I honestly don't care if he ever hits a homerun. I just want him to get on base because he would literally steal a base half the time he did get on base. A walk would be essentially a double.
Collin Price drove in three in Sugar Land's 6-2 win over Albuquerque. He had an RBI single and a two-run homer (2). A.J. Blubaugh came on behind Lance McCullers and was dominant: 4 IP, H, 2 BB, 8 K Jose Fleury also turned in an excellent start for Corpus in a 2-0 win, allowing a hit, walking two, and striking out 9 over six shutout innings. Logan Cerny hit his second homer of the season. Trey Dombroski (2 IP, H, 3 K) and Wilmy Sanchez (IP, BB, K) completed the shutout. Garrett Guillemette's walk-off homer (3) came in the second game of Asheville's doubleheader. Kenni Gomez also homered, his first of the year. Alain Pena shook off a rough first outing as he allowed an unearned run, a single, walked one, and struck out three in four innings. Hudson Leach retired all five batters he faced, striking out four. Fayetteville swept their doubleheader with Delmarva, winning 8-6 and 6-0. Jancel Villarroel and Carlos Cauro drove in two apiece in game 1. In game 2, Caden Powell doubled twice and scored twice. Kedaur Trujillo drove him in both times with an RBI single in the 2nd and a two-run homer in the 4th. Trujillo went 3-4 in game 2. Cole Hertzler allowed 4 hits and struck out 7 in 4.2 innings and Grant Burleson completed the shutout in game 2 by allowing a hit, walking one, and striking out one over the final 2.1 ininngs.
Asheville took their series with Greenville 3-2 thanks to an 8-2 win today. Will Bush and Trevor Austin both hit their 2nd home runs of the year. Bush also had a two-run single. Anderson Brito allowed a hit, walked one, and struck out six over 3.2 scoreless.
Really like what Bush has done so far, Asheville is a great opportunity for him to break out and show his power. Also very encouraging from that game was Anderson Brito getting 6k in 3.2ip with 0r and 1bb.
I think Collin Price is a lot like David Hensley. Late blooming prospect with a body type and athleticism that hints at the possibility of big power whose defensive value is very hard to figure. But .350 with an 1122 ops is pretty pretty good start in AAA.
Four Sugar Land pitchers combined on a one-hitter: Miguel Ullola: 2.1 IP, H, BB, 3 K Forrest Whitley: 0.2 IP, 2 K Tyler Ivey: 5 IP, BB, 2 K Nick Hernandez: IP, BB, K
Fayetteville also turned in a shutout, winning 6-0 over Delmarva. Luis Rodriguez: 4 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 K Ryan Smith: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 K Dawill Almonte: 2 IP, K Drew Brutcher drove in three; two on a single and the third came on a sac fly. Jancel Villarroel went 2-4 with a triple and scored twice. Jason Schiavone walked in a run and had an RBI single.
Two more base hits for Colin Barber... he's gotten at least one hit in 8 of Corpus Christi's first 9 games this season. Clawing his way back into prospect relevance, but he absolutely cannot miss any more time.
Blubaugh has been flat out dominant in the early going. Nearly a 19% SwStr% and he's keeping the walks in check so far. This guy looks like he might have leveled up his stuff this year.
Conspiracy theory I would believe: the Astros intentionally quelled the hype on Blubaugh this spring in favor of guys like Gusto, Ullola, and Nezuh because they think Blubaugh can be a core piece and don’t/didn’t want other teams to ask for him in trades.
Week 2 top prospect status report (wRC+/FIP): RF Cam Smith (MLB): 101 IF Brice Matthews (AAA): 64 (healthy walk rate, good baserunning, but 35% k rate with no power won't cut it) OF Jacob Melton (AAA): 162 OF/IF Zach Dezenzo (MLB): -38 (46.7% k rate and no power is unplayable but hard to blame him with such sporadic playing time) C Walker Janek (High A): 106 IF Chase Jaworsky (High A): 137 OF Kenni Gomez (High A): 43 (42% k rate in 12 pa) IF/OF Shay Whitcomb (AAA): 69 (32% k rate over 65 pa is a bad sign of regression) OF Joseph Sullivan (High A): 145 OF Kevin Alvarez (DSL): DNP season has not started C Jancel Villarroel (A): 137 OF Nehomar Ochoa (A): DNP recovering from minor car accident OF Zach Cole (AA): DNP injured IF Pascanel Ferreras (AA): 109 HM: C Collin Price, IF Max Holy, IF Alejandro Nunez P AJ Blubaugh (AAA): 1.70 P Miguel Ullola (AAA): 2.85 P Anderson Brito (High A): 2.16 P Ethan Pecko (AA): DNP injured P Ryan Forcucci (FCL): DNP recovering from TJS P Jose Fleury (AA): 2.38 P Ryan Gusto (MLB): 3.42 P James Hicks (AA): 2.36 P Jackson Nezuh (AA): 5.09 (#'s skewed by giving up a HR in small sample) P Colton Gordon (AAA): 5.34 (#'s skewed by giving up a HR in small sample) P Bryce Mayer (A): 0.63 P Cole Hertzler (A): 1.82 P Juan Bello (High A): 7.95 (bb/HR/control issues in the early going) P Twine Palmer (A): 1.63 P Alonzo Tredwell (A): 4.39 HM: Wilmy Sanchez, Amilcar Chirinos, Francisco Frias, Brett Gillis, Colby Langford, Alimber Santa, Dawil Almonte First 2 weeks characterized by high strike out rates on both sides.
Maybe. Could have just had him working on stuff rather than trying to optimize performance. Either way, looks like he could possibly be the next hunter brown.
