Tri-City ValleyCats Season Recap

In my ongoing season reviews of the various Astros minor league teams, today we'll look at the Tri-City ValleyCats.

The team finished with a 48-28 record (.632 win percentage), won their division and advanced to the New York-Penn League Finals where they fell 2-1 to State College. As a team they ranked within the league as follows:

Tri-City Team Batting
.262 BA - 3rd out of 14 teams
.341 OBP - 2nd
.388 SLG - 2nd

They also led the league in walks and placed second in doubles and home runs.

Tri-City Team Pitching
3.42 ERA - 5th
1.225 WHIP - 5th
628 SO - 4th
205 BB - 10th

Below I am indicating the player's current age as well as information as to how many years the player has been playing. Any players who were promoted to Quad Cities or above prior to the end of the season will be addressed in the season recap for that team.

Although this team did lose some excellent bats to promotion (A.J. Reed, J.D. Davis, Ryan Bottger), there were still a number of very good offensive players who remained.

CATCHERS

Jamie Ritchie - 21; 1st season
The 13th round 2014 draft pick only appeared in 27 of his 47 games as catcher as he was often used as the DH. Ritchie put up a .331/.455/.465 batting line and collected 12 doubles, two triples, a home run and 24 RBI, but it was his 29 walks to 26 strikeouts that really stood out. He was somewhat above average defensively, but will need to improve on the 24% caught stealing rate to fit in with some of the best rates in the system.

Alfredo Gonzalez - 22; 5th (in system since 2009, but did not play in 2010)
Gonzalez, on the other hand, had a very good year defensively overall and threw out 45% of would-be base stealers in his 44 games behind the dish. In a total of 46 games, he hit .246/.348/.369, walked 15 times while striking out 24 times, and had five stolen bases (and was caught stealing five times as well). In August, Gonzalez hit .271/.386/.438.

INFIELDERS

3B Nick Tanielu - 22; 1st season
Tanielu, the 14th round draft pick in 2014, had an excellent debut season. In 62 games, he hit .300/.353/.425 with 16 doubles, two triples, three home runs and a team-leading 40 RBI. On paper, his defense skews slightly below average.

SS Mott Hyde - 22; 1st season
The 26th round draft pick from 2014 had a solid freshman season, both defensively and offensively. In 70 games, he hit .254/.331/.389 with 18 doubles, three triples, three home runs and 31 RBI.

2B Alex Hernandez - 22; 1st season
Hernandez may not have had the most impressive batting line out of the group of 2014 draftees who played on the Tri-City team with his .210/.337/.278 line over 56 games, but the 40th round pick showed very good plate discipline (27 walks to 33 strikeouts) and plus defensive abilities.

1B/C Ricky Gingras - 23; 3rd season
Gingras was drafted by Houston in the 18th round in 2012 as a catcher, but in his third season, he spent more of his time at first base than behind the plate, and he excelled defensively in his new role. The lefty hit .252/.309/.361 with seven doubles and three home runs in 46 games.

IF Kristian Trompiz - 18; 2nd season (1st in U.S.)
Trompiz played in 19 games with the Gulf Coast League, 30 with Greeneville and ended up at Tri-City for the final three regular season games. Over those three venues, the young Venezuelan hit .285/.360/.400 with 16 doubles, a home run and 22 RBI. His defense shows some promise, but is currently a work in progress.

IF Juan Santana - 20; 4th season
The Dominican-born Santana split his season between Greeneville (21 games) and Tri-City (27 games), hitting .302/.330/.402 with 12 doubles and two home runs. In being converted from playing solely at second base, he has had some defensive struggles at the other positions. Santana last played on August 24th and it is my understanding that off-field issues ended his season early.

OUTFIELDERS

Derek Fisher - 21; 1st season
The first round 2014 draft pick had a very nice season at the plate, as the lefty hit .303/.378/.408 with four doubles, three triples, two home runs and 18 RBI in 42 games. He also had very good success on the base paths as he stole 17 bases while getting caught only four times. His defensive numbers skew above average. In the post-season, Fisher hit .375/.474/.625 in five games.

Jason Martin - 19; 2nd season
Martin, the 8th round 2013 draft pick, also had success in the post-season as the lefty hit .353/.421/.412 in five games. He split his regular season between Greeneville and Tri-City, hitting .274/.363/.414 in his 42 games at Greeneville prior to his promotion. For the season, Martin hit .257/.338/.384 with 14 doubles, seven triples, a home run and 23 RBI in 63 games. He walked 31 times while striking out 43 times and stole 13 bases and was caught stealing nine times. Martin has shown plus defensive abilities.

Terrell Joyce - 22; 3nd season
After a sub-par season at the plate in 2013, Joyce rebounded and put up some excellent power numbers in 2014. The 12th round 2012 draft pick hit .231/.309/.495 with 13 doubles, one triple, 11 home runs and 32 RBI in 53 games. In August, he hit .256/.365/.610. Defensively, he is difficult to characterize as his defensive numbers are a bit of a mixed bag.

