WTHB's Astros Players of the Month for July 2016

Presenting WTHB's Astros minor league players of the month for July ...

FRESNO

• Starter: RHP Brad Peacock (3-2 with a 2.93 ERA and a 1.174 WHIP in 5 starts; 7 walks to 34 strikeouts in 30.1IP); honorable mention goes to RHP Brady Rodgers (1.80 ERA/1.000 WHIP in 20IP) and RHP Joe Musgrove (1.89 ERA/0.947 WHIP in 19IP) who put up excellent numbers, but with fewer innings than Peacock
• Reliever: RHP James Hoyt (1-0 with 9 saves, a 0.84 ERA and a 0.938 WHIP in 10 appearances; 2 walks to 15 strikeouts)
• Position Player: OF Teoscar Hernandez (.316/.367/.510 with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs and 17 RBI in 27 games; 5 stolen bases to 3 caught stealing; walked 9 times to 14 strikeouts)

Teoscar Hernandez - April 2016

CORPUS CHRISTI

• Starter: RHP Edison Frias (1-1 with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.250 WHIP in 4 starts prior to his promotion to Fresno; 6 walks to 17 strikeouts in 24 innings pitched)
• Reliever: RHP Ryan Thompson (1-1 with 1 save in 12 appearances over 19.2 innings)
• Position Player: OF Danry Vasquez (.296/.352/.481 with 7 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs, 10 RBI in 23 games); honorable mention goes to C Garrett Stubbs for his .327/.413/.436 batting line in 14 games

Ryan Thompson - June 2016

LANCASTER

• Starters (Tie): RHP Akeem Bostick (2-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 1.321 WHIP in 5 starts; 15 walks to 25 strikeouts in 28 innings; held batters to a .218 BA) and RHP Trent Thornton (4-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 1.025 WHIP in 4 starts; 2 walks to 28 strikeouts in 26.2 innings)
• Reliever: RHP Ryan Deemes (2-0 with 2 saves, a 1.59 ERA and 0.971 WHIP in 7 games; 3 walks to 10 strikeouts in 11.1 innings: held batters to a .205 BA)
• Position Players (Tie): OF Drew Ferguson (.348/.484/.636 with 5 doubles, 1 triple, 4 home runs and 22 RBI in 21 games; 8SB:1CS; 15BB:14SO) and OF Johnny Sewald (.364/.449/.625 with 8 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs and 18 RBI in 23 games; 11SB:2CS; 14BB:22SO); honorable mention to OF Ramon Laureano who hit .460/.541/.810 in 17 games prior to his promotion to Corpus Christi

Drew Ferguson - June 2016

QUAD CITIES

• Starter: RHP Albert Abreu (0-2 with 1 save, a 1.74 ERA and a 0.968 WHIP in 4 games/3 starts; 7 walks to 13 strikeouts in 20.2 innings; held batters to a .178 batting average); honorable mention to RHP Jose Hernandez (0.00 ERA and 0.777 WHIP in 18 innings prior to his promotion to Lancaster) and RHP Elieser Hernandez (2.45 ERA and 1.193 WHIP in 5 starts; 6 walks to 40 strikeouts in 29.1 innings)
• Reliever: RHP Ralph Garza (3-1 with 2 saves, a 1.02 ERA and a 1.019 WHIP in 11 appearances; 5 walks to 14 strikeouts in 17.2 innings)
• Position Player: OF Myles Straw (.423/.478/.510 with 7 doubles, 1 triples, 6 RBI and 5 stolen bases in 26 games)

Myles Straw - May 2016

TRI-CITY

• Starter: RHP Enrique Chavez (3-0 with 1 save, a 1.21 ERA and a 0.716 WHIP in 5 games/3 starts; 5 walks to 16 strikeouts in 22.1 innings; held batters to a .143 BA)
• Reliever: RHP Nick Hernandez (0-0 with 4 saves, a 1.29 ERA and a 1.286 WHIP in 7 appearances)
• Position Player: 3B Randy Cesar (.433/.514/.500 with 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs and 14 RBI in 17 games prior to his promotion to Quad Cities); honorable mention goes to C Chuckie Robinson (.364/.407/.527 in 14 games)

Enrique Chavez - July 2016

GREENEVILLE

• Pitcher: RHP Tyler Britton (2-0 with a 1.65 ERA and a 0.918 WHIP in 5 games/2 starts; 1 walk to 29 strikeouts in 16.1 innings); honorable mention to LHP Salvador Montano (0.82 ERA/0.636 WHIP/.059 BA in 11 innings) and RHP Devin Raftery (0.73 ERA/0.973 WHIP in 12.1 innings)
• Position Player: SS Miguelangel Sierra (.300/.411/.589 with 1 triple, 8 home runs and 11 RBI in 24 games; 6SB:5CS)

GULF COAST LEAGUE

• Pitcher: RHP Dariel Aquino (1-0 with 1 save, a 1.00 ERA and a 0.778 WHIP in 7 games; 3 walks to 11 strikeouts in 9 innings; held batters to a .121 BA)
• Position Player: OF Wilson Amador (.304/.360/.456 with 5 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home run and 10 RBI in 23 games; 5SB:3CS)

DSL ORANGE TEAM

• Pitcher: LHP Francisco Villegas (0-1 with a 1.29 ERA and a 1.095 WHIP in 6 games/3 starts; 8 walks to 23 strikeouts in 21 innings)
• Position Player: OF Gilberto Celestino (.286/.342/.557 with 7 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs and 9 RBI in 19 games)

DSL BLUE TEAM

• Pitcher: RHP Ronel Blanco (3-1 with a 1.10 ERA and a 1.102 WHIP in 5 games/2 starts; 9 walks to 23 strikeouts in 16.1 innings; held batters to a .155 average)
• Position Player: OF Angel Tejeda (.368/.479/.439 with 2 doubles, 1 triple and 7 RBI in 18 games; 6SB:4CS; 11BB:10SO)

WTHB's Astros MiLB Players of the Month for June

Presenting WTHB's Astros minor league players of the month for June ...

FRESNO

• Starter: RHP Brady Rodgers (5-0 with a 1.35 ERA and a 0.840 WHIP in 5 starts; 6 walks to 32 strikeouts in 33.1IP; held batters to a .186 average)
• Reliever: RHP Josh Fields (0-0 with 1 save, a 0.00 ERA and a 0.273 WHIP in 9 appearances; 1 walk to 14 strikeouts; allowed only 2 hits in 11 innings pitched)
• Position Player: I had already tentatively picked OF Preston Tucker as my June Player of the Month going into the final day of June. At that point he had a .330/.373/.560 batting line in 24 games. But then he went into overdrive in the final game of the month, going 5-5 with a double, 3 home runs and 8 RBI. When all was said and done, Tucker ended June with a .361/.398/.680 batting line with 7 doubles, 3 triples, 6 home runs and 19 RBI. Not too shabby.

