Official Retirements

As I reported earlier, 2009 2nd round draft pick RHP Tanner Bushue retired at the end of the season. The transaction was finally made official. In addition, it was reported that OF D'Andre Toney has also retired. Toney had struggled this season at Tri-City before being suspended 50 games for testing positive for the use of amphetamines. Toney, a 14th round pick for Kansas City in 2011, came into the Houston system (as the PTBNL) along with LHP Kevin Chapman in the March 2012 trade that sent OF Jason Bourgeois and C Humberto Quintero to Kansas City.

Astros Minor League Recaps

Wednesday's Games

New Orleans over Oklahoma City 4-3
A pitchers' duel through six, Oklahoma City took a 3-0 lead in the seventh which it held until Zephyrs' Catcher Kyle Skipworth, a career minor league .215 hitter (hitting .161 this season), hit a walk-off grand slam in the ninth off Jose Valdez. Thus ended a shutout thrown by Philip Humber (5IP 3H 3BB 6SO), Kevin Chapman (1IP 1H 2SO) and Jason Stoffel (2IP 2H 3SO). The RedHawks were held to six hits, with an RBI double from Che-Hsuan Lin being the only extra base hit. Jonathan Villar was two-for-four with a walk and Jon Singleton was hitless with three strikeouts.

Corpus Christi over San Antonio 4-2
Mike Foltynewicz pitched four and a third innings and allowed two runs on an Eddy Rodriguez home run, one of only five hits given up. He walked one and struck out eight. Kenny Long got the second out of the fifth before giving way to David Martinez (4.1IP 3H 2SO) who cruised to his tenth win of the season. The Hooks only managed to get five hits so they had to make them count. The Hooks took the lead early with a two-run home run from Domingo Santana in the first, two runs which were quickly answered in the second by the Missions. The final two runs came across in the seventh inning on a Rene Garcia RBI single and a fielding error.

Lancaster - Day Off

Quad Cities - Day Off

Tri-City over Vermont 8-2
Michael Feliz dealt five strong innings allowing one run on only one hit and three walks while striking out nine and was followed by three innings from Andrew Walter (3H 1R 3SO) and a scoreless frame from Christian Garcia. D'Andre Toney (2x3 2R) had the big four RBI night, including a three run home run and Mike Martinez was three-for-four and scored two runs. Tony Kemp went one-for-four with a walk, RBI and stolen base, and Dan Gulbransen went two-for-three with an RBI and scored a run.

DSL Astros over DSL Mariners 6-2 in 17 innings
Six Astros pitchers combined in this one with Elieser Hernandez (5IP 3H 1R/0ER 3BB 3SO) and Angel Heredia (4.1IP 2H 1R 3BB 6SO 1HR) giving up the only two runs and Victor Mesa getting the win in extras. The Astros did this the hard way. They didn't tie it up until the top of the ninth when Victor Tavarez hit a two-run home run. Fast forward to the top of the 17th and a four spot by the Astros sealed the deal. Hector Roa was four-for-eight with a double; Jean Estrella went three-for-seven and scored a run; and Luis Payano drove in two and stole a base.

Player of the Day: D'Andre Toney earns his first WTHB honors of the season for his four RBI night. Honorable mention goes to Hector Roa who went four-for-eight with a double for the DSL. He is hitting .275 with a .500 slugging percentage over his last eight games.

Pitcher of the Day: Michael Feliz intrigued us last season with his dominance in the GCL. The 6'4" 210# 19-year old seems to be carrying that forward. Despite a bit of wildness in the second inning which allowed one run to score, Feliz was otherwise dominant again last night with nine strikeouts.

Happy Birthday - 1/24

Happy Birthday to ~

CF Javaris Reynolds (20)
Drafted by the Astros out of high school in 2011 in the seventh round, Reynolds played in only 11 games for the GCL Astros in 2012, hitting .214/.333/.214. He last played on July 13th but was never placed on the DL.

2B Jose Martinez (27)
Signed as a minor league free agent in 2012, Martinez split his time between Corpus Christi (.304/.362/.464 with 21 doubles, four triples and 13 home runs in 107 games) and Oklahoma City (.205/.272/.260 with two doubles and a triple in 23 games). He played in Venezuela this winter, hitting .287/.358/.401 in 46 games.

D'Andre Toney (21)
Toney was the PTBNL in the trade that sent Humberto Quintero and Jason Bourgeois to the Royals. Originally drafted by Kansas City in the 14th round in 2011, Toney played in 59 games for the Greeneville Astros, hitting .252/.351/.326.

RHP Juan Hernandez (20)
Signed as an amateur free agent from the Dominican Republic in 2012, Hernandez spent his first professional season with the DSL Astros. In 13 games (11 starts), he was 0-4 with a 3.78 ERA and a 1.510 WHIP.

Former Astros with birthdays today

LF Sandy Valdespino (74)
Valdespino came to Houston in a December 1968 trade with Atlanta and played in 41 games for the Astros in 1969, hitting .244/.326/.277.

LHP Ross Powell (45)
Originally drafted by the Reds in the third round in 1989, Powell came to Houston from Pittsburgh in July 1995. In 27 games for Houston in 1994 and 1995, he had a 6.61 ERA and a 2.327 WHIP.

