Happy Birthday - 7/27

Wishing a Very Happy Birthday to ...

RHP Jacques Sambo (17)
Jacques Reeving Constantino Sambo was born July 27, 1998 in Curacao and was signed by the Astros in June 2015. He is currently playing for the Astros Blue team in the Dominican Summer League.

RHP Makay Nelson (21)
Nelson was born July 27, 1994 in Spanish Fork, Utah and was drafted by the Astros in the 20th round in 2015 out of the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, Idaho. He is currently playing for the Greeneville Astros.

Hitting Coach Joel Chimelis (48)
Chimelis was born July 27, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York. He in in his 10th season coaching in the Astros organization, his third season as Hitting Coach for the Quad Cities River Bandits.

Happy Birthday - 7/27

Happy Birthday to ~

RHP Brandon Culbreth (22)
Drafted by Houston in the 8th round in 2011 out of high school in North Carolina, Culbreth is currently playing on Team Rehab in Kissimmee. I met Culbreth at Spring Training and he was sporting a tell-tale TJ surgery scar. In four games (one start) during the 2013 season, he was 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA and a 1.500 WHIP.

Quad Cities Hitting Coach Joel Chimelis (47)
Chimelis was drafted by Oakland in the 11th round in 1988 and spent time in the Oakland, San Francisco and New York Mets organizations as well as playing in the Mexican League and Independent League baseball. Chimelis has been a hitting coach in the Astros organization for Tri-City (2006-2010), Lexington (2011), Corpus Christi (2012) and is now in his second season as hitting coach for Quad Cities.

One former Astro celebrates the day as well ~

C Jack Hiatt (72)
Hiatt came to Houston from the Cubs organization in December of 1970. He played in Houston from 1971 until he went to the Angels in July of 1972. In 79 games, he hit .266/.393/.347.

Happy Birthday - 7/27

RHP Brandon Culbreth (21)
Drafted by Houston in the 8th round in 2011 out of high school in North Carolina, Culbreth is in his third season with the GCL Astros. After three appearances (one start), he is 1-0 with a 3.68 ERA and a 1.636 WHIP in 7.1 innings of work.

Quad Cities Hitting Coach Joel Chimelis (46)
Chimelis was drafted by Oakland in the 11th round in 1988 and spent time in the Oakland, San Francisco and New York Mets organizations as well as playing in the Mexican League and Independent League baseball. Chimelis has been a hitting coach in the Astros organization for Tri-City (2006-2010), Lexington (2011), Corpus Christi (2012) and is now in his first season as hitting coach for Quad Cities.

One former Astro with a birthday today ~

C Jack Hiatt (71)
Hiatt came to Houston from the Cubs organization in December of 1970. He played in Houston from 1971 until he went to the Angels in July of 1972. In 79 games, he hit .266/.393/.347.

Talking to the Quad Cities Coaches

I spoke with both Pitching Coach Dave Borkowski and Hitting Coach Joel Chimelis when I was in Quad Cities to get their take on the players that I interviewed, but I spoke with them about a few other players/topics as well and wanted to share their thoughts.

DAVE BORKOWSKI

Borkowski on Lance McCullers

He's doing fine. I think he's getting back to his old form and the ball's coming out very well. He's got a strong arm. We all know that. It's well above average. He's young. He's going to have some growing pains. That's part of it. The stuff is fine. The competitiveness is fine. The intensity. The focus. What he's trying to do is fine. He just needs to age and get better with age. He's doing well, though. He should be fun to watch. He's par for the course. He's doing what he should be doing at 19 years old.

Colton Cain under the watchful eye of Dave Borkowski

April 2013 - Photo by Jayne Hansen

Any surprises on the pitching staff?

I don't know that I'm surprised, but I've been impressed with what [John] Neely's done out of the bullpen. You know, he's got a good heavy sinker. He's just closing games and going after guys. I don't think he's given up a fly ball out this year. [Neely has a 5.00 GO/AO through 11 games.] Breaking a bunch of bats with that sinker, and he's got a good slider to go with it. I've been impressed with what he's done.

Borkowski on Tandem Pitching

You know what? It's working out pretty well right now. Honestly, I wasn't much for it early on, but it seems to be working well. The biggest thing is the three days off and the recovery -- guys are handling it fine. I think at this level, it's a good way to monitor some innings and maybe not overwork them in a game where we're trying to get them through seven and [they throw] too many pitches, so it's been good.

