Sorry I didn't post a recap yesterday morning. My old room mate stopped in the night before and stayed with us, so I was up a bit late catching up. You all know what that means! Sleep late and rush to get to work on time! I do have the games from Tuesday and Wednesday for you today.
Tuesday was a good day, there were just two losses in the minor leagues. One was the DSL team and the other was Tri-City. But, Tri-City got back on track last night, so it's all good. The big highlight was pretty much the hitting throughout the whole system. It was just about every level going off. Brandon Barnes and Brett Wallace lit up the scoreboard on both nights. Luhnow is probably getting a little antsy to figure out this roster and who is going to get traded so he can get Brick back in Houston. And, Ariel Ovando has made it back into the recaps with a 2-hit performance that included a double!
Unlike the previous night, the story for Wednesday night was pitching. Nicholas Tropeano, Brady Rodgers, and Francis Ramirez get all the glory for the night, and deserving they are. Trope now has two good games and two bad games. Yes, he has two games at home and two away, but he's actually had a good and bad game at home and the same for away. His Home/Road splits are fairly close.
Man of the night is Francis Ramirez though. Per reader request, I will write a little more on him. But, in all honesty I really don't know much about him. At 6-5, 205 he's a tall projectable body righty from the Dominican. He was signed in November of 2008, which makes him one of the guys signed by Felix Francisco and his staff during his first full year with the Astros since Felix came late 2007/early 2008. He wasn't a big signing as there is no bonus reports on him. So, likely a 5-50 thousand dollar tag is likely.
Historically, he has terrible walk numbers, which continues this year, and fairly good strikeout numbers in some seasons with very good in others. He spent a season the DSL and didn't do much other than walk too many and start some games. Once he was stateside, the strikeouts went up, walks maintained and he transitioned to full time starter. He spent a full season in the GCL where he had modest numbers and a bad walk rate. Last year he split time between the GCL and Greeneville. His numbers in Greeneville look much better with a lower walk rate and overall numbers, but at the expense of his strikeout rate.
This year, the strikeout rate is up, the overall numbers are good, but the walk rate was up. Last night, the strikes sky-rocketed and the walks plummeted. Eleven strikeouts and just one walk is very impressive to say the least.
As for the right-hander's stuff, I don't know much about it. I would imagine a downward plane on his fastball because of his height and likely a low 90's guy as he does have the body and at age 20, his velocity should be coming around. Based on his strikeout rate, he either has a very effective breaking ball or changeup (remember this is the low minors where changeups get tons of strikeouts if they're quality ones). My guess is he throws both, but an effective slider would be my guess.
Tuesday Games
Oklahoma City RedHawks won 7-6
- Paul Clemens-4 1/3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR, 4/3 GO/AO, 88 pitches
- Mickey Storey-1 1/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
- Xavier Cedeno-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
- Juan Abreu-2 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
- David Carpenter-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
- Brandon Barnes CF-2-5, 3B, HR, 3 SO
- Jimmy Paredes 2B-3-5, SO, CS
- Fernando Martinez LF-1-5, HR
- Mike Hessman DH-1-5, 2B, SO
- Brett Wallace 1B-3-5, 2B, HR
Corpus Christi Hooks won 9-3
- Jose Cisnero-6 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 SO, 1 HR, 6/4 GO/AO, 103 pitches
- Josh Zeid-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2/0 GO/AO
- Austin Wates CF-2-5, BB, SO
- Andrew Simunic 3B-2-5, BB
- Jose Martinez 2B-2-4, HR, 2 BB, SO
- Jonathan Singleton 1B-2-4, 2B, BB
- Drew Locke RF-1-5, 2B, SO
- Jake Goebbert LF-1-3, 2B, 2 BB, SB
- Chris Wallace C-2-3, 2 BB
Lancaster JetHawks won 4-3
- Bobby Doran-6 1/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO, 8/2 GO/AO
- Pat Urckfitz-2 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR, 5/1 GO/AO
- Erik Castro 1B-0-1, 3 BB
- Enrique Hernandez 2B-1-3, 2B
- Roberto Pena C-2-4, SO
Lexington Legends won 10-7
- Luis Ordosgoitti-5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR, 5/2 Go/AO
- Ruben Sosa 2B-1-5, 2B, SB
- Zachary Johnson 1B-2-5, 2B, SO
- Matt Duffy 3B-2-3, BB
- Brandon Meredith DH-2-5, 2B, SO
- Mike Kvasnicka RF-2-5, 2B, SO
- Ryan McCurdy C-1-4, 2B
Tri-City ValleyCats lost 3-2
- Joe Bircher-6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 6/4 GO/AO
- Kenny Long-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
- Jesse Wierzbicki 1B-0-4, 3 SO
- Jobduan Morales C-2-3, 2B, HR, PO
- Emilio King CF-0-3, 3 SO
Greeneville Astros won 13-8
- Richard Rodriguez-3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
- D'Andre Toney CF-3-4, HR, BB, SO
- Brian Blasik 2B-3-5, 2B
- Terrell Joyce DH-2-5, 2 2B
- Ariel Ovando RF-2-5, 2B, SO
- Jean Batista 1B-3-5, 2 2B, HR
- Ernesto Genoves C-2-4, 2 2B, BB, SO
GCL Astros won 5-3
- Jose Valdez-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO-Yeah, he might be ready to return...
