Houston Astros: Observations From My Corpus Christi Hooks Visit
By Jimmy Price
On Thursday, August 14th, I was able to go to a Corpus Christi Hooks game and take a look at the Houston Astros AA team.
This team is very talented. According to MLB.com’s top 20 prospects the Hooks have #2, #5, #10, #11, #12, #16, #17, #18 on the roster.
Here is a quick review of some of the players I got to watch. First the box score:
Corpus Christi Hooks (57-66) won 4-2 (BOX SCORE)
- Tony Kemp, LF: 1-3, R, 2 BB
- Teoscar Hernandez, CF: 2-3
- Colin Moran, 3B: 1-4, RBI
- Conrad Gregor, DH: 1-2, 2 R, 3B, BB
- Tyler Heineman, C: 1-4, RBI
- Carlos Perdomo, SS: 1-4, R, HR, 2 RBI
- Chris Devenski, RHP: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
- Ruben Alaniz, RHP: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
- Tyson Perez, RHP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Now some observations:
Tony Kemp, LF – Kemp got the start in LF this game. He only had a few balls hit his way and he played them fine. At the plate, Kemp just battles. He drew a walk in his first at bat, had an opposite field single his second at bat, and a walk in his third at bat. It appears Kemp has a great understanding of the strike zone and worked full counts multiple times.
Teoscar Hernandez, CF – Hernandez showed good range in CF tracking down a deep fly ball to right center. On offense he went 2-3. The first hit was a bloop single to right. Second hit was an infield single to first base. No real hard contact from him on this night but you can see the talent.
Colin Moran, 3B – I came away very impressed with Moran. First, he is a pretty big guy and seems to have some room to grow too. In his first at bat he had men on 2nd and 3rd and was able to put the ball in play for an RBI groundout. In his second at bat he took a pitch away and drove it hard to the opposite field for a single. His next at bat he drilled one to deep CF and flew out at the wall near the 407 feet marker. The power looked good though. He didn’t really get an chances at 3B on defense though.
Conrad Gregor, DH – Gregor is a lot bigger than I thought. At the plate he had a pretty good night. He drew a walk in his first at bat. In his second at bat he drove a ball deep to CF that hit just under the top of the wall. He ended up with a triple.
Tyler Heineman, C – Behind the plate Heineman did a great job. Devenski was bouncing breaking balls up there and Tyler was blocking every single one. At the plate, he has such a good ability to put the ball in play. He was also able to drive in a run with a sharply hit single to right.
Carlos Perdomo, SS – Perdomo really had more pop on his bat than I thought. He hit a nice 2 run shot to left center in his first at bat and hit another deep ball later, though not deep enough. At shortstop he looked pretty good but did make one bad throw. Nash was able to tag the runner so no error charged.
Jonathan Meyer, 2B – After having a good season last year, Meyer has struggled this season. He played second base this game. Defensively he is very good. He did bobble a ball but was able to stick with it and get an out. At the plate he didn’t really have good contact though he did draw a walk.
Chris Devenski, RHP – I really like Devenski. He really seemed to battle and his breaking ball was getting a lot of swings and missed. His fastball set around 91-92 MPH most of the night. He got into a little trouble giving up a solo HR and double but was able to work out of it. Devenski seemed bigger than listed (6-3, 195), I would say closer to 205-210 lbs. He had the look of an innings eater.
All in all, it was a nice night for Corpus. The team is very talented and has quite a few guys who could make a major league roster in the future. Also, Whataburger field is an awesome place to watch baseball! Oh yea, I was also able to come away with autographs from Mark Appel, Colin Moran, Delino DeShields, and Josh Hader!!!
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