Happy Birthday - 9/28

Happy Birthday to ~

LHP Javier Saucedo (20)
Saucedo was signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Panama in 2010 and spent his third season in the organization with the DSL Astros where he put up a solid season out of the bullpen. In 14 appearances (one start), he was 2-2 with a 3.52 ERA and a 1.217 WHIP. He struck out 26 and walked nine in 23 innings.

RHP Michael Feliz (20)
Signed as a non-drafted free agent from the Dominican Republic in 2010, Feliz spent his 2013 season with Tri-City where he compiled a 4-2 record with a 1.96 ERA and a 0.957 WHIP in 14 games (10 starts). He walked 13 batters and struck out 78 in 69 innings and held hitters to a .209 batting average.

Five former Astros with birthdays today ~

1B Dick Gernert (85)
Drafted from the Reds in the 1961 expansion draft, Gernert played for the Colt 45's in 1962 at the end of his major league career. In 10 games for Houston, he hit .208/.345/.208.

PH Gene Ratliff (68)
Ratliff had our at-bats in four games for the Colt 45's in 1965 and that one hit in the majors eluded him.

RHP Charlie Kerfeld (50)
A first round pick by Houston in 1982, Kerfeld pitched for Houston from 1985 to 1987 and again in 1990. In 98 appearances (six starts), he was 15-8 with a 3.95 ERA and a 1.474 WHIP. His best season was by far the 1986 season when he was 11-2 with a 2.59 ERA and a 1.206 WHIP in 61 appearances out of the bullpen. Kerfeld, along with Larry Andersen and Dave Smith, was one of the Astros coneheads back in the day.

C Ronn Reynolds (55)
A fifth round pick by the Mets in 1980, Reynolds came to Houston in an April 1987 trade with the Phillies. In 38 games, he hit .167/.189/.235. Reynolds was also a catcher for the fictional Sidd Finch.

C/PH Hector Gimenez (31)
Gimenez played in two games for Houston in 2006 and didn't get a hit in his two at-bats. Five years later, he would get his first major league hit for the Dodgers. He played in the minors for the White Sox organization in 2013.

Happy Birthday - 9/28

LHP Javier Saucedo (19)
Saucedo was signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Panama in 2010 and spent his second season in the organization with the DSL Astros where he put up a solid season out of the bullpen. In 17 appearances (one start), he was 5-4 with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.322 WHIP. He was mostly used in long relief and could be a candidate for a starting position next season.

RHP Michael Feliz (19)
Signed as a non-drafted free agent from the Dominican Republic in 2010, he started for the GCL Astros this season where he dominated, earning him a promotion to Greeneville. In seven appearances (three starts) for the GCL team, he was 5-0 with a 1.64 ERA and a 0.887 WHIP. He struggled somewhat making the adjustment to Greeneville where he was 1-1 with a 5.13 ERA and a 1.595 WHIP in six starts. He did end the season on a high note, though, as he earned his first Appy League win in a five inning, three hit outing in which he allowed no runs and struck out five.

Five former Astros with birthdays today ~

1B Dick Gernert (84)
Drafted from the Reds in the 1961 expansion draft, Gernert played for the Colt 45's in 1962 at the end of his major league career. In 10 games for Houston, he hit .208/.345/.208.

PH Gene Ratliff (67)
Ratliff had 4 at-bats in 4 games for the Colt 45's in 1965 and that one hit in the majors eluded him.

RHP Charlie Kerfeld (49)
A first round pick by Houston in 1982, Kerfeld pitched for Houston from 1985 to 1987 and again in 1990. In 98 appearances (six starts), he was 15-8 with a 3.95 ERA and a 1.474 WHIP. His best season was by far the 1986 season when he was 11-2 with a 2.59 ERA and a 1.206 WHIP in 61 appearances out of the bullpen. Kerfeld, along with Larry Andersen and Dave Smith, was one of the Astros coneheads back in the day.

C Ronn Reynolds (54)
A fifth round pick by the Mets in 1980, Reynolds came to Houston in an April 1987 trade with the Phillies. In 38 games, he hit .167/.189/.235. Reynolds was also a catcher for the fictional Sidd Finch.

C/PH Hector Gimenez (30)
Gimenez played in two games for Houston in 2006 and didn't get a hit in his two at-bats. Five years later, he would get his first major league hit for the Dodgers. He played in the minors for the White Sox organization in 2012.

DSL Season Post-Mortem

The DSL season is mercifully over. It was not a good one. The DSL represents the one failure by the Astros farm system to improve their record from the prior year. (Heck, you were already in a bad mood because it's Monday -- why not pile on a bit?) With that said, here's how this season compared to last season.

2011 Win Percentage - .403
2012 Win Percentage - .319

2011 Runs Scored - Runs Allowed = Run Differential - 306 - 391 = (85)
2012 Runs Scored - Runs Allowed = Run Differential - 254 - 383 = (129)

2011 Team ERA & WHIP - 4.71 & 1.625
2012 Team ERA & WHIP - 4.19 & 1.494

2011 Team Batting Line - .245/.339/.337
2012 Team Batting Line - .215/.301/.285

Believe it or not, there were actually three teams with lower win percentages this season. The biggest difference between 2011 and 2012 was the total lack of offense. Pitching improved slightly while offensive categories went from above average to the bottom two or three in the league.

