Astros Prospect Report: Big night for Martin; Bregman belts first pro long ball

AAA Fresno Grizzlies: 5-2 loss to Reno (ARZ)

-> Matt Duffy: 3-for-3, BB, R
-> Tony Kemp: 2-for-4, RBI
-> Nolan Fontana: 1-for-3, RBI
-> Tyler Heineman: 1-for-4, R
-> Jonathan Villar: 1-for-4
-> Robbie Grossman: 0-for-3, BB

SP Asher Wojciechowski: 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 5 K (loss)
RP Jordan Jankowski: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K
RP James Hoyt: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K
RP Jose Veras: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K

Kemp cooled off a bit after his hit streak ended, and he was on a 1-for-20 run during the five games leading up to this one. So this was nice, and we'll see if this gets him going again. He's hitting .303/.354/.368 in 19 games at AAA so far.

Heineman has also cooled off after a quick start at the highest level. He's still hitting .292 overall, but the OBP is disappointing thanks to drawing just two walks in his 19 games. Still, his strike out rate is absurdly-low; with just one strike out in 75 plate appearances, it's currently sitting at 1.3%. One point three!

Veras has allowed four earned runs so far in 8.1 innings of work, but three of them came in one bad day. He's also walked just one batter so far. Just a name to keep in mind for those of you who are unhappy with one or more members of the MLB bullpen.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 7-2 win over Frisco (TEX)

-> Tyler White: 2-for-3, BB, HR, R, 2 RBI
-> Brett Phillips: 2-for-3, SB, 2 R
-> Jiovanni Mier: 2-for-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
-> Brett Booth: 1-for-3, RBI
-> Chan Moon: 1-for-3
-> Teoscar Hernandez: 1-for-4, SB, R
-> Conrad Gregor: 0-for-3, BB, SB, R

SP Josh Hader: 5.0 IP, 2 R (0 ER), 3 H, 1 BB, 5 K (win)
RP Juan Minaya: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K
RP Chris Cotton: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K
RP Aaron West: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Hader has posted a 3.10 ERA over his last ten outings. In 11 of his 15 outing he's allowed two earned runs or fewer. Season peripherals are now 3.34 BB/9 and 8.65 K/9 (2.59 K/BB).

It's four games, but Phillips is off to a .308/.471/.462 start. Two early walks will do that for your OBP in a tiny sample. Hasn't struck out even once yet, though, that's pretty cool. And 2-for-2 in SB attempts to boot.

Don't look now, but White has hit four of his seven season homers in the month of June. His SLG% by month is .333 for April, .419 for May, and now .463 for June. If he's going to be adding that missing power tool to the mix, then he certainly has to be considered a legitimate prospect. Guys drafted as late as he was always have to prove it at each level, but he's doing it so far. He's hitting .284/.415/.426 on the season. Still has more walks than strike outs.

Cotton allowed four earnies in his first 4.2 innings of work for Corpus, but hasn't allowed one in the 6.2 innings that have followed. He's posted a 2.92 ERA, 2.92 BB/9 and 8.03 K/9 on the whole in AA.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 4-2 loss to Bakersfield (SEA)

-> Chase McDonald: 2-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
-> Ronnie Mitchell: 2-for-4, 2B
-> Mott Hyde: 2-for-5, 2B
-> Alfredo Gonzalez: 1-for-3, BB, SB, R
-> A.J. Reed: 1-for-4
-> Derek Fisher: 1-for-4
-> Jack Mayfield: 0-for-2, 2 BB
-> Brian Holberton: 0-for-3, BB

SP Akeem Bostick: 5.1 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 7 H, 1 BB, 2 K (loss)
RP Albert Minnis: 1.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K
RP Tyler Brunnemann: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K

BOSStick handled himself quite well in his first California League outing. Didn't miss a lot of bats, but he did get eight ground outs. This is a nice foundation to build on.

McDonald is red hot right now. His overall numbers don't look super-awesome (but still good) because he basically disappeared for the month of May (.197 average, .688 OPS). Outside of that, he's just crushed, approaching the level of what Reed has done this month. McDonald is hitting .386/.491/.682 for June and .294/.368/.561 overall, with 11 bombs and 15 doubles.

