Astros Prospect Report: Games of June 22, 2016

Before getting underway, it seems a good spot to point out that the Greeneville Astros, the Rookie League affiliate for the club, will begin their short season on Thursday the 23rd of June.  Some notable players on the team include Patrick Sandoval (LHP), Gabriel Bracamonte (C), Wander Franco (3B), as well as offseason acquisition Jonathan Arauz and fellow-well regarded prospect Miguelangel Sierra, who are both shortstops, among others.

AAA Fresno Grizzlies:  the Albuquerque Isotopes (COL)

The Grizzlies opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning with a Tyler White solo home run to center field.  Preston Tucker, who had a 3-4 day and is now slashing .280/.343/.449 at Triple-A this season, followed with a single and advanced to second on a fielder's choice ground out from Matt Duffy.  Nolan Fontana followed with a single to right field, advancing Tucker to third, and Jon Kemmer logged an RBI single to right field, scoring Tucker.  That was all of the scoring in the game for the Grizzlies, who pounded out ten hits despite the low run total.

It was enough.

Cesar Valdez needed just 75 pitches - a whopping 60 of which were strikes - to fairly cruise through seven innings of work.  He allowed just four hits and walked a single batter while striking out five and allowing one run - earned - while recording ten outs (out of twelve possible non-strikeout outs) on the ground.

Josh Fields was overpowering in relief, pitching a flawless eighth inning with two strikeouts to lower his Triple-A ERA to 1.69, and James Hoyt was his usual dominant self in notching his PCL-leading seventeenth save with two strikeouts and a walk in a hitless ninth inning.

In an unusual turn of events, Preston Tucker - who, again, had a great day with two singles and a double - was called out on an automatic strike to end the bottom of the third for taking too long to get ready in the batter's box, according to home plate umpire Bryan Fields.  This uncommon call prompted Grizzlies manager Tony DeFrancesco to come out of the dug out to argue.  DeFrancesco was ejected from the game over the incident.

Box Score:

AA Corpus Christi: LOST 2-1 to the San Antonio Missions (SDP)

The Corpus Christi Hooks lost a tough-fought extra inning contest to the San Antonio Missions in thirteen innings thanks to a walk-off single to center field off the bat of Missions Right Fielder Nick Schulz.  Michael Freeman, in his second inning of work, walked Auston Bousfield to lead off the inning.  A sacrifice bunt from Jose Rondon moved him to second, and then Corpus elected to intentionally walk Nick Torres to re-establish the double play.  This set the stage for Shulz's heroics.

Edison Frias pitched well in spite of three walks over seven innings of work, allowing five hits, one run (earned), and recording a pair of strikeouts.  Twenty-four-year-old Gonzalo Sanudo and Aaron West each threw a pair of scoreless innings in relief and each struck out a pair of hitters and allowed a pair of base runners.

Danry Vasquez, Alex Bregman, Derek Fisher, and J.D. Davis (the top four in Corpus' lineup) combined to go 2-18 on the day, with Bregman's sole hit being a double, but the quartet added six walks to salvage their evening.  Derek Fisher had three of the walks on the day and now has 52 for the season - more than he posted in the entirety of 2015 at Lancaster.  Coming into play today, he possessed an on-base percentage of .398 with a wOBA of .393 and a wRC+ of 154, though he has also nursed a 26.1 strikeout percentage.  He has a total of 25 extra base hits, twelve of which are home runs.  In one hundred and fifteen more plate appearances last year...in Lancaster...he had 16 total home runs.

The Hooks' lone run in the game came in the fourth inning on the back of a Chase McDonald single to drive in Conrad Gregor, who had doubled - the only extra base hit of the night for the Hooks outside of Bregman's double.

Box Score:

High-A Lancaster: OFF

Low-A Quad Cities: OFF

SS Tri-City ValleyCats: LOST 7-2 to the Vermont Lake Monsters (OAK)

The ValleyCats dropped their second straight game of the young season - and fourth game overall, out of six total games - to the Vermont Lake Monsters on Wednesday.  Daz Cameron was 0-5 with three strikeouts and has now struck out in 46.4% of his plate appearances with Tri-City.  Certainly, small sample caveats should explode forth from this digital nether into your baleful eyes...but considering that strikeouts were a huge concern before his demotion from Quad Cities (where he owned a frigid 37.9 K%) it seems reasonable to be somewhat alarmed at even greater struggles versus lower competition, even over a small sample.  Helping quell concerns slightly is his slash line of .263/.391/.368, which isn't bad at all, and his actually pretty good wOBA and wRC+ (.375 wOBA, 146 wRC+), but his .556 BABIP brings it all back to "slightly alarming" for this writer.

Carmen Benedetti continued his torrid start to his professional career by going 2-4 with two singles and raising his batting average to .433 thus far, while Stephen Wrenn contributed another single but was picked off first base.  Randy Cesar, 21-year-old product of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, had a 3-4 day with three singles and is now slashing .316/.381/.526 on the young season.

On the bump, Akeem Bostick had a pretty forgettable (but not downright atrocious) day.  He allowed four runs, all earned, on eight hits over five innings of work while firing off five strikeouts and not allowing a walk.

Albert Minnis rattled off two flawless innings, not allowing a hit, run, or walk, and struck out four of the six outs he recorded.  The other two outs?  Ground outs.

Ben Smith entered in the eighth inning and allowed three hits and two walks (along with the final three runs of the game, two of which were earned, to seal the deal for the Lake Monsters) and had two wild pitches to go along with his general wildness and inefficacy.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of the game, if you're an Astros fan, was the bottom of the ninth.  Carmen Benedetti and Randy Cesar led of the frame with singles, and Jake Rogers followed with a walk to load the bases with no outs.  Jordan Schwartz entered the game for the Lake Monsters and promptly struck out Alexander De Goti, Rodrigo Ayarza, and Daz Cameron to end the game.

The ValleyCats will seek to avenge themselves upon the Lake Monsters Thursday at 6:00 PM Central Time.

Box Score:

DSL Astros Blue: WON 3-2 over the DSL Dodgers2

Box Score:

DSL Astros Orange: LOST 3-1 to the DSL Phillies2

Box Score: