Astros Minor League Recap

I found this link on twitter yesterday and found some interesting things. Minor League Central is a growing minor league site with much more detailed information than you'll find on most sites. I was very impressed at the level of depth many of the stats have. Especially the swinging percentage for whether the pitch is in zone or not! We have so much more information now!

But, that's not what this introduction is about. This introduction is actually about the youngest prospects in each level. Despite playing almost a full season in the majors last year, Jordan Lyles returns to the minors this year and is still the 7th youngest player in all of Triple-A, and fourth in the PCL. This just shows you young Lyles is and still has time to develop and improve. I was a supporter of Lyles returning to OkC.

The Hooks team which has gotten so much attention this year has two players on the 20 youngest in AA with Jonathan Singleton (7) and Jonathan Villar (12). Within the Texas League only, Singleton and Villar are number 3rd and 4th youngest respectively, and Jarred Cosart makes this list at number 18. I didn't realize that Villar is still very young for AA. I knew he was still on the young side, but didn't think he would be one of the youngest.

For High-A, we have just one that makes the list with Domingo Santana being the 5th youngest at that level. He's not even 20 yet! But, you go to the California League, you find Santana as the 2nd youngest, Enrique Hernandez as the 10th, and Ruben Alaniz as the 16th. The fact that a pitcher we have is one of the youngest and has shown "success for Lancaster" so far to start the season, pretty impressive. Hernandez isn't going to make top prospect lists at this point, but he's young and has some talent. The problem is he plays 2B and doesn't have many other options because of a lack of arm strength.

For Lexington, we see none! This is very surprising as for the past several years, Lexington has been a very young team. I pointed this out in my preview, there are a lot of older players on this team this year and the makeup is very different from previous years. Is this an attempt to get more mature players there to try and field a winning team, or is that we finally have depth to do this? I'm not sure yet.

Oklahoma City RedHawks won 2-0

• Dallas Keuchel-7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 12/1 GO/AO-Studyly
• Mickey Storey-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 2/1 GO/AO
• Jose Valdez-1 IP, 0 H, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
• Angel Sanchez SS-1-4, 2B

Corpus Christi Hooks won 12-5

• Ross Seaton-3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 2/2 GO/AO
• Erick Abreu-3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 3/4 GO/AO
• Kevin Chapman-2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
• Jason Stoffel-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO
• Jonathan Villar SS-1-6, 2 SO, SB
• Jake Goebbert LF-3-5, 2B, 3B, BB, SO
• Jonathan Singleton 1B-3-5, 2 2B, 3B, BB
• Brandon Barnes CF-2-4, 2 2B, BB, SO
• Jose Martinez 2B-3-5, 3B
• TJ Steele RF-1-4, 2B, BB, SO
• Jair Fernandez C-0-3, 2 BB
• Jordan Kreke 3B-1-5, 3B, 2 SO

Lancaster JetHawks won 6-2

• Zachary Grimmett-5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR, 0/2 GO/AO-Much better outing
• Gabriel Garcia-1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 2/0 GO/AO
• Pat Urckfitz-2 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 2/1 GO/AO
• Jiovanni Mier SS-2-3, 2 BB, SO, CS
• George Springer CF-1-4, 2B, 2 SO
• Ben Orloff PH, 3B-0-0, 2 BB
• Erik Castro DH-3-4, 2B, HR, SO
• Rene Garcia C-1-3, 2B, SO

Lexington Legends lost 9-4

• Tanner Bushue-3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 5/0 GO/AO-He's just too hittable at this point
• Luis Cruz-4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 6/1 GO/AO
• Jason Chowning-2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 3/0 GO/AO-Not a typo, no earned runs
• Delino DeShields Jr 2B-2-5, 2B, SO, SB
• Jordan Scott LF-3-4, 2B, BB, SO, SB
• Zachary Johnson DH-0-3, 2 BB
• Mike Kvasnicka C-0-4, 3 SO
• Matt Duffy 3B-1-4, 2B