Astros Minor League Pitchers and Players of the Month for April

Trying to narrow down my list of nominees for Pitchers and Players of the Month for April had to be one of the hardest things I've done lately. So many players got off to a terrific start! First, let's look at the Position Players:

Gregorio Petit (OKC)
.327/.360/.485
10-2B 2HR 12RBI 1SB 2CS 7BB 20SO

Ronny Torreyes (OKC)
.313/.353/.427
6-2B 1-3B 1HR 14 RBI 0SB 1CS 4BB 4SO

Domingo Santana (OKC)
.292/.342/.481
9-2B 1-3B 3HR 20RBI 0SB 1CS 8BB 34SO
3 outfield assists

Max Stassi (OKC)
.278/323/.522
7-2B 5HR 19RBI 0SB 0CS 6BB 20SO

Enrique Hernandez (OKC/CC)
.297/.340/.440
7-2B 2HR 12RBI 1SB 1CS 6BB 7SO

Andrew Aplin (CC)
.289/.426/.356
3-2B 1HR 17RBI 4SB 4CS 22BB 15SO
1 outfield assist

Preston Tucker (CC)
.295/.357/.552
9-2B 6HR 17RBI 1SB 2CS 8BB 16SO
2 outfield assists

Carlos Perdomo (LAN)
.392/.433/.549
1-2B 2-3B 1HR 7RBI 3SB 1CS 5BB 6SO

Tony Kemp (LAN)
.311/.416/.495
7-2B 3-3B 2HR 13RBI 10SB 4CS 15BB 12SO

Rio Ruiz (LAN)
.294/.354/.402
8-2B 1HR 13RBI 1SB 0CS 10BB 26SO

Chan Moon (QC)
.324/.383/.419
3-2B 2-3B 4RBI 7SB 2CS 7BB 14SO

Conrad Gregor (QC)
.313/.430/.398
7-2B 11RBI 0SB 0CS 15BB 18SO

Brett Phillips (QC)
.301/.394/.446
3-3B 2HR 13RBI 2SB 6CS 14BB 17SO
2 outfield assists

Our winner will probably not come as a huge surprise ...

Jon Singleton (OKC)
.293/.398/.646
6-2B 1-3B 9HR 27RBI 0SB 1CS 18BB 31SO

APRIL PLAYER OF THE MONTH: 1B JON SINGLETON

Jon Singleton - March 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

As a reminder, Players of the Week for April were:

Austin Elkins
Teoscar Hernandez
Jon Singleton
Leo Heras

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Next up, we look at Starting (Tandem) Pitchers who had good starts. The talent in Lancaster alone is nothing short of phenomenal. When you look at their numbers, keep in mind that they are pitching in an extremely hitter-friendly environment and the average ERA there has hovered around 5.00 the last couple of years.

Nick Tropeano (OKC)
6 Games/3 Starts    23IP    1-1 record
2.74 ERA/1.174 WHIP   9BB:14SO

In addition, Rudy Owens had a 0.951 WHIP and 2BB:26SO for Oklahoma City, and David Martinez had a 1.167 WHIP.

Luis Cruz (CC)
6 Games/4 Starts   26.2IP   2-2 record
1.69 ERA/0.975 WHIP    6BB:20SO

Brady Rodgers (CC)
6 Games/4 Starts    28IP   1-2 record w/1 save
2.25 ERA/1.179 WHIP   4BB:22SO

Also, Aaron West had a 1.103 WHIP for April for Corpus Christi.

Lance McCullers (LAN)
7 Games/4 Starts   28.2IP   1-1 record w/2 saves
2.51 ERA/1.151 WHIP   12BB:33SO

Kyle Smith (LAN)
7 Games/3 Starts   27.2IP   4-0 record
2.60 ERA/1.084 WHIP  12BB:31SO
(Smith was just promoted to Corpus Christi)

Kyle Westwood (LAN)
7 Games/4 Starts   31IP   1-2 record w/2 saves
2.90 ERA/1.032 WHIP  8BB:16SO

Josh Hader (LAN)
7 Games/4 Starts   27.2IP   1-0 record w/1 save
2.93 ERA/1.048 WHIP  10BB:36SO

Vincent Velasquez (LAN)
6 Games/3 Starts    23IP   4-0 record
3.13 ERA/1.000 WHIP   8BB:26SO

In addition, Chris Devenski had a 1.151 WHIP and 4BB:18SO in April for Lancaster.

