Another week of minor league 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 numbers for each team.
Who’s hot?
Joey Loperfido – Loperfido has started out the season on fire. After a solid first week, he exploded this week hitting .455 with 2 3B, 4 HR, 8 RBI and 4 SB. Three of those homers came after his promoted to Double-A.
Drew Gilbert – Gilbert has already shown his talent this year and put together a strong week hitting .400 with 4 2B, 1 HR and 2 SB. Overall this year he is hitting .356 through 11 games in High-A.
Zach Dezenzo – Dezenzo’s carrying ability was going to be his bat and he had an impressive week hitting .364 with 4 doubles. He is hitting .324 through the first 10 games of the season.
Ryan Wrobleski – Wrobleski got a quick promotion to High-A and had a monster week connecting on a homer, two doubles and driving in 8 runs in just 5 games in High-A. He has 11 RBI this season.
Collin Price – Price also had a great week for Asheville. The right-hander hit .350 with 4 2B and 5 RBI in 6 games. He also drew 5 walks giving him 9 on the season in just 11 games.
Sugar Land Space Cowboys
The Space Cowboys had a tough week going 2-4 which puts them at 7-13 on the season. The pitching had some good performances though with J.P. France leading the way as he tossed 5 scoreless innings with 6 strikeouts. Brandon Bielak and Shawn Dubin both had outings where they allowed 1 run over 5 innings. Enoli Paredes has a 0.00 ERA on the season in 7.1 innings. France leads the team with strikeouts at 20. Overall the team has a 4.90 ERA.
The offense has struggled again this last week. Pedro Leon had a couple big hits but is hitting just .257 this season. Grae Kessinger has a .803 OPS and J.J. Matijevic has a .954 OPS in 11 games. Overall the team has a .684 OPS. The Space Cowboys are back in action tonight at 8:05 CT.
Corpus Christi Hooks
The Hooks had a rough week going just 1-4 as they are 4-10 on the season. They did get a few good outings though. Blair Henley tossed 5 scoreless innings with 6 strikeouts. Aaron Brown went 5 innings allowing 1 run. Rhett Kouba tossed 4 scoreless with 6 strikeouts. Angel Macuare leads the staff with 17 K in 12.1 innings. The staff ERA sits at 5.75.
While the offense as a whole strugglked, they had a few standouts. Loperfido had a big week hitting .455 with 4 HR, including three in Double-A. Kenedy Corona was promoted this week and homered in his first two games. Shay Whitcomb had 2 HR, 4 RBI and leads the team and the system with 5 HR, 14 BRI this season. Quincy Hamilton is hitting .302 with 6 doubles so far. Overall, the team has a .807 OPS. The Hooks are back at it today at 11:00 CT.
Asheville Tourists
Asheville had a down week going 2-4 which puts them at 5-8 so far this season. The pitching struggled this week. Valente Bellozo had a strong outing allowing 2 runs over 5 innings with 6 strikeouts. Edinson Batista went 4 innings allowing 1 run. A.J. Blubaugh had a good outing too allowing 2 runs over 5 innings. Brayan De Paula leads the team with 16 K. Overall the staff has an ERA of 6.23.
As you can tell from the top, the offense was solid this week. Drew Gilbert hit .400 with 4 XBHs. Zach Dezenzo had a strong week as well hitting .364. They also got some reinforcements with Ryan Wrobleski and Kobe Kato this week. Tim Borden leads the team in HR (3) and RBI (9). The overall OPS is at .765. The Tourists start a new series today at 6:05 PM CT.
Fayetteville Woodpeckers
The Woodpeckers also had a down week going 2-4 and putting them at 8-6 this season. They did get some strong pitching though. Tyler Guilfoil pitched in two games and tossed 9 scoreless innings. Michael Knorr struck out 9 over 4 scoreless and Andrew Taylor struck out 11 over 4 innings, in the same game. Trey Dombroski also had a dominant performance striking out 8 over 4.2 scoreless innings. Dombroski and Nolan DeVos lead the team with 18 K. The staff ERA is 3.41.
The offense had a down week overall. Ryan Clifford has continued to hit and is hitting .333 with a .508 OBP this season. Whitaker is off to a good start hitting .319 with 9 RBI in 12 games. Narbe Cruz hit .353 with 3 2B, 3 RBI this week. The overall OPS for the team is .780. The Woodpeckers are back tonight at it at 5:05 CT.
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