Oklahoma City Season Preview and Opening Day Roster

Pitching, pitching, pitching. That's what stands out on the opening day roster of the Oklahoma City RedHawks team. It will be an adjustment for the pitchers and an adjustment for minor league aficionados as the starting pitchers piggyback for the early part of the season, but it is a reflection of the increasing depth of the Astros minor league system.

Last season, the collective ERA for the RedHawks team was 4.89 and the WHIP was 1.508. Eight out of the nine pitchers on this year's roster who got starts at AAA last season had a lower ERA and seven out of the nine had a lower WHIP. Those nine had a collective 46-34 record at AAA.

John Ely, who went 14-7 in the Dodgers system in 2012, may regress somewhat, but everyone else looks to either hold steady or improve. Dallas Keuchel and Jordan Lyles should dominate back in AAA. Brett Oberholtzer spent significant time at AAA last year and was stronger toward the end of the season, so look for his numbers to improve. Rudy Owens should remain effective in his third season at AAA. Jarred Cosart and Jose Cisnero both spent limited time at AAA last season and should benefit from more time at the level. I look for Cisnero to make large strides toward the end of the season and for Cosart to be Cosart. It is doubtful that Wes Musick will be used as a starter unless someone stumbles, but he had success in his limited time as a starter at Oklahoma City in 2012.

That leaves us with Paul Clemens. Clemens put up an 8-8 record at Oklahoma City in 2012 with a 6.73 ERA and a 1.741 WHIP before ending the season back at Corpus Christi. He will either improve on those numbers or he will end up in the bullpen, which may end up being a very good thing based on his dazzling work out of the bullpen during Spring Training.

As to the bullpen, C.J. Fick and Jose Valdez both have significant experience at AAA and some MLB experience as well. Valdez was highly effective at AAA last season but for a stretch during which he was injured. Josh Zeid and Kevin Chapman will be getting their first taste of AAA and will likely have to adjust somewhat, but having the experience of pitching successfully in the very tough Texas League should help to ease that transition.

The 2012 RedHawks team had a collective batting average of .282/.349/.434. I don't look for this team to do that well, at least not initially. Jimmy Paredes, Trevor Crowe, Brandon Laird and Jake Elmore will likely be the best overall hitters to start the season. The collective catching staff will likely hit around .250/.330/.370 or so, and Che-Hsuan Lin has only hit .256/.347/.344 in his six minor league seasons.

The keys to the offense are two-fold. First, Marc Krauss, Jose Martinez and Jake Goebbert will all need to catch up to the AAA level. Each of those players struggled somewhat in limited time at Oklahoma City last season. If they can recreate their success at the lower levels, it will go a long way toward shoring up the offense. Secondly, this year will be the first taste of AAA for Robbie Grossman and Jonathan Villar and there is no way of knowing how they will handle that challenge. I'm not counting on Jon Singleton's contributions as I don't think he will spend much time at Oklahoma City after his suspension ends; I expect him to be fast-tracked to Houston shortly thereafter.

It is very difficult to predict any minor league team's season, but it is most difficult to predict AAA as the opening day roster and closing day roster will look very, very different. Several of these players could end the season in Houston. Some may be traded or released. However, with that said, I'm game to make a prediction.

Last season, the RedHawks ended the year with a 78-65 record in 143 games or a .545 win percentage. I think that the 2013 team will win fewer games with their bats, but the pitching depth will more than make up for that so I predict the team will improve on that record. Let's say somewhere between 82-62 and 85-59 and playoff bound.

This is the opening day roster as we know it today. I will update it with any changes that may be made before Thursday's opening game which will be on the road vs. Memphis. The schedule can be found here and all games will be available on MiLB.tv.

PITCHERS

Kevin Chapman*

Jose Cisnero

Paul Clemens

Jarred Cosart

John Ely

C.J. Fick

Dallas Keuchel*

Jordan Lyles

Wes Musick*

Brett Oberholtzer*

Rudy Owens*

Jose Valdez

Josh Zeid

CATCHERS

Cody Clark

Jason Jaramillo#

Chris Wallace

INFIELDERS

Jake Elmore

Marc Krauss*

Brandon Laird

Jose Martinez

Jonathan Villar#

OUTFIELDERS

Trevor Crowe#

Jake Goebbert*

Robbie Grossman#

Che-Hsuan Lin

Jimmy Paredes#

* - denotes left-hander

# - denotes switch-hitter

Next Up: Season Preview for Corpus Christi (tomorrow or whenever I get it written)