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?
Colin Barber – Barber was the Astros 4th round pick in 2019. He missed the 2020 season with the pandemic and then missed most of last year with an injury. This year he has turned it on and got hot this week hitting .524 with 5 HR, 9 RBI in 6 games. Overall her is hitting .328 with a .956 OPS.
Yainer Diaz – Diaz has had an under the radar really good start to the season. The 23 year old catcher is hitting .322 with 4 HR, 41 RBI in 47 games for the Hooks. He has proven that his hit tool is legit and has hit .327 in 282 minor league games.
Zach Daniels – Daniels, the Astros 4th round pick in 2020, got off to a slow start this season. This week he got things going though hitting .474 with a HR and 7 RBI. He is hitting .222 overall but things are tending in the right direction for him.
Logan Cerny – Cerny got off to a blazing start and after cooling down a bit, he was back at it this week. The righty showed off all his tools hitting .409 with 2 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI and 4 SB. Overall this year he has a .736 OPS with 17 XBH and 16 SB in 45 games.
Enmanuel Valdez – Valdez just hasn’t slowed down all the season. The lefty hitter batted .353 with 2 HR, 5 RBI this week. Overall this season he is slashing .357/.463/.649 with 27 XBH and 45 RBI in 44 games in Double-A.
Justin Dirden – Dirden has been swinging it well consistently this season. This week Dirden hit .350 with 4 RBI. In 46 games for the Hooks this year, Dirden is hitting .305 with a .906 OPS, 18 2B, 6 HR, and 38 RBI.
PROMOTIONS
Enmanuel Valdez to AAA
Jordan Brewer to AA
Will Wagner to AA
Rhett Kouba to A+
Sugar Land Space Cowboys
The Space Cowboys were solid going 3-3, putting them at 21-33 overall this season. The pitching was solid this week with J.P. France turning in a nice outing striking out 8 over 5.2 innings. The bullpen has been great though. Enoli Paredes continues to pitch well striking out 33 in 22 innings with a 0.41 ERA. Ronel Blanco and Parker Mushinski have been good in relief as well. Hunter Brown leads the team in strikeouts with 60 in 44 innings. Overall the team has a 4.93 ERA.
The offense had a few good performances. J.J. Matijevic had 2 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI. He has a .916 OPS this season. David Hensley hit .350 with 5 RBI in 5 games this week, including a walk-off RBI single. Corey Julks continued his hot hitting connecting on 3 HR this week, giving him a team leading 13 HR on the season. Overall the team has a .751 OPS. The Space Cowboys are back in action tonight at 7:05 CT.
Corpus Christi Hooks
The Hooks were solid this week going 4-2, putting them at 22-29 this season. The staff got a few good performances. Misael Tamarez struck out 10 over 5.2 innings. He has a 3.79 ERA this season. Endersby was solid again allowing 2 runs over 5.2 innings. Adrian Chaidez also had a good outing allowing 1 run in 4 innings. Devin Conn, Matt Ruppenthal and Joe Record all have been good in relief. The staff went from a 6.71 ERA down to a 6.17 ERA.
The offense has been the bright spot and this week was no different. Valdez, as mentioned above, had a down week by his standards hitting .353 with 2 HR, 5 RBI. He is hitting .357 with 26 XBHs this season. Luke Berryhill continued his on base streak which now stands at 40 games. He has a .405 OBP this season. Yainer Diaz hit .409 with 7 RBI and is now hitting .322 with 41 RBI this season. Justin Dirden was great again batting .350 with 4 RBI. He has a .906 OPS overall. Wilyer Abreu hit .348 with 9 walks this week. He has a .431 OBP this season. The Hooks are back at it today at 6:35 CT.
Asheville Tourists
Asheville was solid this week 3-3 again putting them at 20-30 overall. They got some good pitching led by Spencer Arrighetti who struck out 10 over 5 innings while allowing 2 runs. He has 63 K in 42.1 innings. Ernesto Jaquez had a solid outing allowing 2 runs over 5 innings. Aaron Brown went 6 innings allowing 2 runs in his one start this week. Overall the ERA went from 6.25 to 6.57 this week.
The offense had another solid week though. Colin Barber led the charge hitting .524 with 5 HR, 9 RBI in 6 games. Quincy Hamilton hit .364 with 2 2B, 4 SB. J.C. Correa continued his torrid hitting batting .389 this week. Correa is hitting .433 over his last 16 games. Zach Daniels had a breakout week hitting .474 with 7 RBI. The team has an overall OPS of .767 this season. The Tourists start a new series today at 6:05 PM CT.
Fayetteville Woodpeckers
The Woodpeckers played well this week going 4-2 putting them at 23-28 overall. The pitching was great. 20 year old Alex Santos went 5 innings allowing 1 run. He has a 3.96 ERA with 47 K in 38.2 innings. Bryant Salgado was great again striking out 7 over 5 scoreless innings. Miguel Ullola struck out 6 over 4 no-hit innings. He has a 2.55 ERA. Kouba had two outings and in the first one struck out 8 over 4 scoreless innings. Edinson Batista was solid too and has a 3.31 ERA. The staff ERA is 4.30.
Kenedy Corona had another good week hitting .333 with 2 2B, HR, 4 RBI. He has a .857 OPS this season. Logan Cerny had a big week hitting .409 with 2 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 4 SB. He has a .736 OPS overall. Rainier Rivas made his full season debut and had 2 HR in 5 games. Justin Williams returned off the IL and went 5-for-6 in 2 games. The Woodpeckers are back tonight at it at 6:05 CT.
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