- Enderson Franco-3 2/3 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO
- Ricardo Batista-2 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
- Brett Phillips CF-2-4, 2B, SO
- Carlos Correa SS-1-4, 2B, 2 SO
- Teoscar Hernandez RF-1-4, HR
- Edwin Gomez LF-1-3, 2B, SO
- Kenny Diaz C-2-3
DSL Astros lost 6-1
- Edwin Villarroel-6 1/3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO, 12/4 GO/AO
- Mesac Laguna 1B-1-4, HR
- Frederick Serrano DH-0-3, 3 SO
Wednesday Games
Oklahoma City RedHawks won 10-5
- Brian Bass-5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 5 SO, 9/1 GO/AO, 110 pitches
- Mickey Storey-2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO
- Brandon Barnes CF-3-5, 2B, HR, 2 SO
- Fernando Martinez LF-3-5, HR
- Brett Wallace SS, 1B-4-5-It's not everyday you see that position switch
- Matt Dominguez 3B-1-5, 2B, SO
- Travis Buck DH-2-4
- J.B. Shuck RF-2-4, CS
- Landon Powell C-2-4, 2B
Corpus Christi Hooks lost 5-0 (7 innings)
- Ross Seaton-6 IP, 15 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 8/2 GO/AO, 89 pitches-Only pitcher
- Jonathan Singleton 1B-2-2, BB
- Adam Bailey LF-2-3
- Ben Orloff SS-2-2
Corpus Christi Hooks won 4-1
- Erick Abreu-3 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
- Alex Sogard-1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO
- Josh Zeid-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
- Austin Wates LF-2-4, 2B
- Jose Martinez 2B-2-4, SO
- Jake Goebbert RF-2-2, BB
Lancaster JetHawks won 9-0
- Nicholas Tropeano-6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 SO, 7/1 GO/AO-Nice
- Zachary Grimmett-2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO
- Brad Dydalewicz-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO
- Grant Hogue LF-2-5, SO, SB
- George Springer CF-1-5, 2 SO, SB
- Domingo Santana RF-1-2, HR-15th
- Telvin Nash DH-1-4, 3 SO
- Enrique Hernandez 2B-2-4, 2B
Lexington Legends: Off
Tri-City ValleyCats
- Brady Rodgers-6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR, 10/4 GO/AO
- Juan Minaya-2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 2/0 GO/AO
- Brad Propst-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
- Andrew Aplin CF-2-3, 2B, HR, OF Assist
- Ryan Dineen 3B-1-4, 2B, SO
- Jarrod McKinney RF-2-4, 2B
- Preston Tucker DH-1-4-Debut
- Joe Sclafani SS-2-4
Greeneville Astros
- Francis Ramirez-6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 SO
- Jordan Jankowski-2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
- Michael Dimock-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
- Mark Wik LF-2-2, BB, CS
- Brian Blasik 2B-3-3, 2B, BB
- Angel Ibanez 3B-1-4, 2B, SO
- Ernesto Genoves C-0-2, 2 BB
GCL Astros won 4-2
- Jose Valdez-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2/0 GO/AO
- Michael Feliz-6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 SO, 6/2 GO/AO
- Carlos Correa SS-1-4, 2B
- Rio Ruiz DH-1-4, 2B, 2 SO
- Darwin Rivera 3B-2-3, BB
- Yonathan Mejia 1B-0-4, 3 SO
- Teoscar Hernandez RF-2-4, 2B, HR-Back to back to back games with a HR
- Juan Santana 2B-2-3, BB, 2 SB
DSL Astros lost 7-1
- Samil De Los Santos-3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 3/0 GO/AO
- Juan Delis-2 2/3 IP, 0 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 3 SO
- Rauldison Rodriguez-2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO
- Cristian Murillo CF-0-0, 5 BB, SB, CS-Wow, 5 Walks!
- Mesac Laguna LF-2-4, OF Assist
- Brian Pena C-0-2, 2 BB
- Arturo Michelena SS-1-2, 2B
- Michael Medina DH-0-4, 4 SO