Astros Prospect Report: Moran, Reed back solid Alaniz in Corpus win; Oberholtzer's gem wasted

AAA Fresno Grizzlies: 3-2 loss to Iowa (CHC)

-> Tony Kemp: 2-for-4, R
-> Tyler White: 1-for-2, 2 BB
-> Preston Tucker: 1-for-4, RBI
-> Jonathan Villar: 1-for-5, SB, R
-> Nolan Fontana: 0-for-2, SB, 2 BB
-> L.J. Hoes: 0-for-2, 2 BB
-> Andrew Aplin: 0-for-3, BB
-> Tyler Heineman: 0-for-4, RBI

SP Brett Oberholtzer: 6.0 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 5 H, 0 BB, 7 K (loss)
RP Jake Buchanan: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K

Tough-luck loss for Obie, who has a 2.10 ERA, 1.05 BB/9 and 5.77 K/9 over his last five games.

After falling apart for a good while, Kemp is hot again. He's hitting .406 over his last ten games, and .329 over his last 22 games. He's whiffed just 15 times over those 22 games. His line has rebounded to .279/.337/.363 in 62 games with Fresno.

We must have jinxed White, because he's 2-for-18 over his last six games. He does have seven walks during those games, though. Overall he's hitting .376/.483/.578 in AAA in a 46-game sample.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 5-3 win over Midland (OAK)

-> Jiovanni Mier: 2-for-3, BB, 2B
-> Colin Moran: 2-for-4, BB, 2B
-> A.J. Reed: 2-for-5, 2B, R
-> Alfredo Gonzalez: 1-for-3, BB, RBI, R
-> Jack Mayfield: 1-for-4, HR, R, 3 RBI
-> Conrad Gregor: 1-for-4, RBI, R
-> Jon Kemmer: 1-for-5, R
-> Teoscar Hernandez: 1-for-5
-> Danry Vasquez: 1-for-5

SP Ruben Alaniz: 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 0 K (win)
RP Tyler Brunnemann: 0.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K (hold)
RP Chris Cotton: 0.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K (hold)
RP Jandel Gustave: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K (save)

Reed is hitting .400 over his last ten games. Three of his last four games have been two-hit games. He's up to .338/.409/.549 with the Hooks, with 10 doubles and seven long balls in 41 games.

Four of Moran's last seven games have been multi-hit games. He's hitting .316 over his last ten, and he's batting .302/.372/.459 on the season. His walk rate since returning from injury in late May is 10.8% (a 3.5% improvement from 2014), and his ISO is exactly .050 better than last season.

Haven't talked about Chris Cotton in a while. He continues his good work; he owns a 2.45 ERA, 2.70 BB/9 and 7.61 K/9 in 36.2 innings with Corpus. Lefties are hitting just .176 against him, and he has a 7.33 K/BB ratio against them.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 10-2 loss to Rancho Cucamonga (LAD)

-> Brian Holberton: 2-for-3, BB, 3B, R
-> J.D. Davis: 2-for-4, 2B
-> Chase McDonald: 2-for-4
-> Ronnie Mitchell: 1-for-3
-> Ruben Castro: 1-for-4, RBI
-> James Ramsay: 1-for-5, 2B, SB, RBI
-> Alex Bregman: 1-for-5
-> Sean McMullen: 0-for-2, 2 BB
-> Marc Wik: 0-for-3, BB, R

SP Keegan Yuhl: 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 5 K (loss)
RP Jordan Mills: 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 4 BB, 1 K
RP Ryan Thompson: 1.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 K
RP Andrew Walter: 1.2 IP, 5 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 K

How do you know you've been awesome? When you cough up three earned in four innings and it blows your ERA all the way up to 1.80. The Yuhl-to-starter transition hit maybe it's first road bump in this game, and even then it's not like he just got destroyed. Five outs on the ground to none on the fly, even! His GB% was already over 50% before this game, and it's sure to rise a bit. To go with that 1.80 ERA, he has a 2.04 BB/9 and 7.92 K/9 in 75 innings of work with Lancaster.

