Minor League Recap: Games of June 23, 2014

AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks: 9-8 loss to Tacoma (SEA)

-> Domingo Santana: 2-for-4, BB, 2B, solo HR
-> Matthew Duffy: 2-for-4, 2B, HR, R, 3 RBI
-> Marc Krauss: 2-for-4, BB, HR, RBI, 2 R
-> Enrique Hernandez: 2-for-5, BB, 2B
-> Austin Wates: 2-for-6
-> L.J. Hoes: 1-for-4, BB, solo HR
-> Max Stassi: 1-for-4, 3B, R
-> Gregorio Petit: 1-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
-> Preston Tucker: 1-for-5

SP Asher Wojciechowski: 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 3 K
RP Rudy Owens: 3.2 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 2 K
RP Jason Stoffel: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 K (blown save, loss)

Oh. My. Goodness. OKC was up 8-4 before Tacoma scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie and force extras. Tacoma then walked off in the bottom of the tenth. It was the third straight game in which Tacoma walked off against OKC in extra innings. If this had happened to the Astros, can you just imagine? The comments section here on TCB's game threads would be just bananas.

Fortunately, much like with Appel yesterday, the brutal damage came after the good pitching prospect had exited the game. Wojo has been mostly mediocre since returning from injury, but he's back and healthy, and that's what counts right now.

Lots of offensive highlights, at least. How about five long balls? Santana hit his first since June 14. From then until this game has been a nice ten game stretch for him; .400/.523/.657 with only eight whiffs in the ten games. Couple of steals to boot.

Hoes and Krauss have OPSs of .823 and .846, respectively, since being demoted. This was the first homer since the demotion for both of them. They each also have five doubles and a good number of walks as well so far.

Hernandez keeps hitting as well. Seven long balls in 61 games for him now; that's pretty solid 16-18 HR power. Given the hitting environment, it wouldn't be wise to expect that to fully translate to the Majors, but if he can indeed hit for a high average and avoid strikeouts, he does have some XBH pop. Maybe a poor man's Altuve? He has a 1.221 OPS over his last ten games.

Speaking of poor men's ________'s, how about Duffy as a poor man's Matt Dominguez? That's...not really an exciting thought, granted, but with a consistent glove at the hot corner and 15-20 HR power by the looks of it, there's at least some potential for a stint in the Majors. Considering that Duffy might not even make a Top 50 Astros prospect list at this point, that's a nice indication of the depth of the system.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: Off Night

Texas League All-Star Game is on Tuesday!

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 8-7 loss to Stockton (OAK)

-> Brandon Meredith: 2-for-5, solo HR
-> Conrad Gregor: 2-for-5, RBI, R
-> Danry Vasquez: 1-for-3, 2B, R
-> Jack Mayfield: 1-for-3, R
-> Rio Ruiz: 1-for-4, BB, HR, R, 3 RBI
-> Teoscar Hernandez: 1-for-4, BB, RBI, R
-> Tanner Mathis: 1-for-4, R
-> Jobduan Morales: 1-for-4
-> Anthony Kemp: 0-for-3, BB, RBI

SP Gonzalo Sanudo: 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 5 K
RP Kyle Westwood: 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 1 K
RP Jamaine Cotton: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K (loss)

Heart breaker in Lancaster as well, as the JetHawks scored in the bottom of the eighth to tie and force extras, but couldn't answer a tenth-inning Stockton run.

Fortunately for Lancaster, they're in a much better position to carry on well without Correa than Corpus is without Fontana, despite Correa, obviously, being better. Gregor has helped make sure of that; he's hitting .388/.459/.659 since being promoted. 10 of his 22 games with Lancaster have been multi-hit games, he's failed to collect a hit in just two of the 22, and has failed to reach via hit or walk in just one. Dang man.

Ruiz is another reason Lancaster probably won't implode without Correa. This was his seventh long ball of the year in 71 games, which is solid pop for a kid as young as him. More power will continue to show up as he matures, fills out and continues to adjust. He's hitting .292/.387/.434 on the season.

Vasquez looks to be waking up as well; he's up to .280/.336/.384 on the season, which isn't awesome, especially given the environment, but it's a very nice improvement over what he did in April and May. I will say that his home/road splits are massive and give me some pause, but it's still nice to see some level of improvement from him. Keep in mind that he's just months older than Correa and Ruiz, and is playing competition significantly older than he is.

