There was a really big flurry of roster moves yesterday in the minors and a few came as a bit of surprise to me, not just because of the timing. It's a little odd being that there is about a week of games left, but it was mostly to fill roster spots left open by September Call-Ups. But, the order of promotions leaves a little to think about.
Speaking of September Call-Ups, Chris Sampson has been told he will not be called up and he's not happy. He tweeted that he's not going back to Houston Astros roster and will soon be working his camps. Astros County asked him if he was given a reason and his response was there was no reason and that communication isn't one of the Astros strong points. That's pretty harsh.
I'll go over each minor league transaction after the jump as well as each games recap!
Brandon Barnes and John Curtis were assigned to Round Rock from Lancaster and Barnes made his debut last night. Nothing was too surprising there. Sure, Jonathan Gaston could have made that move but Barnes is getting rewarded for a great season. Astros AFL representative, Patrick Urckfitz, was promoted from Lancaster to Corpus as a reward for a solid season. Lancaster pitcher, Ashton Mowdy, was put on the inactive list. Rene Garcia, who just got back from injury, was moved up to Lancaster from lexington to take John Curtis' spot. Roberto Pena replaced Garcia in Lexington from Greeneville. Barry Butera was activated in Lexington. Pitchers Brian Streilein, Garret Bullock, and Ryan Cole were joined with Telvin Nash to the move from Greeneville to Tri-City to help with the play-off push.
The biggest move was the powerful catcher, Ben Heath, who is now a Hook after a very short stint in Lexington. CC didn't need another catcher since they still have Lou Santangelo and Federco Hernandez on the active roster and they aren't trying to make a play-off push. To me, it looks like a reward for a great season as well as getting more coaches opinions of him within the system to see what we have in him. This could also have one other implication. Although AFL rosters have been announced, they aren't finalized, and the Javelinas only have one catcher. We could possibly pull a guy like Sergio Perez out of the AFL and put Heath in if the coaches in CC think Heath is ready. I don't have anything to back this idea up, but I think it may be a possibility that I would really like.
Round Rock lost 5-1
- Josh Banks (3.99)-8 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 2 HR-Mike Moustakas has RR's number. That's four homeruns this series.
- Ozzie Navarro 2B (.273)-2-3
- Chris Shelton 1B (.254)-2-4, 2B
- Collin DeLome LF (.225)-0-4, 3 SO
- Brandon Barnes RF (.500)-2-4-Good debut!
- Edwin Maysonet SS (.248)-2-4, SO
- German Duran 3B (.241)-2-3, 2B, BB
- Edwin Bellorin C (.197)-3-4
Corpus Christi won 9-0
- Erick Abreu (3.10)-7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO
- Shane Wolf (0.00)-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO-He induced two groundouts and no flyouts as well, so he had a pretty good AA debut.
- David Cook LF (.253)-1-2, HR, 2 BB
- Albert Cartwright 2B (.248)-3-5, 2B, SB
- Koby Clemens DH (.244)-1-4, 3 SO
- Jonathan Gaston CF (.251)-2-3, HR, BB
- Jimmy Van Ostrand 1B (.240)-1-3, 2B, BB, SO
- Federico Hernandez C (.320)-3-4, 2B
- Ben Heath C (.000)-He didn't get an at-bat, but got to make his AA debut as a defensive replacement at catcher in the ninth.
Lancaster lost 6-2
- Mike Modica (5.14)-4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 1 HR-Not a good start.
- David Carpenter (0.00)-1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
- Brian Pellegrini 1B (.277)-1-4, HR, 2 SO
- Lee Cruz DH (.352)-1-4, HR, 2 SO
- Bryce Lane LF (.333)-0-2, BB, SO-He's done really well at drawing walks.
Lexington lost 9-1
- Luis Cruz (3.56)-1 2/3 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 0 SO, 1 HR
- Yordany Ramirez (7.36)-2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO
- Mike Shurz (6.65)-2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
- Barry Butera SS (.167)-1-2, 2B
- Brian Kemp LF (.227)-1-3, 2B
Tri-City won 11-1
- James Robinson (2.83)-6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO-Eleven groundouts and three flyouts makes this an excellent start.
- Tyler Burnett 3B (.254)-1-5, HR
- Adam Bailey LF (.215)-3-4, 2B
- Michael Kvasnicka RF (.236)-3-4, BB-He also flashed his arm a little by throwing a guy out at home.
- Chris Wallace C (.214)-2-4