Astros Minor League Recap: April 15, 2013

Today's lesson is on how you win a rotation spot as rotations transition from tandem staffs to traditional five man rotations.

No, the Astros have not started that transition, nor specified who may be involved in that. But, we do have a perfect example of who will.

Enter, Asher Wojciechowski.

He's taken the mound three times this season, two as the starter and one as the piggy-back starter. Yesterday afternoon was the third appearance. In his two starts, he's completed his five innings. In his one piggy-back appearance, he completed his four innings. That totals out at fourteen innings.

In those innings, he's maintained a good BB/K ratio with just four walks and fourteen strikeouts. He's also only allowed six hits. That's only ten batters to reach base against him. He's also limited contact to weak contact. He's induced 58% of balls in play as groundballs and only 6% are line drives.

One of the knocks on Wojo during the time of the trade that brought him to the Astros organization was that his velocity had slipped down from the mid-90's fastball leading up to him being drafted. I have seen two velocity reports on twitter in his last two outings. One said 97 MPH in his second appearance and one said 99 MPH yesterday. Yesterday's came from the radio announcer, so that one is obviously from the stadium gun. I would imagine the first did too. Stadium guns are notorious for being off, so I'm not buying those velocities. But, I am encouraged by the fact that those are higher than last year. So, his velocity may be climbing back up.

Offensive Eruption in Oklahoma City! Win 11-0

It's hard to point out which side of the team performed better. The offense scores eleven on the same night the pitching staff combines for a five hit shutout. Wes Musick was the starter and and worked a very solid five innings and Jarred Cosart pitched three and two-thirds before his pitch count caught up to him. Kyle Hallock finished the last out up. Brandon Laird, Jimmy Paredes, Trevor Crowe, and Jonathan Villar all picked up two or more hits.

• Wes Musick-5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 2/7 GO/AO, 64/38 P/S
• Jarred Cosart-3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 8/0, 61/40 P/S
• Kyle Hallock-1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 1/0 GO/AO, 2/1 P/S
• Robbie Grossman CF-1-4, BB, 2 SO, SB
• Brandon Laird 1B-3-4, 2B, BB
• Jimmy Paredes 3B-2-5, 2B
• Trevor Crowe LF-2-3, 2 BB
• Jonathan Villar SS-2-4, 3B, SB

Wojo Strong, but Hooks fall 3-2

Despite another strong performance by Asher Wojocieshowski, the Hooks still lost as the Tulsa Drillers picked up a run in each of the final three innings. The offense mustered up just two runs as the middle of the lineup was pretty ineffective. Austin Wates is still playing well at the plate with a two hit game with a walk and two stolen bases. His steal total is now at seven.

• Asher Wojciechowski-5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 6/2 GO/AO, 58/41 P/S
• David Martinez-1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR, 3/0 GO/AO, 35/23 P/S
• Jorge De Leon-1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR
• Andrew Robinson-2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 1 HR
• Austin Wates LF-2-3, BB, SB, PO
• Carlos Perez C-2-4, 2B, 2 SO

Aplin Breaks Out in JetHawks 15-5 Win

Before the game started, Jason Schwartz tweeted out that it was freezing and there were strong winds blowing straight out at High Desert and that this game should be fun. I put the over/under for home runs at five and he took the over. He offered an over/under of 7.5 runs for the Jethawks and we both took the over. There were four home runs total, and only three from the JetHawks. But those 15 runs demolished the over. Four players picked up two hits and two players picked up multiple walks (you can guess who the first was). Tyson Perez had a rough night but Theron Geith bridged the gap nicely to the piggy-back man David Rollins who once again shut it down.

• Tyson Perez-3 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR, 6/1 GO/AO
• Theron Geith-1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1/0 GO/AO
• David Rollins-4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 SO, 3/2 GO/AO
• Nolan Fontana SS-1-3, 3 BB, SO
• MP Cokinos PR, C-2-4, BB
• Andrew Aplin CF-2-4, 3B, HR, 2 BB-Breakout performance
• Zachary Johnson 1B-0-6, 3 SO
• Preston Tucker LF-2-4, HR, BB, SO
• Brandon Meredith DH-1-4, 2B, BB, 3 SO
• Drew Muren 3B-1-4, HR, BB, 3 SO
• Raoul Torrez 2B-2-5, 2B, SO

Quad Cities was Rained-Out