Preston Tucker - June 2016

Photo by Jayne Hansen

CORPUS CHRISTI

• Starter: RHP Francis Martes (3-0 with a 1.48 ERA and a 0.989 WHIP in 5 games/4 starts; 8 walks to 30 strikeouts in 30.1 innings pitched)
• Reliever: RHP Aaron West (2-0 with 5 saves in 8 appearances over 15.1 innings)
• Position Player: OF Teoscar Hernandez (.333/.419/.480 with 6 doubles, 3 home runs, 11 RBI and 13 SB to 2 CS in 24 games prior to his promotion to Fresno)

Francis Martes - April 2016

Photo by Jayne Hansen

LANCASTER

• Starter: RHP Rogelio Armenteros (2-0 with a 1.48 ERA and 1.233 ERA in 5 games/4 starts; 12 walks to 30 strikeouts in 24.1 innings)
• Reliever: RHP Ryan Thompson (1-0 with 1 save, a 0.90 ERA, 0.500 WHIP in 6 games; 0 walks to 14 strikeouts in 10 innings prior to his promotion to Corpus Christi)
• Position Player: 3B Bryan Muniz (.337/.392/.494 with 6 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs and 14 RBI in 22 games)

Bryan Muniz - June 2016

QUAD CITIES

• Starter: RHP Jose Hernandez (1-0 with 1 save, a 1.00 ERA and a 0.926 WHIP in 5 games/4 starts; 2 walks to 30 strikeouts in 27 innings)
• Reliever: RHP Ralph Garza (0-0 with 2 saves, a 0.00 ERA and a 0.955 WHIP in 7 appearances; 3 walks to 15 strikeouts in 14.2 innings)
• Position Player (Tie); OF Myles Straw (.326/.420/.477 with 5 doubles, 4 triples, six RBI and 6 stolen bases in 24 games) and SS/OF Osvaldo Duarte (.297/.343/.516 with 10 doubles, 2 triples, 2 home runs, 10 RBI and 7 stolen bases in 24 games)

I was vacillating on whether to pick Straw (higher average and better on-base skills) or Duarte (better power numbers), but then I realized that this is my blog so I'm picking both!

Ralph Garza - May 2016

Photo by Jayne Hansen

DSL ORANGE TEAM

• Starter: RHP Diosward Gonzalez (1-1 with a 1.71 ERA and 1.095 WHIP in 5 starts; 5 walks to 21 strikeouts in 21 innings)
• Reliever: RHP Kilvio Peralta (1-0 with 1 save, a 0.00 ERA and 1.143 WHIP in 5 appearances/14 innings)
• Position Player (tie): OF Ramiro Rodriguez (.300/.419/.500 with 2 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs and 14 RBI in 22 games; 2B Enmanuel Valdez (.323/.375/.597 with 6 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs and 16 RBI in 16 games)

DSL BLUE TEAM

• Starter: RHP Leovanny Rodriquez (1-0 with a 0.63 ERA and a 0.698 WHIP in 3 starts prior to his promotion to the GCL; 2 walks to 15 strikeouts in 14.1 innings)
• Reliever: RHP Juan Cuevas (4-1 with 1 save, a 1.29 ERA and a 1.071 WHIP in 7 appearances; 1 walk to 9 strikeouts in 14 innings)
• Position Player: OF Jose Benjamin (.317/.375/.463 with 6 doubles, 2 home runs and 21 RBI in 23 games

Although Tri-City, Greeneville and the GCL were all just getting started in June, I've taken a look at the players who have gotten off to a good start in their limited playing time. (WARNING: Teeny-tiny sample sizes ahead)

TRI-CITY

• Pitcher: RHP Hector Perez (1-0 with a 0.77 ERA and a 1.029 WHIP in 3 games/1 start; 6 walks to 14 strikeouts in 11.2 innings)
• Position Player: OF Stephen Wren (.327/.415/.764 with 2 doubles, 2 triples, 6 home runs, 11 RBI and 5 stolen bases in 13 games); honorable mention to RF/1B Carmen Benedetti (.400/.441/.491 in 13 games)

GREENEVILLE

• Pitcher: RHP Abdiel Saldana (0.00 ERA and 0.563 in 2 games/0 starts; 0 walks to 8 strikeouts in 5.1 innings)
• Position Player: OF Frankeny Fernandez (.292/.370/.542 with 1 double, 1 triple, 1 home run, 5 RBI and 4 SB in 6 games); honorable mention to 1B Connor MacDonald who only played in 3 games in June, but hit for the cycle in one of them

GCL ASTROS

• Pitcher: RHP Jorge Alcala (1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.889 WHIP in 2 games/1 start; 1 walk to 16 strikeouts in 9 innings)
• Position Player: OF Carlos Machado (.421/.421/.421 in 5 games)

WTHB August Astros MiLB Players of the Month

With no further ado, I present you with WTHB's August Players of the Month ...

Jon Kemmer - May 2015
Photo by Jayne Hansen

PLAYER OF THE MONTH

Before I give you my Player of the Month, let's just look at what I had to chose from. This was a difficult prospect this month! In no particular order, these were some of the players under consideration:

1B A.J. Reed (Corpus Christi)
.369/.424/.577 in 28 games
8-2B 5HR 21RBI

1B/3B Tyler White (Fresno)
.375/.500/.594 in 27 games
7-2B 1-3B 4HR 32RBI

SS Alex Bregman (Lancaster)
.377/.426/.553 in 26 games
6-2B 4-3B 2HR 20RBI 8SB

2B Mott Hyde (Lancaster)
.395/.486/.581 in 25 games
11-2B 1-3B 1HR 17RBI 1SB

1B/3B Matt Duffy (Fresno)
.317/.412/.564 in 27 games
8-2B 1-3B 5HR 28RBI 3SB

1B Bryan Muniz (Quad Cities)
.310/.442/.512 in 24 games
8-2B 3HR 18RBI 1SB

OF Ronnie Mitchell (Lancaster)
.340/.369/.602 in 26 games
6-2B 6-3B 3HR 26RBI

IF Nicolas Miranda (DSL Orange)
.403/.461/.448 in 18 games
1-2B 1-3B 8RBI 2SB

OF James Ramsay (Lancaster)
.373/.441/.534 in 28 games
8-2B 1-3B 3HR 24RBI 8SB

OF/2B Juan Fuentes (DSL)
.377/.492/.566 in 16 games
5-2B 1-3B 1HR 8RBI 6SB

OF Johnny Sewald (Tri-City)
.340/.451/.404 in 26 games
6-2B 12RBI 11SB

OF Sean McMullen (Lancaster)
.333/.440/.571 in 17 games
6-2B 3-3B 1HR 11RBI 3SB

I was also wowed with 1B Chase McDonald's .680 slugging percentage for the month. He hit five doubles, one triple and 12 home runs in 25 games in August! And, although C Brian Holberton just came off the DL a few days ago and only played in six games in August, he was on fire, hitting .545/.538/1.000 in those games.

But when it came right down to it, the two players who rose to the top for me were Lancaster 3B J.D. Davis and Corpus Christi OF Jon Kemmer. J.D. Davis had a simply astounding run of it in August. He hit .382/.466/.842 with five doubles, 10 home runs, 27 RBI and one stolen base in 19 games. But he missed 10 days on the DL and, since he didn't have to sustain those numbers for as long a period, I instead went with Kemmer. Kemmer hit .373/.458/.676 with 13 doubles, three triples, four home runs 20 RBI and five stolen bases in 27 games in August. He also did a terrific job limiting the strikeouts and collected 13 walks to 13 strikeouts and ended the month on a 10-game hitting streak. Really very impressive job from Kemmer, my Player of the Month for August.

PITCHER OF THE MONTH

Dean Deetz (2nd from left) - August 2015

Photo by Jayne Hansen

RHP Dean Deetz (Quad Cities)
Dean Deetz simply took things to a different level in August. In five starts in August, Deetz was 4-1 with a 0.33 ERA and a 0.704 WHIP in his 27 innings of work. He walked nine batters and struck out 22. And he held those batters to a very, very stingy .106/.184/.128 batting line. On August 24th, he pitched seven no-hit innings before being removed from the game (the game was ultimately a one-hitter). As a result of that start, he was named Midwest League Pitcher of the Week earlier this week.

Runners-Up

RHP Michael Feliz (Corpus Christi)
Feliz went 1-1 with a 0.87 ERA and a 0.903 WHIP in five starts (31 innings), walked nine batters while striking out 33, and held batters to a .176/.239/.222 batting line.

RHP Justin Ferrell (Quad Cities)
Ferrell is currently on the DL, but before he got there, he went 2-1 with a 0.70 ERA and a 0.935 WHIP in his four starts (25.2 innings). He walked nine, struck out 23 and held batters to a .174/.260/.244 line.

RHP Edgardo Sandoval (GCL/Greeneville)
The (barely) 19-year old Sandoval also impressed in August. He was 1-0 with a 0.86 ERA and a 0.810 WHIP in five appearances (three starts). In 21 innings of work, he allowed six walks while striking out 21. Batters hit .155/.221/.211 against him.

RELIEF PITCHER OF THE MONTH

Mike Freeman (from MiLB.com)

LHP Michael Freeman (Quad Cities/Lancaster)
Freeman was lights out in August, allowing only four hits and one earned run in 17.2 innings of work despite making five of his seven appearances at the hitter-friendly Lancaster home ballpark. He was 1-0 with two saves, a 0.51 ER and a 0.566 WHIP during the month, walking six batters while striking out 20. Hitters only managed .071/.161/.125 against him.

Runner-Up

RHP Jordan Jankowski (Fresno)
Equally deserving was Jankowski who was 3-0 with two saves in 10 appearances. Jankowski did not allow a run, earned or otherwise, in 12 innings of work and ended the month with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.833 WHIP. He walked four batters and struck out 19, holding them to a .150/.244/150 batting line.

Honorable mention goes to Samil de los Santos (Greeneville), Jacob Dorris (Tri-City/Quad Cities), Diosward Gonzalez (DSL), Tyson Perez (Fresno), Eric Peterson (Quad Cities), Joselo Pinales (Greeneville), Scott Weathersby (Tri-City) and James Hoyt (Fresno).

CATCHER OF THE MONTH

C Jamie Ritchie (Lancaster)
Ritchie is a repeat winner, having won this honor in July as well. In 21 games in August (19 behind the plate), he hit .338/.430/.486 with seven doubles, two triples, five RBI and two stolen bases. He walked 10 times while striking out 14 times and has boasted a 30% caught stealing rate since his mid-July promotion to Lancaster.

Jamie Ritchie - July 2014
Photo by Jayne Hansen

April Players of the Month:
SS Carlos Correa
RHP Chris Devenski
RHP Ryan Thompson
C Tyler Heineman

May Players of the Month:
OF Derek Fisher
RHP Chris Devenski
RHP Travis Ballew
C Jacob Nottingham

June Players of the Month

1B A.J. Reed

RHP Francis Martes

RHP Angel Heredia

C Alfredo Gonzales

July Players of the Month
1B A.J. Reed
RHP David Paulino
RHP Jandel Gustave
C Jamie Ritchie

WTHB May 2015 Astros MiLB Players of the Month

With no further ado, I present you with WTHB's May Players of the Month ...

Derek Fisher

PLAYER OF THE MONTH

OF Derek Fisher (Quad Cities/Lancaster)
I could have gone many, many different directions with this award, but not only did Fisher have a fantastic month, he ended it by breaking a California League record in the penultimate game of the month by collecting 12 RBI in one game. Yes, in Fisher's first game with Lancaster following his promotion, he was 4-for-6 with three home runs (two of them grand slams), a double and 12 RBI and he followed up with another home run and three RBI in his second game on Sunday. In May, he hit .313/.389/.554 with 10 doubles, one triple, 5 home runs, 28 RBI and he stole 5 bases.

There were certainly many other worthy contenders and, arguably, any and all of the following players were deserving. Honorable mentions go to OF Domingo Santana (Fresno), Jon Singleton (Fresno), Tony Kemp (Corpus Christi), OF Danry Vasquez (Lancaster/Corpus Christi), OF Brett Phillips (Lancaster), 1B A.J. Reed (Lancaster), 3B Nick Tanielu (Quad Cities) and OF Sean McMullen (Quad Cities).

PITCHER OF THE MONTH

RHP Chris Devenski (Corpus Christi)
You may remember that Devenski was my Pitcher of the Month in May after allowing ZERO earned runs in four appearances last month. Well, Devenski couldn't quite pull that off forever and he has now allowed three whole runs in nine games (46IP). In May, Devenski was 4-0 with a 1.01 ERA and a 1.050 WHIP in 5 games (4 starts), and he has a 0.59 ERA and a 0.870 WHIP for the season. This past Friday, Devenski pitched the first five innings of a rain-shortened 5.1 inning no-hitter (with Josh Hader contributing the extra out), the first no-hitter in Hooks history.

Honorable mentions go to RHP Vince Velasquez (Corpus Christi), RHP Mike Hauschild (Corpus Christi), LHP Brian Holmes (Lancaster/Corpus Christi), RHP Daniel Mengden (Quad Cities/Lancaster) and RHP Akeem Bostick (Quad Cities).

Chris Devenski

RELIEF PITCHER OF THE MONTH

RHP Travis Ballew (Corpus Christi)

I am particularly happy to hand out this award. Ballew's 2014 season did not go as planned, but so far in 2015, he is showing definite signs of his former dominance. In May, Ballew made 12 appearances out of the bullpen (13.2 innings) and compiled a 0.00 ERA and a 0.805 WHIP, walking two batters while striking out 11. For the season, he now has a 1.13 ERA and a 1.000 WHIP.

Honorable mention goes to RHP Tyson Perez (Fresno), RHP Richard Rodriguez (Fresno) and LHP Mitch Lambston (Fresno).

Travis Ballew

CATCHER OF THE MONTH

Jacob Nottingham (Quad Cities)
Nottingham took it to another level in May, hitting .355/.406/.591 in 23 games (17 of those behind the dish). He collected eight doubles, one triple, four home runs and 20 RBI. For the season, he has a 57% caught stealing rate.

Honorable mention goes to Tyler Heineman (Corpus Christi/Fresno).

Jacob Notthingham

April Players of the Month:
SS Carlos Correa
RHP Chris Devenski
RHP Ryan Thompson
C Tyler Heineman

Astros Minor League Players and Pitchers of the Month for August/September

WTHB won't be handing out Player and Pitcher of the Year Awards until the post-season is finito. In the meantime, I give you your stars for the month of August (plus a day).

In addition to the following nominees for Player of the Month, Lancaster OF Jon Kemmer DEFINITELY deserves a big shoutout for what he did in August before an injury on August 24th ended his season. Kemmer led the Astros system (for anyone with significant playing time) in Slugging Percentage in August with a .659 mark. He hit six doubles, one triple and SEVEN home runs in August. And a number of the home runs he hit after his July 11th call up to Lancaster were on the road so don't be quick to attribute them to the "Lancaster effect." According to a tweet from his girlfriend, he had surgery on his leg this week. We wish him a swift recovery! Also, a shoutout is in order for Quad Cities' J.D. Davis who led the Astros minors in home runs during the period with eight and Corpus Christi's Delino DeShields with his 20 walks!

Now for my nominees in no particular order ~

1B/3B Tyler White (Lancaster)
29G .293/.432/.596
18R 9-2B 7HR 17RBI 19BB 13SO

OF Brett Phillips (Lancaster)
29G .328/.410/.560
20R 8-2B 2-3B 5HR 11RBI 15BB 20SO 5SB 4CS

OF Preston Tucker (Oklahoma City)
29G .324/.357/.528
19R 10-2B 4HR 30RBI 13BB 31SO

1B/3B Matt Duffy (Oklahoma City)
29G .342/.362/.453
22R 5-2B 3B 2HR 18RBI 6BB 22SO 0SB 1CS

Sometimes the decision is difficult because one is often judging different types of players against each other, but this month, the decision was easy. Joe "Super Joe" Sclafani was such a complete player in August, hitting for average, getting on base at a great clip, hitting for good power, drawing a few walks, stealing a few bases ... just terrific well-rounded offensive output for the month.

IF Joe Sclafani (Oklahoma City)
28G .361/.444/.509
23R 6-2B 2-3B 2HR* 16RBI 15BB 11SO 5SB 0CS
*Including a Grand Slam

AUGUST PLAYER OF THE MONTH: IF JOE SCLAFANI

Joe Sclafani - April 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

As a reminder, Players of the Week for July were:
Brett Phillips

Terrell Joyce

Colin Moran
James Ramsay

Brandon Meredith/Tyler White

>>>>>>><<<<<<< 

Next up, we look at Starting (Tandem) Pitchers who had particularly good outings in August. Honorable mention goes to Elieser Hernandez who performed extremely well after his promotion to Greeneville in August. In limiting the nominees to those who pitched a minimum of 20 innings, a couple DSL pitchers are getting squeezed out so honorable mention also goes to Edgardo Sandoval (3 starts: 17IP 0.00 ERA/0.706 WHIP/.161 BA) and Albert Abreu (3 starts: 14.2IP 0.61 ERA/0.955 WHIP/.173 BA) from the DSL teams.

My nominees are ~

RHP Erasmo Pinales (DSL)

4 Games/4 Starts 21IP 1-0 record
0.86 ERA/0.619 WHIP 3BB:17SO .137 BA

RHP Agapito Barrios (Greeneville)
5 Games/3 Starts 23.1IP 2-0 record
0.77 ERA/0.557 WHIP 4BB:22SO .118 BA

RHP Jordan Jankowski (Corpus Christi)
5 Games/4 Starts 24IP 2-1 record
1.50 ERA/0.708 WHIP 4BB:38SO .149 BA
(And, no, that 14.3 SO/9 is not a typo!)

Some may argue that Jankowski deserves the nod for August and I couldn't argue with you very hard. But my winner did something he needed to do this season. He needed to prove to the naysayers that he was 100% healthy and could be the effective workhorse pitcher that was envisioned of him when he was drafted in the first round in 2011. With no further ado, your winner ~

RHP Joe Musgrove (Tri-City)

5 Games/5 Starts 30.2IP 3-0 record
1.17 ERA/0.685 WHIP 3BB:26SO .173 BA

AUGUST STARTING (TANDEM) PITCHER OF THE MONTH: RHP JOE MUSGROVE

Joe Musgrove - July 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

As a reminder, the Starting Pitchers of the Week for August were:
Salvador Montano
Michael Feliz
Joe Musgrove
Agapito Barrios
Jordan Jankowski

>>>>>>><<<<<<< 

Now for our Relief Pitchers. First, I have a ton of honorable mentions to hand out: Corpus Christi's Mitch Lambson; Quad Cities' Raul Rivera; Tri-City's Vince Wheeland, Brandon McNitt and Bryan Radziewski; Greeneville's Gerardo Juarez and Ambiorix de Leon; and the DSL's Diogenes Almengo and Luis Ramirez. In particular, I would like to take note of Tri-City's Ryan Thompson for his SEVEN saves during the month.

Three players stood out from the crowd for me, though. My runners-up are ~

RHP Derick Velazquez (Tri-City)
9 Games 12.2IP 2-0 record with 2 saves
0.71 ERA/0.711 WHIP 0BB:13SO .205 BA
5 inherited runners/0 scored

RHP Tyson Perez (Corpus Christi)
12 Games 11.1IP 1-0 record with 4 saves
0.79 ERA/0.529 WHIP 2BB:11SO .100 BA
3 inherited runners/0 scored

My winner kind of sneaked up on me. I didn't realize just how fantastic a month he was having until I put it all together. He was absolutely lights out!