Mr. Hyde is off to a .292/.347/.415 start in 15 games with Lancaster. Save for walking less, everything looks to be transitioning up from Low-A, as his average is exactly the same and he's seen a mere .005 jump in SLG. He has gone 3-for-4 in stolen base attempts, a marked improvement from the 1-for-4 he posted in Quad Cities. Adding some base-stealing value to his game would make him significantly more interesting as a prospect, given the solid OBP abilities he's shown in the past.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: 6-1 win over Cedar Rapids (MIN)

-> Jason Martin: 3-for-4, BB, 2B, 3B, SB, RBI, 2 R
-> Jamie Ritchie: 3-for-5, RBI
-> Bobby Boyd: 2-for-3, BB
-> Ramon Laureano: 2-for-5, 3B, RBI, R
-> Alex Hernandez: 1-for-4, BB, RBI, R
-> Alex Bregman: 1-for-5, HR, SB, RBI, 2 R
-> Ryan Bottger: 1-for-4, BB
-> Nick Tanielu: 0-for-4, BB

SP Christian Powell: 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 K (win)
RP Francis Martes: 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K (save)

Martin is the big man of the day, falling a homer short of the cycle and swiping a bag as well. He's hitting .303/.372/.434. He has four long balls in 47 games, which is 13-15 HR power. If that double-digit pop holds up and is legit, you add that in with his ability to run, play defense, the walk-drawing ability he's shown, some natural feel to hit as a lefty...he's not Mike Trout, but you're talking about four tools in the slightly-above-average to plus range, and the fifth tool maybe solid average. That's a big, big prospect out of the eighth round. one complaint I'd have so far is the 31-for-53 (59%) career stolen base rate (and he's 7-for-13 this year, so no, it's not like it was all last year and he's improved). That has to get better.

First pro homer and steal for Bregman. He hasn't blown the doors off in his first three games, but starting immediately in full-season ball, he certainly hasn't looked over-matched or in over his head. He has a hit in each game and has only whiffed twice, so the K% is under 20%. Tiny sample, but he's looked good so far.

Seven outs on the ground for Martes. I wonder what kind of movement he gets on that reportedly-electric fastball. His season GB rate is just over 50% now. His heat map also shows that he gets a ton of fly balls to dead-straight center field for some reason. I can't recall seeing another guy quite like him in that regard. His ERA sits at 1.03 since he's allowed just four earned runs all season.

SS Tri-City ValleyCats: 7-6 loss to Connecticut (DET)

-> Keach Ballard: 2-for-3, BB, SB, 2 RBI
-> Brooks Marlow: 2-for-5, HR, R, 2 RBI
-> Cesar Carrasco: 2-for-5
-> Pat Porter: 1-for-3, BB, R
-> Drew Ferguson: 1-for-3, RBI
-> Johnny Sewald: 1-for-4, 2B, SB, 2 R
-> Garrett Stubbs: 1-for-4, BB, R
-> Kolbey Carpenter: 1-for-4, R

SP Ralph Garza: 2.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 K
RP Kevin McCanna: 3.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 0 K
RP Zac Person: 1.2 IP, 2 R (0 ER), 1 H, 2 BB, 0 K (blown save, loss)
RP Veyfry Del Rosario: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K

Sewald has lived up to his profile so far; he has 11 hits and five walks in his first ten games, giving him a .378 OBP, but just one of the hits was a double. He's also gone 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts. That's what he is; no power, but walks, steals, and defense...if he hits enough, he'll have a future of some kind.

McCanna hasn't been awesome so far, but in his five innings so far he does have eight ground outs and he hasn't walked a batter yet.

RK Greeneville Astros: 1-0 win over Danville (ATL)

-> Connor Goedert: 1-for-3, R
-> Justin Garcia: 0-for-2, BB
-> Myles Straw: 0-for-3, BB
-> Brauly Mejia: 0-for-3, RBI

SP Junior Garcia: 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K
RP Ryan Deemes: 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K (win)
RP Zac Grotz: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K (save)

An Alan Ashby special; time of game here was two hours and one minute. That's an average time of right around 13 minutes per whole inning. Five total base hits for both teams...and six errors. Four errors made by Greeneville. How the pitching go around that...wow.

Junior Garcia wasn't perfect, but he wasn't far off, either. Nine outs on the ground to just one on the fly. So 13 of his 15 outs were either whiffs or grounders. Wow. He has 7.1 innings of scoreless work to start his season with Greeneville.

Today's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Luis Cruz vs. TBD
AA: All-Star break
A+: Off Day
A-: Brandon McNitt vs. Heath Fillmyer
SS: Elieser Hernandez vs. Chase Edwards
RK: Devonte German vs. Jose Mujica