I said a few days ago in a comment that I've begun the preliminary work on a write-up about the organizational philosophy on player development. Over the larger part of this decade, they've been called extremely conservative when talking about player promotion. The last few years, on the other hand, have been a little bit different under Ed Wade, Ricky Bennett, and Bobby Heck. The most notable example of this change in philosophy is Jordan Lyles who just made his AAA debut two nights ago at the very young age of 19 and his ML debut has yet to be ruled out. Although, this is partly due to the large influx of talent.
Why am I saying all of this? Well, I need your help. I have a terrible memory and my memory fails me! First, I want to know how you, the fans, feel about the development philosophy before the Ed Wade era. Second, I want you to tell me which minor leaguers you felt the Astros coddled too much and hampered their development, and to a more severe extent, their careers. Wandy Rodriguez was pushed along quite slowly, but he was also a late bloomer. How do you feel about how they handled him?
Round Rock lost 13-11
- Josh Banks (3.86)-5 1/3 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR-Ouch!
- Casey Daigle (4.76)-1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR-How do you not get pulled before all those runs score?
- Tommy Manzella (.625)-3-4, 2B, BB, SO-He's going to force a big decision soon!
- Chris Shelton (.281)-0-4, BB, 3 SO
- Drew Locke (.281)-1-5, HR, 2 SO
- Collin DeLome (.248)-1-4, 2B, SO
- Angel Hernandez (.400)-3-5, 2B, SO, SB
- Ozzie Navarro (.269)-0-3, 2 BB, 1 SO
- Brian Esposito (.258)-2-4
Corpus Christi won 8-4
- Erick Abreu (4.08)-4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2 HR
- Jailen Peguero (0.91)-2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO
- Jose Valdez (0.00)-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO-His rehab stint has moved him up quite a few levels. He may be able to contribute this season in September.
- Albert Cartwright (.286)-2-5, 2B, SO
- J.D. Martinez (.351)-4-5, 2B-I'm amazed at how well this guy can hit! He may not have #4 hitter power, but he could probably slot into the 3-hole and put up solid OBP numbers, if not, he could be one heck of a 5-hole hitter!
- Kody Kirkland (.271)-1-3, HR, 2 SO
- Koby Clemens (.263)-3-5, 2B, HR, SO-And he's showing signs of life again!
Lancaster won 11-9
- Leandro Cespedes (6.53)-1 1/3 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR-Well his stock is tanking, he put up much better numbers in Lancaster last year!
- Kyle Godfrey (3.68)-2 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
- Jonathan Villar (.286)-3-5, SO, 2 SB
- Andrew Simunic (.342)-2-4, BB, 2 SO
- Mark Ori (.280)-4-5
- Jay Austin (.273)-3-5, 2B, 3B, HR, 2 SO-Bottom of the ninth with 2 outs and Jay Austin hit a 2-run, walk-off bomb to win the game! That's clutch batting right there! Would have thought he would be a single short of the third cycle of the year in Lancaster?
Lexington-Off
Tri-City won 6-1
- Robby Doran (4.83)-6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO-He induced 10 ground-outs to just one fly-out while getting four of the five strikeouts on swings! That is a great start for the big Red Raider! If he can continue to pitch games similar to that, you can bet he'll be in Lancaster next season and pushing for a Keuchel like promotion to CC.
- Tyler Burnett (.269)-0-3, 2 BB, 2 SO, SB
- Ben Orloff (.309)-1-4, BB, 2 SO
- Dan Adamson (.292)-2-4, HR
- Game Story
Greeneville won 6-5
- Mike Foltynewicz (5.52)-5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO-That's more like it, Folty! Just one hit!
- Jonathan Merritt (.209)-2-4, 3B, BB
- Pedro Feliz (.207)-1-3, 2 BB, SO, SB
- Jhonny Medrano (.307), Chris Wallace (.314)-0-5, 3 SO
- Telvin Nash (.252)-2-5, 2B, 2 SO-Stop striking out!
- Rafael Valenzuela (.276)-2-5, 2 2B
- Emilio King (.219)-3-5, HR
GCL Astros lost 4-2
- Evan Grills (0.00)-4 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO-I'm really excited about this kid and his future, it's too bad he hasn't been able to get as much time as any would've liked because of injury.
- Jeremiah Meiners (8.40)-2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
- Delino DeShields (.000)-0-5, 2 SO-Disappointing debut, but it's just one game and he hasn't playing in awhile.
- Joshua Magee (.244)-1-3, 2 BB, SO, SB, CS
- Bryce Lane (.500)-2-4, 2 SO
- Chan Moon (.250)-2-4, SO
DSL Astros
- Jose Montero (2.15)-4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 SO, 4-0 GO-FO-Continues to show why I think he's the best pitching prospect in the DSL Academy!
- Kelvin Vizcaino (.193)-0-2, 2 BB, SB