Quad Cities just finished off a 2-0 shutout in Fort Wayne. Matt Ruppenthal: 4 IP, H, 4 BB, 4 K Jojanse Torres: 3 IP, H, 7 K Humberto Castellanos: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 K Scott Schreiber's two-run homer (3) was the only scoring play of the game.
Can Beer play 1B? Can he play DH? If he can swing then that's all that matters. Reed is the most disappointing guy I can think of, outside of Pick1.
"It's pretty clear he can hit right now in the big leagues," general manager Jeff Luhnow said Saturday. "I think for him to have the maximum impact on this team, we need him to be able to play a position and I do think left field is where he has the best chance to play for us, especially in our ballpark, and he is making strides." Before the Astros opened their two-game series in Monterrey against the Angels on Saturday, Luhnow offered a "word of caution," invoking Kyle Tucker's terrible introduction into the major leagues last season. After calling up Tucker who tore through Class AAA pitching at an almost identical pace to Alvarez he mustered a .439 OPS in his 72 major league plate appearances. Now, Alvarez appears to have passed him on the organization's outfield pecking order. "The same people who were clamoring for Kyle Tucker to come up because he was destroying AAA pitching are the same people now clamoring for Yordan Alvarez to come up," Luhnow said. "I understand that, trust me, I love having prospects that fans ask when they're coming up. But there's no exact science about how many at-bats a player needs at various levels." "If (Alvarez) is coming up, he's coming up to play, and if he comes up and hits .210, that's not going to help our team. I need to make sure he's going to help our team, but he certainly is making it a conversation, not just with our fans, but internally."
Kyle Tucker had an OPS nearly .500 points below Yordan Alvarez’ right now. If the Astros want to keep him down for service reasons that’s fine. Not buying the other excuses.
Seth Beer just homered for Fayetteville; it's a solo shot that gives the Woodpeckers a 4-3 lead over the Wood Ducks. Beer now has six home runs on the year.
The end of the article notes that the Astros recently signed a Mexican pitcher named Jaime Melendez. Melendez, 17, was a prospect for the Sultanes de Monterrey.
OF Stephen Wrenn was promoted to AAA. AJ Reed was also reinstated to the AAA roster from the Injured List. OF Carmen Benedetti was resinstated to the AA roster
Alvarez is hitting way better than Tucker was. I think the Super 2/Team Control issue is what's keeping him down. Also, we do have a logjam in LF. Something will definitely have to be done. Can't wait to see what Beer can do in Corpus!
This is your reminder that Kyle Tucker is still an elite prospect. He's going to be great for the Astros for a long time.
It's not the only thing keeping Alvarez down. Outside of sending Diaz to AAA, Marsnick, Kemp, and White are out of options. If Luhnow brings up Alvarez at the expense of White, and Alvarez can't hit in the majors now you have a worse situation. As long as we are winning, Luhnow wants to keep his options open and that means holding onto as many players as he can. If Alvarez isn't up until September I wouldn't mind. It means our offense is clicking and we don't have injury issues in the OF and 1B/DH.
Very quietly he has had a very good year.... OPS around 950... homers are coming and better contact rate.
Move Alvarez to catcher (can’t be that hard). Stassi will pass through waivers and can be sent to AAA - DD
Will be interesting to see how AAA tries to adjust to him as their current plan has clearly been a spectacular failure.
They have a plan, but will take some time to implement. I believe they are currently referring to it as the "June Referendum". By late June, AAA pitchers will cease giving up hits to Alvarez once their plan is fully operational.
Looks like Colton Shaver is getting time at catcher. Interesting development for a guy who is hitting really well, although he’s old for his league. If he’s able to catch his value will get a significant boost.
Quad Cities pitchers have been amazing with their k/bb ratios: Castellanos 24/4 Conine 34/2 Garcia 26/6 Rodriguez 36/6 Ruppenthal 25/9 Torres 14/4 Every pitcher on their roster (except Cabral who has 5 ip) is averaging more then 9k/9.
