clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Astros Prospect Report: Kemp's five hits, Emanuel's gem

Your daily look at the previous night's Minor League happenings.

By Brian Stevenson
Tony Kemp collected five hits
Tony Kemp collected five hits

AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks: 6-3 win over Albuquerque (LAD)

-> Matthew Duffy: 3-for-3, BB, 2B, 3B, 3 R
-> Domingo Santana: 2-for-2, BB, RBI, R
-> L.J. Hoes: 1-for-2, HR, RBI, 2 BB
-> Carlos Perez: 1-for-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI
-> Preston Tucker: 1-for-3, 2 RBI
-> Jonathan Villar: 1-for-5, 3B

SP Luis Cruz: 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 6 K
RP Richard Rodriguez: 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K (win)
RP Patrick Urckfitz: 0.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 1 K (hold)
RP Jason Stoffel: 2.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 4 K (save)

Santana has hit .389/.469/.556 over his last 15 games, with a double, a triple and two homers, along with eight walks. He's struck out 17 times over that stretch, though. While you're not as worried about him as other guys, he looked very exposed in those two short stints in the Majors, and he does have serious contact issues. That's not to say that he won't be good, or that I don't like him, but considering the crunch coming up in the outfield, considering DeShields and Aplin and Tucker and other guys, considering Phillips' emergence, and considering that Santana needs protection from the Rule 5...I wonder if it just all adds up to him being considered one of the expendable guys in a trade for something this off-season.

August continues to be Duffy's best season, far and away. He's hitting .352/.365/.477 with six XBH, though he's walked just four times. The strike outs, at 17 in 22 games, are certainly reasonable. He has quietly had an effective season this year, with a .282/.330/.445 line, 19 doubles, three triples and 18 homers between Corpus and OKC.

Perez continues to look like he'll make the decision about whether or not to protect him in the Rule 5 draft a tough one. Over his last 22 games he's hit .291/.345/.468 with nine XBH. Nine of those 22 games have been multi-hit games. I haven't seen or read anything recently that's made me question the standing opinion that his defense as a catcher is above-average, and if he can also provide a little empty batting average with it, he could be an upgrade over Corporan next year. That's if they protect him, though; another team could easily snatch him up, thinking the same thing about his glove and bat.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 7-3 win over San Antonio (SDP)

-> Tony Kemp: 5-for-5, 2B, 2 SB, 2 RBI, 2 R
-> Rene Garcia: 2-for-5, 2B, RBI, R
-> Teoscar Hernandez: 2-for-5, 2B, R
-> Brandon Meredith: 1-for-4, BB, R, 2 SB
-> Delino DeShields: 1-for-4, 2B, R
-> Colin Moran: 1-for-5, RBI
-> Telvin Nash: 0-for-2, RBI, 2 BB
-> Carlos Perdomo: 0-for-4, R
-> Conrad Gregor: 0-for-5, RBI

SP Josh Hader: 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 K (win)
RP David Rollins: 2.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K (hold)
RP Ruben Alaniz: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Wow, another five hit game, I must have some mojo going on my nights to cover the minors right now. Kemp has hit .313/.382/.403 over his last 17 games, striking out just eight times during that run. He's also 4-for-5 in stolen base tries during those games.

Hader has walked 13 batters in 15.2 innings since being promoted, so the 8.04 ERA is hardly a surprise. But he's also struck out 17 batters during those four games. He's showing his age, but it's impressive enough he's even in AA at all; he won't be 21 until right around opening day next year.

Hernandez is hitting .289/.302/.539 over his last 13 games. The low OBP is thanks to walking just once, but the power is much better, thanks to three long balls, a triple and a pair of doubles.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 3-0 win over Inland Empire (LAA)

-> Jobduan Morales: 2-for-4, 2B, HR, R, 2 RBI
-> Brett Phillips: 2-for-4
-> Jon Kemmer: 1-for-2, BB, 2B, R
-> Austin Elkins: 1-for-4, R
-> Tyler White: 0-for-4, RBI

SP Kent Emanuel: 7.1 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 K (win)
RP Andrew Walter: 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K (save)

Emanuel has been really solid over his last eight outings; 1.44 ERA, 1.03 BB/9 and 6.80 K/9. He'll never be a high strike out guy (though I said that about Keuchel and he's shown some flashes), but he won't need to be if his control holds up to that standard. He's not an extreme ground ball guy, but he does a solid job in that regard. 38.5% of all batters he's faced this year have either struck out or grounded out.

