frameborder='0'>Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe>
A nice start from Vincent Velasquez tonight for Tri-City. In 6 innings, he allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on 3 hits, walked 1, and struck out 8 against Williamsport.
Do we need to wait til Lance or Carlos gets to full season ball to rate them in our top 10? A prospect is a prospect is a prospect. The kid has a projectable body at 6'3 185lbs, a fastball that gets into the mid 90s, a plus change, and an average curve at this point. Still a ways to go, but he's been pretty darn good so far.
No, they're both top-5 prospects, despite playing where they are right now, in complex-league rookie ball. I'll start taking their numbers more seriously once they get out of Kissimmee, though.
Friday Stories Matt Dominguez meets his former employers. Astros-Rangers, AA edition was a resounding victory for Corpus. Let's play 2 in Visalia, Lancaster!!! Lexington gets some good luck, and a very timely hit. Tri-City continues their domination of the NYPL. Greeneville had to sit for a while, thanks to the weather, but they looked to take a huge series with division-leading Elizabethton. Lance McCullers made his much-anticipated debut... OK, it was the GCL. Maybe his Greeneville debut will have a little more fanfare. Recap OKC looked to make a late comeback, but their bid fell just short as they lost 10-8 to New Orleans. Brandon Barnes went 3-4 with a double, and RBI, and 3 stolen bases (13). Carlos Corporan was 3-4 with a solo homer (5), 2 RBI, and scored 3 times. Matt Dominguez, facing his former organization for the 1st time, was 2-5 with a 2-run infield single. Marwin Gonzalez, Fernando Martinez, and J.B. Shuck drove in 1 each. Brian Bass allowed 6 runs on 8 hits (leadoff homer to Kevin Mattison), walked 2, and struck out 4. Sergio Perez tossed 3 scoreless, and Juan Abreu went 1 1/3 scoreless. Their efforts allowed the Redhawks to tie the game at 6. Unfortunately, the normally reliable Mickey Storey served up a 3-run homer to Mike Cervenak in the 8th that broke the tie. Corpus used 5 homers to batter Frisco 12-2. Jonathan Villar led off the bottom of the 1st with his 11th homer of the season. Last night's hero, Austin Wates, went 4-5 with 2 doubles, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored. Jose Martinez hit 2 2-run shots (12). Kody Hinze sent a solo shot (10) out in the 5th. And Jonathan Singleton hit his 1st homer since July 2, with a solo shot (13) in the 7th. Jake Goebbert and Jordan Kreke each drove in 1. Everyone had an RBI except for Jair Fernandez and Drew Muren, and everyone had at least 1 hit. Jake Buchanan went 6 innings and allowed 2 runs on 9 hits, walked 3, and struck out 1. Kevin Chapman pitched 2 scoreless, allowing a hit and striking out 2. Alex Sogard had a strikeout in a 1-2-3 9th. Lancaster split a doubleheader with Visalia, losing the 1st game 7-2 and absolutely torching the Rawhide in the 2nd game, winning 13-3. Nick Tropeano probably doesn't like Visalia. He got knocked around in his 5 innings in game 1, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits (solo homer), walking 2 and striking out 4. Enrique Hernandez and Rene Garcia each had 1 RBI. Game 2, however, was a radically different story, as the Jethawks went nuts on Andrew Chafin. George Springer went 3-3 with an RBI and scored twice. Domingo Santana went 2-3 with a double and 3 RBI. The big hit belonged to Chris Epps, whose grand slam(6, 8 season) pretty much sent the Jethawks on their way. Enrique Hernandez went 1-4 with 2 RBI, Ben Heath drove in 1 despite going 0-4, and Ben Orloff went 3-3 with an RBI and scored 3 times. Zach Grimmett allowed 2 runs on 5 hits in 3 innings, walking 1 and striking out 4. Carlos Quevedo finished out the game to get the win. In 4 innings, he allowed a run on 5 hits and struck out 3. As usual, no walks from Quevedo. Better late than never, Lexington. They were flustered by Kannapolis starter Scott Snodgrass, who shut them out for 6 innings and ended up trailing 3-0 at stretch time. But, in the bottom half of the 7th, the Legends took advantage of Jeff Soptic's lack of control to get 4 runs. Tom Shirley and Dayan Diaz shut the Intimidators down late to preserve the 4-3 win. Lexington got the sweep. Jordan Scott's 2-run single was the only play that resulted in RBIs. The other 2 runs were scored off 2 wild pitches from Soptic. Jose Fernandez scored the 1st run of the inning, and Scott would end up scampering home with 1 out in the inning. Delino DeShields stole his 65th base of the season. Jonas Dufek allowed 3 runs on 6 hits in 6 2/3 innings, walking 1 and striking out 7. Shirley went 1 1/3, allowing 2 hits and striking out 1. Diaz worked around a single to Leighton Pangilinan in the 9th by striking out the side for his 13th save. Tri-City just continues to do what they do. Here, they trampled Williamsport 7-2. Everyone had a hit in this one. Andrew Aplin went 1-6, but that 1 hit in the 4th went for his 1st professional home run, a solo shot. Austin Elkins was 3-5 with a double and 2 steals (9). Dan Gulbransen had an RBI single and a sac fly. Ryan Dineen was 2-4 and scored twice. Tyler Heineman was 3-5 with an RBI groundout, and Emilio King went 2-5 with an RBI single. Neiko Johnson had 2 steals (6). Nice start from Vince Velasquez, as he went 6 innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 8. Brad Propst retired all 6 batters he faced, striking out 3 of them. Greeneville walked off 3-2 winners in 10 against Elizabethton to win the series against the leaders of the Appy League's West division. This game was delayed for almost 3 hours due to rain in the middle of the 4th, and to top it off, it went to extra innings. Ernesto Genoves had an RBI single. Jimmy Howick scored as D'Andre Toney attempted a sac bunt. An error would allow Toney to take 2nd. He would single in the 10th, and eventually scored the winning run all the way from 1st on Brian Blasik's game-winning double. Francis Ramirez did well, although the rain ended his night early. In 4 shutout innings, he allowed only 1 hit, walked 3, and struck out 6. Zachary Hardoin allowed 1 run in the 5th, and Jordan Jankowski allowed another run in the 7th. Euris Quezada got the victory by throwing 3 scoreless and hitless innings, walking 1 and striking out 5. Lance McCullers made his debut for the GCLstros against the Nationals, and you couldn't ask for a better debut, even if it is the GCL. In 3 shutout innings, he allowed a hit and struck out 2. However, they walked off 1-0 losers, as Agapito Barrios nailed James Brooks with a pitch in the 9th, went wild to move Brooks to 2nd, and then he served up the game-winning single to Matt Foat. The offense had 4 hits. The Academy dropped another one, losing 8-2 to the Dodgers. Hector Roa and Frederick Serrano each had an RBI. Randy Cesar had a double. Elieser Hernandez allowed 4 runs on 6 hits in 2 innings, walking 2 and striking out 2.
