Astros Prospect Report: Games of May 23, 2016

AAA Fresno Grizzlies: 8-7 win over Oklahoma City (LAD)

-> Jon Singleton: 3-for-4, BB, 2B, 2 HR, 3 R, 5 RBI
-> Tyler Heineman: 2-for-3, BB, R
-> Andrew Aplin: 2-for-5, 2B, RBI, 2 R
-> Matt Duffy: 2-for-5, RBI
-> Preston Tucker: 1-for-4, BB, SB
-> Jon Kemmer: 1-for-5, RBI
-> Danny Worth: 0-for-2, 2 BB, 2 R

SP Tommy Shirley: 3.1 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 K
RP Juan Minaya: 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 4 BB, 1 K
RP Kevin Chapman: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K
RP Jandel Gustave: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K
RP James Hoyt: 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K (win)

A nice comeback win; Kemmer provided the win in the end with a two-out RBI single.

Big night for Singleton, who has hit seven long balls in his last 14 games now. That's the good news. On the other hand, it's hard to say he's really gotten hot or taken a step forward. Yes, seven homers...but just 12 total hits, and 14 strike outs.

A few nice outings for Gustave since he allowed four earned in 0.2 innings a week and a half ago. The four earned were the bulk of the nine earned he's allowed this year, so while the ERA overall isn't hot, it's deceptive. His ERA is just 2.50 outside of that game.

Hoyt had a streak of five straight games allowing no earned runs and striking out two batters broken by this one, but it's not like he was bad. He has more than five punch outs per walk now, and lowered his ERA further to 2.05.

And for those worried about A.J. Reed being out of the lineup so soon again:

AJ Reed: Was sched for 5 inn/3 AB yesterday in return from DL (hamstring). Just off day today, not re-injured. Everyone keep their composure

— Paul Braverman (@PaulBraverman) May 23, 2016

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 11-7 win over Midland (OAK)

-> Teoscar Hernandez: 4-for-5, BB, 3 2B, 3 R, 4 RBI
-> Conrad Gregor: 2-for-4, RBI, R, 2 BB
-> J.D. Davis: 2-for-6, RBI, R
-> Nick Tanielu: 2-for-6, R
-> Chan Jong Moon: 1-for-3, BB, 2 R
-> Roberto Pena: 1-for-4, R
-> Alex Bregman: 1-for-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
-> Derek Fisher: 1-for-6, RBI

SP Francis Martes: 0.2 IP, 1 ER, 0 H, 3 BB, 0 K
RP Michael Freeman: 2.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 2 K
RP Chris Cotton: 2.0 IP, 3 R (1 ER), 5 H, 0 BB, 1 K
RP Angel Heredia: 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 K
RP Aaron West: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 K (win)

Corpus is now a mere 17-5 on the month after a nice comeback win tonight.

Your heart skips a beat when you see one of your best pitching prospects exit the game after two outs. Fortunately the Hooks' twitter account says it was just because he was at 34 pitches and the inning wasn't over, so clearly they're going to be very protective of the arm. More walks allowed than outs recorded is never good, but at least it wasn't an injury.

After a rough patch (by his standards, ha) that saw Bregman strike out three times in four games, he jacked another ball over the wall and didn't punch out in this one. 11 long balls and 12 strike outs (and 18 walks).

Teoscar Hernandez looks like he might have finally figured things out. We'll see how it goes, but he has his strike out rate down to 18.9% now. He's only struck out nine times in the month of May in 75 PA. That's 12%, ya'll. That's what I'm talking about. He's hitting .287 on the year now with a .360 OBP.

I don't know a great deal about Angel Heredia yet. I do know that he's struck out 30 batters in 20.1 innings (13.3 K/9) this year between Lancaster and Corpus. He's noticably pitched more innings per start in his three games with Corpus, so it's possible they're starting to stretch him out for starter's work. We'll see.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 8-3 loss to High Desert (TEX)

-> Bryan Muniz: 2-for-3, 2B, RBI
-> Antonio Nunez: 1-for-2, BB, R
-> Garrett Stubbs: 1-for-3, BB, 2B, RBI
-> Bobby Boyd: 1-for-4, 3B, RBI, R
-> Brooks Marlow: 1-for-4, 2B, R
-> Drew Ferguson: 1-for-4
-> Jason Martin: 1-for-4
-> Kristian Trompiz: 0-for-3, BB

SP Trent Thornton: 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 K
RP Ryan Thompson: 1.1 IP, 5 R (4 ER), 2 H, 3 BB, 3 K (loss)
RP Ryan Deemes: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K

Thornton made it through five innings with just one run allowed before things fell apart a little in the sixth inning. That will happen in places like Lancaster and High Desert. ERA moves up a bit to 3.96, but I'm looking at the 1.6 BB/9 and 9.5 K/9.

Stubbs is up to .270/.383/.461 after this game. Maybe he collapses after leaving Lancaster like Heineman did, but you have to like what you're seeing right now. Interestingly, he's 8-for-8 in stolen base attempts, odd to see a backstop with that kind of ability on the basepaths.

Deems has done nothing but pitch well so far. He's a 36th-round reliever, but his numbers are so strong it's impossible to ignore them. He's allowed two earned runs all season, good for a 0.69 ERA. The WHIP and H/9 are awfully low, so some regression is coming at some point, but he's certainly looking like a guy with a real shot.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: 5-4 loss to Cedar Rapids (MIN)

-> Pat Porter: 3-for-4, 2B, R
-> Osvaldo Duarte: 2-for-4, RBI
-> Bobby Wernes: 2-for-4
-> Connor Goedert: 1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
-> Dexture McCall: 1-for-4, R
-> Aaron Mizell: 1-for-5, 3B, RBI, R
-> Keach Ballard: 0-for-3, BB

SP Chris Murphy: 3.2 IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 3 BB, 1 K
RP Zac Person: 2.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 2 K
RP Andrew Thome: 2.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K (loss)

The walk-off magic went against us in this one, with Cedar Rapids' Zander Wiel hitting a walk-off bomb with two outs in the ninth.

That was Thome's first blown save in five chances this season. He doesn't miss bats (5.0 K/9) but he also doesn't walk guys (1.3 BB/9) and gets a lot of grounders over, with a rate better than 55%. His ERA sits at 1.88, but we'll see how sustainable that is without strike outs.

A similar ERA can be found with Person; he lowered his to 1.96 in this game. Unlike Thome, though, Person does miss bats (9.3 K/9) and walk people (5.9 BB/9).

After scalding the Midwest League for a couple of weeks, Kyle Tucker has just one hit in four games now. He's also hit just one long ball all season, so there's work left to be done. Still impressive at .303/.374/.408 and 19-for-22 in steals.

Today's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Joe Musgrove vs. Sam LeCure
AA: TBD vs. Blayne Weller
A+: Brock Dykxhoorn vs. TBD
A-: Franklin Perez vs. Kyle Friedrichs