What else can be said about Phillips? He's hitting .367/.427/.595 in 20 games with Lancaster. He has eight doubles, two triples and two homers during that run. He's 4-for-8 in stolen base attempts. Go go Vince Coleman!

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: 8-6 win over Cedar Rapids (MIN)

-> Thomas Lindauer: 2-for-3, BB, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
-> James Ramsay: 2-for-3, R
-> A.J. Reed: 2-for-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R
-> Bobby Boyd: 2-for-4, RBI
-> Jose Fernandez: 1-for-2
-> Ryan Bottger: 1-for-2
-> J.D. Davis: 1-for-4, HR, R, 3 RBI
-> Marc Wik: 0-for-3, BB, R
-> Chase McDonald: 0-for-4, R

SP Blaine Sims: 6.0 IP, 4 R (0 ER), 4 H, 3 BB, 7 K
RP Raul Rivera: 1.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 1 K
RP Frederick Tiburcio: 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K (win)

Walks will always be a part of the package with Sims, thanks to the nature of the knuckler. The question is if he's able to get around them and prevent runs, and so far, the answer to that this year has been "yes." In 11 games with QC, he owns a 3.62 ERA, 5.80 BB/9 and 7.61 K/9. He also gets a fair number of grounders as well, as you might expect. He's allowed just four earned runs in his last four games, totaling 22 innings (1.64 ERA).

That's five long balls in 26 games with QC for Reed; though hitting just .237, he's logged a solid .795 OPS thanks to some walks and his power. His ISO with Tri-City was .210, and it's gone from good to great with QC at .247. All told so far this season, in 60 games between the two teams, he has 29 XBH (17 doubles, a triple, and ten homers).

Ramsay piqued my interest a little bit early on; he was hot for the first couple weeks of the season, and posed a very solid .273/.397/.384 line back in May, but he fell off the table in June and July. August has been his best month yet, though; he's slashing .313/.363/.446 and is an impressive 11-for-12 in stolen base attempts just this month alone. Ramsay is currently on a five game hitting streak, during which time he has nine hits and a walk, and just one strike out.

SS Tri-City ValleyCats: 10-1 loss to Brooklyn (NYM)

-> Alex Hernandez: 1-for-2, BB
-> Jason Martin: 1-for-3, BB, SB, R
-> Mott Hyde: 1-for-3, BB
-> Terrell Joyce: 0-for-1, 2 BB

SP Jeffrey Gause: 0.1 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 K (loss)
RP Zach Davis: 1.0 IP, 5 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 K
RP Luis Ordosgoitti: 5.2 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 5 H, 2 BB, 3 K
RP Aaron Vaughn: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Yikes. Uh...well, rather than talk about this dumpster fire, here are some tweets for you:

Yes indeed; I checked the roster, and Daniel Mengden is now with Tri-City. He had four appearances in the Gulf Coast League, but those kids are no match for a higher-end college arm, as evidenced by the 0.00 BB/9 and 15.63 K/9 he posted against them. He last pitched on Friday, and since Tri-City doesn't have another off day on their schedule, he should get two appearances. He'll also be there for the playoff run, assuming they don't utterly collapse during this last week and let Connecticut squeak past them.

RK Greeneville Astros: 6-3 loss to Bluefield (TOR)

-> Yonathan Mejia: 2-for-4, RBI
-> Jeffry Santos: 1-for-2, R, 2 BB
-> Kristian Trompiz: 1-for-3, RBI
-> Bruan Muniz: 1-for-4
-> Alexander Melendez: 1-for-4
-> Edwin Medina: 0-for-2, BB, R
-> Cesar Carrasco: 0-for-3, BB, R

SP Harold Arauz: 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K
RP Juan Santos: 2.1 IP, 3 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 5 K (hold)
RP Jorge Perez: 0.2 IP, 3 R (1 ER), 4 H, 0 BB, 1 K (blown save, loss)

Arauz's first two games with Greeneville have gone swimmingly; no runs, one walk and 11 strike outs in 9.2 innings.

Greeneville has five days left on it's schedule; Friday is their last game. Considering their sub-.500 record and anemic offense, they're likely not making the playoffs this year.

Today's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Asher Wojciechowski vs. Matt Magill
AA: Chris Devenski vs. Leonel Campos
A+: Off Day
A-: Troy Scribner vs. Stephen Gonsalves
SS: TBD vs. TBD
RK: Brock Dykxhoorn vs. Jesus Tinoco

More From The Crawfish Boxes