Astros Prospect Report: Frias, Martes twirl gems to lead clubs; Cameron's three hits

AAA Fresno Grizzlies: Off Day

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 6-2 win over Northwest Arkansas (KCR)

-> Alfredo Gonzalez: 3-for-4, R
-> Jon Kemmer: 2-for-4, SB, R
-> Danry Vasquez: 2-for-4
-> A.J. Reed: 1-for-4, HR, R, 3 RBI
-> Colin Moran: 1-for-4, solo HR
-> Jack Mayfield: 1-for-4, R
-> Leonardo Heras: 0-for-2, BB, SB, RBI, R
-> Chan Moon: 0-for-3, BB

SP Edison Frias: 7.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 9 K (win)
RP Jandel Gustave: 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K

Frias had four previous starts with Corpus, none of them anywhere near what you're looking for (his last start, three earned in four innings, was the "best" one). Here's a gem, though, and more like what you hope for given the flashes he showed in Lancaster, especially early in the season. What had been good in the previous AA outings was the strike out rate; with this game, he owns a 12.63 K/9 with Corpus. The 3.05 BB/9 is solid as well, and most of that game from four walks in 1.1 innings in his worst outing; outside of that one, he's been just fine with the walks. The ERA will take some time to fall...and frankly, there's not enough time left on the schedule for it to look pretty. We're just looking for progress, though, in his last couple of outings. They've been using him very regularly, so assuming that continues, he'll get two more starts before the playoffs.

Gonzalez's year has kind of been like Tyler White's career; he's just hit everywhere. He batted .326/.482/.396 (dat OBP) for Quad Cities, then .340/.388/.425 for Lancaster, and he's at .310/.407/.338 for Corpus now. He's has two long balls all year, both with Lancaster, and he only has six doubles even, so it's fair to say power is not a part of his game. But he's a catcher, and OBP clearly is. This is just one season, but if it's real, if this really is a break out, he joins Tyler Heineman as an interesting catching prospect with a little bit of offensive upside.

Reed's last homer was way back on August 7, so this was nice. Of course, it's not like he had fallen apart or anything; he hit a mere .429 in the 13 games between homers. He's hitting .331/.407/.547 overall in 39 games with the Hooks. His strike out rate is down to 21.5%.

Moran has started to work out of his slump, hitting .400 over his last five games. This was his eighth long ball of the season, in 84 games. So that's 15-ish home run power. He's at .297/.367/.455 on the season.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 5-0 win over Lake Elsinore (SDP)

-> James Ramsay: 3-for-5, RBI, R
-> Edwin Medina: 2-for-4, 2B, 2 R
-> Mott Hyde: 1-for-3, BB, 2B, 3 RBI
-> Derek Fisher: 1-for-3, SB, 2 BB
-> Marc Wik: 1-for-3, BB
-> Ruben Castro: 1-for-4, R
-> Jamie Ritchie: 1-for-4
-> Chase McDonald: 1-for-5, solo HR

SP Francis Martes: 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 3 K (win)
RP Jordan Mills: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K

Just another big game for Martes. My goodness, do you realize he has a 0.68 ERA, 1.71 BB/9 and 8.54 K/9 in his last four games? Two of those were in the park at Lancaster, too. Overall now he has a 2.31 ERA, 2.06 BB/9 and 9.51 K/9 in six games with Lancaster. At 19 years old. All together, gang; #THANKYOUMIAMI

Fisher is hitting .306 in his last ten games. Good news; despite the two whiffs tonight, his strike out rate is trending the right way. He whiffed 25.6% of the time in his games with Lancaster prior to August, and in his games this month he's striking out 20.9% of the time. Almost five percent is a very big improvement. Hopefully that keeps up. I think he's more of a 20-25 homer guy at best, rather than the 30-35 (or 40, who knows) that George Springer is, so I'd like to see him keep that strike out rate down to around 20%.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: 10-9 loss to Kane County (ARZ)