RHP Eric Peterson (Greeneville)

8 Games 8IP 0-0 record with 5 saves
0.00 ERA/0.250 WHIP 1BB:9SO .040 BA

AUGUST RELIEF PITCHER OF THE MONTH: RHP ERIC PETERSON

Eric Peterson

From MiLB.com

As a reminder, the Relief Pitchers of the Week for August were:
Antonio Almonte
Jorge de Leon
Derick Velazquez
Raul Rivera
Gerardo Juarez

>>>>>>><<<<<<< 

If you remember, I decided to create separate categories for catchers since they generally play in fewer games and are judged as much if not more by their defensive contributions as they are by their offense.

My Defensive Catcher of the Month is someone who has long intrigued me and who definitely doesn't get the attention that he deserves for his defensive contributions. When I was in Quad Cities in June, Manager Omar Lopez told me that having this catcher on his team was like having an extra coach. Brett Booth caught in 15 games in August and in five of them was tasked with the unenviable job of catching knuckleballer Blaine Sims. Four of the five passed balls he allowed n August were from when he was catching Sims. For the season he has a .991 fielding percentage and a 9.05 range factor. His caught stealing percentage for the season is 40%, but he actually caught the would-be thieves 53% of the time in August, an excellent showing by the 2013 34th round pick.

AUGUST DEFENSIVE CATCHER OF THE MONTH: BRETT BOOTH

Brett Booth - June 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

On the offensive side, the clear standout was Max Stassi. In 18 games in August (plus a day), he hit .338/.373/.521 with four walks, four doubles, three home runs, 10 RBI and nine runs scored. There was, however, the matter of his 20 strikeouts, but we'll let that one go for now.

AUGUST OFFENSIVE CATCHER OF THE MONTH: MAX STASSI

Max Stassi

Photo Courtesy of Bryan Green

Astros Minor League Players and Pitchers of the Month for July

The month of July gave us many, many, many more terrific performances from which to choose for the WTHB Players/Pitchers of the Month. In addition to the following nominees for Player of the Month, a few shoutouts are in order for Telvin Nash who banged out 10 home runs in July; Jason Martin and James Ramsay who collected four triples each; Cristopher Luciano who walked a whopping 22 times during the month and Edwin Medina who collected 16 stolen bases. Here are my nominees in no particular order ~

IF Juan Santana (Greeneville/Tri-City)
24G .371/.379/.517
20R 10-2B HR 14RBI 3BB 11SO 3SB 1CS

OF Derek Fisher (Tri-City)
25G .368/.459/.442
27R 3-2B 2-3B 12RBI 14BB 20SO 13SB 1CS
Fisher was first in runs scored in the Astros minor leagues in July.

3B J.D. Davis (Tri-City/Quad Cities)
26G .359/.434/.554
18R 9-2B 3HR 17RBI 10BB 21SO 1SB 0CS

IF Nick Tanielu (Tri-City)
23G .344/.380/.505
11R 7-2B 3B 2HR 29RBI 4BB 18SO 1SB 0CS
Please note that Nick's 29 RBI led the Astros minor leaguers in July.

OF Ronnie Mitchell (Quad Cities/Lancaster)
25G .330/.419/.648
18R 9-2B 3B 6HR 22RBI 14BB 22SO 1SB 3CS

IF Jack Mayfield (Lancaster)
27G .343/.383/.610
19R 12-2B 2-3B 4HR 20RBI 7BB 18SO 1SB 3CS
Mayfield led the Astros minor leaguers in hits and doubles for the month.

With all of these incredible performances for the month, there were three that really stood out. Some may be surprised that with his streak of five home runs in five games, Brett Phillips is not my Player of the Month. But there were a couple of performances that I found to be just a tiny little bit stronger overall so Brett will have to settle for bridesmaid this month with these excellent numbers.

OF Brett Phillips (Quad Cities)
27G .314/.368/.667
18R 9-2B 2-3B 8HR 20RBI 9BB 24SO 3SB 1CS

For the top spot, it came down to two players and ultimately I couldn't decide between the two so I will have to declare a tie. Chase McDonald balanced immense power with excellent on-base skills. Rio Ruiz displayed just a tiny bit less power than McDonald, but showed fantastic patience at the plate in his walk rate. Ultimately, they are two different types of players who both excelled at what they do best. Here are your co-winners for the month.

1B Chase McDonald (Quad Cities)
26G .362/.434/.649
21R 9-2B 6HR 19RBI 11BB 20SO

3B Rio Ruiz (Lancaster)
26G .333/.424/.590
23R 11-2B 2-3B 4HR 21RBI 18BB 16SO 2SB 1CS

JULY PLAYERS OF THE MONTH: 1B CHASE MCDONALD AND 3B RIO RUIZ

Chase McDonald - June 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Rio Ruiz - May 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

As a reminder, Players of the Week for July were:
Nick Tanielu

A.J. Reed

Rodrigo Ayarza

Mott Hyde

>>>>>>><<<<<<< 

Next up, we look at Starting (Tandem) Pitchers who had particularly good outings in July. The winner on this was a no-doubter, but there were a few other performances of note as well. Again, these are in no particular order.

RHP Chris Devenski (Corpus Christi)
6 Games/3 Starts 29.1IP 3-3 record
2.76 ERA/0.784 WHIP 6BB:27SO .162 BA

RHP Joe Musgrove (Tri-City)
6 Games/4 Starts 28.2IP 3-0 record
3.71 ERA/0.887 WHIP 4BB:30SO .196 BA
Although Joe's ERA was a bit high, his WHIP and walk to strikeout rate were outstanding.

RHP Agapito Barrios (Greeneville)
6 Games/2 Starts 24IP 3-0 record
2.63 ERA/0.958 WHIP 3BB:16SO .222 BA

RHP Austin Chrismon (Tri-City)
6 Games/3 Starts 23.1IP 3-0 record
1.16 ERA/0.986 WHIP 7BB:20SO .188 BA

RHP Joshua James (Greeneville)
6 Games/4 Starts 24IP 1-2 record
1.13 ERA/1.000 WHIP 9BB:27SO .181 BA

My winner had a ridiculously good month, getting five wins in six starts. The only game that he didn't win was a 1-0 team win in which he had a no decision after five scoreless innings. He also led all Astros minor leaguers for the month with his 40 strikeouts and 34 innings pitched.

RHP Troy Scribner (Tri-City)

6 Games/6 Starts 35.2IP 5-0 record
0.79 ERA/0.824 WHIP 10BB:40SO .154 BA

JULY STARTING (TANDEM) PITCHER OF THE MONTH: RHP TROY SCRIBNER

Troy Scribner - August 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

As a reminder, the Starting Pitchers of the Week for July were:
Chris Devenski
Jose Montero
Michael Feliz
Agapito Barrios

>>>>>>><<<<<<< 

Now for our Relief Pitchers. Again, the nominees are in no particular order. (The cut-off for this one was a minimum of 10 innings pitched.)

