Happy Birthday - 10/27

Happy Birthday to ~

C Carlos Perez (24)
Perez was one of the players obtained in the 10-player megatrade with the Blue Jays in July 2012. He spent the 2014 season with Oklahoma City, hitting .259/.323/.385 in 88 games. In 74 games behind the plate, he caught 32% of would-be base stealers.

One former Astro celebrates as well ~

LHP Eric Bell (51)
Originally drafted by the Orioles in the ninth round in 1982, Bell signed with Houston as a free agent in 1993. In 10 appearances for the Astros that year, he was 0-1 with a 6.14 ERA and a 1.636 WHIP.

2014 Grapefruit League Recap, Game 10

Houston Astros 4, Toronto Blue Jays 3

2014 Grapefruit League record: 4-6

W- Raúl Valdés (1-0)
L- Jeremy Jeffress (0-1)
S- Peter Moylan (1)

Astros home runs: Jason Castro (1, 2-run HR in 6th)

It took a while for both teams' offenses to get into gear, as this game was scoreless for 5 innings. Both teams put up a pair in the 6th, and after a lull in the 7th, the Blue Jays went ahead with 1 in the top of the 8th. The Astros responded with another pair in the bottom of the 8th to take the lead, and Peter Moylan shut the door for an Astros victory, which snapped a 5-game losing streak.

Starting Pitcher: Rudy Owens

Owens was shelled against the Mets in his first spring start, but this start was a complete 180 from that rough first outing. He did labor a little through the 1st with a 23-pitch inning, but settled down after that and finished with 3 strong, scoreless frames.

Final line: 3 IP, H, BB, 2 K

Bullpen

Matt Albers gave up 2 hits and struck out 1 in a scoreless 4th.

Kevin Chapman allowed a single to Kevin Pillar in the 5th, but nothing came of it. He struck out Ryan Goins for the first out of the inning.

The Blue Jays broke the scoreless tie on Anthony Bass in the 6th with an RBI double from Moises Sierra and an RBI single by Erik Kratz. Bass struck out 2 in the inning.

Jorge De Leon allowed a hit in a scoreless 7th.

Kratz hit an RBI double off Raúl Valdés in the 8th, which was upheld after a challenge from Bo Porter. Carlos Perez appeared to have tagged Steve Tolleson at the plate, but Tolleson's foot made it to home plate before Perez made contact with him.


After the Astros took the lead, Peter Moylan threw a 1-2-3 9th, getting 3 flyballs to end it.

Offense

Jason Castro immediately restored the tie with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 6th. He and Chris Carter had 2 hits apiece.



Adron Chambers got on board with a 2-out single in the 8th and came all the way around to score off Marwin Gonzalez's double to tie the game at 3.


Marwin would score the eventual winning run on a single from Carlos Perez.

Three Stars

3.

Peter Moylan, RHP

Save (1), IP

2.

Carlos Perez, C
1-1, GW RBI single in 8th

1.

Jason Castro, C
2-3, 2-R HR (1) in 6th

Next Up

Up next for the Astros is a home-and-away with the Nationals. The away portion is up first, as they'll travel to Viera. Lucas Harrell will make his 3rd start of the spring, and he'll be taking on Gio Gonzalez. First pitch for this game will be at 6:05 Eastern.

Happy Birthday - 10/27

Happy Birthday to ~

C Carlos Perez (23)
Perez was one of the players obtained in the 10-player megatrade with the Blue Jays in July 2012. He started his 2013 season with Corpus Christi, but was quickly promoted to Oklahoma City. In 91 games combined at the two venues, Perez hit .271/.332/.356 with 18 doubles, three home runs and 37 RBI. He caught 48% of all runners who attempted to steal on him during the season. He is currently playing winter ball in Venezuela for Caracas.

3B Darwin Rivera (22)
A non-drafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic, Rivera spent the 2013 season with the Greeneville club. In 40 games, he hit .211/.275/.303.

One former Astro celebrating a birthday today ~

LHP Eric Bell (50)
Originally drafted by the Orioles in the ninth round in 1982, Bell signed with Houston as a free agent in 1993. In 10 appearances for the Astros that year, he was 0-1 with a 6.14 ERA and a 1.636 WHIP.

