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?
Jacob Melton – Melton got off to a slow start but has picked things up in May, especially over the last week. The 22-year-old hit .400 with 2 HR, 4 RBI and 4 SB. He has a .824 OPS this season.
Zach Dezenzo – Dezenzo has been great all year and this week was no different. The right-hander hit .526 (10-for-19) in five games and is hitting 388 overall.
Korey Lee – Lee makes another appearance here with a strong week. The catcher hit .318 with 2 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 2 SB in 6 games. He has a 1.181 OPS in May so far.
Grae Kessinger – Kessinger is also a repeat here after hitting .350 with 2 2B, 2 RBI this week. Overall he is hitting .322 with a .917 OPS in 37 games.
Sugar Land Space Cowboys
The Space Cowboys had a really good week going 5-1 which puts them at 17-21 on the season. This pitching staff had a couple solid performances. Forrest Whitley went 4 innings allowing a run and striking out 4 in his start. Jayden Murray leads the team in strikeouts with 33. Cesar Gomez has been dominant in relief tossing 6.2 scoreless for Sugar Land so far. The team has an overall ERA of 6.29.
The offense had some timely performances too. Lee led the way hitting .318 with 3 XBH and 3 RBI. He has been red hot in May. Justin Dirden had another driving in runs and now has 6 HR, 22 RBI in 25 games this season. Grae Kessinger had another strong week and now is slashing .317/.436/.472 this season. Overall the team has a .795 OPS. The Space Cowboys are back in action tonight at 7:05 CT.
Corpus Christi Hooks
The Hooks struggled this week going 2-5, putting them at 13-20 on the season. Spencer Arrighetti had a dominant outing though tossing 7 scoreless innings with 9 strikeouts in a 1-0 win Colton Gordon continues to rack up the strikeouts with 36 K in 28.1 innings. Rhett Kouba also had a solid outing allowing 2 runs over 6.1 innings with 3 strikeouts. Peyton Plumlee also had a goos start allowing 1 run over 5 innings. Overall the team has a 5.30 ERA.
The offense struggled in the series. Drew Gilbert had a couple doubles, as did Shay Whitcomb. Whitcomb in HR with 8 and RBI with 27. Loperfido is still holding strong with a 1.008 OPS in 19 Double-A games. Colin Barber is hitting .292 with a .907 OPS this season. Overall, the team has a .736 OPS. The Hooks are back at it today at 6:35 CT.
Asheville Tourists
Asheville was solid this week going 3-3 which puts them at 12-19 so far this season. Edinson Batista had the best pitching performance striking out 6 over 5 scoreless innings. A.J. Blubaugh leads the team with 29 K in 23 innings. Ryan Gusto was also solid and has allowed 1 earned run over each of his last three outings. Ronny Garcia has been great in relief with a 1.08 ERA in 8.1 innings. Overall the staff has an ERA of 6.22.
It was a down week for the offense, outside of a few. Jacob Melton had a nice week hitting .400 with 2 HR, 4 SB. He has 5 HR, 12 SB this season. Zach Dezenzo continued to crush batting .526 this week. Tim Borden is hitting .301 this season. The overall OPS is at .746. The Tourists start a new series today at 5:05 PM CT.
Fayetteville Woodpeckers
The Woodpeckers had a rough week going 1-5 and putting them at 13-19 this season. Trey Drombroski continues to rack up the strikeouts and now has 39 in 26 innings. Nolan DeVos has 35 K in 23 innings with a 2.35 ERA this season. Mancini had another strong outing with 4 scoreless innings and has 6 BB/33 K in 24.2 innings. Jose Fleury had a strong outing as well and has a 3.28 ERA this season. The staff ERA overall is 4.25.
It was a rough week for the offense as the Woodpeckers saw their OPS drop from .731 with .687 overall. Zach Cole leads the team with 23 RBI and 11 SB in 26 games. Ricardo Balogh has been great hitting .356 with .952 OPS in 17 games. Narbe Cruz and Sandro Gaston both lead the team with 7 doubles each. The Woodpeckers are back tonight at it at 5:00 CT.
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