Astros Minor League Recap: April 21, 2013

OkC has power surge in 10-7 Win

With the pitching staff losing another fresh arm with Brett Oberholtzer getting the call to the majors, the pitching staff relied on a bullpen to piece a full game together. Luckily, the bats were hot enough to win the game. Robbie Grossman has been nothing short of the prospect we all hoped he would in terms of getting on-base. The only problem so far this season was that he hadn't picked up an extra-base hit. Well he got that monkey off his back last night. The power came from Jimmy Paredes, Marc Krauss, and that one guy who couldn't stop striking out. Yes, Brett Wallace joined and got a hold of one for a home run.

• Ross Seaton-4 1/3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 11/0 GO/AO, 84/50 P/S
• Eric Berger-1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 4/0 GO/AO
• Josh Zeid-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO
• Kevin Chapman-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO
• Jose Valdez-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
• Robbie Grossman CF-3-5, 2B, SO
• Jonathan Villar SS-2-4, 2B, BB, E-His fifth error
• Marc Krauss DH-2-4, 2B, HR, BB, SO
• Jimmy Paredes 3B-3-5, HR, SO, 2 E-A missed catch and a fielding error, he now has 6
• Brett Wallace 1B-1-4, HR, BB, SO, PO
• Che-Hsuan Lin RF-2-3, 2B, 2 BB

Pitching Struggles lead to 7-1 Loss for Hooks

I like Matthew Heidenreich. I really do. I think he's a guy that is going to develop much later than most because of his very long and lanky frame. I think he's a guy who can eventually be very difficult on hitters because of the downward plane he creates on his pitches. But, he's not doing that right now. He had a good first outing and has been bad since. Before yesterday's game, he sported a FIP of 9.52. The year hasn't been pretty for him.

• Matthew Heidenreich-5 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR, 3/4 GO/AO, 79/56 P/S
• Ruben Alaniz-4 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 4/2 GO/AO, 67/46 P/S
• Austin Wates LF-1-3, BB, SB, PO
• George Springer CF-1-3, 2B, BB
• Jonathan Meyer 3B-2-4

Aplin Picks Up Walk-Off Double for 6-5 Win

There's a way you can win in Lancaster as a pitcher. You don't let them get on-base. Sure, that's true everywhere, but more important in the winds of the Cal League. Travis Ballew has figured it out. Strikeout everyone you face. His last twelve outs have all come by strikeouts. He's allowing some hits here and there, and even some walks, but fifteen strikeouts, three walks, three hits, and 2:1 groundout to flyout ratio is impressive.

• Mike Foltynewicz-4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 4/2 GO/AO
• Jonas Dufek-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2/0 GO/AO
• Blair Walters-3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 0/4 GO/AO
• Travis Ballew-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
• Delino DeShields 2B-2-5, 2B, SO
• Nolan Fontana SS-0-4, BB, 2 SO, SB
• Andrew Aplin CF-2-5, 2B, SB
• Brandon Meredith LF-1-4, 2B, SO
• Chris Epps DH-2-4, HR, SO

Quad Cities Correa's Win 12-5

I have renamed the River Bandits the Correa's...cause he's that awesome. He's going to have nights where he struggles because he is constantly seeing better stuff than he's seen before. And then, he's going to have absurd nights where he belts two home runs. You can't complain about the early results, a .256/.396/.535 in 11 games is really exciting, even in the small sample size. He's drawing walks and he's hitting for power. The walks is what I really wanted to see the most. How well was he going to handle plate appearances. So far, so good. Power will always be late coming around, but for him to show this much right off the bat speaks to the kind of power he can have down the road.

• Joe Bircher-4 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 2 HR, 6/2 GO/AO, 74/53 P/S
• Michael Dimock-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
• Vincent Velasquez-4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 5/1 GO/AO, 51/37 P/S-Showing some efficiency as well
• Carlos Correa SS-3-4, 2 HR, BB, SO
• Austin Elkins 2B-1-3, 2B, 2 BB, SO, SB
• Jesse Wierzbicki 1B-2-3, HR, 2 BB
• Chase Davidson DH-1-5, 4 SO
• Rio Ruiz 3B-1-3, 2B, 2 BB, SO-He has a BABIP under .150...don't worry about his .133 BA
• Ariel Ovando RF-1-5, 2B, SO, E
• Jordan Scott LF-2-3, BB, PO