Greeneville Astros Season Recap

Earlier this week, I took a look at the DSL Astros season (not so good) and the GCL Astros season (not so bad). Now let's look at the Greeneville Astros, the first of the three with a win percentage over .500 and a positive run differential. Here's a quick look at how the 2011 and 2012 teams compare.

2011 Win Percentage - .368
2012 Win Percentage - .529

2011 Runs Scored - Runs Allowed = Run Differential - 326 - 419 = (93)
2012 Runs Scored - Runs Allowed = Run Differential - 339 - 297 = 42

2011 Team ERA & WHIP - 5.12 & 1.487
2012 Team ERA & WHIP - 3.80 & 1.301

2011 Team Batting Line - .252/.330/.365
2012 Team Batting Line - .262/.328/.379

The differences are dramatic with an 11-game swing in the win column and a 135 run swing in the run differential. The biggest difference, statistically, is the pitching with this year's team ranking third in the Appy League in ERA (out of 10 teams) and fourth in WHIP while last year's team was ranked ninth out of ten in both of those categories. There is definitely improvement in batting categories as well, though, as the 2012 club's BA/OBP/SLG rank third, fifth and fifth respectively as compared to the eighth, seventh and tenth rankings of last year's club.

As far as individual players go, there are several standouts.

IF Jean Batista did so well at Greeneville, hitting .321/.345/.531, that he merited a mid-August promotion to Tri-City where he is currently hitting .302/.295/.372 over ten games. Batista ranked fourth in BA and second in SLG in the Appy League, and was also second in doubles and tied for tenth in hits despite not finishing the season with Greeneville. The 20-year old switch-hitter has played about half of his games at 1B with the remainder split between 2B and SS.

2B Brian Blasik, team MVP, finished the season with a .318/.346/.424 batting line, fifth in the league in BA and RBI and tied for third in hits. The 22-year old Blasik was signed as a non-drafted free agent this year.

RF Ariel Ovando won't be 19 until September 15th which makes his .287/.350/.444 batting line even more impressive. He was in the top three or four on the team in virtually every offensive category except for stolen bases. Unfortunately, he led the team in strikeouts as well.

CF D'Andre Toney was fifth in the Appy League in runs scored and was tied for sixth in stolen bases, and he led the Greeneville team in those two categories as well as in walks. The 20-year old Toney had a .252/.351/.326 batting line.

SS Carlos Correa only played in 11 games at Greeneville, but the 17-year old did quite nicely as he hit .371/.450/.600 with three doubles, a triple and a home run. His 11 doubles with the GCL tied him for 13th in the Gulf Coast League, despite having not played there since early August. His final combined line was .258/.305/.400 with 14 doubles, two triples, three home runs and six stolen bases.

18-year old 3B Rio Ruiz didn't make the adjustment from the GCL to Greeneville as well as Correa did. He hit .271/.361/.412 in 23 games with the GCL and .220/.291/.380 in 15 games at Greeneville.

RHP Daniel Minor was an absolute standout with Greeneville, leading the league in ERA (2.75) and WHIP (1.034). The 21-year old had a SO/BB ratio of 4.80.

20-year old RHP Francis Ramirez led the team in wins and was tied for third in the league in that category. He was team leader and fifth in the league in strikeouts. His 10.0 SO/9 was good. His 4.9 BB/9 was not.

19-year old RHP Adrian Houser was 12th in the league in ERA (4.19), ninth in the league in WHIP (1.310) and was tied for tenth in the league in strikeouts.

RHP Lance McCullers was under strict pitch/innings limits so we didn't see that much out of the 18-year old top prospect. He made four starts with the GCL (11 total innings) with a 1.64 ERA, 1.091 WHIP and 9.8 SO/9. He also made four starts with Greeneville (15 total innings) with a 4.80 ERA, 1.333 WHIP and 10.2 SO/9.

RHP Jordan Jankowski, at 23-years old, was one of the greybeards on the team, but he dominated. His 14.8 SO/9 easily led the team. He compiled 53 strikeouts in 32.1 innings, only six fewer than the team leader who needed 21 additional innings to get that extra six. Jankowski also led the team in appearances.

22-year olds RHP Mike Hauschild and LHP Scott Zuloaga (prior to his promotion to Tri-City) both had successful seasons in the bullpen at Greeneville as well. Hauschild had a 1.78 ERA, 1.022 WHIP, and 11.6 SO/9 in 19 appearances. Zuloaga had a 2.13 ERA, 1.105 WHIP and 11.4 SO/9 in 10 appearances; he has not allowed a run in seven appearances with Tri-City and has a very modest 0.800 WHIP.

No more season recaps until more seasons are over starting next week. I'm hoping a few of the remaining five teams can keep us waiting a while as they pursue Championships!

Roster Moves - 6/10

Oklahoma City
LHP Fernando Abad was sent to OKC for a rehab assignment.

Lancaster
*OF Emilio King was assigned to Lancaster from Extended Spring Training.
OF Grant Hogue was placed on the 7-day DL.
OF Domingo Santana was activated from the DL.
RHP Ruben Alaniz was placed on the temporary inactive list.

*Note: I think that King is most likely temporary at Lancaster as Springer has been day-to-day with a hip flexor injury.

Greeneville
D'Andre Toney was acquired as the PTBNL in the Quintero/Bourgeois trade with Kansas City and assigned to Greeneville.

We should find out much more about where players are being assigned over the next couple of days as Tri-City and GCL players report on Tuesday and Greeneville players report on Wednesday.