*NOTE: I was just checking the roster, and noticed that Lance McCullers is listed as on the Disabled List for Lancaster. A bit of Googling turned up this bit from Climbing Tal's Hill from a couple of days ago. Apparently it's a minor injury and has nothing to do with his arm or shoulder. Whew.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: Off Night

Just wanted to point out, for those who might skip over the probable pitcher's section, that Anthony Bass will begin his MiLB rehab assignment with QC tonight.

SS Tri-City ValleyCats: 6-2 win over Vermont (OAK)

-> Ariel Ovando: 3-for-4, R
-> Nick Tanielu: 2-for-4
-> Alfredo Gonzalez: 1-for-3, BB, HR, RBI, 2 R
-> A.J. Reed: 1-for-3, BB
-> Ravel Santana: 1-for-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
-> J.D. Davis: 1-for-4, 2B
-> Marc Wik: 1-for-4, BB
-> Jose Solano: 1-for-5, 2 RBI
-> Bobby Boyd: 0-for-0, R

SP Austin Chrismon: 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 K
RP Brandon McNitt: 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K (win)
RP Vince Wheeland: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K

Ovando is hitting .333 with just five strikeouts in his last eight games. Let's see how long it lasts...maybe it's real this time? Maybe?

Santana hasn't done much prior to this, but half of his few hits have been for extra bases, and he's walked six times in 10 games, so he's showing some flashes of what he can do.

Reed is tied for fourth in the league in OBP at .444, but two of the guys have played in more games than he has, and all of them are hitting for silly batting averages that are boosting their OBP. In short, Reed = walk machine so far. Tanielu owns a solid .361 OBP himself.

RK Greeneville Astros: 7-1 win over Princton (TBR)

-> Jason Martin: 3-for-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI
-> Luis Reynoso: 2-for-3, R, 2 2B
-> Brett Clements: 2-for-3, BB, 2B, R
-> Ydarqui Marte: 2-for-4, HR, RBI, 2 R
-> Juan Santana: 1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
-> Conner Goedert: 1-for-4, RBI, R
-> Antonio Nunez: 1-for-4, RBI
-> Ramon Laureano: 1-for-4
-> Yonathan Mejia: 1-for-4

SP Juan Santos: 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K
RP Dean Deetz: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K
RP Robert Kahana: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K (win)
RP Joshua James: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K

Just what the doctor ordered, a big game for Martin to get his season with Greeneville kick-started. He has three singles, a double, a triple and three walks in five games.

Reynoso has hit safely in all four of his games, and he has two hits in each of his last three. Marte has five hits in his last two games.

For those who might have missed it yesterday, Brady Aiken is confirmed to be in Houston to sign his contract. It's likely only a matter of time before he joins Greeneville's rotation.

DSL Astros Blue: 4-0 loss to DSL Dodgers

-> Joan Mauricio: 2-for-3, 2B, SB
-> Marcos Almonte: 2-for-4
-> Wander Franco: 1-for-3, BB
-> Nestor Tejada: 1-for-3
-> Connor MacDonald: 1-for-4

SP Albert Abreu: 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 K
RP Gabriel Valdez: 2.0 IP, 4 R (3 ER), 3 H, 1 BB, 2 K (loss)
RP Ezequiel Madera: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K

DSL Astros Orange: 9-8 loss to DSL Angels

-> Rodrigo Ayarza: 1-for-2, R, 2 RBI, 3 BB
-> Ihan Bernal: 1-for-2, SB, RBI, R, 3 BB
-> Frankeny Fernandez: 1-for-2, RBI, R, 2 BB
-> Cristopher Luciano: 1-for-4, BB, R, 2 RBI
-> Wilson Amador: 1-for-6, R
-> Anardo Peralta: 0-for-2, R, 2 BB
-> Andy Pineda: 0-for-3, BB, R
-> Luis Vasquez: 0-for-3, SB, RBI, R
-> Vicente Sanchez: 0-for-5, RBI
-> Gabriel Bracamonte: 1-for-1 (pinch-hitter)

SP Adonis Pena: 3.1 IP, 4 R (0 ER), 3 H, 3 BB, 5 K
RP Carlos Pizzolato: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 4 BB, 3 K
RP Juan Cuevas: 2.1 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 4 H, 0 BB, 1 K (loss)
RP Ramon Rodriguez: 0.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K
RP Juan Hernandez: 1.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K

Today's Scheduled Starters

AAA: David Martinez vs. Taijuan Walker
AA: Off Day (All-Star Game)
A+: TBD vs. Tim Atherton
A-: Anthony Bass vs. Edwin Diaz
SS: Joseph Musgrove vs. A.J. Burke
RK: Austin Nicely vs. Jose Alonzo