JOEL CHIMELIS

Chimelis on Teoscar Hernandez

I think a lot of people, the first time they see him, they start liking him a lot. The more they see him, even more so. He's got some tools. He can run. He can throw. He can hit. He's a very good player. Hitting wise, he's very simple when it comes to his mechanics. Most of these young kids get into trouble when they try to do too much. They've got to find that balance between being aggressive, but get under control. But overall, he's got quite a few tools and he's exciting to watch. We've had scouts that have never seen him that came over from different organizations, and they saw him for the first time in Spring Training, "Wow, I love that guy!" We're talking about [a prominent scout] and he says, "Wow, I love this guy. He's my man. He's my guy." It's pretty obvious he's a pretty good player.

Joel Chimelis throwing BP - April 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

On Carlos Correa and working with young hitters

I think his biggest fault is just his effort level. He tries to do too much. He knows he's got some thunder in his bat, and I think sometimes he gets too aggressive. He gets out there a little bit too far, commits to bad pitches. So we're just trying to make him trust himself, "What I'm doing is enough to drive the ball. I don't need to go out and get the ball. I don't need to lunge out there." Slowly but surely, he's going to get comfortable and confident with his ability to just relax and let the ball get to him. Because right now when he gets in trouble, the main thing is [that he is] going out there a little too far to get the ball, just lunging to the ball, drifting to the ball and as a result of that, he commits to bad pitches.

A lot of these guys, especially when they have runners in scoring position, the intensity level increases and then the mind is going 100 miles an hour and as a result, the body's going to do the same. So it's just a matter of trying to keep these guys on an even keel and just try to be consistent with that thought process. As you go up on the higher levels, those guys get better with that. They trust themselves. Less is more sometimes. Eventually it will come to a point where it's like, "I remember back in A ball in Quad Cities where they were telling me to relax and let the ball come to me. You don't have to go out and get it." Eventually it will start clicking for him. Hopefully sooner than later. And again, most of these guys are like that. They just get too antsy and they want to do too much and I keep saying, "The mind controls the body. If you're not relaxed up in the head, in your mind, your body can't do the same."

If he can control his emotions and his effort level, he's going to be more consistent. With Correa, he's going to have to keep trusting. He's going to have to keep working on that. He's capable of a lot. We have a lot of kids on this team that have a lot of ability. It's there. We've just got to find it and build it.

Getting to Know Astros Catcher Roberto Peña

Roberto Peña, a seventh round pick in 2010 out of Puerto Rico, is seen by many to be the best defensive catcher in the Astros system. But it is his bat that is getting some attention right now. Peña has hit .371/.412/.532 with four doubles, two home runs and ten RBI in 16 games for Quad Cities this season. He is currently on an 11-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 15 of 16 games.

Peña, who won't be 21 until next month, started last season with Low A Lexington but was pressed into service at High A Lancaster when catcher injuries in the system took their toll, and although he was starting to catch up to the High A level with his bat toward the end of the season, the Astros wanted him to really concentrate on his hitting, working with Hitting Coach Joel Chimelis in Quad Cities to start this season. So far, so good.

According to Chimelis, he has been working with Peña on making a minor adjustment and "right now he feels pretty comfortable with it." Chimelis continued, "Now he's hitting the ball and he's hitting it with some authority whereas before ... he'd get his hits, but it was soft contact. I wanted him to drive the ball and the position he was getting into wasn't allowing him to do that. So far, he feels pretty comfortable with [the adjustments] and he's seeing the ball great."

Ariel Ovando and Roberto Peña (R) - April 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

I spoke with Peña on Sunday about his hitting, among many other things, "I’m trying to be more balanced on my stance because I was leaning forward when I was hitting last year. I was talking to our hitting coaches, [Minor League Hitting Coordinator] Ralph [Dickenson] and Chimelis, and they put me on a plan that I can be more balanced on my stance so that’s been working a lot with me." Peña was a little disappointed to be starting the season at Low A after finishing 2012 at High A Lancaster, but he assured me, "I’ve got to still play and still play hard and do my stuff. They sent me over here to work on my hitting with Chimelis and that’s what I’m doing."