RHP Josue Uribe (DSL)
4 Games 10.2IP 1-0 record with 1 save
0.00 ERA/0.844 WHIP 5BB:9SO .118 BA
6 inherited runners/2 scored

RHP Richard Rodriguez (Corpus Christi/Oklahoma City)
9 Games 18IP 0-0 record
1.42 ERA/0.632 WHIP 3BB:22SO .141 BA
3 inherited runners/2 scored

RHP Aaron Vaughn (GCL/Quad Cities/Tri-City)
9 Games 11.2IP 1-1 record with 2 saves
1.54 ERA/0.686 WHIP 2BB:12SO .154 BA

2 inherited runners/1 scored

LHP Mitch Lambson (Corpus Christi)
10 Games 11.2IP 0-0 record
1.54 ERA/0.943 WHIP 2BB:16SO .209 BA

9 inherited runners/1 scored

LHP Albert Minnis (Quad Cities)
7 Games 17.2IP 1-0 record
1.53 ERA/1.132 WHIP 7BB:16SO .188 BA
8 inherited runners/2 scored

RHP Keegan Yuhl (Greeneville)
6 Games 17.2IP 0-0 record
0.51 ERA/1.189 WHIP 4BB:13SO .246 BA
1 inherited runner/0 scored

RHP Joel Belboder (DSL)
8 Games 14.2IP 3-0 record with 2 saves
1.23 ERA/1.227 WHIP 6BB:14SO .218 BA
6 inherited runners/2 scored

The winner is someone who continues to (pleasantly) surprise me. As a former shortstop who has only pitched about 75 career innings, he seems to be figuring out how to succeed as a relief pitcher quite nicely.

RHP Angel Heredia (Greeneville)
8 Games 18IP 3-1 record with 2 saves
0.50 ERA/0.778 WHIP 7BB:26O .136 BA
2 inherited runners/0 scored

JULY RELIEF PITCHER OF THE MONTH: RHP ANGEL HEREDIA

Angel Heredia - July 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

As a reminder, the Relief Pitchers of the Week for July were:
Tyson Perez
Albert Minnis
Juan Delis
Bryan Radziewski

>>>>>>><<<<<<< 

If you remember, I decided to create separate categories for catchers since they generally play in fewer games and are judged as much if not more by their defensive contributions as they are by their offense.

My Defensive Catcher of the month has flown largely under the radar. I was actually surprised when I looked at his numbers for the month. In 15 games in July (13 as the starting catcher and two as a defensive replacement), Alfredo Gonzalez had a 44% caught stealing rate which is impressive, but not as impressive as something else I noticed. Gonzalez was charged with only one passed ball for the month and pitchers only threw three wild pitches while he was behind the plate in July. One of those belonged to knuckleballer Blaine Sims. That is EXTREMELY impressive.

JULY DEFENSIVE CATCHER OF THE MONTH: ALFREDO GONZALEZ

Alfredo Gonzalez - August 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

One catcher clearly stood out for July as far as offensive prowess. 2014 13th round draft pick Jamie Ritchie has gotten off to a great start at the plate with Tri-City, going .433/.545/.567 in his first 25 games. In 15 games in July, he hit .417/.492/.542 with six doubles and 15 RBI. He scored six runs, stole two bases and walked eight times while only striking out in six plate appearances.

JULY OFFENSIVE CATCHER OF THE MONTH: JAMIE RITCHIE

Jamie Ritchie - July 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Astros Players and Pitchers of the Month for June

Narrowing down the list for Pitchers and Players of the Month is always a difficult prospect and it doesn't get any easier now that the short season teams are in full swing!

First up let's look at the nominees for Player of the Month. In order to level out the playing field with some of the short season teams playing fewer games than the full season teams last month, I went with a minimum of 20 games played in order to be nominated. Here are my nominees in no particular order.

1B Marc Krauss (Oklahoma City)
23G .341/.440/.553
17R 9-2B 3HR 21RBI 15BB 21SO

OF Domingo Santana (Oklahoma City)
27G .324/.420/.510
20R 7-2B 4HR 16RBI 3SB 0CS 17BB 30SO

IF/OF Kiké Hernandez (Oklahoma City)
28G .383/.415/.608
24R 8-2B 2-3B 5HR 15RBI 2SB 2CS 8BB 15SO

SS Gregorio Petit (Oklahoma City)
24G .370/.389/.609
11R 5-2B 3B 5HR 18RBI 2BB 10SO

OF Teoscar Hernandez (Lancaster)
23G .293/.377/.576
19R 10-2B 6HR 20RBI 8SB 3CS 12BB 29SO

1B Jon Kemmer (Quad Cities)
21G .362/.450/.478
9R 6-2B 3B 7RBI 1SB 1CS 8BB 12SO

3B Tyler White (Quad Cities)
22G .324/.447/.632
13R 4-2B 3B 5HR 14RBI 10BB 12SO

1B/3B Christopher Luciano (DSL)
24G .301/.425/.462
16R 7-2B 3B 2HR 24RBI 1SB 2CS 17BB 27SO

1B Connor MacDonald (DSL)
24G .311/.426/.456
19R 8-2B 3B HR 17RBI 1SB 2CS 14BB 24SO

IF/OF Rodrigo Ayarza (DSL)
22G .325/.449/.416
17R 3-2B 2-3B 20RBI 7SB 0CS 19BB 10SO

All excellent performances, but my winner was not only operating on a different level, I think he may have been on a different planet altogether! He hit safely in 22 of 24 games in June and is currently on an 18-game hitting streak.

1B Conrad Gregor (Lancaster)
24G .396/.464/.719
28R 11-2B 3B 6HR 25RBI 1SB 0CS 12BB 8SO

JUNE PLAYER OF THE MONTH: 1B CONRAD GREGOR

Conrad Gregor - July 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

As a reminder, Players of the Week for June were:
Dan Gulbransen

Matt Duffy

Kiké Hernandez

Conrad Gregor

>>>>>>><<<<<<< 

Next up, we look at Starting (Tandem) Pitchers who had good great starts this month. Some of these performances were so dominating that I literally considered simply flipping a coin. Here are my nominees. I think you can see why the choice was darn near impossible! (Again, I established a cut off line based on innings pitched. There have been some tremendous outings on the short season clubs, but I went with those pitchers who had pitched a minimum of 19 innings.)