Appy Astros - Catcher Development - Throwing Out More Runners

The other day I saw this tweet:

#qctimes @QCRiverBandits Roberto Pena throws out 3 LumberKings attempting to steal. He's denied 30 of 53. In '02 here, Joe Mauer 46-of-107
— Steve Batterson (@sbatt79) July 3, 2013

That is an impressive stat and puts him in impressive company.  It got me thinking about how well Roberto Pena has been throwing out runners this season and it made me curious about how much growth this showed. The growth with Pena was significant and I wondered if it was just him or were other catchers in the Astros organization showing similar growth. So I went back and looked across the system at each catcher who had caught in at least 20 games this season and compared their 2012 stolen base percentage (SB%) to their 2013 SB%. Click here to find out what I learned.

Roster Moves

HOUSTON
According to Brian McTaggart, RHP Jordan Lyles and LHP Dallas Keuchel are being assigned from Oklahoma City to Houston.

OKLAHOMA CITY
RHP Jason Stoffel assigned from Corpus Christi to Oklahoma City
C Carlos Perez assigned from Corpus Christi to Oklahoma City
OF Austin Wates activated from the DL

CORPUS CHRISTI
OF J.D. Martinez assigned to rehab at Corpus Christi
C Max Stassi assigned from Extended Spring Training to Corpus Christi
1B Zach Johnson assigned from Lancaster to Corpus Christi
1B Rafael Valenzuela released

QUAD CITIES
3B Rio Ruiz placed on the 7-day DL (reported to be a minor back/oblique injury)
IF Brian Blasik assigned from Extended Spring Training to Quad Cities

It's a part of the process, but it's never easy. Rafy Valenzuela is one of the good guys and he will truly be missed. Thanks for the hugs, Rafy, and good luck.

Astros Minor League Recaps

Friday's Games

Quad Cities River Bandits, Kane County Cougars

-Postponed. This game will be made up in a double-header on April 20th.

Bakersfield Blaze 9, Lancaster JetHawks 7

Seven runs wasn't enough for the JetHawks at home on Friday after giving up four-run fourth and fifth innings. David Rollins (2-1) started the game on the mound and ended up with his first loss of the season after pitching four and two thirds. During his shift, Rollins recorded eight runs on ten hits, one walk and four Ks. Tyson Perez came on in the sixth as the latter of the tandem and did his best to stop the offensive bleeding. In his four frames, Perez allowed one run on six hits and struck out one. Nolan Fontana was the big man at the plate for the JetHawks on Friday. Fontana went two-for-five with a run scored and hit a huge, three-RBI triple in the fourth inning. Zach Johnson hit his first homer of the season, a two-run shot that scored Andrew Aplin in the seventh inning. Johnson finished hitting at one-for-three with a run scored, those two RBIs, two walks and a strikeout.

Frisco RoughRiders 2, Corpus Christi Hooks 3

Bobby Doran (5IP 5H ER BB 6SO) and Nick Tropeano (4IP 5H R 4SO) combined their talents on the mound Friday for the win at home at Whataburger Field. The tandem allowed two runs (1 ER) on ten hits and struck out ten batters while walking just one. Doran improved to 2-0 after earning the win and Tropeano picked up save number two of the season. Michael Burgess put the Hooks on the board in first inning with what went down as a two-RBI double (Burgess was thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple) and finished the game at the plate one-for-four. George Springer hit two-for-four Friday with the Hooks' other RBI, a single in the third that scored Austin Wates. Wates also went two-for-four at the plate.

