I just graduated and plan on goin to a Hooks game next Thursday... Is it selfish that I don't want to see Springer called up until after?
I was going to start a thread for this but decided against it, anyone want to take a shot at what our 2015 lineup and rotation will look like?
Here's my stab. Probably missing some obvious candidates, but here goes: Rotation Norris Cosart Wojo Folty Tropeano Others: Appel, Velasquez Lineup 1B: Singleton 2B: Altuve SS: Fontana (Correa still developing...) 3B: Dominguez C: Castro LF: Chris Carter CF: Springer RF: Paredes DH: Brett Wallace (just checking to see if you're still reading...)
2015 Castro Singleton Altuve Villar Dominguez Springer Grossman Santana Maybe Correa, Ruiz, DeShields, Mier Appel/Gray McCullers Cosart Folty Wojo Maybe Tropeano, Harrell, Peacock, Seaton, Velasquez Depth starting to stack up
This stuff is always fun to think about. Here's my $0.02... SP1: Veteran FA SP2: Cosart SP3: Wojo SP4: Tropeano SP5: Folty SU: Fields CL: Clemens 1B: Singleton 2B: Altuve SS: Villar 3B: Kris Bryant CF: Springer LF: Grossman RF: Santana C: Castro DH: Carter Util: Paredes C2: C. Perez Lots of good options left off - Fontana, Wates, Wallace, JD Martinez, Dominguez, Lyles, Peacock, etc.. Top prospects I feel will still be too young - Correa, DDJ, McCullers, Ruiz.. Management will have some tough choices to make in the next 5 years.
This is my vote so far. Singleton/Bryant/Springer has scary potential, and that's before adding what should be plus power with Correa and Ruiz if he plays out. Wow can we get to the future please.
Monday Stories Minor League Rule 5 pick busts out in a huge way. George Springer sends yet another one out. A teams were in action with a couple of day games. And.... Lancaster with the..... Recap Salt Lake 3, Oklahoma City 2 Brad Peacock had a pretty decent outing, despite the fact that John Hester took him deep twice. Those were the only 2 runs he allowed in 5 innings. Peacock allowed 4 hits, walked 1, and struck out 9. Science Guy went 3 innings and allowed a run (in the 6th) on 3 hits, walked 1, and fanned 4. Josh Zeid worked around a hit to retire the side in the 9th. Jonathan Villar went 3-4, finished a home run shy of the cycle, and scored both OKC runs. Brett Wallace, who went 2-5, drove him in both times. Villar doubled to lead off the bottom of the 1st and Wallace doubled him home. Villar then tripled with 1 out in the 7th, and after Jake Elmore drew a walk, he trotted home on a Wallace single. Asher Wojciechowski will be called on to salvage the series for the Redhawks. His counterpart for the Bees is TBA. First pitch will be at 11:05 AM. Corpus Christi 13, San Antonio 3 The Hooks took the series opener behind a huge night from Michael Burgess. He went 3-5 with 2 3-run home runs (2; in the 3rd and 5th) and a 2-run double in the 6th. That's 8 RBI, which set a new Hooks single-game record. Burgess entered the game hitting .174 with no homers and 8 RBI, so he had been struggling mightily this season. Hopefully this is the game that gets his bat going. Not to be outdone, Jonathan Meyer went 4-5 with a solo homer (2) in the 2nd, an RBI single in the 3rd, and scored 4 times. Erik Castro was 3-4 with an RBI single in the 3rd and scored three times. But before the 6, 7, and 8 (Meyer, Castro, and Burgess respectively) hitters began their assault, George Springer started the party with a 2-run homer (13) in the 1st. Everyone had at least 1 hit except for Ben Orloff, who went 0-3. Carlos Quevedo went 4 innings and allowed 2 runs (on a 2-run homer) on 5 hits, walked 3, and struck out 1. Jake Buchanan continued his romp through the Texas League, allowing a hit and fanning 2 over 4 scoreless. Alex Sogard allowed a solo shot to Jeudy Valdez (the 1st earned run he's allowed this season) and struck out 2 to finish the game. Game 2 of the series pits Bobby Doran and Nick Tropeano against Jose de Paula. First pitch of that game will be at 7:05. Lancaster 6, Stockton 3 A 6-run 4th was enough to get the Jethawks the sweep. Brandon Meredith went 2-4 with a double to lead off the 2nd and a 2-run homer (1) in the 4th. Delino DeShields was 2-4 with an RBI single. Joe Sclafani had an RBI single, and Ryan McCurdy had an RBI groundout. After Preston Tucker doubled, he would score on an error after a Raoul Torrez single. Blair Walters went 4 innings and allowed an unearned run on 2 hits, walked 4, and fanned 5. T.J. Geith pitched a 1-2-3 5th for the victory. Tom Shirley allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and struck out 1 in 2 2/3. Travis Ballew got his 6th save, allowing a hit and striking out 1 in 1 1/3. The Jethawks will have the night off, and then they'll begin a 4-game series in Visalia on Wednesday. Quad Cities 8, Peoria 0 There was only one half-inning in which a run was scored. The River Bandits scored all 8 of them in the bottom of the 4th to get the split. Everyone scored a run except for Miles Hamblin, who hit an RBI single in the inning. Rio Ruiz got things started with an RBI