Chris Cotton and Alex Bregman aren't the only LSU guys in the system for you Tigers fans to follow. They must have seen something they liked while scouting those two over the last couple of years, because they popped McMullen in the 30th round last year. He didn't do much after being selected last year, or even earlier this year with QC (aside from drawing a few walks), but he's starting to hit with Lancaster now (I know, red flag, grain of salt, etc.). He's batting .319/.418/.617 in 13 games for the JetHawks. Strike outs have always been an issue, but it's interesting that a low-round pick who hasn't done much is all the way up in A-Advanced. I feel like maybe they see more in him. Who knows, we'll see if it holds up at all.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: 6-3 win over Clinton (SEA)

-> Drew Ferguson: 3-for-4, 3B, SB, 2 RBI, 2 R
-> Garrett Stubbs: 1-for-3, BB, SB, 2 R
-> Nick Tanielu: 1-for-4, SB, RBI, R
-> Jason Martin: 1-for-4, RBI
-> Bobby Boyd: 1-for-5
-> Ramon Laureano: 0-for-3, BB, R
-> Bryan Muniz: 0-for-3, BB
-> Jose Fernandez: 0-for-3, BB

SP Agapito Barrios: 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 K (win)
RP Steve Naemark: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K (hold)
RP Angel Heredia: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K (save)

Ferguson, this year's 19th-round pick out of Belmont, is having himself a nice debut. He crushed the NYPL with a .328/.418/.586 line in 17 games for Tri-City, and in 33 games for Quad Cities he's now hitting .292/.347/.377. It's hard to say what kind of power he has or will have, but there appears to be at least a little extra-base pop. He's also 6-for-8 in SB attempts for the Bandits.

Speaking of nice debuts, Naemark, the 40th-round good-story-guy, has a combined 1.07 ERA in 25.1 innings for the three levels he's played at. His K/BB ratios are uninspiring with Quad Cities so far, but that's just 10.2 innings.

Barrios continues to interest me. He had allowed just two earned runs in four games with QC prior to this one, so his ERA is still sparkling at 1.65 despite giving up a few tonight. But it's the peripherals that have me intrigued; 1.32 BB/9 and 7.57 K/9 for him with QC so far. That's good for a 5.75 K/BB ratio. He got six outs on the ground tonight, too.

SS Tri-City ValleyCats: 3-1 loss to Connecticut (DET)

-> Dexture McCall: 1-for-2, BB, 2B, R
-> Anthony Hermelyn: 1-for-2, BB, 2B, RBI
-> Johnny Sewald: 1-for-4

SP Trent Thornton: 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 K
RP Scott Weathersby: 2.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 K
RP Yeyfry Del Rosario: 1.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 2 K (loss)
RP Juan Santos: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K

One knock on Thornton was mechanical/command issues, but for what it's worth, they're not showing up too much so far. He has a 3.19 ERA, 1.69 BB/9 and 8.25 K/9 in 48 innings of work. That's left him with a 4.89 K/BB ratio. Very solid debut for the 5th-round pick.

McCall's peripherals have been trending the right way. He has eight walks and just five strike outs in his last 10 games. He's hitting .291/.381/.399 in 49 games with Tri-City. If these improvements don't hold up, however, I worry; he only has 11 XBH and he hasn't even attempted a steal, so the bat has to play, or else.

RK Greeneville Astros: 1-0 loss to Kingsport (NYM)

-> Gabriel Bracamonte: 1-for-2, BB
-> Luis Payano: 1-for-3
-> Daz Cameron: 0-for-3, BB
-> Randy Cesar: 0-for-3, BB
-> Myles Straw: 0-for-3, BB

SP Yhoan Acosta: 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 8 K (loss)
RP Makay Nelson: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 K
RP Joselo Pinales: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Acosta has a 4.26 ERA overall, but he has been dinged by #OneBadOutingSyndrome. Back on July 11 he gave up six earned runs in 1.2 innings. Outside of that, he has a 3.16 ERA. He does walk some guys (4.06 BB/9) but he also misses bats, big time (10.56 K/9). At 20 years old, there's plenty of time left for him to iron out the kinks.

Six walks in seven games for Cameron now. He has more than 100 points of separation between average and OBP. Can't wait to see him in full-season ball next year (I assume he'll be in QC early in the year, if not starting there).

Today's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Mike Hauschild vs. Casey Coleman
AA: Kyle Westwood vs. Dillon Overton
A+: David Paulino vs. Scott Barlow
A-: Thomas Eshelman vs. Dewin Perez
SS: Alex Winkelman vs. Corey Miller
RK: Albert Abreu vs. Igol Feliz