Round Rock Express 2, Oklahoma City RedHawks 5

The RedHawks closed out an eight-game homestand in style on Friday with this win. Jordan Lyles started the game on the mound for Oklahoma City and pitched four and two thirds, allowing one run on six hits and striking out one. C.J. Fick (1-0), who came on for the next one and a third, picked up his first win thanks to a three-run fifth by the RedHawks batters. Fick kept it hitless in his time on the hill, walked one and K-ed another. Josh Zeid picked up his first save after throwing the final one and a third. Zeid faced five batters, struck out three and walked one. The other batter Zeid faced grounded out for the last out of the game. At the plate, Trevor Crowe hit two-for-four with a two-RBI triple in the fifth inning and a swiped bag, safely extending his hitting streak to 13 games. Jonathan Villar was also on fire at the plate Friday, hitting two-for-four with a run scored, a double, a triple and an RBI. Mark Krauss (2x2 R 2B 2BB) and Robbie Grossman (2X5 R SO) also had multi-hit games. The RedHawks collected 11 hits on Friday and five of those were extra base hits.

Player of the Day: Carlos Perez, come on down. Perez hit one-for-four on Friday, collecting his fourth double, but that's not why he's here today. Perez also threw out THREE different players trying to steal against Corpus on Friday. That is heroic, that is herculean, that is, well, Carlos Perez on a Friday night.

Pitcher of the Day: The Bobby Doran and Nick Tropeano tandem gets to share the crown today. This duo was pretty impressive Friday, K-ing 10 guys and facing only 7 batters over the minimum. 

Astros Minor League Recaps

Saturday's Games

Peoria Chiefs 6, Quad Cities River Bandits 8

The River Bandits rallied from behind twice in the game Saturday to take the win at home in Modern Woodmen Park. Jordan Jankowski started the game on the rubber for Quad Cities and after a 1-2-3 first, he got into trouble in the second inning, allowing three runs on five hits in the inning. Jankowski settled down and went another inning and a third, giving up six hits all day, walking one and striking out a pair. Brian Holmes, who came on in the sixth to finish out the match, was charged with his first blown save after allowing three runs on two hits in the sixth (Holmes hit two batters and threw a wild pitch in the sixth to boot). Holmes settled down as well after the sixth frame and retired the final nine batters in order, striking out three overall. At the plate, Jesse Wierzbicki had a nice night, hitting a big, two RBI triple in the third and scoring a run. Wierzbicki has nine RBIs so far this season. Jordan Scott and Chris Perdomo both hit one for three with RBIs and runs scored. Perdomo's run scored added a little insurance and sealed the win in the eighth inning. Joe Sclafani hit two for four on Saturday with an RBI as well.  

Lancaster JetHawks 4, Modesto Nuts 6

Lancaster dropped their second game in row in Modesto on Saturday night. Mike Foltynewicz pitched the first five innings in shutout fashion, recording 1-2-3 innings in the first and second frames. Folty finished with five Ks and three hits allowed, but missed out on collecting what would have been his first win of the season when the JetHawks lost the lead in the seventh inning. Alex Gillingham, who came on for one and a third after Folty, picked up his first hold of the season and then the loss (1-1), allowing five runs on five hits and striking out one. Jonas Dufek was charged with the blown save, his first, after coming on with one out in the seventh. Dufek allowed one run on one hit, walked one and struck out one as well. The Lancaster bats were active on Saturday. Tyler Heineman hit two for three with an RBI, run scored and a walk. Heineman's RBI got Lancaster on the board in the second inning. Matt Duffy also had an active night at the dish, hitting two for three as well, with a double and a pair of RBI, his 10th and 11th of the season. Duffy was also hit by a pitch in the game and now has been hit five times so far this season. Delino DeShields and Zach Johnson both batted two for five in the game. Johnson scored a run and hit an RBI triple in the seventh.

Corpus Christi Hooks 3, Springfield Cardinals 2

Corpus Christi collected three runs on the road at Hammons Field for the second night in a row, except this time it came with a win too. Jake Buchanan earned his first win of the season Saturday (1-0) after getting off to a rough start and allowing two runs in the first inning. Those runs would turn out to be the only runs allowed all night by the Hooks and Buchanan settled down, tallying two Ks, a walk and 4 hits through the first five innings of work. Carlos Quevedo came on next for two and two thirds and picked up his first hold. Quevedo allowed two hits, a walk and struck out 4 in his time on the mound. Jason Stoffel came on to close out the game in the ninth and earned his third save, getting into a little trouble allowing two hits, but striking out one, the last batter of the game, for the win. Stoffel had help from the arm of catcher Carlos Perez, who gunned down a runner trying to steal second for the first out of the inning. Perez also had a good night offensively, hitting two for four with a double, a run scored and two RBI. Perez's double was the go ahead run in the sixth that sealed the deal for Corpus Christi. Domingo Santana hit two for four too on Saturday, scoring a run.

