Houston Astros Minor League Recap: May 19th

 Houston Astros Minor League Recap: May 19th

While the big league team puts together the best stretch of their season, lets check in on the youngsters that will hopefully usurp Chris Carter and Marc Krauss from their spots in the lineup. 

Triple-A Oklahoma City Redhawks (24-21) Loss 2-6

Obie had a rough day according to the stats and to add a little context here is a tweet from the Redhawks beat writer Alex Freedman:

He certainly threw strikes tonight (64 of 87) but it seems Obie had a healthy dose of bad luck to help him to the poor stat sheet. The Redhawks spent most of the game trailing until they pushed two across late on a Grossman double and an RBI walk from Singleton. In the end the lead was too much to overcome.

There is occasionally some talk about Max Stassi making Jason Castro expendable but just FYI, thats insane. Stassi may have above average power for a catcher but right now thats about the only thing floating above average. He doesn’t strike out much, which is nice, but doesn’t draw walks and despite a close to league average BABIP, continues to float around .250 at the plate. Not saying he can’t one day hone his skills but to talk like he is some sort of sure thing, or that he is even ready for the big leagues as of now is a waste of breath.

Also, don’t you think that Jon Singleton could do at least the same things that Marc Krauss, Chris Carter, and Jesus Guzman do? There are a hundred variables involved with the decision to call up a major prospect, but if the play on the field is a factor (and it should be), I’m not sure it could get much worse than those three.

DH Robbie Grossman – 2/4, 2B, 2K

1B Jon Singleton – 1/2, 2BB, K

C Max Stassi – 1/4, K

Brett Oberholtzer – 5IP, 9H, 6R (5ER), 3K, 2HR, 87 pitches and 64 strikes

Kevin Chapman – 1IP, BB, 2K

Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks (23-21) Win 7-0 

Luis freaking Cruz pitched another gem and a couple of our higher stock prospects came through with solid run scoring nights. Nolan Fontana has completely reversed plummeting stock and is sporting a .292 BA and a .837 OPS. That is supported by a .379 BABIP, which is good for 15th highest in the league so we’ll see how sustainable his resurgence is.

CF Delino DeShields – 3/4, 2B, K

2B Nolan Fontana – 3/4, 2B

SS Jiovanni Mier – 1/2, BB

LF Leonardo Heras – 1/4, K

Luis Cruz – 6.1IP, H, 2BB, 9K

Jordan Jankowski – 2.2 IP, H, 3K

High A Lancaster Jethawks (26-19) 6-8 Loss

The Jethawks carried a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the 7th but Mitchell Lambson gave up four earned runs off two home runs and the Jethawks weren’t able to rally. Correa was off today but Morgan Ensberg‘s favorite player continues to excel in Lancaster.

The dude doesn’t strike out and he hits to all fields. He is playing in a super utility role for now.

3B Rio Ruiz – 2/4

RF Danry Vasquez – 1/5

C Roberto Pena – 1/2, 2B, 2BB

SS Carlos Perdomo – 1/3, 2BB

Zach Morton – 3.2, 8H, 4ER, K

Richard Rodriguez – 2.1, H, 6K

Mitchell Lambson – BS, 2 IP, 4H, 4ER, BB, 4K

Low A Quad Cities River Bandits (20-23) Loss 4-5

Each team scored 3 runs in the first three innings and then the offenses stalled until extras. In the top of the 12th the Burlington Bees scored two, but the Bandits could only manage one run in the bottom of the frame.

CF James Ramsey – 2/5, 2B, BB, 2K

3B Tyler White – 2/4, K

DH Conrad Gregor – 1/4, 2B, BB, 2K

1B Jon Kemmer – 2/5, 2B

Edison Frias – 5 IP, 5H, 3R (1ER), BB, 3K

Evan Grills – 4 IP, 2H, BB, 2K

Chris Cotton – 2.1 IP, BB, 2K, 2ER

*Featured image of Luis Cruz is via Tammy Tucker