Astros Prospect Report: Games of July 18, 2016

AAA Fresno Grizzlies: 8-1 win over Round Rock (TEX)

-> Tyler White: 3-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
-> Alex Bregman: 3-for-5, 2B, 2 SB, 3 R
-> Preston Tucker: 3-for-5, 2B, RBI, R
-> Colin Moran: 2-for-5, RBI
-> Max Stassi: 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI
-> Teoscar Hernandez: 1-for-4, BB
-> Jon Singleton: 1-for-5, R, 2 RBI
-> Jack Mayfield: 1-for-5, R

SP Brendan McCurry: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 K
RP Jordan Jankowski: 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K (win)
RP Kevin Chapman: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 3 K
RP Jandel Gustave: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K

Interesting to see Fresno basically go with all relievers in this game. I don't know if it was nessicary for some reason or just an experiment, but it worked.

McCurry hasn't been super-dominant with Fresno, but his first 10 games with them have been solid. 2.35 ERA in 15.1 innings and a 2.75 K/BB ratio.

Bregman's OPS is now 1.152 with Fresno. There's not much left to say. He hasn't walked as much, but I guess you typically don't when you're hitting everything in sight.

Moran has hit .290 over his last nine games. Hey, it might not be much, but after all the mediocrity, it's something. I'm not sure what his future is, now that Bregman looks like the real third baseman of the future, and then there's Gurriel...but you can't have too many good prospects.

It took White a little while to get his feet back under him after his demotion, but he's hiting again now. He's batting .447 in his last ten games, bringing his overall line up to .316/.374/.673. During those last ten games? Seven long balls. Yeah.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 3-2 win over Midland (OAK)

-> J.D. Davis: 3-for-4, R
-> James Ramsay: 2-for-3, BB, SB, RBI, R
-> Chase McDonald: 1-for-4, 2B
-> Danry Vasquez: 1-for-4, SB
-> Garrett Stubbs: 1-for-4
-> Derek Fisher: 0-for-3, BB
-> Mott Hyde: 0-for-3, BB
-> Conrad Gregor: 0-for-3, RBI
-> Nolan Fontana: 0-for-4, BB
-> Chan Moon: 0-for-0, R (pinch runner)

SP Kent Emanuel: 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K (win)
RP Aaron West: 1.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 K (hold)
RP Chris Cotton: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K (save)

Emanuel seems to be bouncing back from surgery better and better. Outside of his last outing (6 ER in 2.0 IP) he has a 2.63 ERA in eight games.

Davis has had a bit of a rollercoast season so far, with poor months of April and June, and good months of May and, so far, July. He's hitting .321/.387/.446 this month, though with just two homers and a .125 ISO, it's not without some faults.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 8-3 loss to Rancho Cucamonga (LAD)

-> Ramon Laureano: 3-for-4, BB
-> Jamie Ritchie: 1-for-3, BB, RBI
-> Trent Woodward: 1-for-3, BB, RBI
-> Jason Martin: 1-for-4, RBI, R
-> Drew Ferguson: 1-for-4, 3B
-> Bryan Muniz: 1-for-5, R
-> Antonio Nunez: 1-for-5, R
-> Johnny Sewald: 0-for-4, BB

SP Joshua James: 6.0 IP, 8 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 9 K (loss)
RP Kevin McCanna: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K

At the end of the third inning, James had already allowed seven of his earned runs (six in that third frame). You'd think he'd be just about toast. But he went out and tossed three more innings, allowing just one more run. Love seeing that, especially from young guys.

It's a testament to how solid of a season he's been having that his ERA is just 4.31 after an outing like this; it was 3.68 coming into this game. And he owns a 3.2 BB/9 and a 10.3 K/9 to boot.

Laureano is stupid-hot right now. He's hitting .583 in his last ten games, and his numbers on the season are up to .321/.426/.524. Is he a Lancaster mirage? Well, he certainly hits better at home, but who doesn't? On the road he's a .294/.403/.464 hitter. 24 walks in 43 games on the road. He also has 33 stolen bases. I'm not going to talk about shortstop of the future or anything, but there looks like some very real MLB upside here.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: Off Day

SS Tri-City ValleyCats: 6-3 win over Batavia (MIA)

-> Randy Cesar: 3-for-3, BB, RBI, 2 R
-> Rodrigo Ayarza: 2-for-4, BB, R
-> Chuckie Robinson: 2-for-4, RBI
-> Ronnie Dawson: 1-for-2, HR, R, 2 BB, 2 RBI
-> Carmen Benedetti: 1-for-4, BB, 2 RBI
-> Ryne Birk: 1-for-4, BB, R
-> Stephen Wrenn: 0-for-3, BB, R
-> Taylor Jones: 0-for-3, BB

SP Edgardo Sandoval: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K
RP Framber Valdez: 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 9 K (win)
RP Howie Brey: 1.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K
RP Nick Hernandez: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K (save)

Birk has cooled off a little bit recently, hitting just .282 over his last ten games. As if that were bad or something. He's sitting at .312/.398/.484 now, still with more walks than strike outs.

Ronnie Dawson might be heating up though, finally. He got off to a just plain bad start, but is hitting .333 in his last five games. This is after hitting .145 for his first 22 games, mind you. He has been walking, and hasn't been striking out at a crazy rate, so I'm betting some BAbip goblins were to blame in some part.

Cesar is an international guy I don't know much about, other than to say he's hitting. How does .389/.447/.500 sound? He doesn't seem to have a ton of power, but he draws walks and there are some doubles.

University of Houston closer Hernandez has been quite solid out of Tri-City's bullpen. He's not yet allowed more than one run in any outing, and owns a 1.98 ERA, with a 2.6 BB/9 and 9.9 K/9 along with it. He's 3-for-3 in save opportunities.

RK Greeneville Astros: 4-3 win over Bluefield (TOR)

-> Luis Payano: 2-for-4, SB, R
-> Frankeny Fernandez: 1-for-3, BB, 2B, SB, R, 2 RBI
-> Vicente Sanchez: 1-for-3, BB, 2B, R
-> Bryan De La Cruz: 1-for-3, BB, R
-> Ruben Castro: 1-for-4
-> Reiny Beltre: 0-for-2, 2 BB
-> Marcos Almonte: 0-for-2, RBI
-> Troy Sieber: 0-for-3, BB
-> Tyler Wolfe: 0-for-3, RBI

SP Ricardo Castro: 5.2 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 5 H, 0 BB, 4 K
RP Abdiel Saldana: 3.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 6 K (win)

Solid outing for Castro, who drops his ERA with Greeneville to 1.54 with this game. He's allowed more than two earned runs in a game just once with the club. His 7.3 K/BB ratio is especially tasty.

De La Cruz has gone two games without a strike out now. He has 14 in 17 games, so it's certainly not a big worrisome amount. He's hitting .333/.433/.614 so far, with eight XBA (four of them triples!) and has basically been the offense along with Miguelangel Sierra (who didn't play in this game, FYI).

Today's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Joe Musgrove vs. Nick Martinez
AA: Cy Sneed vs. Joel Seddon
A+: Rogelio Armenteros vs. Joshua Sborz
A-: Off Day
SS: Enrique Chavez vs. Jose Diaz
RK: Jorge Guzman vs. David Oca