single scoring Carlos Correa. The River went 3-4 with a double to lead off the 5th. Ariel Ovando then shot a ground ball up the middle for an RBI single. Jobduan Morales then followed up with yet another RBI single. Jordan Scott then reached on an error, but was credited with an RBI. The only extra-base RBI hit came off the bat of Austin Elkins, who then smacked a 2-run double. And finally, Hamblin brought Elkins home to cap off the scoring. Correa and Ovando had 2 hits apiece. Jordan Jankowski allowed 3 hits and struck out 3 over 5 scoreless. Josh Fields allowed a hit and struck out 1, as he threw 2 scoreless. Brian Holmes pitched the final 2 innings, allowing 2 hits, walking 1, and fanning 2. The River Bandits will now embark on a quick getaway.... to Wisconsin, for a 3-game set beginning at 6:35. Jamaine Cotton and Vince Velasquez will be tonight's pairing; they'll face Michael Strong. Three Stars 3. Jonathan Villar, SS, and Brett Wallace, 1B, Oklahoma City Villar: 3-4, 2B, 3B, 2 R Wallace: 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI It's time that Brett Wallace shows that he can do this at the Major League level. I've been teased for 3 years and I'm tired of it. In the event that Jose Altuve lands on DL... who gets the call? Villar or Elmore? 2. Jake Buchanan, P, Corpus Christi W(3-0), 4 IP, H, 2 K Buchanan's 0.58 WHIP leads the Minors. By now, he's surpassed his Lancaster form. 1. Jonathan Meyer, 3B Erik Castro, 1B Michael Burgess, LF, Corpus Christi Meyer: 4-5, solo HR (2), 2 RBI, 4 R Castro: 3-4, 2B, RBI, 3 R Burgess: 3-5, 2B, 2 HR (2), 8 RBI (Hooks record) That's a combined 10-14 from the 6-7-8 hitters in the Hooks lineup. All of them have started out slowly; let's see if these games really help them take off. Honorable Mentions Carlos Correa, SS, Quad Cities: Despite their early struggles, I've got to say... I've been impressed at how the 18-year olds have held their own in their first exposure in a full-season league. Keep in mind, the Midwest League is a quantum leap from the Appalachian and Gulf Coast Leagues. Rio Ruiz, 3B, Quad Cities: They're both on mini-hitting streaks (Correa 4, Ruiz 3) after their good showings yesterday afternoon. As the weather warms up, there's no doubt that their numbers will do so as well. George Springer, CF, Corpus Christi: I'm betting Jeff Luhnow gets even more questions on Springer soon. Jordan Jankowski, P, Quad Cities: Looks like he's getting the hang of starting again. Brandon Meredith, LF, Lancaster: Not really fretting over his slow start. He also started off slow in Lexington last year before coming alive in the 2nd half. Delino DeShields, 2B, Lancaster: A nice day at the plate for him. When he gets going, that top third of the Jethawks order will be absolute hell on Cali League pitchers. Last May 14, he was already on 20 steals. I'm not sure if he's had any leg injuries this season; I believe his injuries have been hand-related. I think opposing pitchers have realized that he's got carte blanche to run... he may need to start picking his spots from here on out. His struggles at the plate appear to stem from him trying to muscle balls out. However, it's resulting in him hitting popups. His infield flyball rate entering this game was 13.4%. The California League average is 7.5%. Goat There weren't really any awful performances, but the closest has got to be Carlos Perdomo's horror show in the field for Lancaster, as he committed 3 errors.
So can we expect Singleton, Cosart, and whoever to be called to the bigs once it's guaranteed that they will not qualify as completing their rookie season? Just curious how it works so they can hold off on early arbitration.
So tellitlikeitis, you're still going to do these recaps right? As you probably know it seems most of the TCB staff has quit (protesting?), and well I like reading recaps
Yep.... TCB, Astros County, and WTHB are shuttering themselves for the day. As an avid reader of these fine sites, I fully support their decision to not cover the team for the day. Please don't copy my recap of tonight's games to TCB.
What the Heck, Bobby? has daily minor league recaps. Climbing Tal's Hill also has daily minor league recaps. Astros County occasionally has recaps.
I won't. Anyways I haven't gotten on that site a lot because it takes forever to load and I hate the new format. Oh well, thanks for continuing your great work
http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2013/05/14/astros-cancel-annual-wives-gala-fundraiser/ Basically this was the last straw after all the PR mess we have had in the Crane era
Looks like the stop in QC was a success. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Astros">#Astros</a> RHP Josh Fields (forearm) has joined <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23cchooks">#cchooks</a> for a rehab assignment. He'll work out of relief for CC.</p>— Greg Rajan (@GregRajan) <a href="https://twitter.com/GregRajan/status/334481308027863040">May 15, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