Memphis Redbirds 8, Oklahoma City RedHawks 7

Oklahoma City fell behind early at home on Saturday after giving up four—run innings in both the second and third innings. The RedHawks kept it scoreless after that and tried to mount a rally, ending up a couple runs shy of the win. Jose Cisnero took the loss (0-1) after a rough start, lasting two and two thirds, walking four, striking out two and giving up eight runs on seven hits. Kevin Chapman came on next and pitched through the fifth frame, striking out a pair and allowing just two hits. Rudy Owens took the mound to finish out the game in the sixth and allowed 3 hits, K—ing 7 batters during his shift. While Chapman and Owens worked on the mound, Brandon Laird and Marc Krauss were busy at the plate, both hitting HRs in the game. Laird went two for five, collecting a double as his other hit, scoring a run and recording 2 RBIs. Krauss ended up one for four after his two run shot in the eighth.  Jimmy Paredes got in on the action too, batting one for four, crossing the plate twice, with and RBI on a double in the three—run eighth inning.

Player of the Day: Carlos Perez takes the cake. Perez helped the Hooks win on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball—and I have to admit, watching a catcher gun down a guy at second never gets old. Good game, Perez.

Pitcher of the Day: This was hard, it was between Chapman/Owens and Folty. After much deliberation, two guys are getting the nod again today: Chapman and Owens. They combined for six and a third innings of shutout baseball, despite what the scoreboard said, and did everything in their power to keep Oklahoma City in the game. Owens K—ing 7 guys didn't hurt either. 

Looking at the Astros/Blue Jays July 2012 Trade

Going into July 20, 2012, the Toronto Blue Jays were 45-47. They were in 5th place in their division, 12 and a half games out. And then Astros GM Jeff Luhnow came in and robbed them blind. That day a 10-player trade went through sending RHP Brandon Lyon, RHP David Carpenter and LHP J.A. Happ to the Blue Jays in exchange for MLB OF Ben Francisco and RHP Francisco Cordero, and minor-leaguers RHP Asher Wojciechowski, C Carlos Perez, LHP David Rollins, RHP Joe Musgrove and RHP Kevin Comer as the player to be named later.

Toronto went 28-42 the rest of the season and ended in 4th place, 22 games behind in their division. Here's what they got:

Brandon Lyon (currently 33)
Lyon pitched 25 innings in 30 appearances for Toronto. He was 4-0 with a 2.88 ERA and a 1.120 WHIP. He became a free agent after the season and signed with the Mets on February 8th.

David Carpenter (currently 27)
Carpenter only pitched in three games at the MLB level for Toronto. In two and two-thirds innings, he had a 30.38 ERA and a 3.750 WHIP. In 16 minor-league appearances, he was 0-1 with a 3.57 ERA and a 1.245 WHIP. He was part of an October trade that brought 31-year old infielder Mike Aviles to Toronto from Boston. A month later, Carpenter was selected off waivers by Atlanta.

J.A. Happ (currently 30)
In ten starts for Toronto, Happ was 3-2 with a 4.69 ERA and a 1.289 WHIP. For his MLB career, he is now 35-35 with a 4.19 ERA and a 1.388 WHIP. He is still with the Blue Jays.

Net for the Blue Jays: A 30-year old LHP (Happ) and a 31-year old infielder (Aviles)

Here is what the Astros got in the trade:

Francisco Cordero (currently 37)
Cordero was released by the Astros on September 10th after going 0-3 with a 19.80 ERA and a 3.400 WHIP in six games (five innings).

Ben Francisco (currently 31)
Francisco played in 31 games for the Astros, hitting .247/.289/.365 before being traded to Tampa Bay on August 31st for a player to be named later. The player turned out to be Theron Geith, a 23-year old lefty relief pitcher who had a 2.98 ERA and a 1.086 WHIP in 31 appearances in High A.