RHP Edison Frias (Quad Cities)
4 Games/3 Starts 19IP 3-0 record
1.89 ERA/1.000 WHIP 3BB:15SO .191 BA

LHP Evan Grills (Quad Cities)
4 Games/2 Starts 19IP 0-2 record with 1 save
0.95 ERA/1.000 WHIP 2BB:17SO .254 BA

RHP Erasmo Pinales (DSL)
6 Games/6 Starts 29IP 1-0 record
2.79 ERA/1.069 WHIP 6BB:14SO .216 BA

LHP Cristhopher Santamaria (DSL)
6 Games/5 Starts 28.2IP 1-1 record
2.20 ERA/0.942 WHIP 5BB:25SO .208 BA

LHP Tommy Shirley (Corpus Christi)
5 Games/4 Starts 28IP 1-1 record
2.25 ERA/0.786 WHIP 3BB:23SO .186 BA

LHP Josh Hader (Lancaster)
4 Games/3 Starts 21IP 2-0 record
1.71 ERA/0.952 WHIP 5BB:13SO .197 BA

LHP David Rollins (Corpus Christi)

5 Games/4 Starts 23IP 1-1 record with 1 save

2.35 ERA/0.870 WHIP 2BB:21SO .212 BA

LHP Luis Cruz (Corpus Christi)

4 Games/4 Starts 21IP 1-0 record

1.29 ERA/0.857 WHIP 4BB:21SO .184 BA

I think you can see my dilemma. How does one chose a winner out of that group? Well, ultimately I went with the pitcher who pitched the most innings. In only one of his five starts did he not go at least seven innings.

RHP Nick Tropeano (Oklahoma City)
5 Games/5 Starts 35.2IP 4-0 record
2.02 ERA/0.869 WHIP 7BB:34SO .195 BA

JUNE STARTING (TANDEM) PITCHER OF THE MONTH: RHP NICK TROPEANO

Nick Tropeano - March 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

As a reminder, the Starting Pitchers of the Week for June were:
Jordan Jankowski
Austin Chrismon
Troy Scribner
Elieser Hernandez

>>>>>>><<<<<<< 

Now for our Relief Pitchers. Again, the nominees are in no particular order. (The cut-off for this one was a minimum of 10 innings pitched. There are a ridiculous number of pitchers with 0.00 ERAs for the month, but on limited innings.)

RHP Jorge de Leon (Oklahoma City)
9 Games 14IP 1-0 record
2.57 ERA/1.214 WHIP 6BB:10SO .212 BA
4 inherited runners/0 scored

LHP Kevin Chapman (Oklahoma City)
10 Games 11.2IP 1-1 record
0.77 ERA/1.029 WHIP 5BB:14SO .171 BA
5 inherited runners/1 scored

LHP Pat Urckfitz (Corpus Christi/Oklahoma City)
9 Games 11.2IP 0-0 record with 1 save
1.54 ERA/1.029 WHIP 2BB:5SO .270 BA

8 inherited runners/2 scored

RHP Tyson Perez (Corpus Christi)
8 Games 13.2IP 2-0 record with 2 saves
0.66 ERA/1.463 WHIP 9BB:9SO .239 BA

3 inherited runners/0 scored

RHP Tyler Brunnemann (Quad Cities)
5 Games 11.2IP 0-1 record with 1 save
0.77 ERA/0.943 WHIP 3BB:9SO .195 BA
2 inherited runners/2 scored

RHP Abdiel Saldana (DSL)
6 Games 16.2IP 2-0 record
1.62 ERA/1.080 WHIP 6BB:17SO .190 BA
2 inherited runners/2 scored

The key to my heart (and probably to a the hearts of a few pitching coaches) when it comes to relief pitching is the ability to get out of jams, in particular jams that aren't of his making. In other words, the ability to strand runners makes this blogger very happy. Our winner stood out in that regard. In six of his eight games, he inherited multiple runners and he managed to keep most of them from scoring. This 19-year old is now officially on my radar.

RHP Josue Uribe (DSL)
8 Games 11.2IP 1-1 record with 2 saves
2.31 ERA/1.029 WHIP 6BB:5SO .143 BA
13 inherited runners/3 scored

JUNE RELIEF PITCHER OF THE MONTH: RHP JOSUE URIBE

As a reminder, the Relief Pitchers of the Week for June were:
Patrick Urckfitz
Frederick Tiburcio
Tyson Perez
Jordan Mills

>>>>>>><<<<<<< 

If you remember, I decided to create separate categories for catchers since they generally play in fewer games and are judged as much if not more by their defensive contributions as they are by their offense.

My Defensive Catcher of the month has gotten off to a fantastic start for the Greeneville Astros. In his first eight games catching for the team he has a 1.000 fielding percentage, an 8.75 range factor, zero passed balls and sports a 56% caught stealing percentage (5 of 9). Jacob Nottingham, come on down!

JUNE DEFENSIVE CATCHER OF THE MONTH: JACOB NOTTINGHAM

Jacob Nottingham

Photo Courtesy of Bryan Green

I didn't have to look far to find a catcher who can hit. There were several outstanding performances at the plate, but the DSL's Gabriel Bracamonte managed to put on a nice show in the month of June. In 14 games, he hit .357/.460/.452 with two doubles, a triple, six walks to nine strikeouts, four RBI, nine runs scored and he stole a base too!

JUNE OFFENSIVE CATCHER OF THE MONTH: GABRIEL BRACAMONTE

Astros Minor League Players and Pitchers of the Month for May

Narrowing down the list for Pitchers and Players of the Month for May turned out to be a rather daunting task! Too many excellent performances, but I suppose that's a good problem to have.

First up let's look at the nominees for Player of the Month. Before I proceed, I would like to send a special shout out to James Ramsay who had a whopping 11 doubles in the month of May!

OF Preston Tucker (Corpus Christi)
29G .267/.346/.509
15R 7-2B 7HR 19RBI 2SB 1CS 13BB 21SO

OF Ronnie Mitchell (Quad Cities)
28G .271/.333/.521
15R 3-2B 7HR 22RBI 3SB 1CS 9BB 29SO

3B Rio Ruiz (Lancaster)
29G .290/.412/.439
20R 7-2B 3HR 18 RBI 0SB 2CS 23BB 12SO

OF Brett Phillips (Quad Cities)
28G .308/.353/.500
25R 9-2B 4-3B HR 15RBI 7SB 0CS 7BB 22SO

3B Tyler White (Quad Cities)
24G .318/.384/.471
12R 7-2B 2HR 16RBI 0SB 0CS 8BB 14SO

OF Jordan Scott (Lancaster)
26G .333/.365/.485
17R 4-2B 4-3B HR 18RBI 4SB 3CS 4BB 9SO

3B Matt Duffy (Corpus Christi/Oklahoma City)
29G .333/.383/.479
17R 3-2B 3B 4HR 20RBI 1SB 1CS 6BB 22SO

