Houston Astros Arizona Fall League and Jason Castro Update

Are these weeks flying by, or is it just me? Before we blink, the World Series may be over and the Hot Stove Season will begin in earnest.

That World Series may be over because, in part, the umpiring in this most important of series has been frustratingly bad. Especially because it's been the Rays who seem to have been shafted on calls on the base-paths, but also on balls and strikes. The Phillies have outplayed them, and the Rays have looked flat for much of the series. But still. MLB has the most talented baseball players in world play under its banner. Shouldn't we expect the same from the umpiring crew? At this point, after watching the "missed" tag of Jimmy Rollins by Evan Longoria I'm becoming more and more ready to see these guys exit, and to see if these guys could do a better job.

Let's do the AFL and Castro Rundown....

For some reason, last Tuesday's (10/21) Scorpions game does not have a boxscore for us to analyze. In case you money riding on the game (a practice that TCB does not endorse, except where legal.),Surprise lost 8-3 to Mesa. Sergio Perez pitched four innings and gave up only one run on five hits.

Wednesday, 10/22: Scottsdale fell to Mesa for the second day in a row, 11-3. Drew Sutton did a Sonny & Cher, hitting another double and drawing a walk. It's getting to the point where unless Sutton collects multiple hits in one of these games, I'm almost disappointed. Brian Bogusevic was hitless in one at bat. Bud Norris gave up a run one two hits in an inning of relief.

Thursday, 10/23: Sutton, Bogusevic and Chris Johnson all started for the Scorpions in their 8-6 loss to Mesa. Johnson collected two singles and an RBI. Sutton did his part to make this writer happy- he homered and tripled, knocked in three and again drew a walk. Bougy didn't want to rep Houston too hard, so he went 0/3. Gotta respect the man for his humility.

Friday, 10/24: The AFL's third annual Rising Stars Showcase was won by the National Rising Stars, 7-6 (not us). Brian Bogusevic (us)and Bud Norris (us) both contributed. Bougy was a surprise start and knocked a single. Norris pitched an inning of relief, and didn't give up a run while striking out a batter. Drew Sutton spent the evening watching The Sandlot on TBS, and wondering if he had OPS'ed 2.000 thus far, if he would've made the squad.

Sunday, 10/25: Games resumed on Saturday, withPhoenix beating Scottsdale 13-10. Three of our guys- Sutton, Bougy and Mark Ori, saw action. The three combined for one hit, but managed to score four runs for Scottsdale. Thank you, walks. Ori got the hit, a double, and knocked in a run. Brad James fell in love with the number two- giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits in two innings of work.

Monday, 10/27: A light way to end this week's update. Bougy got on base three times, and scored a run. Bud Norris gave up a run on two hits in an inning of work.

Here's how the stats have panned out for our hitters:

Pitchers

Hawaii Winter Baseball League Update

Jason Castro's only played in two games this past week, but has done us proud.

Wednesday, 10/22: Castro went 2/4 and homered for the second time in fifteen games. He also hit a double and scored twice.

Friday, 10/24: 1/4 with an RBI are positive contributions. Something that is startling to me, and I do not know if this is the case with a lot of young players, but Castro has struck out in 13 times in 51 ABs . True, he has gotten on base at a .383 clip, but a 25 percent strikeout rate can't be a good thing. Just something for us to keep our eyes on. 

Castro Rundown: