Astros Prospect Report: Games of June 27, 2016

AAA Fresno Grizzlies: 6-2 loss to Tacoma (SEA)

-> Jon Kemmer: 3-for-3, BB
-> Tyler White: 2-for-4, 3B
-> Colin Moran: 1-for-4, solo HR
-> Nolan Fontana: 1-for-4
-> Matt Duffy: 0-for-3, BB
-> Andrew Aplin: 0-for-3, R

SP Brad Peacock: 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 K
RP Jordan Jankowski: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K
RP Kevin Chapman: 2.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 2 K (loss)
RP Reymin Guduan: 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K

Nice to see Kemmer finally doing a little something. He's been one of the bigger disappointments in the system this year after breaking out in 2015; after this game, he has just a .700 OPS. He's hit .421 in his last six games now, though, so we'll see if he can keep it up.

We were talking in the writer's email thread about what the Astros should do for the outfield after this season, and Tucker's name came up. It would sure solve one big issue if he could break out at the MLB level. He was awful in May after being sent back down, but he's hitting .333/.371/.563 in June.

Second long-ball of the month for Moran, and fifth of the season. He's fallen off to a .276/.335/.393 slash line thanks to hitting just .220 in his last ten games.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: All-Star Break

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 10-3 win over High Desert (TEX)

-> Keach Ballard: 2-for-3, R, 2 BB, 2 RBI
-> Brooks Marlow: 2-for-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R
-> Aaron Mizell: 2-for-4, BB, 3B, 2 R
-> Bryan Muniz: 2-for-4, 2B
-> Ramon Laureano: 1-for-3, HR, R, 2 RBI
-> Drew Ferguson: 1-for-4, BB, 2 R
-> Johnny Sewald: 1-for-4, BB, R
-> Bobby Boyd: 1-for-6, R, 3 RBI
-> Garrett Stubbs: 0-for-5, RBI

SP Rogelio Armenteros: 5.2 IP, 2 R (0 ER), 5 H, 2 BB, 5 K (win)
RP Jacob Dorris: 3.1 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K (save)

Armenteros has allowed two or fewer earned runs in nine of his 11 games with Lancaster, which is pretty stunning when you think about it. This little gem came in High Desert, arguably the best hitter's park on the planet. His walk rate isn't special at 4.2 per nine, but a rough six walk outing has blown that up a bit. His strikeout rate of 11.1 per nine, however, is much nicer to look at. It's probably time to consider him one of the real guys to watch heavily with Lancaster this year. He'll be turning 22 years old on Thursday, the 30th of June.

Dorris is having himself a nice little showing in a tough environment. And undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M Corpus Christi, he owns a 3.33 ERA in 27 innings of work for the JetHawks. The real number that jumps out, though, is 45 strike outs during that time. That's a 15.0 K/9, folks. On his career across all levels and teams, he has 93 punch outs in 65.1 innings (12.8 K/9). So we'll see if that keeps up.

Note that Akeem Bostick is due to return to Lancaster and pitch in tonight's game.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: 5-4 win over Cedar Rapids (MIN)

-> Hector Roa: 3-for-4, 2B, RBI, R
-> Dexture McCall: 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI
-> Arturo Michelena: 2-for-4, 2B, RBI, R
-> Osvaldo Duarte: 2-for-4, 3B, R
-> Connor Goedert: 2-for-4, 2B, RBI
-> Kristian Trompiz: 0-for-3, BB, R
-> Pat Porter: 0-for-3, BB
-> Myles Straw: 0-for-0, R (pinch-runner)

SP Albert Abreu: 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K (win)
RP Franklin Perez: 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 K (save)

Abreu has some potential, so it's nice to see a turnaround from him. After a really rough stretch of games from May 14 through June 7 (10.69 ERA), he's allowed just one earned in his last three games (16 innings, 0.56 ERA). Walks have been a huge issue this year (5.8 BB/9), but the strike out rate is huge (12.3 K/9).

Michelena, one of the big international signings in recent years, is off to a nice start in full-season ball. He's hitting .321/.348/.357 in 24 games. He almost never walks and has little power (just three walks and three doubles so far), but his defensive ability isn't in question, so just hitting a little could make him a future Big Leaguer. So far so good.

SS Tri-City ValleyCats: 8-3 win over Lowell (BOS)

-> Daz Cameron: 4-for-5, 3B, HR, SB, R, 3 RBI
-> Randy Cesar: 3-for-5, 2B, RBI, R
-> Alexander De Goti: 2-for-4, 2B, SB, R
-> Carmen Benedetti: 2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
-> Ryne Birk: 2-for-5, 2 RBI
-> Stephen Wrenn: 1-for-5, 3B, R
-> Taylor Jones: 0-for-3, 2 BB, 2 R
-> Ronnie Dawson: 0-for-4, BB
-> Jake Rogers: 0-for-4, BB

SP Enrique Chavez: 4.1 IP, 3 R (1 ER), 6 H, 3 BB, 5 K
RP Hector Perez: 4.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 K (win)

Have a day, Daz. I bet that felt good. And he's struck out just once in each of his last five games. That's still not awesome, but after whiffing 11 times in three days, we'll take it. He's hit .267/.353/.444 in ten games with Tri-City.

Early season club MVP is Wrenn. In ten games, he's batting .311/.385/.622 with six extra-base hits, six walks, and five stolen bases.

Both pitchers are off to nice starts as well. Both had their 20th birthday earlier in the year, and both own sub-2.00 ERAs in three outings with Tri-City. Perez, in particular, has allowed just one run while whiffing 14 batters in 11.2 innings.

RK Greeneville Astros: 8-3 loss to Bristol (PIT)

-> Vicente Sanchez: 2-for-3, 2B, solo HR
-> Bryan De La Cruz: 1-for-3, BB, RBI
-> Spencer Johnson: 1-for-4, 2B, RBI, R
-> Tyler Wolfe: 1-for-4
-> Marcos Almonte: 0-for-3, BB, R

SP Bryan Abreu: 1.2 IP, 5 R (4 ER), 1 H, 3 BB, 3 K
RP Devin Raftery: 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 K
RP Abdiel Saldana: 3.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K
RP Angelo Serrano: 1.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 0 K

Odd line of the night goes to Abreu. Five runs on...one hit. The second inning was hit by pitch, wild pitch, walk, walk, hit by pitch, strike out, double, sac fly (with an OF error), sac fly, stolen base, walk, pitching change, stolen base, fly out. Whew.

Pair of nice outings to start Saldana's season. Between the two, he's allowed no runs, no walk, and struck out eight in 5.1 innings.

Today's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Cesar Valdez vs. TBD
AA: All-Star Game
A+: Akeem Bostick vs. Ariel Jurado
A-: Elieser Hernandez vs. Sam Clay
SS: TBD vs. Ranger Suarez
RK: Carlos Sanabria vs. TBD