LEFTY PITCHERS

Bryan Radziewski - 22; 1st season
The Astros ninth round pick in 2014, Radziewski had a 2-0 record with one save, a 3.04 ERA and a 1.162 WHIP in 15 appearances (one start). He walked 13 batters and struck out 29 in 26.2 innings. He did not allow a run in his final six appearances.

Zach Davis - 22; 1st season
Davis, the 25th round 2014 draft pick, did not fare nearly so well after his promotion to Tri-City as he did prior to the move. In 13 bullpen appearances in Greeneville, he had a 2-0 record with four saves, a 2.04 ERA and a 1.132 WHIP. He finished the season with a 3.98 ERA and a 1.377 WHIP in 20.1 innings. He walked only six batters and struck out 26.

Junior Garcia - 18; 2nd season (1st in U.S.)
Garcia spent the majority of his season with the Gulf Coast League Astros and only appeared with Tri-City at the end of the season, pitching two almost perfect innings. In a total of 13 games (eight starts), Garcia had a 2.89 ERA and a 1.534 WHIP. That WHIP is admittedly on the high side, but since Garcia will only be turning 19 on October 1st, he may be an interesting player to watch if he can start missing a few more bats. In 43.2 innings, he walked 19 batters and struck out 28. He is from the Dominican Republic.

RIGHT-HANDED PITCHERS

Joe Musgrove - 21; 4th season
Musgrove, a Blue Jays first round pick who came to the Astros system in the July 2012 mega-trade with that team, had a breakout season this year showing what he can do when completely healthy. In 15 games (13 starts), he was 7-1 with a 2.81 ERA and a 0.961 WHIP. In 77 innings of work, he walked 10 batters while striking out 67. In the post-season, he was 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA and a 0.769 WHIP in two starts (nine hits, one walk and 15 strikeouts in 13 innings). Musgrove was just named a Short Season A All-Star by Baseball America today.

Austin Chrismon - 21; 2nd season
The 26th round 2013 draft pick had a solid season at Tri-City. In his 16 games (13 starts), he was 6-3 with a 3.69 ERA and a 1.171 WHIP, walking 15 batters and striking out 49 over 68.1 innings.

Robert Kahana - 21; 1st season
Kahana split his season between Greeneville and Tri-City and ended with a combined 3.58 ERA and a 1.212 WHIP in 14 games (eight starts). He walked 12 batters and struck out 37 in 50.1 innings of work.

Francis Ramirez - 22; 6th season
Ramirez had a solid, if unremarkable season, in 2014 (3.62 ERA and 1.329 WHIP), but ended it on a high note with a 1.74 ERA and a 1.065 WHIP in his final six appearances (three starts) in August.

There were several strong relievers from the 2014 draft class as well. In particular, Derick Velazquez (20; 7th round) had an excellent inaugural season: 2-1 with 4 saves, a 1.57 ERA and a 0.870 WHIP in 18 appearances. He walked two while striking out 24 in 23 innings. Also, Ryan Thompson (22; 23rd round) had a great season, converting 12 saves in 23 appearances and ending with a 2.96 ERA and a 1.274 WHIP. Brandon McNitt (22; 27th round) did have three starts, but was more effective in his nine relief outings, putting up a 1.25 ERA and a 0.877 WHIP.

Vince Wheeland (22; 24th round) had a tough start to his season, but finished it off well with a 1.15 ERA and a 0.833 WHIP in his final five appearances in August. Daniel Mengden (21; 4th round) didn't see a lot of action between the GCL and Tri-City, but his one walk to 17 strikeouts over 11 innings was impressive.

Angel Heredia, 22, is in his third season as a pitcher and split his season between Greeneville and Tri-City, with a 2.08 ERA and a 1.096 WHIP in 20 appearances. And last, but not least, Chris Munnelly, 23, in his second season with the organization, went 2-0 with 4 saves, a 3.38 ERA and a 1.200 WHIP in 15 bullpen appearances. He walked 8 batters and struck out 31 in 26.2 innings.

[UPDATE] I'm not sure how I managed to do this, but I inadvertently left off 2014 NDFA Aaron Vaughn, 22, who had a terrific first pro season out of the bullpen. In 22 appearances combined between the GCL (7 games), Quad Cities (1 game) and Tri-City (14 games), Vaughn had a 1.69 ERA and a 0.938 WHIP. He walked six batters and struck out 23 in 26.2 innings of work.

Next up will be the Quad Cities team.

Earlier season reviews ~
Dominican Summer League offensive standouts
Dominican Summer League Pitching Standouts
Gulf Coast League Astros
Rookie League Greeneville Astros