Astros Prospect Report: Starting pitching dominates en route to organizational sweep

AAA Fresno Grizzlies: 2-1 win over El Paso (SDP)

-> Alex Presley: 2-for-4, BB, 2B
-> Jon Singleton: 2-for-4, BB
-> Domingo Santana: 1-for-2, 2 R, 3 BB
-> Joe Sclafani: 1-for-4
-> Matt Duffy: 1-for-5, 2 RBI
-> Robbie Grossman: 1-for-5
-> L.J. Hoes: 1-for-5

SP Dan Straily: 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 7 K
RP Jason Stoffel: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K (blown save)
RP Kevin Chapman: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K (win)
RP Tyson Perez: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K (save)

This one went 11 innings. Always nice to see 11 innings of one-run ball from your pitching staff, even if it did mean the offense floundered by-and-large. Fun (or maybe sad) fact; Jason Lane was El Paso's starter, and he tossed seven innings of one-run ball against Correa and the boys. Uh...yeah...I think I...might go with "sad" on that one...

Straily though! I've been waiting and hoping. In reality he hasn't been terrible, just fairly mediocre; he's allowed more than three runs in a game just once so far, and he's walked more than two just once. On the year he owns a strong 2.29 BB/9, in fact. He's been giving up a ton of hits though, which could either mean he's working on something, or that he's had BAbip luck working against him, or that his stuff is simply too hittable. Or...some combination thereof. We'll see.

After Singleton's big day back on Wednesday he collected just one hit in the three games that followed, so this was nice. In reality, he's struck out just three times in his last eight games while walking eight times, so the plate discipline appears to be on the upswing. We can hope. He owns a .983 OPS and has 12 bombs on the season. His strike out rate of 19.4% is not awful.

Santana has a 13-game hitting streak rocking, though with 12 strike outs during it, it might not be quite as encouraging as it looks for his contact issues. Still, he's hitting .314/.424/.620 on the season. Huge walk rates and big power. I mean, if he can turn into something like Chris Carter on offense, then he'd be an upgrade to Carter thanks to his solid defensive value. You just wonder if he can, since he's struggling so much with his contact in the minors, rather than the Majors like Carter.

My monitor is saying Correa went 0-for-5, but that simply can't be right. That. Cannot. Be. Darn lying monitor. I reject your reality and substitute my own! 2-for-5, walk, two singles, stolen base, sac fly. And a strike out. It's cool, no one is perfect.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 5-2 win over Frisco (TEX)

-> Jiovanni Mier: 2-for-3, BB, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 R
-> Conrad Gregor: 1-for-3, BB, RBI
-> Tyler Heineman: 1-for-3
-> Andrew Aplin: 0-for-2, SB, 2 BB
-> Tyler White: 0-for-2, BB, 2 R
-> Leonardo Heras: 0-for-3, BB
-> Tony Kemp: 0-for-4, BB, SB, R
-> Telvin Nash: 1-for-2, RBI, (pinch-hitter, stayed in at DH)

SP Josh Hader: 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 K
RP Chris Devenski: 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 4 K (win)

Quad Cities has been getting deserving attention for their record, but you might remember that Corpus started out the year smoking hot before cooling off a bit. Well, they've won 11 of their last 13 games (their streak is six after this win) and are 24-12, which gives them a five-game lead over Midland in their South division.

Hader has his warts, and probably always will, but he's still 21, is in his first stint in AA, hasn't allowed more than one earned run in a game in almost a month, has a 3.14 ERA...I mean, this is a really strong start to his season. This is what's so great about this system. Hader doesn't project to be any kind of ace, but he's one of about, what, it seems like 20 or 30 guys who you look at and say "#3 starter? Yeah, that wouldn't shock me." You can walk through this system and almost trip over all the guys with real mid-rotation upside. If one out of five guys hits their ceiling, we might not have to sign a free agent starter in the next five or six or seven years. That's crazy.

