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 (66-55) went 2-4 this week.
- Jon Kemmer, OF: .292 BA (7-for-24), 3 R, 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 10 RBI
- Derek Fisher, OF: .208 BA (5-for-24), 7 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI
- Chan Moon, SS: .333 BA (6-for-18), 4 R, HR, 2 RBI
- Nolan Fontana, 2B: .272 BA (6-for-22), 3 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI, SB
- Brady Rodgers, RHP: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
- Cesar Valdez, RHP: 6.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
- Brad Peacock, RHP: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Rough week overall for Fresno. They have been decimated with promotions recently. Kemmer has been on fire since the All-Star break hitting .330 with 10 HR, 28 RBI in 30 games. Fisher only hit .208 this week but did hit his first two homers in AAA. Moon has provided a nice steady bat for Fresno as he is hitting .372 in 19 games in AAA.
Rodgers turned in another quality start. Overall he has a 2.76 ERA with 19 BB/104 K in 120.2 innings this season. Valdez has been a solid signing. The MLB rotation is full but he might deserve a shot somewhere. He has just 12 walks in 116.1 innings this season. Peacock will get another chance eventually, even if it isn’t with the Astros.
AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (71-49) went 3-3 this week.
- Chase McDonald, DH: .267 BA (4-for-15), 2 R, 2B
- Mott Hyde, SS: .273 BA (3-for-11), R, 2B, 3 RBI
- Bobby Boyd, OF: .300 BA (3-for-10), 2 R, 3B, RBI
- Antonio Nunez, SS: .333 BA (3-for-9), R, 3 RBI
- James Ramsay, CF: .261 BA (6-for-23), 6 R, HR, 2 RBI
- Francis Martes, RHP: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
- David Paulino, RHP: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
- Trent Thornton, RHP: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
- Cy Sneed, RHP: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
- Kyle Smith, RHP: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
- Ryan Thompson, RHP: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Not much offense this week for the Hooks. Boyd was recently promoted from Lancaster and has already had an impact including scoring a game winning run a few nights ago. Not mentioned above but Laureano also had a homer this week. Nunez has been solid since leaving Quad Cities. He hit well in Lancaster and is hitting .324 in 12 games for Corpus.
Pitching once again was good. Martes with another stellar outing lowering his season ERA to 3.50 with 115 K in 108 innings. Paulino made his return to the Hooks rotation and picked up right where he left off. Seems he has been a bit overlooked this season but has a 1.83 ERA with 11 BB/72 K in 64 innings. Thornton has had a very solid season. He posted an ERA around 4 in the California League (which is respectable) and now has a 3.24 ERA with 3 BB/21 K in 25 innings. Corpus did get some nice relief outings from Smith and Thompson this week.
A+: Lancaster Jethawks (67-52) went 4-2 this week.
- Johnny Sewald, OF: .389 BA (7-for-18), R, 3 2B, RBI, SB
- Drew Ferguson, OF: .400 BA (8-for-20), 6 R, 2 2B, 7 RBI, SB
- Myles Straw, OF: .555 BA (5-for-9), 5 R, 2 2B, RBI
- Osvaldo Duarte, SS: .250 BA (7-for-28), 5 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI
- Bryan Muniz, 1B: .348 BA (8-for-23), 8 R, 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI
- Aaron Mizell, OF: .294 BA (5-for-17), 5 R, HR, 3 RBI
- Rogelio Armenteros, RHP: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
- Brock Dykxhoorn, RHP: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
- Joshua James, RHP: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
- Elieser Hernandez, RHP: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 9 K
- Ryan Deemes, RHP: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
- Ralph Garza, RHP: 4.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Sewald has been on fire recently. Since the California League All-Star game he is hitting .363 with 4 HR, 23 RBI in 48 games. Ferguson has been hot too hitting .400 with 2 HR, 14 RBI in 11 games in August. Duarte has had a nice start to his time with Lancaster hitting .282 in 20 games, though he striking out a bit too much. Muniz has been an RBI machine this season driving in 64 runs in 98 games. Straw only played in two games but continued his hot hitting.
Armenteros continues to lead the Astros minors in strikeouts with 127 in 105 innings. Martes is a close second. Really nice to see Dykxhoorn have a good start. He has struggled since April. Hernandez is getting a second chance with Lancaster and did well in his most recent start striking out 9 in 6 innings. Deemes and Garza were both solid in relief for the Jethawks this week.
A: Quad Cities Riverbandits (57-61) went 3-3 this week.
- Stephen Wrenn, OF: .320 BA (8-for-25), 7 R, 3 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 SB
- Randy Cesar, 3B: .250 BA (4-for-16), R, HR, 4 RBI
- Kyle Tucker, OF: .238 BA (5-for-21), 2 R, 3 RBI, SB
- Arturo Michelena, 2B: .333 BA (4-for-12), 4 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI
- Pat Porter, RF: ..636 BA (7-for-11), 3 R, 3B, HR, 4 RBI, SB
- Franklin Perez, RHP: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K
- Albert Abreu, RHP: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
- Hector Perez, RHP: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K
- Agapito Barrios, RHP: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
- Framber Valdez, LHP: 6.2 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
Wrenn put together a great week. Overall he is hitting .275 with 11 2B, 11 HR, 34 RBI, 11 SB in 52 games between Tr-City and Quad Cities. Tucker had a down week average wise but is still doing a good job being a run producer driving in 56 runs this season.
Perez has really been phenomenal for an 18 year old in full season ball. He now has a 2.83 ERA with 16 BB/72 K in 63.2 innings. Abreu has been very impressive as well. He has struck out 104 in 90 innings for Quad Cities. These two will be fun to watch as they progress. Hector Perez, another young pitcher (20), now has 27 K in 19 innings for the River Bandits.
LINE OF THE WEEK:
Franklin Perez, RHP, 08/14/16: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K (WIN)
Jon Kemmer, OF, 08/10/16: 3-for-4, R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB
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**Photo Credit: Ross Way Photography**
