Astros Minor League Recap: July 18, 2013

Oklahoma City (51-46) - OFF

Corpus Christi (55-40) - Postponed

Lancaster (57-40)

Brandon Meredith continues his recent tear, smashing a Grand Slam on Wednesday night. Over his last 10 games he's slashing .405/.500/.730. I had high hopes for him coming into the season, and he's one of the prospects Brooks has a man-crush on, but his struggles away from Lancaster are a huge concern. .205/.340/.402 on the road just ain't going to cut it.

Speaking of the home/away splits from Lancaster, MP Cokinos is bucking the trend, by slashing .362/.459/.500 away from the launching pad. Something to keep in mind, though, is that his road BABIP is .376, while his home BABIP is just .295. That suggests a possible road regression.

• Delino DeShields Jr. - 2-5, 2B, K, SB
• Nolan Fontana - 2-5
• Andrew Aplin - 1-4, BB
• MP Cokinos - 2-5, 2B, K
• Tyler Heineman 1-4, BB
• Brandon Meredith - 2-3, HR, 2 BB
• Joe Sclafani - 1-4, BB
• Matt Duffy - 2-5, 2B
• Luis Cruz - 5 IP, 9 H , 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 3/2 GO/AO
• Theron Geith - 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 5/0 GO/AO

Quad-Cities (52-41)

After it seemed like he had hit a wall, it's nice to see Lance McCullers pitch well in the longest outing of his professional career. Him and the pitcher who was selected eight picks before him – Zach Eflin – engaged in a nice pitcher's duel Wednesday night. Both pitched well, but neither got a decision.

Fun fact: Carlos Correa struck out the same number of times tonight as he had in his last 14 games.

• Jordan Scott - 3-5, SB
• Carlos Correa - 1-5, 2 K
• Rio Ruiz - 1-5, 2 K
• Bobby Borchering - 0-2, 2 BB
• Jobduan Morales - 0-3, K
• Lance McCullers Jr. - 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 8/2 GO/AO

Tri-Cities (20-10)

Remember when Tanner Bushue was good? Me neither. Remember when Tanner Bushue was supposed to be good? Yep. Well, his last 10 IP have resulted in 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 H and 10 Ks. I'm hesitant to say it's anything more than a SSS and a 22-year-old in Tri-Cities, but it would be a pleasant surprise if the former second-round pick morphed back into a salvageable prospect. His career MiLB ERA is almost under 6.00!

As I was perusing through the Astros Minor League rosters, I came across their 2013 28th round draft pick, Jordan Mills. I'm extremely intrigued by a 6'5" lefty who has a K/9 of 9.00, a BB/9 of 2.81, an opposing LD% of just 6.5 (!!!) and induces 5.5 groundouts for everyone airout. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything on him, except he was apparently "shocked" when he got drafted. At 21, he's borderline old for his League, and it's an extremely SSS, but I'm intrigued nonetheless.

• Tony Kemp - 1-4, K
• James Ramsay - 0-2, 2 BB
• Conrad Gregor - 1-3, 2B, BB, K
• Adam Nelubowich - 0-4, 3 K
• Adrian Houser - 3.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 5/4 GO/AO
• Tanner Bushue - 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 5/O GO/AO

Greenville (15-10) - POSTPONED

GCL Astros (12-10) - TWO GAMES

• Jason Martin - 1-5, 2B
• Javaris Reynolds - 1-3, K
• Jacob Nottingham - 1-3, 2B, K
• Luis Reynoso - 1-5, K, CS
• Ydarqui Marte - 2-4, BB
• Jose Salano - 1-5, HR, 2 K
• Joe Musgrove - 4 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 7/3 GO/AO
• Elniery Garcia - 5 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. 8/2 GO/AO

DSL Astros (20-16)