Astros winter baseball update: Arizona Fall League and more for Oct. 7-12

Arizona Fall League

October 7 - Salt River loses 7-4 to Scottsdale

-> DH Rio Ruiz: 0-for-4, BB, R

RP Mitch Lambson: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K
RP Tyson Perez: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K

October 8 - Salt River wins 6-3 over Scottsdale

-> 3B Rio Ruiz: 0-for-5
-> LF Andrew Aplin: 1-for-5, R
-> C Tyler Heineman: 0-for-2, R, 2 BB

SP Mark Appel: 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K

October 9 - Salt River wins 7-3 over Mesa

No Astros' prospects played

October 10 - Salt River wins 12-2 over Peoria

-> 3B Rio Ruiz: 2-for-4, BB, RBI
-> Andrew Aplin: 4-for-5, GRAND SLAM, 2 R, 4 RBI

RP Vincent Velasquez: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K
RP Mitch Lambson: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 K

October 11 - Salt River wins 2-1 over Glendale

-> 3B Rio Ruiz: 0-for-4, RBI

RP Tyson Perez: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K (hold)

Quick AFL Thoughts

1. In future recaps, I'll likely have some updated totals as well, but after five games, there's just not enough to be worth it; most of our guys have only played in one or two of the games anyway.

2. Already we're seeing interesting things from Velasquez and Ruiz. Based on this first week, my speculation is this; the front office views them both as guys who could be on the AA roster to start the season. They'll be protecting Velasquez a lot (worked out of the pen rather than started), especially because of his injury history, but they want to see how he does against this competition level, hoping that he'll prove ready for assignment to AA. Ruiz is playing everyday and, similarly, they want him to prove he's AA-ready.

3. It's also interesting to me that Ruiz, and not Moran, was sent out to the AFL; Moran looked good, but not awesome, in AA, and they can't have both of them on the same roster. This leads me to think they might be so high on Moran that they're convinced he's AAA-ready at this point, despite not destroying AA and having only been there for two months.

South of the Border

Quick note: the Caribbean leagues are just starting to get cranked up; more names in more of the leagues will be appearing in future recaps.

Mexican Pacific League

Leonardo Heras: 2 G, .143/.400/.571, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 1 K, 1-for-1 SB

RHP Gonzalo Sanudo: 1 G, 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K
LHP Carlos Vasquez: 1 G, 0.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Venezuelan League

Carlos Perdomo: 1 G, 1.000/1.000/3.000, 1 3B, 1 RBI
Carlos Perez: 1 G, 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Danry Vasquez: 2 G, 1-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K