Asher Wojciechowski (currently 24)
A first round draft pick in 2010, Wojciechowski was ranked #14 in the organization in the recent Baseball America Prospect Handbook and #15 by Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. In eight starts for AA Corpus Christi after the trade, he was 2-2 with a 2.06 ERA and a 1.008 WHIP.

Carlos Perez (currently 22)
Perez's rankings are a mixed bag. Baseball America has him at #27, Mayo at #20, but Fan Graphs liked him enough to rank him #9. In 26 games after the trade, Perez hit .318/.368/.409 at High A Lancaster and boasted a 47% caught stealing percentage.

David Rollins (currently 23)
Rollins was 1-3 with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.161 WHIP in six starts at Low A Lexington after the trade. For the season, he was 7-4 with a 2.98 ERA and a 1.252 WHIP in 24 starts.

Joe Musgrove (currently 20)
A 2011 first round pick, Musgrove is currently ranked by Jonathan Mayo at #19 in the Astros system. Musgrove was coming off an arm injury in 2012 and only pitched 17 innings with a 4.24 ERA and a 1.353 WHIP for the season in the Rookie Appalachian League.

Kevin Comer (currently 20)
Comer was also a first round pick by the Blue Jays in 2011, but signed late and did not play until 2012. Comer was 3-4 with a 4.56 ERA and a 1.277 WHIP in 12 appearances (eight starts) for the season, playing in the Rookie Appalachian League. He is currently ranked by Jonathan Mayo at #17 in the Astros system.

Net for the Astros: A 24-year old AA RHP (Wojciechowski), a 23-year old High A lefty reliever (Geith), a 23-year old Low A lefty starter (Rollins), a 22-year old High A catcher (Perez), and two 20-year old rookie league first round RHP's (Musgrove and Comer). Four of the six are ranked in the Astros top 20 by Jonathan Mayo. In Luhnow we trust.

Tomorrow I'll be posting more on this topic over at The Futurists blog, including thoughts from Jonathan Mayo. [UPDATED with the link to the second post.]

Astros Minor League Depth - Catcher

As Spring Training approaches, I've been looking at the Astros minor league depth, position by position.  Today, we look at the catchers in the organization who had the best seasons in 2012.

Carlos Perez and Roberto Pena

Lancaster - August 2012

Photo by Jayne Hansen

The embedded chart shows catchers in the organization ranked from high to low in terms of OBP. I have noted their current age and the last level at which they played.

One thing strikes me immediately when looking at this list -- youth. Except for Ben Heath and Chris Wallace who are each 24 years old, the rest of these players range from 20 to 22.

Tyler Heineman leads the list in his first year with the organization. The 2012 eighth round draft pick also leads this list in batting average and OPS. He was the New York-Penn League batting champion for 2012 as well. But Heineman isn't just a good hitter. He's also a great defensive catcher and had one of the top caught stealing percentages in the Astros minor league system at 41%. M. P. Cokinos would certainly have gotten much more attention for his offensive output had he not been playing alongside Heineman.

Another catcher who has everyone excited since he came into the system as a part of the 10-player Houston-Toronto trade in July is Carlos Perez. Much like Heineman, he looks to be the complete package offensively and defensively and boasted a 47% caught stealing rate at Lancaster (34% overall).

Also relatively new to the organization is Jobduan Morales who came to the Astros organization in the Justin Ruggiano trade with Miami. Morales' bat was valuable enough that he frequently appeared as a DH when he wasn't used behind the dish. That was true of his winter season in Puerto Rico as well.

Max Stassi just came in to the Astros organization this week as a part of the Jed Lowrie/Fernando Rodriguez trade with Oakland. He ranks in the middle of the pack with his on-base skills. It is his power potential that sets him apart from the rest of the group as he hit 18 doubles and 15 home runs on the way to a .468 slugging percentage. In 2012, he had a 24% caught stealing rate.

There are a couple players on this list whose playing time was very limited and many might question their inclusion. Luis Alvarez didn't see a great deal of playing time during the season, but put up some very good numbers. He followed up with an outstanding winter season with the Liga Paralela in Venezuela. That is enough to keep me interested in Alvarez. Pedro Coa was one of the few offensive bright spots on the DSL team in 2012. That, coupled with a 60% caught stealing rate, has me looking forward to seeing what he will do in 2013.

