Astros Prospect Report: JetHawks offense stays hot in loss, Dykxhoorn leads Quad Cities to ninth win

AAA Fresno Grizzlies: 10-5 loss to Las Vegas (NYM)

-> Luis Flores: 2-for-3, BB, 2B, R
-> Preston Tucker: 2-for-5, 2 RBI
-> Joe Sclafani: 1-for-3, BB, RBI, R
-> Matt Duffy: 1-for-4, BB, RBI, R
-> Andrew Aplin: 1-for-4, SB, RBI
-> Domingo Santana: 1-for-4, R
-> L.J. Hoes: 1-for-5
-> Nolan Fontana: 0-for-2, R, 2 BB

SP Brady Rodgers: 5.1 IP, 7 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 4 K (loss)
RP Richard Rodriguez: 1.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K
RP Kevin Chapman: 1.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K

Rough, rough start to the season for the hometown kid. Rodgers has allowed seven earned runs in both of his first two starts, good for a 13.50 ERA out of the gate. He's been far too hittable, having allowed 19 hits in those innings. He hasn't been beating himself with too many walks or anything, so it could be any number of things; making an adjustment, the environment (Las Vegas and Salt Lake City), just some BAbip unluckiness...we'll see.

Preston Tucker again, though. Fourth multi-hit game of the season, and he has at least one hit in each of his first ten games, during which time he owns a .350/.422/.700 line. Couldn't have hoped for a better start for him.

I wish I knew why, but for some reason, Sclafani isn't an everyday player right now. Maybe he's a little banged up. He's hitting .286/.400/.429 in six games though, so it would certainly be puzzling if that's not the case.

Three more strike outs for Santana today, up to 16 on the season in 10 games. He's on a four game hitting streak despite that.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 5-2 loss to Tulsa (LAD)

-> Tony Kemp: 2-for-4, RBI
-> Jiovanni Mier: 1-for-3, BB, 2B, RBI, R
-> Jon Kemmer: 1-for-3, BB, R
-> Carlos Correa: 1-for-4
-> Tyler Heineman: 1-for-4
-> Conrad Gregor: 0-for-3, BB
-> Brandon Meredith: 0-for-3, BB

SP Lance McCullers: 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 5 K
RP Mike Hauschild: 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 K (blown save, loss)
RP Mitch Lambson: 1.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 K

McCullers' second outing was almost the same as his first; both saw no runs in five innings with three walks. Last time he struck out two more but also allowed two more hits. At things stand, he's allowed no runs on six hits in his first ten innings, with 12 strike outs. Only the six walks are a concern.

Tony Kemp has picked right up this year and is blazing away out of the gate. He's hit .382/.523/.412 in his first ten games, with ten walks and just five strike outs. He played second base today, FYI.

On the "not hot" side of things is Teoscar Hernandez. Golden sombrero for him today; he's whiffed six times in his last two games, and 14 times in his first nine of the season. Currently hitting .176/.222/.324 out of the gate. The jump from A-ball to AA is often the biggest in the minors, and certainly for a hitter coming from such a rich offensive environment in Lancaster. Here's hoping he makes his adjustments and can keep climbing the ladder. We know he has the work ethic.

Lambson is a guy who I like as a potential solid reliever in the future. 1.69 ERA in 5.1 innings so far. No walks allowed.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 15-11 loss to High Desert (TEX)

-> Danry Vasquez: 3-for-6, R, 2 2B, 2 RBI
-> Brett Phillips: 2-for-4, BB, SB, RBI, R
-> Ronnie Mitchell: 2-for-4, BB, HR, RBI, 2 R
-> Jobduan Morales: 2-for-5, R, 2 RBI
-> A.J. Reed: 1-for-4, BB, RBI, 2 R
-> Chase McDonald: 1-for-4, RBI
-> Jack Mayfield: 0-for-2, BB, RBI, R
-> J.D. Davis: 0-for-3, R, RBI, 2 BB
-> Chan Moon: 0-for-3, 2 BB, 2 R

SP Blaine Sims: 1.1 IP, 12 R (9 ER), 5 BB, 0 K (loss)
RP Randall Fant: 2.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K
RP Tyler Brunnemann: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 K
RP Frederick Tiburcio: 2.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 K

Hoo buddy, to quote another prospect writer in today's email chain, "talk about getting a long leash and hanging yourself with it."

Put a guy trying to learn a knuckleball in one of the worst pitcher's parks on the planet and things can get ugly. Boy did they. They don't list pitch counts and ball/strike percentages for games below AA. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe I don't wanna know. That second inning was single, walk, walk, error, fly out, single, error, wild pitch, walk, single, single, walk, single, double...then finally a pitching change...sac fly, double and strike out. Yeesh. Sims' ERA through two starts now is...higher than some of you reader's age, no doubt.

At last The Brunnemann was summoned to restore some sanity, and he did just that, naturally. The two teams used seven total pitchers, and The Brunnemann was the only one who did not allow a run. The only one to allow fewer than three base runners. All hail to The Brunnemann.

11 runs may not have been enough for the dubya, but at least that meant the offense was still churning. Is 42 runs in four days good? My gosh, that's like three week's worth for the Major League club. But let's not talk about that...

Let's talk about Danry Vasquez! Holy smokes, 11 hits in his last six games, and multiple hits in his last three. He's off to a .351/.429/.541 start out of the gate. Seven doubles, five walks and just four strike outs in nine games.

McDonald's hitting streak runs to eight games now. He's slashing .375/.413/.650 in 11 games so far this season. And a six-game hitting streak for Phillips now, with 11 in just his past four. That's shot his line up to .341/.356/.545 after hitting .160 over his first six games.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: 7-2 win over Kane County (ARZ)

-> Jamie Ritchie: 3-for-4, solo HR
-> Kristian Trompiz: 3-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI
-> Jorge Martinez: 2-for-4, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 R
-> Mott Hyde: 2-for-4, 2B, 2 R
-> Bobby Boyd: 1-for-3, BB
-> Ryan Bottger: 1-for-4, R
-> Alfredo Gonzalez: 0-for-3, BB, RBI, R
-> Sean McMullen: 0-for-3, RBI

SP Brock Dykxhoorn: 6.0 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K (win)
RP Ryan Thompson: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 3 K
RP Eric Peterson: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K

And the unheralded QC team saves the day, no MiLB organizational sweep (of the bad kind) thanks to their efforts. Kind of odd, too; with Fisher and Nottingham both out of the lineup day (presumably just for days off), they weren't fielding their best team. They're 9-2 now, the best record in the Midwest League.

How about Dykxhoorn in the early going? I wasn't even sure they were going to develop him as a starter, but he's made it look like a nice decision so far. 0.82 ERA, 3.27 BB/9 and 8.18 K/9 for his first two outings.

Fourth multi-hit game of the season for Ritchie (who played 1B today), who's batting a cool .448/.590/.586 in nine games out of the gate. He has 10 walks and seven strike outs. He's whiffed just twice in his last five games.

Hyde is off to a nice start, after a decent-but-uninspiring debut with Tri-City last year. He's hitting .294/.368/.471 in nine games. He likely doesn't have that much power, but he does seems to have some gap pop and a chance to be a solid shortstop.

Today's Scheduled Starters

AAA: TBD vs. Matt Bowman
AA: Aaron West vs. Chris Anderson
A+: Edison Frias vs. John Richy
A-: Kevin Comer vs. Jared Miller