Houston Astros MiLB Week in Review
Another week of Astros minor league baseball is in the books. Let’s take a look at the best performances this past week.
AAA: Fresno Grizzlies (37-38) went 6-1 this week.
- AJ Reed, 1B: .400 BA (6-for-15), 3 R, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI
- Preston Tucker, OF: .455 BA (10-for-22), 3 R, 2 2B, 3B, HR, RBI
- Andrew Aplin, CF: .360 BA (9-for-25), 4 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI, SB
- Tyler White, 1B: .207 BA (6-for-29), 3 R, 2B, 3 HR, 5 RBI
- Jon Kemmer, RF: .250 BA (5-for-20), 2 R, 2B, HR, 5 RBI
- Joseph Musgrove, RHP: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
- Brady Rodgers, RHP: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
- Mike Hauschild, RHP: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
- Cesar Valdez, RHP: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
- Thomas Shirley, LHP: 11.0 IP, 11 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
- Brad Peacock, RHP: 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
- Brendan McCurry, RHP: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
Reed was promoted this week but not before belting a few homers and helping the Grizzlies. Nice to see him promoted when hot. Tucker has been hitting the ball really well lately. Now hitting .459 over his last 10 games and he is up to .295 in AAA. Aplin started the season slow with a .122 BA but in June he has a .279 BA. His numbers outside of April look pretty good. Though White is only hitting .212, he does have 3 HR in his 8 AAA games. Kemmer is also a guy who has picked it up. He hit .212 in April, .241 in May, and now .283 in June. Now hitting .245 overall.
The pitching really carried Fresno this week. Nice to see Musgrove bounce back after a couple of rough starts. Peripherals still look good though with 6 BB/35 K in 40 IP in AAA. Rodgers continues to be impressive. He has a 2.19 ERA since May 1st and a 1.27 ERA in June. Over Hauschild’s last three starts he has gone 21 IP allowing just 2 ER. Peacock, a once top prospect, had a stellar outing this week. There is still an outside chance he could get called up if Astros need help. McCurry was promoted this last week and has dominated AAA so far.
AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (51-25) went 5-2 this week.
- Alex Bregman, SS: .227 BA (5-for-22), 3 R, 3 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 8 BB/5 SO, SB
- Derek Fisher, OF: .217 BA (5-for-23), 6 R, 3B, 4 RBI, 4 SB
- Teoscar Hernandez, OF: .259 BA (7-for-27), 4 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 4 SB
- Mott Hyde, IF: .364 BA (8-for-22), 2 R, 2B, RBI
- Nick Tanielu, 2B: .250 BA (8-for-32), 2 R, 4 RBI
- Conrad Gregor, 1B: .333 BA (8-for-24), 5 R, 4 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI
- Roberto Pena, C: .348 BA (8-for-23), 5 R, 2 2B, HR, RBI
- Francis Martes, RHP: 11.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 12 K
- Cy Sneed, RHP: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
- Edison Frias, RHP: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
- Evan Grills, LHP: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
- Aaron West, RHP: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
Bregman keeps finding ways to produce, even with the low average had drew 8 walks boosting his OBP to .415. Same can be said for Fisher. Though he only hit .217 this week, he drew 10 walks. On the season Fisher has a .271 BA with a .404 OBP. Hyde has been very good for Corpus since coming back from the DL. Tanielu is now hitting .266 in AA but has 20 RBI in 35 games. Gregor had a breakout season in 2014 but slumped last season. He started slow this year but has been hot recently. Great to see.
The 20 year old Martes had another great outing this week. After a rough April he has brought his ERA down to 3.65 and is up to 55 K in 61.2 innings this season. Sneed was dominant in his tandem this week. With the 10 K in 4 IP he now has 62 K in 53.1 innings this season. Frias has walked a bit too many but has done very well limiting hits only allowing 36 hits in 49.2 innings. Grills has been lights out since joining Corpus. He has a 1.91 ERA in 42.1 AA innings.
A+: Lancaster Jethawks (35-38) went 1-3 this week.
- Bobby Boyd, OF: .313 BA (5-for-16), R, HR, 4 RBI
- Garrett Stubbs, C: .400 BA (8-for-20), 4 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI
- Jason Martin, CF: .273 BA (3-for-11), 3 R, RBI, 7 BB/1 SO, SB
- Bryan Muniz, 1B: .357 BA (5-for-14), 2 R, 2 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, SB
- Jamie Ritchie, C: .555 BA (5-for-9), 4 R, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI
- Joshua James, RHP: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
- Jacob Dorris, RHP: 3.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
Only four games this week because of the all-star break. Boyd has really had a nice season and is now hitting .327 with 27 SB in 51 games. Stubbs has his BA up to .316 with a .405 OBP now. Nice to see Martin draw some walks. On the season he has drawn 30 walks in just 61 games. Muniz has had a solid season but a nice week this time around. He also tossed a scoreless 9th inning in Sunday’s game. Ritchie started slow but had five hits in just two games this week.
Rough week for the pitching. James had a decent outing lowering his ERA to 3.02 with 69 K in 56.2 innings. Dorris has been a strikeout machine since joining Lancaster with 43 K in 23.2 inning in relief.
A: Quad Cities Riverbandits (32-41) went 1-3 this week.
- Kyle Tucker, OF: .214 BA (3-for-14), 2 R, HR, 4 RBI, 2 SB
- Arturo Michelena, 2B: .333 BA (3-for-9), 3 R, 2B, RBI
- Hector Roa, OF: .300 BA (3-for-10), 4 R, 3B
- Ralph Garza, RHP: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
- Elieser Hernandez, RHP: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
- Jose Hernandez, RHP: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
Only four games this week. Tucker returned and hit a HR, his second of the season. He is hitting an even .300 this season. Michelena has kind of came out of nowhere and is hitting .313 in 23 games for Quad Cities. Roa is a high potential prospect and had a solid week. He has 5 XBHs in 10 games.
Not much to report on the pitching lines. Elieser had another nice outing and now has a 1.00 ERA since going back to Quad Cities. J. Hernandez has 12 BB/60 K in 56.2 innings this season.
LINE OF THE WEEK:
Francis Martes, RHP, 06/25/16: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (WIN)
Jamie Ritchie, C/1B, 06/25/16: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI
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**Photo Credit: Kiel Maddox/Fresno Grizzlies**
