Astros Minor League Recap

Much has been made about Xavier Cedeno's recent promotion, then demotion, then a new role in the pen.  There are now two apparent reasons for this.  The first is that he pitched a little over sixty innings in 2009 and didn't pitch at all in 2010, so they are trying to lower his innings total.  The second reason is to transition him to a reliever for a role as LOOGY. 

Under normal circumstances, they usually do that transition at the AAA level, but with the abundance of lefty's in AAA, I can see why they would do that in AA.  I still find it odd, that they would give him a start in AAA, and then do it.  It doesn't make a lot of sense.  Maybe they wanted to see if he could get AAA out, in case they call-him up to ML in September?  Maybe they wanted to show him some confidence from the organization so that he'll resign next with them next year?  I don't know.  But, I do buy the innings reasoning because that is smart. 

I can see them using him as a reliever in for the remainder of the year as an innings protection, and then putting him back in the rotation next year as a starter.  That will give him around 130 IP this season which will allow him to put up around 160 IP next season, maybe more since he'll be 25 in August and the Verducci effect is for 25 and below.  That would easily allow for him to fill in as a spot starter or long reliever in the majors after some time in AAA.  The Astros have a history of allowing guys like him to pitch a lot of innings in AAA to work as a starter after their prospect time, guys like Yorman Bazardo comes to mind.  We won't really know what the plan is until next season if he's still with the team.  Right now, it looks like they are buffering his innings and preparing him for what role he could perform in the ML this season.

Oklahoma City lost 11-9

• Brad Hennessey-3 1/3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER,1 BB, 4 SO,1 HR, 2/2 GO/AO
• Wesley Wright-1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 2/0 GO/AO
• Casey Fien-2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO
• JB Shuck lF-0-3, 3 BB, SO
• Brian Bogusevic CF-3-5, 2B, BB, SO, SB, CS, PO
• Koby Clemens 1B-1-4, 2 BB, 3 SO
• Wladimir Sutil SS-3-4, 2B, BB

Corpus Christi won 11-1

• Henry Sosa-7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO, 5/6 GO/AO-Hit 96 on the gun a few times.
• Danny Meszaros-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
• Jason Stoffel-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO
• Jonathan Villar SS-2-5-He's on twitter now!
• Jimmy Paredes 3B-3-5, 2 SO, SB
• JD Martinez LF-3-5, 2B, HR-SIX HR's this month!
• Kody Hinze 1B-2-3, HR, BB
• Jonathan Gaston CF-2-4, SO
• Emerson Frostad C-2-3, BB, SO
• Brandon Barnes PH-1-1, 2B

Lancaster: Off

Lexington lost 2-0

• Ruben Alaniz-6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 9/3 GO/AO
• Brian Streilein-2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 4/1 GO/AO
• Telvin Nash DH-1-4, 3 SO
• Ben Orloff SS-1-3, SB

Tri-City: Off

Greeneville lost 8-7 

• Ricardo Batista-2 1/3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 0 SO, 3/3 GO/AO
• Danilo Del Rio-3 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 5/3 GO/AO
• Jordan Scott LF-2-4, 2B, BB
• Ruben Sosa 2B-2-5, 2B, SO, CS
• Aril Ovando RF-0-5, 2 SO, OF Assist at Home
• Jesse Wierzbicki 1B-2-5, 2B, 3 SO
• Chase Davidson DH-2-5, 2B, SO
• Luis Alvarez C0-3, 2 BB, SO
• Jose Monzon CF-2-5, 2B, SO
• Chan Moon SS-0-1, 3 BB, SO

GCL Astros won 8-6

• Michael Feliz-2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR, 3/1 GO/AO
• Evan Grills-4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 6/2 GO/AO
• Zachary Hardoin-1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
• Blake Ford-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
• Javaris Reynolds CF-3-6, 2 SO, SB-He's getting his average up!
• Jose Fernandez SS-1-5, BB, 3 SO, SB
• Chris Epps LF-2-3, 3 BB, SB
• Yonathan Mejia DH-4-5, SB
• Justin Shults 1B-1-3, 2 BB
• Alfredo Gonzales C-2-4, 3B

DSL Astros won 4-3

• Reymin Guduan-5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 SO, 9/0 GO/AO
• Victor Mesa-1 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO
• Kelvin Santana-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO-I want to see more of this guy!
• Yoel Silfa 2B-1-4, 2 SB
• Juan Santana SS-3-5, 2B, CS
• Thomas De La Cruz LF-2-5, SO
• Jose Solano 3B-2-5, 2B, SO
• Michael Medina RF-0-2, 2 BB, 2 SO
• Frederick Serrano DH-1-4, 2B, 2 SO