Astros Minor League Recap

by Subber10 on Apr 20, 2011 9:00 AM CDT in Houston Astros Minor League Recaps

Robby Donovan has always been a mystery to me. He doesn't have great stuff. He doesn't have great control or command. Plus, his groundball rate is typicially just average. But, the guy was successful in Lexington. He had some success after getting called up to Lancaster last season as well. This season, it's mixed reviews. But, last night he dominated. So, how does he get his success. My only guess is that he is a schrewd pitcher. He throws the right pitch at the right time. Honestly, I really have no clue.

My next topic is Tommy Manzella. The guy is hitting in AAA. He is currently supporting a .943 OPS that relies heavily on BA which is being driven by a high BABIP right now. But, he is hitting the ball hard driving it for the most part. Although, he is still striking out a lot. So, Snake's article on MLB Trade Rumors piece about the Astros being sellers at the trade deadline brings my thoughts to Manzella. If he is still hitting in July. I really think we really need to consider unloading Clint Barmes. I think if he continues to hit through June, he would have deserved another shot in the majors.

Oklahoma City lost 6-2 (To Round Rock, how's that for insult to injury)

Sergio Perez-4 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, BB, SO-Ouch
Fernando Rodriguez-2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 SO
Wesley Wright-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, SO
Tommy Manzella SS-3-3, BB, 2 SB
Koby Clemens 1B-0-4, 4 SO-Bigger Ouch
Anderson Hernandez 2B-1-4, 3B, 2 SO
Collin DeLome RF-0-4, 3 SO-Ouch

Corpus Christi won 5-3

Jonnathan Aristil-6 2/3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 SO, 2 HR
David Carpenter-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, SO
Jimmy Paredes 2B-1-2, HR, BB, SO, 2 SB
TJ Steele DH-1-4, 2B
Jimmy Van Ostrand 1B-2-3, 2B, BB, SO
Andrew Simunic RF-1-4, 3B, 2 SO

Lancaster won 13-3

Robert Donovan-6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO, HR, 7/2 GO/AO-Or, maybe he has developed great control and groundball tendencies?
Jay Austin DH-2-6, 2 SO
Jose Altuve 2B-2-6, SO, SB
Austin Wates CF-1-5, HR, BB
Kody Hinze 1B-2-3, 2 HR, BB, SO-Nice power!
Jake Goebbert LF-2-5, HR, BB
Jonathan Meyer 3B-1-6, 2B, 2 SO
Ben Heath C-2-5, HR
Miguel Arrendell SS-2-5
Grant Hogue RF-2-4, HR

Lexington won 2-0

Tanner Bushue-6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 7/5 GO/AO-Solid game, but he's gotta develop something for a strikeout pitch.
Brian Streilein-3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
Telvin Nash DH-1-4, 3 SO
Adam Bailey RF-2-4, SO
Delino DeShields 2B-1-3, BB, SO, SB

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Donovan must be doing something right

Wind was blowing out 17 MPH to CF. Must have felt like they were playing in a LL park.

by Raidas77 on Apr 20, 2011 9:24 AM CDT reply actions

How about Bushue

Opening the season 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA. Maybe the strikeouts will come, but at least he got more groundball outs the flyouts this time.

by conroestro on Apr 20, 2011 10:18 AM CDT via mobile reply actions

The groundouts are a very good sign. This is all about development and he’s likely working specifically on getting groundouts. He had some very high strikeout games last year, som I’m nit worried about those, yet. Hopefully well see him put them both together soon.

by Subber10 on Apr 20, 2011 10:24 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions

Here is something that has always seemed ironic to me. Everybody use K rates to evaluate prospects. (I’m not saying that’s wrong; just pointing out what we all know.) But at each level of the minors, pitching coaches are drilling “pitch to contact” and “let your fielders do their job” into young pitchers’ heads. (And I’m not saying this is wrong either.) This has always struck me as disconnect for the young pitchers: on the one hand, they see prospect rankings driven by K rates, but their pitching coach is telling them to ignore the strike outs.

by clack on Apr 20, 2011 10:25 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs

I think it’s that the K rate is indicative of pure stuff. Pitching coaches are hammering pitch to contact for groundouts so pitches inthe lower half of the zone. I like to see a combination of the two becausea strikeout pitch low in the zone is twice as likely to get a desired result.

PC hammer the groundout to get the pitcher more efficient to keep counts down, but at the same time a pitcher has to be able to get a k at times. That’s why I’m picky and look at both groundball rads and k rates.

by Subber10 on Apr 20, 2011 10:45 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions

I get what you are saying. Here is what everyone needs to realize.

Prospects that make it to the majors are very very very good, especially when compared to some of the lesser competition. A good prospect should dominate most guys because of their talent no matter what they are trying to do at the low minors.