I wondered how the tandem pitching program affects the catcher. According to Peña, his preparation for games does take a bit more time, "It’s tough but we’ve got to deal with it. It’s the minor leagues. That’s our job."

Are there any pitchers on the Quad Cities staff that really stand out for one reason or another? "They’re all pretty good. I love to catch this pitching staff that we’ve got here. They throw a lot of strikes, and they throw the ball down. That’s pretty good for a catcher and for them too. If I were to name a guy, probably [Vincent] Velasquez is pretty good. He throws hard. He throws the ball down and can throw all his pitches for strikes."

I then asked him some of my random questions. On which Astros pitcher he would least like to face, Peña noted, "Probably [Nick] Tropeano. He’s filthy. He’s got a good change up, a good split, throws hard, good curveball." On who on the team makes him laugh, "Probably [Teoscar] Hernandez and [Jesse] Wierzbicki. They’re the two funniest guys on our team. [Hernandez is] quiet on the field. In the clubhouse, he’s a funny guy." On what he'd do if he couldn't play baseball, "Probably [be] an engineer. That’s what I like. I was going to go to school to study engineering."

Most people probably don't know that Peña was originally a shortstop, "I was a shortstop and when I was in Puerto Rico, [I was] getting a little big [and was told] you’ve got to move to third base or catching, but we’re going to try you at catching. And I said, 'OK, let’s go.' And I got my times [throwing to second] and my first time, my pop time to second base was 1.87 and that was my first throw, and I [thought] 'Wow!' And after, I threw a couple [at] 1.76, 1.79 and I stayed there." Which is probably why Peña has a career caught stealing percentage of 39% and is actually throwing out 67% of runners trying to steal on him this season.

Which brings us back to the core of who Roberto Peña is. He is a catcher, pure and simple, and a very good one at that. I talked to Quad Cities Pitching Coach Dave Borkowski who had this to say about Peña, "It's like throwing to a pillow back there. He's smart. He calls a great game so all you've got to do is concentrate about executing pitches. He's a lot of fun to throw to. He's energetic. I think he makes the guys focus and concentrate better when he's back there. He makes sure they're locked in and they're in the game." Chimelis added this in describing Peña, "If you don't notice a catcher, like just so quiet back there [that] you don't even know he's there, that means he's catching every ball, nothing's getting past him. That's the sign of a good catcher."

When I asked Peña to brag on himself, he told me that he tries to "call a good game, throw good, block good" adding, "If the pitcher struggles, [I] go talk to him. I’m probably average to above average with all that stuff." Borkowski would disagree with Peña's assessment of himself, "He's a very good catcher. He could probably catch in the big leagues right now."

And that brings us full circle to Peña's hitting. When I spoke with Chimelis, I theorized that Peña has what it takes to be a major leaguer and that his floor is that of a very good back-up catcher in the major leagues. But if he can hit, he can write his own ticket. Chimelis agreed that if Peña can hit .250 or .260 at every level, the sky is the limit for him and that's what they've been working on, "We're trying to put him in a position where he can have success at the higher levels, where it doesn't matter where he hits, he could compete and have some success." .371/.412/.532 ... so far, so good.

Thanks to Roberto Peña, Joel Chimelis and Dave Borkowski for taking the time to speak with me. And the best of luck to Peña as the season unfolds.

Happy Birthday - 7/27

RHP Brandon Culbreth (20)
Drafted by Houston in the 8th round in 2011 out of high school in North Carolina, Culbreth is in his second season with the GCL Astros. After seven appearances (two starts), he is 0-2 with a 6.53 ERA and a 1.838 WHIP in 20.2 innings of work. However, in his last four outings, he has a 2.38 ERA and a 0.794 WHIP.

CC Hitting Coach Joel Chimelis (45)
Chimelis was drafted by Oakland in the 11th round in 1988 and spent time in the Oakland, San Francisco and New York Mets organizations as well as playing in the Mexican League and Independent League baseball. Chimelis has been a hitting coach in the Astros organization for Tri-City (2006-2010), Lexington (2011) and is now in his first season as hitting coach for Corpus Christi.

One former Astro with a birthday today ~

C Jack Hiatt (70)
Hiatt came to Houston from the Cubs organization in December of 1970. He played in Houston from 1971 until he went to the Angels in July of 1972. In 79 games, he hit .266/.393/.347.