Keuchel’s best K rate was 9/IP in 2017, after topping out at 7/IP in the minors. Gordon is just shy of 13/IP now. They throw the same speed, but obviously have way different “stuff”.
Gordon is “advanced”. We won’t know anything about him until he gets to AA next season. If he can be effective there, he’s a real prospect.
If he can sustain similar success at higher levels, it would be interesting to see him sandwiched between power pitchers. Though it didn't happen as often as I would have liked, I thought Joe Kniekro throwing knuckle balls between Ryan and JR would have been great because of the change of pace/style. While I'll occasionally see a pitch labeled a Knuckle Curve. A true Knuckle ball specialist appears extinct.
Tim Borden hits a walk-off two-run home run on his 23rd birthday to give Asheville a 6-5 win over Bowling Green. A.J. Blubaugh allowed a run on two hits and struck out eight over five strong innings for Fayetteville. Tommy Sacco (2) and Tyler Whitaker (11) homered for the Woodpeckers.
Strong finishes by players who spent most of the Spring & Summer languishing in ineptitude or irrelevance along with some interesting new draftees is beginning to make this feel like a very successful minor league season. In Sugar Land Brown, Diaz, Hensley, Lee, Leon & Dirden all have a clearer view of the light at the end of the tunnel. Strong finishes by Tyler Brown and Whitcomb in AA along with some timely injury recoveries by Whitley and James to name a couple have all contributed. The Astros upper minors looks better right now than it has all season long. I think we will see some good things in winter ball and next year looks pretty good from my house.
This is the second year in a row that he started out horrible and then went on a crazy run late in the year.
Corey Julks hit his 25th HR and stole his 19th base today. Since 2006, the only Astros prospects to go 20/20 in a single level/season are Kyle Tucker, George Springer, Cody Ransom, Drew Sutton, and Jason Martin. Zach Daniels also has a chance to join that club as he is at 19/19.
Logan Cerny is at 15 HR and 35 steals in Fayetteville. What's with him? He hasn't played in a few weeks, but has not been placed on the IL. He has to be hurt, but have they said what's wrong? If not for the time missed he'd easily get to 20/40.
Jacob Melton (4) and Zach Cole (1) homered in Fayetteville's 7-0 win last night, while Valente Bellozo and Miguel Ullola combined on a shutout. Bellozo: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 K Ullola: 4 IP, H, 3 BB, 7 K Ullola as a starter: 0-1, 5.47 ERA, 26.1 IP, 20 H (2 HR allowed), 19 R (16 ER), 29 BB (2 batters hit), 40 K, 1.86 WHIP, .211 opponent average Ullola as a reliever: 2-1, 2 saves, 1.70 ERA, 42.1 IP, 18 H (1 HR allowed), 9 R (8 ER), 20 BB (5 batters hit), 76 K, 0.90 WHIP, .125 opponent average
Tyler Guilfoil and Nolan DeVos turned in solid outings for Fayetteville today. Guilfoil: 3.2 IP, H, BB, 6 K DeVos: 4 IP, H (RBI double), ER, 6 K
Michael Sandle hit a three-run homer (10) and Tim Borden launched a grand slam (5) in a 9-run 2nd inning for Asheville.
Tim Borden with yet another tape measure shot in Asheville. 430 foot grand slam. Has 5 homers in 9 games or so. Seeing how he performs next year in AA will tell us a lot as far as whether he’s for real or not, but I think we may have found an infield version of Justin Dirden. K numbers will probably be a bit high for the Astros’ liking, but he is a former top college recruit who was drafted out of HS, and had injury problems + COVID until his last year. Lots of parallels between him and Dirden.
