Dude is on fire: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=488784 He just hit another dinger and should lead the entire Cal League in OPS by the end of tonight (sort by OPS): http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/external/brandedstats/t491.html?t=l_bat&cid=491&lid=110 Gaston has fallen off in recent weeks, possibly feeling the pressure to hit #31. Anyhow, we talked about this a little in another thread. Lancaster is an extremely hitter-friendly park so the home stats are usually pretty inflated. Somebody also made a good point that Clemens already has a few years of pro ball under his belt compared to our top catching prospect, Jason Castro. Interestingly, though, Clemens is only a few months younger than Castro. What do you guys think/know about Clemens and do you see him having a shot with the big club at some point?
Yea, he strikes out quite a bit. Check out Gaston's SO total, it's even more alarming: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=LF&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=488899
If (and it is a BIG if) Kobe can continue developing and can learn to be more selective at the plate, he may be a fit at 3B in a couple of years. We will have to see. Prior to this flurry of his, I had pretty much written him off as a bust.
After the HR, Clemens hit a double and walked: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/...d=milb&t=g_box&gid=2009_08_26_lncafa_hdmafa_1 He's really been firing on all cylinders for a while. He strikes out a lot but he also shows some sign of being able to take pitches. He doesn't appear to be an Abercrombie/Johnson.
I thought you were high on Pence. I haven't given up on him yet. I like the idea of Clemens playing 3rd if he can field the position and continue to produce offensively outside of Lancaster.
I just realized the Cal League leader in OPS coming into tonight, Alex Liddi, plays for Lancaster's opponent. He's 0-for-4 with 2 SOs. Clemens is 2-for-2 with a HR, 2B and BB. Clemens will definitely be on top after this game. I imagine he'll be proud of that fact.
That says that maybe now that Castro has been drafted and appears to not be a bust Koby's future in the organization is not behind the plate. Third base though is wide open.
Lancaster is an extreme hitters park. Don't read too much into what Clemens or any of the Lancaster hitters are doing w/o looking at their road splits. Clemens is hitting pretty well on the road, so maybe he has finally figured something out. I have read that the Astros are telling him that he'll need to be more of a utility player if he's going to have a chance to progress. He hasn't been particularly good at any position.
I do like Pence. I am just frustrated with him right now. He needs to become MUCH more selective at the plate. When he is selective, he hits in the mid .300s. When he isn't, you get the massive dive in batting average.
He was rolling at the beginning of the year when he was getting into hitters counts and hitting the ball to center and right fields. At some point Cooper came out and said he should pulling the ball b/c he's a power hitter. Well, Hunter has been going down hill ever since. I hate to blame Cooper b/c not everything that goes wrong this year can be his fault, but I'm going to. Cooper is high on the list of worst managers in Astros history.
Do you know for a fact that Cooper is responsible? I made that hypothesis a few times but had no evidence of it. I brought it up again just a few days ago: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=4722943&postcount=10 I also posted some thoughts about a month ago regarding Pence's downturn: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=4662296&postcount=241 There may be factors beyond Cooper because Pence was getting in 0-2 counts way above league average even early in the season when he was on an All-Star worthy tear: http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2009/4/24/852273/an-observation-on-pences-plate He was just doing so much damage when he had favorable counts that it was compensating for it.
A somewhat related thought... Do you think that Cooper and his coaching staff could be screwing up young pitchers? Both Paulino and Norris were very, VERY good when they came up. After a little while under this coaching staff, they have struggled mightily. It is just a thought I had a few days ago and it has been gnawing at me.
I wonder about both our hitting and pitching coaches but I know nothing about what goes on beyond the scenes or how they compare to other coaches around the league. How good is Dewey at his craft? Berry? Edit: And, yea, I wonder about how Cooper is impacting the team as a whole, both young players and vets. I think Astros fans everywhere have this shared concern. Edit: I also wanted to add that based on some of Cooper's recent responses during postgames, it sounds like Dewey has been making most if not all pitching decisions. I don't know how true that is and if it is, how long it's been going on.
