Astros Future Player of the Week: Rogelio Armenteros
It is kind of hard to believe that we are heading into the homestretch of the minor league baseball season. Some of the Astros teams are battling for a postseason birth, while others have kind of fallen off a bit. Taking advantage of every opportunity is Fresno Grizzlies pitcher Rogelio Armenteros. Even though his start came at the beginning of the week and resulted in a no-decision, Armenteros has been named Astros Future Player of the Week. Fresno sits two games behind the Reno Aces for first in the Pacific Coast League Pacific North Division.
Another week goes by and another week I say “The Houston Astros Strike Gold” in reference to international signings. Houston signed Armenteros in September of 2014 out of Cuba when he was 20-years old. Since then he has flown through the system making his way to Triple-A this season. Prior to his promotion in the beginning of July, Rogelio held a 2-3 record with an ERA of 1.93 with the Corpus Christi Hooks. When he arrived in Fresno he rattled off five wins in a row before taking his first loss on August 5th against the Iowa Cubs. In his start this week, Armenteros went seven solid innings giving up just one hit and adding seven strikeouts. He left with the lead but the bullpen couldn’t hold on for him.
Overall with Fresno Arementeros is 6-1 with an ERA of 2.38. He has made eight starts in Triple-A and has recorded 60 strikeouts in 45.1 innings. With September call-ups right around the corner, it would be great to see the Astros giving him a shot at the major league level. He certainly deserves the opportunity but time will tell if the organization feels the same way.
Congratulations to Rogelio Armenteros for being named Astros Future Player of the Week for the week of August 18th to August 24th.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
It was a .500 week overall for the Astros farm system. Quad Cities River Bandits and Tri-City ValleyCats lead the way with 5-2 and 4-2 records respectively. Buies Creek limped to a 1-5 finish with Corpus Christi continuing to struggle going 2-3 this week.
Staying with the theme of pitchers, Salvador Montano of Quad Cities had a nice week making two appearances for the River Bandits. In his 4.2 innings of work, he allowed just two hits while striking out nine and picking up a win. Armenteros’ teammate David Martinez picked up a win this week going seven innings, allowing one run on two hits, with 10 strikeouts. A pair of ValleyCats had notable weeks on the mound. Leovanny Rodriguez made two appearances striking out 12 in nine innings of work. Matt Ruppenthal picked up a win in his three innings of work as the ValleyCats look to continue their move up in the standings.
Randy Cesar went 7-for-23 (.304) scoring five runs, two doubles, two home runs, and four RBI for the Buies Creek Astros this week. Ramon Laureano and Ryne Birk combined for six home runs (three each) and 14 RBI for Corpus Christi. Tyler White hit three home runs for Fresno driving in 10, while teammate Tony Kemp added twelve more hits from the lead off spot scoring seven times. Tri-City ValleyCats player Bryan De La Cruz went 10-for-24 with four runs, two doubles, a home run, and five RBI.
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**Photo Credit: Kiel Maddox/Fresno Grizzlies**
