Nick Hernandez has 29 strikeouts in 19.2 IP this season with Buies Creek. In 15 appearances, he has 6 saves. Hernandez, an 8th-round pick last year out of UH, is a fastball-slider guy. He has a high strikeout rate (13.6 K/9) and a tendency to allow flyballs; of the 38 balls that have been put in play on him, 16 (42.1%) have been fly balls. Another 6 are classified as popups. Will be interesting to see how that flyball tendency holds up as he moves up the ladder; he looks like he could use a promotion to Corpus soon. Balls can fly out of Whataburger Field at a pretty healthy rate; it might behoove him to work on getting some groundouts. Hernandez appears at :13 of this video. His fastball looks like it's got some rising action.
DSL Astros Blue roster The Dominican Summer League kicks off tomorrow morning. The Orange team's roster should be updated soon... hopefully. Pitchers Gustavo Almonte Yulian Frontado Freylin Garcia Ronny Garcia Fredis Guerrero Jose Antonio Hernandez Denilson Lugo Angel Macuare Ronaldo Marrero Angel Matos Jonger Ochoa Kilvio Peralta Antonio Pujols Fabricio Reina Jean Reyes Nivaldo Rodriguez Oscar Severino Renny Ugarte Natanael Ventura Catchers Brandon Benavente Freddy Chirino Nerio Rodriguez Jr. Rhandall Sanchez Infielders Alfredo Angarita Yorbin Ceuta Jonathan Matute Kendy Moya Yeuris Ramirez Anthony Rodriguez Ozziel Sanchez-Galan Ronaldo Urdaneta Outfielders Luis Coronel Cesar Cortez Ronny Rafael Angel Tejeda
DSL Astros Orange roster Pitchers Jesus Bernaez Jervic Chavez Luis De Paula Diosward Gonzalez Christopher Javier Ronny Jimenez Miguel Matos Fredy Medina Christian Mejias Cristofer Melendez Wender Oberto Angel Ortega Carlos Quintero Jose Alberto Rivera Mauricio Santana Bryan Solano (on restricted list) Jairo Solis Asael Uribe Catchers Jose Alvarez Luis Mario Barajas Jose Carrillo Gerry Castillo Kelvin Perez Infielders Samir Caraballo Deury Carrasco Jeury Castillo Michael Garcia Sean Mendoza Freudis Nova Outfielders Euclides Chavez Leonardo Gonzalez Hector Martinez Renaigel Martis Ramiro Rodriguez
Orange team pitcher Bryan Solano is apparently the first Costa Rican to sign with an MLB club in 8 years.
Yordan Alvarez is on an 8-game hitting streak in Quad Cities following a 2-3 performance. He didn't reach base in his season debut but has reached in every game since. He's now slashing .383/.465/.583 in 17 games this season. Alvarez has also played 6 games in LF (I believe he's been starting in LF for the last week), so it'll be interesting to see whether he can stick there.
Kyle Smith struck out 4 over 5 perfect innings as the Hooks topped Tulsa 5-3. Drew Ferguson went 2-3 with a solo homer (6), an RBI single, and scored twice.
Smith hasn't struck out as many batters as he did before his surgery but he's officially back on the map. Should be in AAA soon and easy to see him as a BoR SP in the majors.
Make it 9 straight games with a hit for Alvarez after another 2-3 game. It would be huge if he proves to be competent in LF; obviously, it would free him from being strictly a 1B/DH type. Only 4 RBI in that span, though. That being said, a .397/.480/.587 line in the first 3 weeks isn't too shabby.
My feeling is that any 19 year old who is willing to keep his body in shape can learn to be a competent LF at least into his late 20s. No sense in abandoning him as a position player until it's absolutely necessary; either way his stock is skyrocketing.
He may be able to do it for awhile but I am skeptical long term. He is likely not done growing, he has gone from 6'5" last year to 6'7" this year and has a huge frame. He is around 235 lbs now but will easily be 250-260 lbs in 5-6 years. The one thing that could make him viable in the outfield is that he supposedly reads the ball off the bat well. His power hasn't even developed yet. The knock on him coming from Cuba is the same that Jose Abreu had; bat speed. Some scouts question his ability to hit quality pitching at the higher levels.
Thank you again for your continued efforts to provide the countless updates on what's going on with things down on the farm!!
J.D. Davis just hit a 2-run homer for Corpus, his 14th of the year. Kyle Tucker, who scored the other run, has a hit in all 6 games he's played since his promotion to AA.
