Already has his MLB Steamer projections at around league average. Has the 5th highest BB% of any player in the Texas League (Adolph and Abreu being 1st and 2nd) with at least 100 PA and only one of those other players has an ISO over .200.
I'm a little leery of Steamer projections for guys in AA and below right now. My fear is that Steamer is projecting AA and below numbers to raw MLB numbers based on context of past few seasons (i.e., a livelier ball), and then converts the raw numbers to things like wRC+ using what MLB players are doing with the dead ball.
Yet another Asheville pitcher finds himself on the IL... the next man on the shelf is Ryan Gusto. Might as well throw some DSL filler arms into the mix at this point.
(the home run was Loperfido's 3rd of the year.) Quincy Hamilton put Fayetteville in front with an RBI double in the 8th, and Ian Foggo decided to challenge himself by walking the bases loaded in the 9th, but he was able to close out the Woodpeckers' 2-1 win in Kannapolis. Foggo, an undrafted free agent from Lenoir-Rhyne, a D2 school in North Carolina, has thrown three innings and all of his outs have come via strikeout. (3 IP, 2 H, 6 BB, 9 K)
Misael Tamarez with a tough end to what had been a really nice outing for Corpus: 5.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 7 K The two walks turned into the two earned runs, which were inherited runners that scored.
In his 6 game hitting streak, Christian Gonzalez has 5 multi-hit games. Still a lot of strikeouts, but maybe he is beginning to figure the level out.
Could've been better, but Ernesto Jaquez turned in a decent outing for Asheville: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, BB, 7 K Couple of RBI doubles in the 1st inning, but he battled. An error prevented him from getting the bare minimum quality start.
I’ve asked this before, but does anyone know how his defense is? He seems to have been primarily a RF in college, but the Astros have given him plenty of time at all 3 outfield spots in the Minors. Could he potentially play CF in the Majors, or is he strictly a corner OF?
2 major disappointments on each minor league team at the 1/4 mark and what needs to happen: AAA: Alex McKenna and Korey Lee. McKenna has posted a high k rate at almost every level so his 34.8% mark isn’t all that surprising, but his .085 ISO (power) output will have to improve if he’s to be a major leaguer; his babip is high so he’s not a victim of bad luck, just weak contact and/or bad angles. Lee’s weak slash line looks to be a combo of slightly below expected numbers across the board: some bad luck, some slightly elevated k rate, some low bb rate; I’m optimistic he will continue to make strides and put himself in position to make the big league roster next year. AA: Shay Whitcomb and Grae Kessinger. Whitcomb started the year hot but has since begun striking out a lot (up to 30.8% on the year); he needs to tap that down back into the low/mid 20% range. Kessinger’s underlying numbers show improvement from his time in AA last season; if his .198 babip normalizes he will look a lot better and possibly be ready for a promotion. High A: Cristian Gonzalez and Zach Daniels. Gonzalez appears to have been rushed; he has been largely overmatched this year but has shown signs of life in the last 2 weeks. But his performance is very similar to what he did in Fayetteville last season: high k, low bb, no power. The only difference this season he’s been unlucky whereas last season he was lucky. At 20 time is on his side, but he likely should have started back in A ball. Hopefully he has made an adjustment and will see success over the 2nd half. Daniels needs babip luck to normalize and he’ll be at least viable at his level, but without reducing his strikeout rate (34.6%) he won’t make it past AA. A: Leosdani Molina and Tyler Whitaker. Nothing is going well for Whitaker, who is striking out 39% of the time while hitting for zero power. At 19 time is still on his side so he just needs to adjust to the competition; pre-draft dings for swing holes seem to have been warranted. Molina is suffering from some bad BABIP luck but also appears to be making weak contact; he does have 9 SB so there must be some speed there, so possibly just having some better babip luck will make him viable, since at 22 and with his body it doesn’t look like power is in the cards.
I haven’t seen him play. From what I’ve read it looks like he will be viable in RF/LF but I don’t know if it’s more than that. Certainly it’s a good sign that the Astros have been playin him in CF.
I think he is a RF for now but as with all the best OF prospects the Astros will play him in center as often as possible to stretch him to his limits and find out if his potential includes CF.
Hunter Brown threw 4 perfect innings in relief and struck out 5 for Sugar Land. Jimmy Endersby had a solid start for Corpus as he allowed 2 runs on 2 hits, one of which was a solo homer, walked 2, and struck out 6 in 5 innings. The other run scored on an error. Chayce McDermott allowed 2 runs on 3 hits, walked 1, and struck out 7 in 4.2 innings of relief for Asheville. After a couple of rough outings for Fayetteville, Carlos Calderon threw 5 scoreless in relief, allowing 3 hits, walking 1, and striking out 8.