Don't look now, but former-1st-round-pick-when-Mike-Trout-was-still-on-the-board, Jiovanni Mier, is hitting .282/.393/.479 on the season in 20 games. The BAbip and strike out rates are a little high, but you know, he's always walked and he's always been a useful defender at multiple positions, solid base runner...if he can add some pop to his game, he could certainly be a backup infielder somewhere.

Still not a huge sample size for White but...wow. I thought I was looking at his SLG when I saw a .505 and was like "whoa wait, that's...OBP!?" I mean, he's got 23 walks and 12 strike outs in 22 games, with a little pop, against AA competition. If he were two years younger, we'd all be going bananas right about now, you know? Let's see if he can keep it up.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 2-0 win over Inland Empire (LAA)

-> Danry Vasquez: 3-for-4
-> Jack Mayfield: 2-for-3, HR, R, 2 RBI
-> James Ramsay: 1-for-3
-> J.D. Davis: 1-for-3, BB
-> A.J. Reed: 1-for-4, R

SP Troy Scribner: 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 8 K (win)
RP Albert Minnis: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K (hold)
RP Chris Cotton: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K (save)

Scribner has varied between dominant and disastrous this year. This was definitely "dominant." This is actually his third time pitching five or more innings and allowing just one base hit. Think about that, out in the California League. His strike out rate is now 12.39. There's no doubt he's got some swing-and-miss stuff. Walks have been a bit of an issues, though (4.13 BB/9).

Cotton has allowed just four earned runs all season. With 23.1 innings under his belt, he owns a 1.54 ERA, 1.93 BB/9 and 12.73 K/9. Considering how polished he is and his age, I imagine we might see him in Corpus before too long.

Reed has hit .375 over a 10-game hitting streak, which has further boosted his overall numbers; .269/.378/.562 on the season with nine dingers. He's started to reign things in a bit, with eight strike outs over his last ten games. He's hitting .345/.409/.741 in May.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: 6-5 win over Cedar Rapids (MIN)

-> Jacob Nottingham: 3-for-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI
-> Bobby Boyd: 3-for-5, 2 R, 3 2B
-> Sean McMullen: 2-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
-> Mott Hyde: 1-for-3, R
-> Derek Fisher: 1-for-4, BB, R, 2 SB
-> Bryan Muniz: 1-for-4
-> Nick Tanielu: 0-for-1, BB, R, 2 RBI

SP Joshua James: 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 1 K
RP Ryan Thompson: 3.0 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 4 H, 0 BB, 2 K (win)
RP Eric Peterson: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K (save)

Quad Cities is now 29-8, my goodness. The other teams in this league are like "thank goodness for the split season format."

Want to play a fun game? Guess which two players these are;

Player A: .302/.362/.521, 8.1% BB, 17.2% K, .219 ISO, .341 BAbip, 7.9 G per HR
Player B: .303/.373/.566, 9.1% BB, 18.2% K, .263 ISO, .329 BAbip, 4.5 G per HR

Player A is Brett Phillips for Quad Cities last year. Player B is Jacob Nottingham this year. So basically he's been Phillips with the bat...expect a lot more power and a lesser BAbip. And he's a catcher. Are we having fun yet? (Note: Phillips did it in almost 4x more games, so of course, let's see Nottingham keep it up. The point is made, though; exciting potential with this kid.)

Despite being on a bit of a strike out binge recently (eight in his last four games), Fisher is still looking really solid; he's at .306/.394/.532 on the season. His two swiped bags today are his first since April 21 (and no, he hadn't attempted and been caught since then, either), nice to see him running again. He's 5-for-6 on the year in that category. 14 extra-base hits and 15 walks in 29 games, too.

Today's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Alex White vs. James Needy
AA: TBD vs. Colin Rea
A+: TBD vs. Christopher Ellis
A-: Brock Dykxhoorn vs. Tyler Herb