Heath and Rene Garcia were both having good years when injuries shortened their seasons. Roberto Pena was promoted to Lancaster largely due to injuries putting a strain on the catching staff throughout the system. Pena is widely regarded as a premium defensive catcher, but he struggled offensively after the promotion. I think the 20-year old will start to catch up with the more advanced pitching in the coming season if he is given regular playing time.

Chris Wallace had an uneven season offensively, but overall hit extremely well in the second half of the season. What he needs to focus on most, though, are base runners. He only managed a 12% caught stealing rate in 2012.

Ernesto Genoves' offensive output fell off from the prior season, but reports (from Appy Astros) are that he became much more solid defensively. I'm still intrigued by Genoves' potential, but he is going to have to show me that he is capable of getting to the next level developmentally in the coming season.

Tuesday: Lefty Starters
Wednesday: Lefty Relievers

Astros Winter League Cumulative Stats - Position Players

The regular seasons are over for all of the winter season leagues except for the Australian Baseball League so let's take a look at how your Astros did. On Monday, we looked at the pitchers. Today, let's look at the position players. There were several outstanding performances.

OF George Springer (Arizona Fall League)
Springer had a particularly good fall campaign. In 21 games, he hit .286/.412/.600 with four doubles, three triples, four home runs and five stolen bases. His OPS was fourth in the league and his SLG was third in the league. He was the only Astros winter league player with an OPS over 1.000.

SS Jio Mier (Arizona Fall League)
Jio Mier was designated as a taxi squad player (only intended to play twice a week), but ended up working his way into regular playing time later in the season and played some third base as well as shortstop. In 17 games, he hit .297/.333/.422 with eight doubles. This was particularly good to see since Jio missed a large chunk of the season due to injury. Also, it's harder to discount Jio's good stats at Lancaster this season when he was able to repeat good numbers against some of the best players in the minor leagues.

2B Jose Altuve (Venezuelan Winter League)
BREAKING NEWS!!! Jose Altuve can hit. What else is new? .336/.406/.441 with 10 doubles, a triple, a home run and eight stolen bases in 35 games sounds about right.

2B Enrique "Kiké" Hernandez (Puerto Rican Winter League)
I was very pleased to see Kiké build on his 2012 comeback season. In 39 games in the regular LBPRC season, he hit .320/.379/.469 with 12 doubles, two triples, two home runs and four stolen bases. He was sixth in the league in BA, 13th in OBP, eighth in SLG and fifth in OPS. Watch out Altuve, Kiké is catching up to you (and he's just as big a hit with the fans!). Although he primarily played second base, he also played several games at third.

OF Brandon Barnes (Venezuelan Winter League)
And speaking of fan favorites, Brandon Barnes quickly wowed the LVBP fans with his style of play. Brandon only played in 28 games and was back in the States in time to spend Thanksgiving with his wife and daughter, but the Caracas crowd had already adopted him as one of their own. He hit .292/.353/.491 with three doubles, three triples and four home runs.

Others of Note
2B Jose Martinez hit a healthy .287/.358/.401 with seven doubles and four home runs in 46 games and ranked in the top 20 in BA and OBP in the LVBP. C Carlos Corporan hit .293/.377/.466 with four doubles and two home runs in 23 games in the Puerto Rican Winter League regular season. C Carlos Perez hit a more than respectable .324/.398/.500 with 13 doubles and two home runs in 32 games in the Liga Paralela. And last, but certainly not least, C Luis Alavarez not only hit a robust .340/.398/.474 in 28 games in the Liga Paralela, he also went 6-for-7 with two home runs, five RBI and three runs scored in the playoffs as his Magallanes team won the Liga Paralela crown.

Here are the full regular season stats for all Astros position players participating in winter league play.

Happy Birthday - 10/27

C Carlos Perez (22)
Perez was one of the players obtained in the 10-player megatrade with the Blue Jays in July 2012. In 26 games for Lancaster, following the trade, he hit .318/.368/.409 and boasted a 47% caught stealing rate. His combined batting line for the season was .285/.360/.438.

3B Darwin Rivera (21)
A non-drafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic, Rivera first played for the DSL Astros in 2010 in only one game.  In 2011, he played in 12 games for DSL before getting promoted to Greeneville where he finished out the season. He spent this season with the GCL Astros with terrific results as he batted .310/.373/.440.

One former Astro with a birthday today ~

LHP Eric Bell (49)
Originally drafted by the Orioles in the ninth round in 1982, Bell signed with Houston as a free agent in 1993. In 10 appearances for the Astros that year, he was 0-1 with a 6.14 ERA and a 1.636 WHIP.

Minor League Recaps

Wednesday's Games

DSL Astros over DSL Cardinals 6-5
Finally, I'm not dreading writing a DSL write-up! The lead changed back and forth a bit and there were still a couple of unearned runs, but Johan Arias had an effective six inning outing and recorded eight strikeouts and, other than allowing an inherited runner to score, Javier Saucedo pitched three good innings for the win. And the offense managed to get eight hits. Yes, they were all singles, but baby steps, you know. Jarico Reynoso was two-for-three with an RBI.

GCL Marlins over GCL Astros 3-2
Lance McCullers got the start and pitched three strong scoreless innings with one hit, one walk and three strikeouts and Brandon Culbreth scattered one hit and three walks over his four innings of work. Juan Mojica ended up with a blown save and a loss in his two-thirds of an inning as he gave up the three Marlin runs. Newcomer Gera Sanchez recorded the final out. Carlos Correa recorded his second home run in as many days as he went two-for-four. Wallace Gonzalez hit a solo shot as well.

Greeneville - Off Day

Hudson Valley over Tri-City 10-9 in 12 innings
Vincent Velasquez got the start and went five innings giving up three runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts before giving way to Travis Ballew (two runs in two innings). Tri-City was up 9-5 going into the eighth inning and appeared to have things well in hand until Brad Propst ran into trouble and suddenly the game was tied. Blake Ford pitched 3.2 scoreless innings and Kenny Long was pegged with his first loss of the season after giving up one run in the 12th. Austin Elkins hit his third home run of the season as he went two-for-five and scored two runs; Jesse Wierzbicki was two-for-six with three RBI and stole his ninth and tenth bags of the season; Tyler Heineman was three-for-six with a double and two RBI; and Joe Sclafani was two-for-five with a walk, an RBI and scored three times.

Lexington over Augusta 9-5
This was a huge win for Lexington. Their sixth win in a row put the Legends in a three-way tie for second place in the division in the second half standings. Juri Perez got his second win of the season, allowing three runs on five hits and four walks with four strikeouts in five innings of work. Tommy Shirley (one run in three innings) and Nate Pettus (one run in one inning) kept things in check in the later innings. The offense scored nine runs on only nine hits, all singles. How did that happen? 11 free passes from Augusta, including two bases loaded walks. Luis Alvarez also took one for the team with a bases loaded hit by pitch. Matt Duffy was three-for-five and scored a run; Nolan Fontana was hitless but drew three walks (including one of the bases loaded walks), stole a base and scored three times; Luis Alvarez was two-for-three with three RBI; and Zach Johnson, Mike Kvasnicka and Jordan Scott each had multiple walk nights.

Lancaster over Lake Elsinore 3-0 in 10 innings
At long last, the Lake Elsinore curse is over. After a dozen futile attempts to beat Lake Elsinore on their home turf, Lancaster's lucky number proved to be 13. It was only fitting that it would take extra innings to do it. David Martinez (7IP 7H 0BB 4SO), Jose Trinidad (1.1IP 1H 2BB 1SO) and Andrew Robinson (1.2IP 1H 0BB 5SO) combined on the shutout with a lot of help from Carlos Perez and his three caught stealings and one pickoff. Trinidad made it a little too interesting in the bottom of the ninth, but Robinson came in to get the final two outs in a bases loaded situation. A leadoff double by Jonathan Meyer, a single from Kike Hernandez, an Alex Todd two-run triple and a Grant Hogue sac fly gave Lancaster a 3-0 lead in the top of the tenth. In the bottom of the frame, Robinson allowed a triple but sandwiched that triple with three strikeouts to earn his second win in relief.

San Antonio over Corpus Christi 5-1
At the other end of the spectrum, you have a team that only scored one run on ten hits. Aaarggghhh. Rob Rasmussen allowed three runs on five hits and four walks with two strikeouts in four innings to go to 1-2 since joining the Hooks. Henry Villar allowed two additional runs in his two innings of work before giving way to Arcenio Leon for two perfect innings. Despite threatening a couple of times, the Hooks could never quite break through at the plate. A Drew Locke sac fly accounted for the only Corpus run. Jake Goebbert was three-for-four with a double. Drew Locke and Jose Martinez each had a pair of hits as well.

Oklahoma City over Iowa 10-8
Starter Brett Oberholtzer allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and one walk with five strikeouts over seven innings to earn his fourth win since joining the Redhawks rotation. Mickey Storey pitched an effective eighth inning, but Jake Buchanan in his first appearance with the Redhawks and his first relief appearance of his professional career did not fare well as he allowed four runs in the top of the ninth on five singles while recording only two outs. Jose Valdez came in for the final out to earn his 14th save of the season. Chris Wallace was three-for-four with three RBI and scored two runs; Brandon Barnes was two-for-five with a double and three RBI; and Fernando Martinez was two-for-five with a double and two RBI.

Pitcher of the Day: Andrew Robinson gets all my love today for his huge role in helping to end the Lake Elsinore curse.

Players of the Day: Carlos Perez (or at least his arm) is one of my honorees. Three arrested baserunners and a pickoff? Yeah, I can live with that. My other honoree is Brandon Barnes, not just for his three RBI night, but for his body of work this season. He is now hitting .331/.389/.535 for the season and .413/.471/.696 over his last 10 games.

Roster Moves

Oklahoma City
C Chris Wallace was assigned from Corpus Christi to Oklahoma City
SS Angel Sanchez was activated from the TI list.
C Jay Fernandez was placed on the 7 day DL.
LHP Dallas Keuchel will be assigned to Houston effective 7/21.

Corpus Christi
RHP Asher Wojciechowski was assigned to Corpus Christi.
C Ben Heath was assigned from Lancaster to Corpus Christi.

Lancaster
C Carlos Perez was assigned to Lancaster.
UPDATED TO ADD: RHP Kirk Clark was released from the Astros.
RHP R.J. Alaniz was activated from the DL.

Lexington
LHP David Rollins was assigned to Lexington.

Greeneville
RHP Joe Musgrove was assigned to Greenevile.

Mega Trade

The Astros traded LHP J.A. Happ, RHP Brandon Lyon and RHP David Carpenter to Toronto for major leaguers RHP Francisco Cordero, OF Ben Francisco, minor league players RHP Joseph Musgrove, LHP David Rollins, C Carlos Perez, RHP Asher Wojciechowski and a PTBNL. Click on the name to see the players stats page. For the full story, see the Houston Chronicle article here.

Three of the four named minor league players were listed in Jonathan Mayo's Top 20 prospect list for the Blue Jays coming in to the 2012 season.

8th - C Carlos Perez was described as a very good defensive catcher (34% caught stealing coming in to the 2012 season) that has some ability with the bat. Baseball America had him at 14th and agreed that, even though he had an off-season in 2011, he has the ability to swing the bat well.

10th - RHP Asher Wojciechowski could be a workhorse starter if he can find consistency with his fastball. He has a plus fastball, above average slider and has a changeup that needs work. Baseball America also ranked him 10th and also cited the need to find consistency with his fastball and repeat his mechanics but thought he had the potential of a #2 starter.

11th - RHP Joe Musgrove is a hard thrower with good sink. He has a pretty good breaking ball and has used a splitter in the past. According to Baseball America who had him ranked 20th, his fastball has a very good combination of velocity and life and he has been known to hit 98.

UPDATED TO ADD: Jonathan Mayo just posted his take on these prospects and included some information on LHP David Rollins here.