Kent Emanuel (QC)
6 Games/4 Starts   22IP   0-2 record
2.45 ERA/1.091 WHIP    4BB:17SO
(Emanuel was just promoted to Lancaster)

Gonzalo Sanudo (QC)
5 Games/2 Starts   18IP   3-0 record
0.50 ERA/0.778 WHIP  2BB:14SO

Although Gonzalo Sanudo's numbers are incredible, our winner has similar results over a greater number of innings.

Tommy Shirley (CC)
6 Games/4 Starts   28.1IP   2-2 record w/1 save
1.27 ERA/0.776 WHIP    4BB:34SO

APRIL STARTING (TANDEM) PITCHER OF THE MONTH:  LHP TOMMY SHIRLEY

Tommy Shirley - April 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

As a reminder, the Starting Pitchers of the Week for April were:

Kent Emanuel
Vince Velasquez/David Martinez
Aaron West
Tommy Shirley

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Now for our Relief Pitchers:

Andrew Robinson (CC)
8 Games    11.2IP    1 save
0.77 ERA/1.200 WHIP   3BB:13SO
12 inherited runners/5 scored

Travis Ballew (CC)
8 Games   9.2IP    2 saves
0.93 ERA/1.345 WHIP  5BB:5SO
4 inherited runners/2 scored

Alex Sogard (CC)
8 Games   13IP   1 save
2.08 ERA/1.077 WHIP   6BB:4SO
5 inherited runners/0 scored

Also, Patrick  Urckfitz had a very nice 1.059 WHIP in his 5.2 innings for Corpus Christi.

Jamaine Cotton (LAN)
7 Games   5.2IP   3 saves
0.00 ERA/1.412 WHIP   3BB:3SO
7 inherited runners/4 scored
(Cotton finally gave up his first earned run 5/1)

Patrick Christensen (QC)
8 Games    8.1IP
1.12 ERA/0.875 WHIP   2BB:9SO
9 inherited runners/3 scored

Zach Morton (QC)
8 Games  14.1IP
1.88 ERA/1.186 WHIP   6BB:10SO
5 inherited runners/1 scored

And our winner has definitely had an excellent run:

Tyler Brunnemann (QC)
7 Games    14.1IP
0.61 ERA/0.614 WHIP   2BB:14SO
8 inherited runners/2 scored

APRIL RELIEF PITCHER OF THE MONTH: RHP TYLER BRUNNEMANN

Tyler Brunnemann

From MiLB.com

As a reminder, the Relief Pitchers of the Week for April were:

Josh Zeid
Jason Stoffel
Tyler Brunnemann
Alex Sogard

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I want to address one final category. I've tried to figure out a way to acknowledge the contributions of catchers in the system. Since catchers seldom play in as many games as other position players, it seems unfair to judge their offensive contributions against those other positions. At the same time, defense is such a huge component of catching, you can't simply ignore that aspect. The best way I can think of to recognize our catchers is to honor offensive and defensive contributions separately. With that said ....

APRIL DEFENSIVE CATCHER OF THE MONTH:  ROBERTO PENA

In his 20 games in April, Pena caught a whopping 68% of all runners attempting to steal. He had a .995 fielding percentage and a 9.40 range factor. Pena was behind the dish in 12 of Lancaster's 16 wins in April.

Roberto Pena - March 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

APRIL OFFENSIVE CATCHER OF THE MONTH: JOBDUAN MORALES

Morales only played in 13 games in April, but put up quite an impressive batting line - .378/.463/.578 with six doubles, one home run and 10 RBI. He also managed a very respectable caught stealing rate of 32%.

Jobduan Morales - April 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen