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 and then look at some season numbers.
Who’s hot?
Justin Dirden – Another week, another list with Dirden on it. In five games this week for the Hooks, Dirden hit .333 with 5 XBH (2 2B, 3B, 2 HR) and a 1.343 OPS. Overall this year he has 32 2B, 20 HR and a 1.027 OPS. This production got him promoted to Triple-A.
Luis Santana – Santana has quietly put together a solid season and this week he was great. In 6 games, he connected on 2 2B and 4 solo HRs. Overall this season he has a .789 OPS with 14 2B, 9 HR, 9 SB in 76 games for Asheville.
Lewis Brinson – Once a former top prospect, Brinson has had a good season for Sugar Land. This week he hit .444 with 3 2B. Overall he has hit .285 with a .879 OPS in Triple-A. He will probably get another ML chance somewhere.
Cesar Salazar – Salazar put together a strong week for the Hooks hitting .444 in 5 games with 2 2B, HR and 3 BB/2 SO. This season for the Double-A Hooks he has hit .309 with a .867 OPS including 24 XBHs.
Kenedy Corona – Another guy who has experienced a breakout season, Corona had a really good week hitting .474 with 2 2B, 3B and 3 SB. Corona is slashing .278/.369/.491 with 14 2B, 14 HR, and 20 SB between Single-A and High-A.
Promotions
Justin Dirden to AAA
Quincy Hamilton to AA
Justin Williams to A+
More #Astros draft picks assigned to Single-A Fayetteville:
Drew Gilbert – 1st round
Zach Cole – 10th round
Zach Dezezno – 12th round
Jackson Loftin – 13th round
Tommy Sacco – 14th round
Garrett McGowan – 17th round
Ryan Wrobleski – 20th round@WoodpeckersNC #LevelUp— Astros Future (@AstrosFuture) August 8, 2022
Sugar Land Space Cowboys
The Space Cowboys went 5-1 this week against the Express. Hunter Brown continues to dominate and struck out 9 over 5.1 innings this week. He has 115 K in 85.2 innings with a 2.52 ERA this season. J.P. France has turned things around and has a 4.35 ERA with 111 K in 89 innings. Peter Solomon has pitched well over the last month and brought home pitcher of the month honors in the PCL with a 2.30 ERA. Nick Hernandez has been dominant in relief with 53 K in 42.2 innings. Overall the team has a 5.95 ERA.
David Hensley continues to get on base at a great clip with a .285 BA and .403 OBP. He has 67 walks in 94 games this season. Corey Julks leads the team with 22 HR. Pedro Leon leads the team in stolen bases with 32 but was hit in the face this week by a pitch and should be out a week or two. Yainer Diaz is up to 10 HR in just 23 Triple-A games. They will get some help soon too with Dirden getting promoted. Overall the team has a .774 OPS.
Corpus Christi Hooks
The Corpus Christi Hooks 4-2 this week. Adrian Chaidez had a strong week tossing 9 scoreless innings over two outings. He has a 4.17 ERA with 87 K in 82 innings this season. Misael Tamarez tossed 5 scoreless innings this week. He is second on the Hooks in strikeouts with 92 in 83.2 innings. Jaime Melendez leads the team in strikeouts with 102 K in 72 innings. The staff ERA is down to 5.47 this season.
The offense had a good week. Edwin Diaz connected on 3 solo HRs. As mentioned above, Justin Dirden had another good week en route to a promotion. Cesar Salazar and Bryan Arias both had good weeks hitting over .400 with 2 2B and a 3B each. Grae Kessinger and C.J. Stubbs connected on two homers each. The team has a .775 OPS overall.
Asheville Tourists
Asheville went 5-1 this week. Cesar Gomez tossed 5 scoreless innings in his one outing this week. Aaron Brown has led the way on the staff and allowed 2 runs over 11 innings this week. He leads the team with 87 innings. Ernesto Jaquez tossed 4 scoreless innings in his one start. Jacob Coats and Jose Betances were both great out of the pen this week as well. The overall ERA is 6.66 this season.
Prior to his promotion, Quincy Hamilton hit .462 with 2B, HR, 3 RBI. He has put together a great year. Luis Santana connected on 2 2B and 4 solo HRs in 6 games this week. Corona had a big week hitting .474. Miguel Palma has hit really well since the promotion to High-A and hit .375 this week in four games. The offense overall has a .792 OPS.
Fayetteville Woodpeckers
The Woodpeckers went 4-2 this week. Edinson Batista has been really good this year and this week tossed 4 scoreless innings in his one outing. Valente Bellozo is working his way back and allowed 1 run over 4 innings this week. He has a 1.98 ERA this season. Kasey Ford picked up 5 K in 4 innings and has 41 K in 31 innings this season. The team ERA is 4.38 overall.
The offense had some good performance. Collin Price hit .400 in his first week of pro ball. Leosdany Molina, who is phenomenal defensively, hit .412 in 5 games. Tyler Whitaker has seen some struggles but this week he had 2 HR and 8 RBI in 6 games. Logan Cerny only played in two games but had a HR and went 3-for-6. Jose Alvarez hit .333 with 2 2B, 3B, 4 RBI in 6 games. Overall the team has a .672 OPS this season.
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