Astros Minor League Notes: Week Seven

Another week of baseball is in the books. Let’s look at some news and notes. I will start with a few players who have been hot in the Astros system!

Who’s hot?

Enmanuel Valdez – Valdez is following up a really good 2021 season with an even better 2022 campaign. The left hitter had another great week hitting .370 with 3 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI in 6 games. He has been the best offensive player in the system this year hitting .339 and leading the system in RBI with 29 in 33 games.

Justin Dirden – Dirden was a relative unknown going into the 2021 season but he put himself on the map posting a .934 OPS with 15 HR last season. He is now on the list again posting another good week where he hit .360 with 3 HR, 12 RBI. On the season he has a .936 OPS and leads the system in doubles with 15. Read more here.

J.C. Correa – Correa is also a repeat on the “who’s hot” list this week. After hitting .474 last week, he followed that up with a .368 average (7-for-19) with a homer and 6 RBI. Over the last two weeks he has brought his BA up rom .215 to .282 and OPS from .620 to .750.

Kenedy Corona – Corona came over in the Marisnick trade to the Mets. The right hander had a monster week hitting .400 with 2 3B, 3 HR, 8 RBI in just 5 games for the Woodpeckers. He is trending in the right direction right now with the power and the patience at the plate.

Miguel Palma – Palma is a 20 year catching prospect who had a solid week for the Woodpeckers. Palma hit .389 in 5 games but also drove in 5 runs. Overall this season he is hitting just .221 but has a very respectful 19 BB/25 K ratio in 30 games. A little higher BABIP and he will continue to trend up.

Victor Mascai– Mascai is a very intriguing prospect. The 21 year old boasts good power from the left side and its starting to show in games. This week he hit .375 with 4 2B, 1 HR and 6 2B, 3 HR over his last 19 games. He also backs that up with a very good 17.2 BB%.

Sugar Land Space Cowboys

The Space Cowboys had a rough week going 1-5, putting them at 16-26 overall this season. They still had a few good outings, with Hunter Brown leading the way. The righty tossed 4 perfect innings in relief with 5 strikeouts. He has a 2.43 ERA with 46 K in 33.1 innings. The bullpen has been solid with Parker Mushinski posting a 0.00 ERA and Paredes posting a 0.56 ERA with 22 K in 16 innings. Brandon Bielak has also pitching well posting a 2.12 ERA 29.2 innings this season. Overall the team has a 4.30 ERA.

The offense struggled some this week too. Overall, J.J. Matijevic has been the best performer on offense, though he ended up on the IL. David Hensley has the second best OPS on the team with .878 in 39 games. Pedro Leon has really shown some flashes with 13 2B, 7 HR, 10 RBI in 37 games. Corey Julks and Lewis Brinson have both found their power recently with 7 HR and 6 HR, respectively. The Space Cowboys are back in action tonight at 7:35 CT.

Corpus Christi Hooks

The Hooks had a decent week going 3-3 and putting them at 15-24 this season. The pitching got a couple solid performances this week. Misael Tamarez struck out 7 over 5.1 innings. he has a 3.00 ERA with 31 K in 27 innings. Jimmy Endersby continues to be solid with another good outing this week. He has a 2.41 ERA in 33.2 innings this season. Jaime Melendez leads the team in strikeouts with 32 in 24.2 innings but has 25 walks. Matt Ruppenthal has been solid on relief and has 29 K in 20 innings this season. The staff has a 6.40 ERA overall.

On offense, the Hooks did have some good games. Enmanuel Valdez continued his hot start to the season hitting .370 with 3 HR, 8 RBI this week. Overall he is hitting .339 with 29 RBI. Yainer Diaz continues to hit for average and is batting .310 in 36 games. Justin Dirden has been awesome this season and this week was no different hitting .360 with 3 HR, 12 RBI. Overall he has a .936 OPS in 35 games. Abreu (35 walks) and Adolph 30 walks) have both showed improved patience. Luke Berryhill has 28 RBI in 33 games. The Hooks are back at it today at 6:35 CT.

Asheville Tourists

Asheville followed up a strong week last week going 3-3 this time putting them at 14-24 overall. The pitching struggled a bit but the guys are still racking up strikeouts. Chayce McDermott leads the team with 45 strikeouts in 32 innings. Spencer Arrighetti is right behind him with 45 K in 32.1 innings. Aaron Brown had a solid outing allowing 2 runs over 5 innings this week. The staff has a 6.71 ERA this season.

The offense picked up the slack this past week. J.C. Correa continues to hit batting .368 this week and putting his season BA at .282. Michael Sandle had some good games and is hitting .284 with 12 2B, 6 HR in 34 games. Zach Daniels hit a couple homers this week and has 6 on the season. Nerio Rodriguez leads the team in OPS with a .967 OPS in 31 games. Will Wagner continues to boast good walk numbers with 28 walks and a .425 OBP. The Tourists start a new series today at 6:00 PM CT.

Fayetteville Woodpeckers

The Woodpeckers were awesome this week going 6-0 and putting them at 18-21 overall record. They had some stellar pitching performances too. Bryant Salgado went 4 innings striking out 6. He has 33 K in 29.2 innings. Carlos Calderon had the best outing of the week striking out 8 over 5 scoreless innings. He has 41 K in 31.1 innings. Alex Santos had another good outing striking out 6 over 4 innings without allowing an earned run. Rhett Kouba made his season debut and tossed 3.1 scoreless innings. The staff dropped their ERA from 4.59 ERA to 4.42 this week.

The offense had a really good week, as you can tell from above. Kenedy Corona went off hitting .400 with 3 HR, 8 RBI in 5 games. Victor Mascai hit .375 this week giving him a 809 OPS this season. Freddy Guilamo, Leosdany Molina both had some good games. Quincy Hamilton and Joey Loperfido have been steady hitting .291 and .293, respectively. Tyler Whitaker got it going too hitting 2 homers this week. The Woodpeckers are back tonight at it at 6:00 CT.