-> Kristian Trompiz: 3-for-3, SB, RBI, R
-> Trent Woodward: 3-for-5, RBI, R
-> Jose Fernandez: 2-for-5, RBI, R
-> Ramon Laureano: 1-for-3, SB, R, 2 BB, 2 RBI
-> Bryan Muniz: 1-for-3, RBI, R, 2 BB
-> Ryan Bottger: 1-for-4, 2 RBI
-> Jason Martin: 1-for-5, BB, SB, 3 R
-> Luis Reynoso: 0-for-2, BB, R
-> Drew Ferguson: 0-for-5, RBI

SP Brock Dykxhoorn: 5.0 IP, 7 ER, 11 H, 1 BB, 2 K
RP Zach Davis: 2.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 K (blown save, loss)
RP Ryan Thompson: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Dykxhoorn has a streak of four great games snapped in a big way. Didn't get many outs on the ground or anything. The limited walks are about the only silver lining you can point to. This one blew his ERA back up to 3.90, a nearly-half-of-a-run hit.

Unfortunately Martin has hit the skids. He's batting just .143 in his last 13 games. He's only whiffed nine times during that rough patch, though, so it's good to see his approach hasn't been the cause, and he hasn't started pressing too much.

Woodward is a catcher showing a little bit of potential with the stick. He's hitting .278/.350/.278 with Quad Cities in 27 games. He doesn't have a single XBH hit in that time, thus the pathetic SLG. But we'll see. He was our 20th round pick last year.

SS Tri-City ValleyCats: 8-2 loss to Hudson Valley (TBR)

-> Kolbey Carpenter: 2-for-4, 2 RBI
-> Alexander Melendez: 1-for-1, R
-> Anthony Hermelyn: 1-for-2, BB
-> Keach Ballard: 1-for-3, R
-> Johnny Sewald: 1-for-3

SP Harold Arauz: 3.0 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 3 K (loss)
RP Adam Whitt: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 K
RP Jose Hernandez: 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 K

Sewald was subbed for after he grounded out in the sixth inning. I don't know if he tweaked a hammy or what, couldn't find anything about it online if it was for an injury.

Carpenter is on a seven-game hitting streak, during which time he's hit .391. He's up to .279/.320/.364 on the season now. He doesn't walk much, but he's also limited the strike outs pretty nicely, and he's shown just enough XBH ability that I think the power numbers could potentially improve a touch.

Hernandez has been nails in eight games this season. Combined between Greeneville and Tri-City, he owns a 1.91 ERA, 2.54 BB/9 and 10.48 K/9 in 28.1 innings of work.

RK Greeneville Astros: 8-6 loss to Elizabethton (MIN)

-> Daz Cameron: 3-for-4, RBI, R
-> Connor Goedert: 2-for-4, solo HR
-> Myles Straw: 2-for-5, 3B, SB, R
-> Randy Cesar: 1-for-3, BB, HR, R, 2 RBI
-> Kyle Tucker: 1-for-4, SB, R
-> Luis Payano: 1-for-4, RBI, R
-> Kevin Martir: 1-for-4

SP Diogenes: 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 0 K (loss)
RP Cristhopher Santamaria: 1.0 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 1 K
RP Starlyng Sanchez: 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 K
RP Lachlan Madden: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K

Nice game for DC. You'll see the flaws pop up here and there; he struck out six times in the four games prior to this one, his steal success rate with Greeneville is 63.6%, and so on. But at the same time, nothing is terribly glaring, nothing looks like it's just out-right missing. He's at .297/.376/.378 with Greeneville, and though he hasn't hit a homer, he does have four XBH. Some more pop will come with time and reps.

Reliever spotlight! Madden is a 19-year-old Aussie (Melbourne, FYI) who posted a 2.00 ERA in the GCL and has a 2.13 ERA so far for Greeneville. The strike out rate is nice at 10.66 K/9, though he also has a 6.40 BB/9 to go with it. Here's an article from his hometown paper on his signing a couple years ago.

Today's Scheduled Starters

AAA: TBD vs. Eric Jokisch
AA: Off Day
A+: TBD vs. Chase De Jong
A-: Dean Deetz vs. Jarrett Brown
SS: Chris Murphy vs. Spenser Watkins
RK: Edgardo Sandoval vs. TBD