Were there any bright spots? Yes, there were a couple of players with good seasons that will bear watching.

SS/2B Luis Reynoso led the team in batting average with a .281 mark and in OBP at .382 while ranking third in SLG at .363. And he won't turn 18 until next week.

1B Mesac Laguna led the team in several offensive categories, but he did so as the only 20-year old position player on a team on which 12 of 17 position players were 17 or 18 during the season.

At 18, RHP Samil de los Santos compiled the second most innings on the team as he pitched in 12 games (nine starts) with a 2.50 ERA, 1.075 WHIP, 9.8 SO/9, 3.15 SO/BB ratio and a .197 batting average allowed.

The 17-year old LHP Edwin Villarroel led the team in innings pitched and in ERA (2.25), but needs serious improvement in his SO/BB ratio as he struck out only 2.9 per nine innings while walking 3.9 per nine. But since he just turned 17 in May, he definitely has time to develop.

In 17 appearances (one start), LHP Javier Saucedo was 5-4 with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.322 WHIP. He had 6.2 SO/9 but an even worse walk rate than Villarroel as he walked 4.7 per nine innings pitched. He will be turning 19 in a month.

A total of 24 out of 37 players who appeared for the DSL team in 2012 were either 17 or 18 which keeps me from being very hard on the team, but also keeps me from getting very excited about anyone either. But if even one player from this group eventually appears on a major league roster, the year and the team will be deemed a rousing success in hindsight.

The news all gets better from here on out. I will look at the GCL Astros later in the week.

Minor League Schedule and Recaps

SATURDAY'S GAMES

 DSL Astros at DSL Athletics @ 9:30 CST

Asheville at Lexington @ 6:05 CST

Probable Pitchers: RHP Daniel Winkler (8-3, 4.93) & RHP Jonas Dufek (3-1, 5.28)

Available on MiLB.tv

Corpus Christi at Frisco @ 7:00 CST

Probable Pitchers: RHP Jose Cisnero  (3-6, 4.21) & Chad Bell (2-0, 1.77)

Available on MiLB.tv

Oklahoma City at Round Rock @ 7:05 CST

Probable Pitchers: Armando Galarraga (0-0, 0.00) & LHP Zach Jackson (2-7, 5.08)

Available on MiLB.tv

Inland Empire at Lancaster @ 9:00 CST

Probable Pitchers: RHP Lay Batista (3-5, 3.69) & RHP Bobby Doran (5-4, 3.79)

FRIDAY'S RECAPS

DSL Astros 3 DSL Indians 0

The DSL Astros played a relatively quiet game Friday until the 6th inning. Juan Hernandez allowed only 3 hits over 5 in his 3rd, and longest, outing of the season.  Javier Saucedo (W, 1-1) allowed just 3 hits as well and the duo combined for 9 shutout innings. Until the 6th the Astros only had two base runners, Jarico Reynoso in the 1st and Brian Pena in the 3rd, on with a walk and single respectively.  They loaded the bases in the 6th with no outs but failed to get any runners home. In the 7th the Astros had the bases juiced again, with 1 out, after the Indian's Juan Garcia intentionally walked Brauly Mejia.  Yoel Silfa drew a walk and Randy Cesar scored. After a pitching change by the Indians, Mesac Laguna scored the final run of the inning on a wild pitch.  The bats clearly weren't very hot Friday morning; Brian Pena (.357) went 1 for 3 and Brauly Mejia (.286) went 0 for 3 at the plate.

Asheville 5 Lexington 3

This is one of those games that the boxscore doesn't do justice. After falling behind Asheville 2-0 in the 2nd, Luis Cruz pitched 6 more scoreless innings for Lexington and didn't leave the game with a bad line. Cruz allowed 2 runs on 7 hits over 8.  However, he did have 2 wild pitches.  Delino DeShields went 2 for 4 at the plate, scored a run and swiped stolen bases number 44 & 45 for the season. DeShields also picked up his 29th RBI and Justin Gominsky, who also went 2 for 4, picked up his 7th RBI.  In the bottom of the 8th, the Legends came alive with 3 stolen bases and 2 runs aided by a couple throwing errors by Asheville catcher Ryan Casteel.  Lexington had 4 stolen bases in the game.  The bottom fell out in the top of the 9th, as Carlos Quevedo, who came in to replace Cruz, gave up the tie and a 3 run homer to Rosell Herrera.  The final out of the game was a fly out to deep center by Chan Moon that was 2 feet short of being a 2 run homer.