OF Domingo Santana (Oklahoma City)
30G .297/.386/.514
16R 6-2B 6HR 16RBI 2SB 1CS 15BB 35SO

SS Carlos Correa (Lancaster)
27G .330/.389/.496
18R 8-2B 3B 3HR 31RBI 9SB 2CS 8BB 19SO

IF Nolan Fontana (LAN)
25G .325/.505/.438
14R 6-2B HR 15RBI 1SB 3CS 29BB 23SO

All excellent performances, but my top two came down to two very different types of players with outstanding months. In the end, the winner played in several more games and struck out far less. First the runner-up:

OF Teoscar Hernandez (Lancaster)
23G .344/.421/.634
21R 7-2B 3B 6HR 24RBI 7SB 1CS 13BB 35SO

And our winner has not only had an outstanding month, he has had an outstanding season, hitting .336/.425/.467 with 64 runs scored, 13 doubles, four triples, three home runs, 27 RBI, 20 stolen bases and 31 walks to 25 strikeouts.

2B Tony Kemp (Lancaster)
29G .369/.446/.459
32R 6-2B 3B HR 14RBI 9SB 2CS 16BB 13SO

MAY PLAYER OF THE MONTH: 2B TONY KEMP

Tony Kemp - May 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

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

Andrew Aplin
Teoscar Hernandez
Domingo Santana
Brian Holberton
Ronnie Mitchell

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

Next up, we look at Starting (Tandem) Pitchers who had good starts. Again, there were many pitchers who really stood out for the month. The following are my nominees (in no particular order). I didn't pick a runner up because I found the task to be impossible. I would like to give a special shout-out to Michael Feliz for his fantastic month. I didn't include him in the list of nominees because he pitched several innings less than the rest of the group.

RHP Nick Tropeano (Oklahoma City)
5 Games/5 Starts    28.1IP    1-3 record
2.54 ERA/0.882 WHIP   6BB:33SO    .184 BA

RHP Jake Buchanan (Oklahoma City)
5 Games/5 Starts   34.2IP   3-1 record
2.08 ERA/1.010 WHIP    5BB:22SO    .233 BA

RHP Mike Hauschild (Corpus Christi)
6 Games/6 Starts    32.2IP   2-0 record
2.76 ERA/0.949 WHIP   4BB:27SO    .233 BA

RHP Mike Foltynewicz (Oklahoma City)
5 Games/5 Starts   31.2IP   2-2 record
2.27 ERA/0.916 WHIP   11BB:36SO    .171 BA

LHP Tommy Shirley (Corpus Christi)
5 Games/4 Starts   24.1IP   3-0 record
1.85 ERA/1.110 WHIP  9BB:18SO    .207 BA

RHP Jandel Gustave (Quad Cities)
5 Games/3 Starts   23IP   4-0 record
2.74 ERA/1.087 WHIP  7BB:20SO    .214 BA

Our winner not only had a great month, but his six no-hit innings in the May 13th combined no-hitter put him over the top.

LHP Josh Hader (Lancaster)
5 Games/4 Starts   27.2IP   4-0 record
1.95 ERA/0.940 WHIP  9BB:33SO    .172 BA

MAY STARTING (TANDEM) PITCHER OF THE MONTH:  LHP JOSH HADER

Josh Hader - May 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

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

Lance McCullers
Jake Buchanan
Josh Hader
Jake Buchanan
Michael Feliz

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

Now for our Relief Pitchers. Again, the nominees are in no particular order as I found selecting a runner up to be a tad bit difficult. Frederick Tiburcio and Alex White both had excellent numbers, but weren't with their teams for the full month so I hedged a little in favor of those who spent the entire month with their teams.

RHP Andrew Robinson (Corpus Christi)
9 Games    16IP    1 win & 1 save
1.13 ERA/1.250 WHIP   6BB:16SO    .207 BA
3 inherited runners/2 scored

RHP Daniel Minor (Lancaster)
6 Games   11IP    3 wins & 1 save (no-hitter save)
1.13 ERA/1.375 WHIP  4BB:11SO    .158 BA
2 inherited runners/0 scored

RHP Frederick Tiburcio (Quad Cities)
5 Games   9IP   1 loss & 2 saves
0.00 ERA/0.667 WHIP   1BB:13SO    .156 BA

RHP Alex White (Oklahoma City)
4 Games   5IP   1 win
0.00 ERA/0.400 WHIP   0BB:3SO    .118 BA

LHP Kevin Chapman (Oklahoma City)
13 Games    12.2IP    2 saves
0.71 ERA/1.737 WHIP   14BB:17SO    .182 BA
8 inherited runners/2 scored

LHP Patrick Urckfitz (Corpus Christi)
10 Games  14.2IP    1 win & 1 save
1.23 ERA/1.364 WHIP   4BB:14SO    .276 BA
3 inherited runners/2 scored

Our winner may not be the flashiest reliever in the system, but in May he was that rarest of rare commodities ... a consistent reliever. He only gave up one earned run, stranded six of eight inherited runners, got a ton of ground ball outs and converted all three of his save opportunities.

RHP Jason Stoffel (Oklahoma City)
11 Games    12.2IP     3 saves
0.71 ERA/1.263 WHIP   8BB:12SO (2 of the walks were intentional)
8 inherited runners/2 scored

MAY RELIEF PITCHER OF THE MONTH: RHP JASON STOFFEL

Jason Stoffel - June 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

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

Josh Zeid
Chris Cotton
Daniel Minor
Albert Minnis
Andrew Robinson

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

If you remember, I decided to create separate categories for catchers since they generally play in fewer games and are judged as much if not more by their defensive contributions as they are by their offense.

Last month, Roberto Pena was my Defensive Catcher of the Month due to his gaudy caught stealing numbers. This month I'm going to go in a little different direction. Jake Rodriguez was behind the dish in Lancaster for the May 13th no-hitter and again for a 2-hitter at the end of the month in Quad Cities. For that, he gets this month's nod as the Defensive Catcher of the Month.

MAY DEFENSIVE CATCHER OF THE MONTH:  JAKE RODRIGUEZ

Jake Rodriguez - March 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Jobduan Morales was my offensive catcher of the month in April and received a mid-May promotion to Lancaster from Quad Cities. This month another Quad Cities catcher has turned a few heads as Brian Holberton hit for the cycle on May 18th and put up a .388/.425/.638 batting line. He scored 14 runs during the month and collected nine doubles, a triple, three home runs and 15 RBI. Roberto Pena deserves honorable mention for his .267/.325/.507 line for the month.

MAY OFFENSIVE CATCHER OF THE MONTH: BRIAN HOLBERTON

Brian Holberton

Photo Courtesy of Bryan Green

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

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

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