What an exciting day in much of the minor leagues yesterday, except for the full season clubs. Oklahoma City was off for a travel day while Lexington and Lancaster are on their All-Star breaks. Corpus got embarrassed so I'm not even going to visit that. But, the the GCL Astros and Tri-City both won their openers and Lance McCuller's Jr. was introduced as the newest Astro! That's something to get excited about.
David touched on Vincent Velasquez's season debut after his near two year hiatus due to TJ surgery this morning, but I'll talk some more about it. V-Dub went out and flat dominated! I have to admit I was more than a little concerned about this start for a couple reasons. 1. He hadn't pitched in a real game in nearly two years since I don't really count Instructional League games or EST games in which he pitched in both at the end of last year and this year. Although, that probably did help his nerves in the end, it was still his first time under the lights in quite some time. 2. You never know just how much a surgery like TJ will affect a pitcher. There's always something in the back of your mind saying he just isn't as good now when he wasn't assigned to Lexington. Sure, the FO said it was to control innings and I believe them because it's a conservative and smart move, but I couldn't help but wonder. 3. He is the youngest player on the roster and one of the youngest in the league and last we saw him, he was considered quite raw.
Didn't phase him one bit. He went out and pitched two perfect innings before giving up a hit. He attacked hitters with a fastball ranging from 91 to 96 and a slider that induced a lot of swinging strikes. He challenged older hitters and still won. His stuff was still there. It's not only exciting, it's a big sigh of relief! Dave Gersham, who covers the NYPL, says that V-Dub has some of the best stuff in the league this year, so it's exciting to see him back.
Now, Aaron West gets his shot on the mound for TC tonight. Juri Perez follows him up in the rotation and I would assume Brady Rodgers is in there as well unless his innings total was just too high in college. The rest of the rotation should be determined by today.
Carlos Correa made his debut for the Astros organization yesterday in a nice way with a single in his first AB. He immediately stole second base. He's not expected to have more that average speed, so we'll see if this was a factor of taking advantage of adrenalin or a young pitcher/catcher combination, or will his speed be better than advertised. He also walked and struck out once each. I'll take that debut every time.
I'll be attending the Oklahoma City game tonight and Thursday night for sure and likely the Wednesday night game as well. Follow me on twitter for some live updates and thoughts from time to time. Wes Musick is starting tonight and I'm hoping to get a lot of information on him.
Oklahoma City RedHawks: Off
Corpus Christi Hooks lost 10-1
- Jake Buchanan-2 2/3 IP, 8 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO, 5/0 GO/AO, 68 pitches-WOW GS: 2
- Alex Sogard-3 1/3 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 2/0 GO/AO, 52 pitches
- Josh Zied-2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO
- Andrew Simunic 3B-3-4, SO, SB
- Travis Buck RF-0-2
Lancaster JetHawks: Off
Lexington Legends: Off
Tri-City ValleyCats won 10-2
- Vincent Velasquez-5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 SO, 4/4 GO/AO GS: 69
- Jamaine Cotton-2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
- Blake Ford-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO
- Andrew Aplin CF-2-4, BB, SB
- Austin Elkins 2B-2-5, HR, SO, SB
- Chase Davidson DH-0-5, 2 SO
- Emilio King RF-2-5, 2B, 3 SO
- Ryan Dineen 3B-2-4, BB
- Dan Gulbransen LF-0-3, 2 BB, SO
- Jobduan Morales C-2-4, 2B, SO
Greeneville Astros: Off
- Season opener today
- Adrian Houser on the mound
GCL Astros won 1-0 (13 innings)
- Michael Feliz-5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 8/3 GO/AO-Solid GS: 64
- Ambiorix De Leon-1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 4/1 GO/AO
- Juan Mojica-2 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 3/1 GO/AO
- Jose Montero-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 2/1 GO/AO
- Brett Phillips CF-1-6, 3 SO, SB
- Carlos Correa SS-1-5, BB, SO, SB
- Teoscar Hernandez RF-2-6, 2B, 2 SO
- Darwin Rivera 3B-1-5, 3 SO
DSL Astros lost 7-4
- Samil De Los Santos-4 IP, 3 H,2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 2/3 GO/AO GS: 50
- Elieser Hernandez-1/3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO
- Geronimo Franzua-1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 0 SO
- Frangy Colon-3 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO
- Frederick Serrano LF-2-5, 2 SO
- Pedro Coa C-1-2, 2 BB