Gilberto Celestino went 3-3 with a walk and scored a run in Greeneville's 4-2 win tonight. Joan Mauricio hit a 2-run homer for the Appy Astros.
As I've mentioned before, Oz Ocampo and his team have found some real interesting arms among the older Dominicans. Alcala signed at 19. Framber Valdez was 21 when he debuted. Hector Perez made his debut shortly before he turned 19. Enoli Paredes, a guy who I've had my eye on for a while, debuted as a 20-year-old. Oz and the Astros' international team are pretty good at their job.
So I'm guessing AJ Reed is old news. Dude has been awfully quiet and mediocre in AAA. Anyone watching him closely and care to offer an opinion on why he's struggling? His avg is at .242, his OPS is lowest of his minor league career, he's striking out more this year compared to 2016 (about same number of games - 70). I was hoping his struggles last year would light a fire.
Seeing him last year, he doesn't have good bat speed. Plus, I think he's just fat. He's gotten away with it for a long time but you have to be really good to get away with it in the upper levels.
Buies Creek lost 6-5 in 15 innings. Tough outing for Yordan Alvarez -- 0-6 with 3 Ks. On the bright side Nick Hernandez had 4 perfect innings (10th to 13th) with 7 Ks. His numbers on the year are stellar -- 6/1 K/BB ratio, 13 Ks/9 innings, 1.14 ERA, and a 0.73 WHIP over 31 innings in 22 appearances. He's probably making his way up to Corpus shortly.
Yup. Looks like a beer league softball player. Looks like he has alligator arms to me.. it's a shame his trade stock has plummeted so much now.
I"ve been impressed with Tyler White this season, and especially this month. Unlike Reed, White shed the extra pounds and is looking pretty fit. He's made only two errors this month after making a total of 7 errors in April+May, which could be significant as one of the biggest knocks against White has been his poor defense. The guy's hit for over a .400 average over 109 plate appearances this month and that is with 8 HR's and an OPS over 1.200. In my opinion, he's making a strong case to spend some time on the infield at Minute Maid this year, especially if any of our current infielders are out due to injury (or get traded).
The last 12 months are also the first time in his entire life he has struggled playing baseball. Some guys rededicate themselves, some guys flame out. We shall see.
Framber allowed a run on 3 hits, walked 2, and struck out 11 in 8 innings as Buies Creek beat Carolina 2-1. Yordan Alvarez drove in both Buies Creek runs with a bases-loaded walk in the 3rd and an RBI double in the 5th.
Gilberto Celestino is next up in terms of positional prospects who will become highly regarded. Extremely young, really good on base skills, plays a really good CF. Expect him to start next year in QC.
Tyler Ivey made his debut in the GCL today: 2 IP, H, 2 BB, 3 K Kit Scheetz followed with 3 scoreless innings, allowing 3 hits and striking out 6. Scheetz, a lefty, signed with the Astros as an undrafted free agent out of Virginia Tech last week.
Freudis Nova hit a 3-run homer, the first of his career, in the DSL Orange team's 12-0 thrashing of the Rays 2. Jairo Solis (5 IP, BB, 5 K), Jose Alberto Rivera (3 IP, 2 BB, K), and Fredy Medina (IP, 2 K) combined to throw a no-hitter.
