Asheville is in action early today as they look to bounce back from getting embarrassed 15-0 in Rome last night. Joseph Sullivan (3) and Alejandro Nuñez (2) have gone deep for the Tourists; their homers are currently the only two runs in this game. Jose Guedez allowed a hit, walked three, and struck out five over five shutout innings. Brett Gillis is now on the mound as Asheville leads 2-0 in the 7th.
One-hitter for Asheville. Brett Gillis struck out five over three scoreless; the only baserunner he allowed was someone he plunked. Hudson Leach struck out two in a 1-2-3 9th for the save; no one has reached base against him in his first three appearances (4.2 IP, 10 K).
Leach struck out 2/3 batters and lowered his strikeout rate. Way too early to draw too many conclusions, but his career low BB/9 coming into this season was 5.5 his lone year at Miami (OH), so the lack of walks seems almost as impressive as the strikeouts. Great to see Gillis have success after basically not pitching for 2 years. No idea what he throws, but he's never really had a chance to show what he can do under the Astros tutelage until now.
Rafael Gonzalez vs. Fredericksburg: 5 IP, 3 H, 6 K Cesar Yankyel Hernandez (2) and Jason Schiavone (1) have gone deep for Fayetteville. Alonzo Tredwell followed Gonzalez and the one hit he allowed in his three innings was a solo homer. He also walked two and struck out six.
Trey Dombroski @ Midland: 3 IP, H, BB, 5 K He got the start for Corpus but only went the three innings.
From MLB.com article today on potential impact callups: Astros: A.J. Blubaugh, RHP (No. 10) A sleeper 2022 seventh-rounder from Milwaukee, Blubaugh's fastball velocity has ticked up (sitting at 94 mph, topping out at 98) and his sweeping low-80s slider has improved while he's maintained his quality low-80s changeup early in the Triple-A season. After leading the Pacific Coast League in victories (12) and strikeout rate (24 percent) while ranking second in ERA (3.83) and fourth in strikeouts (128 in 124 2/3 innings) a year ago, he has a 1.38 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 13 innings in his return. There are some real similarities between Blubaugh’s development and Hunter Brown’s.
In his first appearance since May 7 of last year, Andrew Taylor allowed three hits, walked two, and struck out two over three scoreless innings for Asheville. Walker Janek has three singles, one of which drove in a run, and three stolen bases.
Great to hear. I would be tempted to trade one of the Astros young arms like A.J for an MLB proven hitter with an OPS >800 and under contract for at least three years. Not sure how many arms that would take
Brandon Lowe is perfect fit for this roster. Hits lefty, can hit in the middle of the lineup, can play 2b/LF.
Let him focus on what is going on in the minors - the season is very young and Gusto has shown some competence.
Caden Powell went 3-5 for Fayetteville tonight and is off to a really nice start. With his power if he gets moved up to Asheville he could really break out. He has also looked better defensively than expected.
He is off to an ice cold start - but he does this quite often. He also often can get scorching hot for long periods of time. My point being that fans shouldn’t assume he won’t be up this year - it’s possible he keeps hitting 180 but it’s also possible by the middle of May he is well over 300. I expect him to have some struggles when he does reach the big leagues. He has some mechanical issues and pitch recognition problems- but his bat speed is extremely elite and his wrists and athleticism are special. His upside is a dynamic player.
A.J. Blubaugh @ Las Vegas: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K Brice Matthews is 2-4 with an RBI single and a stolen base (9).
That’s a freaking launching pad in Vegas, right? either pcl guys and how extreme those parks are I expect guys to have better Era’s in the bigs than AAA a lot of times, which is weird.