Not trying to teach you anything. I believe people sometimes forget how few of these guys make it to the majors and the disparity in talent in the minors. That is why I am very skeptical of praising prospects.

My first mistake was assuming you knew what I was talking about.

by Shamus on Apr 20, 2011 11:25 AM CDT up reply actions

I think you hit the nail on the head.

by MadMartygan on Apr 20, 2011 2:06 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

There is no doubt there is a huge difference in talent. Typically, a draft is lucky if you get more than one eventual everyday player or if you get more than two or three who contribute to the major league team. Sure, the majority of these guys who consistently have good nights never make it past AAA but that’s why you have ceilings and floors. Typically when all of talk about a guy being in the majors, it’s his ceiling. Will he make it? Probably not, but what’s the harm in getting excited about the potential of having options in a few years? That’s what prospecting is all about. Figuring out who even has a ceiling of a major leaguer and then filtering out a prospects who are less likely to reach it as they progress.

I don’t think anyone forgets that around here. I think people get excited over ceilings in the majors because for a long time we didn’t have players like that in the system. We had players who wee non prospects and didn’t even have major league ceilings.

by Subber10 on Apr 20, 2011 4:26 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

Well said, I couldn’t agree more.

by conroestro on Apr 20, 2011 4:44 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

I agree

We now have prospects that we can look forward to and maybe a couple that turn into BIG IMPACT players. For instance Telvin Nash is said to have stupid power and he’s still really young. If this kid cuts down on his strikeouts and continues to hit the long ball we may have a Prince Fielder on our hands. We have a couple of really young, very promising pitchers. We all know pitchers are a dime a dozen but some of these kids have a legit chance to make up a good ML rotation.
I’m very skeptical of most of them but I’m optimistic about all of them. I’m very excited that we actually have some potential, I’m almost looking forward to the draft more than I am the games…almost…

PS the top 11 players in the draft all look like studs so it really doesn’t matter which way we go, as long as we don’t reach we should come out with a winner.

by Its Gonna Happen on Apr 20, 2011 5:33 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

K rate

Interesting point. I think K/9 is definitely an important statistic, but I agree some people do tend to overvalue it. It seems to me that K/BB would be more important.

by jmike on Apr 20, 2011 8:14 PM CDT up reply actions

Rough night for OKC; hopefully taht wasn’t Koby, COllin, and Sergio crashign back to earth.

Calling my shot on Carpenter being a september callup. Aristil is raising my eyebrows as a future 5th starter/long reliever type. Awesome to see Paredes show some power.

Not excited about Donovan…yet. But every single everyday position player is pretty much raking. Very exciting.

Wonder how long they expect to keep Bushue in Lexington and whether they’ll skip him to Corpus or not. I think they should.

by Snake Diggity on Apr 20, 2011 12:20 PM CDT reply actions

I like Carpenter, and it would be nice to see him as a Sept. call up (though I’m not sure it will happen). Some reasons (not all rational) that I like Carpenter: (1) I like power sinker pitchers in the bullpen; (2) There have been some good success stories for catchers who converted into relievers; (3) It would be a feather in the Astros’ cap to get a player in return for Pedro Feliz who turns out to be valuable; (4) It will be nice to see Cardinals fans get upset that they gave away Carpenter. On the latter point, can you hear the gnashing of teeth in Cardinals-land if both Carpenter and Wallace turn into good players?

by clack on Apr 20, 2011 12:52 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs

I like it. Wade definitely has an eye for relievers.

by conroestro on Apr 20, 2011 1:04 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

Bushue

Wouldn’t be surprised at all if he skips Lancaster

by jmike on Apr 20, 2011 8:08 PM CDT up reply actions

Almost ANOTHER organizational sweep...

Doing very nicely in the lower levels. I’m very excited about the upcoming years…lower levels are stacked!

by Its Gonna Happen on Apr 20, 2011 2:31 PM CDT via mobile reply actions

Brandon Wood

He was DFA’d by the Angels. Is he worth picking up? I doubt it; he has been horrible at the major league level. But this is a guy who was the top prospect in baseball at one time. He was originally projected as a power hitting shortstop. However, his better defensive position in the majors probably is 3d base. Since we get fanshots every off-season by people who wanted Astros to trade for him, I thought I would bring it up.

by clack on Apr 20, 2011 3:01 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

It says a lot

That I’d rather have J.R. Towles at this point than Brandon Wood.

http://www.crawfishboxes.com

by OremLK on Apr 20, 2011 3:23 PM CDT up reply actions

Wood

I’d take him on a minor league deal for sure. Not sure I’d give up much to get him. Wesley Wright, perhaps?

Or do the Angels want another overpaid outfielder—Carlos Lee is available (ha!)

by jmike on Apr 20, 2011 8:07 PM CDT up reply actions

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