Corpus Christi 2 Frisco 3

This was another close game that was decided in the final innings on Friday night.  Ross Seaton pitched 7 innings allowing only 2 runs.  Seaton also struck out 7 Frisco batters, his best this season.  Carlos Lee, in his 2nd rehab game with the Hooks, went 2 for 3 (both singles) before coming out in the 7th. Jon Singleton went 1 for 4 and picked up his 41st RBI. Kody Hinze went 1 for 4 and hit his 7th home run (and 25th RBI) to tie the game at 2 in the top of the 7th inning.  Kevin Chapman came on to pitch in the 8th and hit the first batter he faced.  This was followed by a single and a walk to load the bases (it is worth noting that after reaching this point in the game Chapman gained about 2 mph on his fastball).  With one out, Frisco's Ryan Strausborger then grounded into a force out, the go-ahead run scored and then the 5-4-3-2 double play was completed at home to end the inning (it was just as odd to watch as to read, I assure you).

Oklahoma City 0 Round Rock 2

There's not much to say about this game except there's always tomorrow. Oklahoma City was shut out for the 2nd time in the last 3 games and the 4th time this season.  Brian Bass started the game for the RedHawks and after allowing 2 runs in the first, kept his remaining 5 innings scoreless.  He finished the 6th inning with 9 hits, 4 walks and 1 strike out.  Mickey Storey came on to pitch in the 7th and threw a couple of 1-2-3 innings while collecting 2 strike outs.  The bats were quiet as the RedHawks only collected 4 hits the whole game, 2 of which came in the top of the 9th.  The last hit belonging to Brad Snyder, allowing him to continue a 13 game hitting streak.

GAME OF THE DAY

Inland Empire 4 Lancaster 14

David Martinez got the win (2-3) and threw 7 shutout innings, giving up only 2 hits while striking out 5 Inland Empire batters.  Brad Dydalewicz replaced him in the 8th inning and Inland Empire finally got on the board with 4 runs.  That wasn't nearly enough however, as the JetHawks already had 13 runs by that point in the game and would score one more in the bottom of the 8th.  George Springer and Domingo Santana both went 3 for 4 with 4 RBI's between them. Erik Castro and Chris Epps both went 3 for 5 and collected 7 RBI's combined.  Epps hit the only home run of the game, his 2nd of the season for Lancaster (he also had 2 for Lexington this year).  Every JetHawk starting player got at least one hit, 6 had multiple hit games and all but Enrique Hernandez scored a run.  Lancaster scored in every inning except the 7th. 

What went right: What didn't? A season high 19 hits, 4 players with 3 hit nights, a shutout performance by the starting pitcher, Stormtroopers in attendance, and to top it all off, Lancaster defeated the "Empire" on Star Wars night.

What went wrong: Brad Dydalewicz did give up 4 runs in one inning. He has now allowed 11 earned runs over 11.2 innings pitched for a 8.49 ERA this season. 

David Martinez 7IP 2H 0R 0BB 5SO

Brad Dydalewicz 2IP 7H 4R 2BB 1SO 0HR 

Erik Castro 3x5 2B 3RBI BB SO 2R

Chris Epps 3x5 3B HR 4RBI SO 2R

Ben Heath 2x5 SO R

Domingo Santana 3X4 2B 3RBI BB 2R

George Springer 3X4 2B RBI BB SO 3R

Rafael Valenzuela 2X4 3B RBI R

Pitchers of the Day

David Martinez gets the honor for throwing 7 shutout innings and allowing only a pair of hits.  Honorable mention goes to Juan Hernandez and Javier Saucedo for the combination shutout in the DSL.

Players of the Day

Hats off to Brad Snyder for extending his hitting streak to 13 games and Delino Deshields for adding 2 more steals to bring his total to 45.  A tip of the cap to Jon Singleton as well for collecting his 41st RBI.

Happy Birthday - 9/28

RHP Danilo Del Rio (21)
Signed as a non-drafted free agent from Columbia in 2007, Danilo first played in the VSL in 2008.  After being used primarily as a starter in the previous 2 seasons, Danilo was used almost exclusively in the bullpen in long relief in 2011, his first season at Greeneville.  In 17 appearances, he was 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.704 WHIP.

LHP Javier Saucedo (18)
2011 was Javier's first season in the Astros organization, having been signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Panama in 2010.  In 12 appearances out of the bullpen with the DSL Astros, he was 1-0 with a 4.84 ERA and a 1.925 WHIP, but he had shown much improvement as he posted a 7.30ERA/2.351WHIP Pre All-Star and a 1.80 ERA/1.4 WHIP Post All-Star.

RHP Michael Feliz (18)
Feliz is just turning 18 and he already has two professional seasons behind him.  Signed as a non-drafted free agent from the Dominican Republic in 2010, he started for the DSL Astros last season and moved to the GCL Astros this season where he went 0-3 with a 4.32 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP over 10 starts.  He showed good improvement over the season.  His BA against was .324 in June, .307 in July and .218 in August, and his ERA reflected that improvement as well.

Five former Astros with birthdays today

1B Dick Gernert (83)
Played for the Colt 45's in 1962

PH Gene Ratliff (66)
Had 4 at-bats in 4 games for the Colt 45's in 1965 and that one hit in the majors eluded him

RHP Charlie Kerfeld (48)
One of the coneheads, he pitched for Houston from 1985 to 1987 and in 1990

C Ronn Reynolds (53)
Catcher for the fictional Sidd Finch, he played for Houston in 1987

C Hector Gimenez (29)
Played in 2 games for Houston in 2006