No you don't have to. But five starts in short season doesn't change his prospect grade much. Same reason Correa's horrible start hasn't knocked his grade down. Is it promising and exciting to watch? Sure. Does it suddenly make him a better prospect than Cosart, Trope, Cisnero who are taking care of business at 2-3 higher levels? Nope.
Corpus is my favorite club right now. I know Tri-City gets all the love right now, but Corpus has a great mix of ballplayers and prospects. My favorite prospect Jonny Villar is still on pace for a ridiculous 20 hr/60 sb season. He needs to hit more, but damn that's an exciting player to watch.
Game Scores Brian Bass: 20 Jake Buchanan: 44 Nick Tropeano: 35 Zach Grimmett: 44 Jonas Dufek: 56 Vince Velasquez: 67 Francis Ramirez: 63 Lance McCullers: 59 Elieser Hernandez: 28 Three Stars 3. Austin Wates, LF Jose Martinez, 2B Jonathan Singleton, 1B, Corpus Christi Wates: 4-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R Martinez: 2 2-R HR (12) Singleton: 2-5, HR (13) The hero from Thursday now has 7 hits in his last 2 games. Martinez should probably be on his way to OKC now. Yes, a .235 slugging percentage is very much possible if the only hits you get are singles. Singleton had a very nice Futures Game and it looks like it's carrying over into actual games. 2. Lance McCullers, P, GCL Astros 3 IP, H, 2 K I would say that his debut was as good as advertised. The 3-inning limit was to be expected, but obviously that didn't stop him from making a very nice 1st impression. 1. Vince Velasquez, P, Tri-City W, 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R (1 ER), BB, 8 K, 67 GS He, Brady Rodgers, and Adrian Houser have definitely been the best short-season pitchers thus far. It looks as if his arm is just fine. Velasquez is writing a very nice comeback story for himself. Honorable Mentions Dayan Diaz, P, Lexington: Promotion is definitely a possibility. Brandon Barnes, CF, Oklahoma City: No more Jordan Schafer, please. Lancaster in game 2 of their doubleheader: A complete 180 from game 1. Safe to say that this is the Domingo Santana we've been expecting to see? Jordan Scott, LF, Lexington: After that blazing start, he has slumped tremendously. He had a clutch hit 2 nights in a row. Goat Not Mickey Storey's night... Looking Ahead OKC and New Orleans are back at it at 7:05. Armando Galarraga will take on Elih Villanueva. Corpus and Frisco will play game 3 of their 4-game series at 7:05. Rob Rasmussen will get the start for the Hooks; he will be opposed by Barret Loux. Lancaster heads home to host Modesto at 7 Pacific. TBA (Tyson Perez?) will oppose TBA. Lexington welcomes Hagerstown to Whitaker Bank Ballpark for 4 games starting at 7:05 Eastern. Pitching matchup is TBD. Tri-City, fresh off a sweep of Williamsport, will head off to Jamestown to open up a 3-game series with the Jammers at 7:05 Eastern. The pitching matchup has yet to be announced. Greeneville will take a quick roadtrip to Bristol for the weekend. The 1st game of that series will be at 7 Eastern. Frederick Tiburcio will start. The GCLstros will host the Nationals in Kissimmee at noon Eastern, with a big name making his professional debut. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Finally, after 4 1/2 months I'm officially making my debut tomorrow as an astro! <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523AstrosNation">#AstrosNation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523Luke12">#Luke12</a>:48 <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523praiseGod">#praiseGod</a></p>— Rio Ruiz (@ruiz_rio) <a href="https://twitter.com/ruiz_rio/status/223869874890477568" data-datetime="2012-07-13T20:01:52+00:00">July 13, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Are they gonna make DDJ stay in Lexington all year. His K rate is still a little high. But a .440 OBP his last month and a half is impressive. He's up to .393 for the whole season now. His numbers have gotten better every month. I figured once the draftees started playing he would be on his way to Lancaster.
If Ed Wade were still GM, DDJ would be roaming CF in MMP, as we speak. Luhnow has been far less aggressive. Lyles started the year in AAA. Astros AAA is stock piled with AAAA talent, while the best, most advanced prospects are playing in AA.
I think the opportunity to have him finish the season with the obscene numbers he's on pace for and the consequent confidence boost and prospect status boost are legit reasons for letting him finish in Lexington.
Velasquez is a better prospect than Cisnero. Keep in mind VV was a 2nd round pick we went over slot for. His numbers have been good in his 50+ innings of professional ball. He is only 20, hasn't been focused on pitching for very long.
