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Astros Minor League Recap: May 1, 2013

The Astros had a handful of top pitching prospects on the mound Wednesday night – Nick Tropeano, Lance McCullers Jr., Mike Foltynewicz – who produced mostly good results.

By jsams
Bob Levey

Wednesday was a busy day for the Astros' minor league affiliates. All four teams were in action, with three of the top four pitching prospects on the mound. There was also a lot of shuffling around, as Jordan Lyles and Dallas Keuchel were called up, Jason Stoffel, Carlos Perez and Asher Wojciechowski (per mommy), were promoted to AAA, and Max Statssi joined Corpus Christi.

Read below to see how the top pitching prospects performed, George Springer's almost golden sombrero, CC's walk-off win and Telvin Nash! Because you can never have enough Telvin Nash.

Oklahoma City

The RedHawks cruised to a 6-2 victory Wednesday, behind a balanced 13 hit-performance and a solid start from Wes Musik. Every player in the OKC lineup contributed a hit, and four different guys had multi-hit games. Carlos Perez had an RBI-double in his OKC debut, and Jason Stoffel pitched the ninth.

  • Trevor Crowe - 2-5, SB, CS
  • Jake Elmore - 2-4, 2B, SB
  • Jimmy Paredes - 1-2, 2 BB, SB
  • Mark Krauss - 1-4, K, CS
  • Brett Wallace - 2-4, 2B, K
  • Jonathan Villar - 1-4, 2B, K
  • Carlos Perez - 1-3, 2B, BB, K
  • Wes Musick - 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 8/4 GO/AO
  • Eric Berger - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
  • Jason Stoffel - 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB

Corpus Christi

The Hooks grinded out a nice win Wednesday night, tying the game at one in the bottom of the seven, then tying the game at two in the bottom of the tenth, before eventually winning in walk-off fashion in the 11th. The last half of the 11th began with a four-pitch walk to Domingo Santana, a "stolen base" on a failed sac but attempt, followed by a throwaway by Midland's catcher, advancing Santana to third. A few pitches later, Orloff singled up the middle and I'm 90 percent sure Enrique Hernandez ran on the field, popping a champagne bottle.

Nick Tropeano continued to dominate the Texas League, lowering his ERA to 1.86 on the season. He pitched four scoreless innings in Wednesday's win, allowing two hits, two walks, two strikeouts and a 5/4 GO:AO ratio. Solid performance, despite having some trouble finding the stikezone

  • George Springer - 1-5, 3 K
  • JD Martinez - 2-4
  • Domingo Santana - 0-4, BB, K, SB
  • Ben Orloff - 2-3, K
  • Erik Castro - 2-3, 2B, BB
  • Jio Mier - 0-2, BB, 2 K, 2 errors
  • Nick Tropeano - 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 5/4 GO/AO
  • Pat Urckfitz - 3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
  • Andrew Robinson - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Lancaster

The Jethawks snapped a three-game losing streak Wednesday night, thanks to two-run eighth, sparked by an RBI-double from everyone's favorite strikeout artist, Telvin Nash. In eight games since returning from the DL, Nash is now hitting .345/.472/.621. Although it's an extremely small sample size, Nash's strikeout rate is half of what it was last season, while he's maintained his above-average walk rate and power. I don't expect Nash to sustain his improvement, but hope he proves me wrong. Bash was once looked at as one of the Astros top prospects, but with the vastly-improved system, anything he contributes is gravy.

After struggling in his first two outings of the season, Mike Foltynewicz has quietly put together an impressive string of performances. He pitched four innings of one-run ball today, striking out six, and walking two. In his last five games he's pitched: 21 IP, 4 ER, 7 BB, 22 K.

  • Mike Foltynewicz - 4 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 2/1 GO/AO
  • Kenny Long - 2 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K
  • Delino DeShields Jr 2B - DNP
  • Nolan Fontana SS - 1-4, BB, 2 K
  • Andrew Aplin CF - 2-3, 2 BB
  • Preston Tucker - 2-5, 2B, K
  • MP Cokinos - 2-4, 2B, BB
  • Tyler Heineman - DNP
  • Telvin Nash - 1-3, 2B, 2 BB, 2 K

Quad Cities

Quad Cities jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Wednesday, but the River Bandits eventually fell to South Bend, 4-3. Lance McCullers Jr. was the second tandem starter, and despite turning in an OK performance, blew the save and suffered the loss. Neither Carlos Correa or Rio Ruiz played in the game, and Correa is still considered day-to-day, after being hit by a pitch earlier this week.

  • Teoscar Hernandez - 1-4, K
  • Joe Sclafani - 2-4, SB
  • Roberto Pena - 2-4, 2B
  • Terrell Joyce - 2-4, 2B
  • Daniel Minor - 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 K, 7/2 GO/AO
  • Lance McCullers Jr. - 3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, BB, K, error, 6/1 GO/AO
  • Carlos Correa - DNP
  • Rio Ruiz - DNP

*BOLD indicates top prospect

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