SB Nation - Ben Heath

Astros Weekend Minor League Recap, June 4, 2012

Subber10 — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:00:35 -0000

Merry Christm...I mean Draft Day! Feels a little like Christmas though doesn't it? There's so much other draft coverage on this site that we'll save that for other threads.

It was a good weekend with a record of 7-2 and the only losses coming from the Hooks yesterday and the DSL Astros season opener on Saturday. Not bad at all! Especially considering there starting pitching really wasn't good except for a few performances. It was primarily on bullpens locking it down and the hitting picking up some slack.

There is also some movement in the minors leagues due to injuries and one promotion. Obviously we all know about Fernando Martinez and Brett Wallace getting promoted to the majors. Then there was also the return of Jordan Lyles. With those moves, we had Dallas Keuchel get activated and Matt Downs optioned down to Oklahoma City. We also saw the super utility man Andrew Simunic get called up the OkC.

You've also likely heard that Jason Chowning will be headed to Lancaster today and the corresponding move is that Gabriel Garcia is being demoted from Lancaster the Lexington. Jesse Wierzbicki was sent back down to Tri-City. Luis Ordosgoitti and John Henson were put on the 7-Day DL. Orosgoitti has some forearm tightness and Hinson tweaked his hamstring. Richard Rodriguez was added to start for Ordosgoitti and pitched three good innings. You might remember Rodriguez who was suspended last season for testing positive for Stanozolol. If you don't know what that is, the name Winstrol might sound a little familiar.

I want to point out Mike Foltynewicz start yesterday. He allowed just one hit through eight innings, and that was a home run in the fourth inning. He also allowed two walks and struck out five. The strikeouts weren't dominant, but the impressive part is obviously the lack of hits allowed. It's also noteworthy that Folty can visibly get down on himself when something goes wrong, but he stuck with it and pitched three shutout innings after the home run.

EDIT at 2:41 PM CT: Game Scores added! Folty posted a season best!

Saturday Games

Oklahoma City RedHawks won 11-8

Aneury Rodriguez-2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 3/2 GO/AO, 68 pitches, GS 19
Jonnathan Aristil-3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR, 3/2 GO/AO, 56 pitches
Juan Abreu-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO
Mickey Storey-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO
Jose Valdez-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
Scott Moore LF-1-4, 2B, 2 SO
Brett Wallace 3B-1-3, HR, 2 BB
Mike Hessman 1B-2-5, 2B
Brad Snyder CF-1-4, 2B, SO
Brandon Barnes RF-2-2, 2B

Corpus Christi Hooks won 5-4

Jake Buchanan-6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 11/2 GO/AO, 80 pitches, GS 60
Josh Zeid-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO
Jason Stoffel-1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 2/0 GO/AO
Adam Bailey RF-2-4, 2B, HR, SO

Lancaster JetHawks won 12-8

Tyson Perez-3 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 3 HR, 1/3 GO/AO, GS 13
Jose Trinidad-3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO
Andrew Robinson-1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO
Kirk Clark-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO
Ben Orloff SS-2-4, BB
George Springer CF-0-3, 2 BB, SO
Erik Castro 1B-2-5, 2B
Telvin Nash DH, LF-1-4, 3 SO
Enrique Hernandez 2B, LF, RF-1-4, 2B
Alex Todd 3B, 2B-2-3, 2 2B, SO
Ben Heath C-3-4, HR, SO

Lexington Legends won 8-2

Richard Rodriguez-3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 2/2 GO/AO
Nathan Pettus-3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 4/2 GO/AO
Murilo Gouvea-2 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2/3 GO/AO
Zachary Johnson 1B-2-4, BB, SO
Matt Duffy 3B-2-4, 2B, HR, BB, SO
Chris Epps DH-1-4, HR, BB, SO
Drew Muren CF-2-5, 2B, CS
James Howick SS-1-3, HR, BB, SO

DSL Astros lost 4-3

Edwin Villarroel-5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 9/4 GO/AO, GS 45
Javier Saucedo-2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR, 3/0 GO/AO
Johan Arias-2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 4/1 GO/AO
Arturo Michelena 2B-2-5, SO
Frederick Serrano LF-1-2, 2B, BB, SO

Sunday Games

Oklahoma City RedHawks won 6-5

Dallas Keuchel-6 2/3 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 10/1 GO/AO, 90 pitches, GS 49
Sergio Perez-0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO
Enerio Del Rosario-1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 3/1 GO/AO
Jose Valdez-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2/0 GO/AO
Mike Hessman 1B-4-4, 3 HR
Brandon Barnes CF-1-3, 2B, BB, 2 SO, SB
Dallas Keuchel P-2-3, SO

Corpus Christi Hooks lost 8-3

Jarred Cosart-6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 9/2 GO/AO, 82 pitches, GS 45
Jonathan Villar SS-2-5, SO
Jake Goebbert LF-2-3, BB
Ryan McCurdy C-2-4
Jordan Kreke 3B-2-4, 2B

Lancaster JetHawks won 15-8

Jorge de Leon-5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 5/3 GO/AO
Zachary Grimmett-4 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2 HR, 4/3 GO/AO
Erik Castro DH-2-4, 2B, 2 BB, SO
Telvin Nash LF-0-2, 3 BB, 2 SO
Jonathan Meyer 3B-2-4, 2B
Rafael Valenzuela 1B-3-4, 2B, BB
Ben Heath C-2-4, 2B, HR
Grant Hogue RF-2-3, 2 2B, 2 BB

Lexington Legends won 4-1

Michael Foltynewicz-8 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR, 13/5 GO/AO, GS 79-His best GS this season
Carlos Quevedo-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 3/0 GO/AO
Delino DeShields Jr. 2B-2-4, SO, 4 SB
Jordan Scott LF-0-2, 2 BB, SO
Drew Muren CF-2-4, SB
Brandon Meredith DH-2-3, 2B, BB, SO, CS
Chan Moon SS-1-3, 2B

TCB Podcast: Top 30 Prospects - Part 1

Timothy De Block — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:00:39 -0000

Sponsored by Leiturgia Communications

TCB Podcast ready and willing to invade your thoughts and tickle your ear drums.

In this episode Sean Feist, and special guest Jayne Hansen who writes for the blog What the Heck, Bobby? Discuss the Astros Minor League prospects and unveil our Top 30 prospects. Some of the names we'll be discussing outside the Top 30 are:

RANK	PROSPECT
63	Koby Clemens
61	Jay Austin
47	Chia-Jen Lo
38	Ben Heath
35	Juan Abreu

After discussing these names and a couple others that were not on the list we dove into our Top 30 prospects list. We actually had four players tied at 30 and set about determining who would be that 30th ranked prospect.

Rankings and player after the jump.

We split the vote on the 30th prospect and created a new prospect named Jordan Keuchel. So since we were split I've decided we'll have a reader poll to determine the final prospect.

RANK	PROSPECT
t-30	Jordan Scott
t-30	Josh Zeid
t-30	Tom Shirley
t-30	Dallas Keuchel
29	Chase Davidson
28	Dan Adamson
27	Jonathan Meyer
26	Jake Buchanan
25	Javaris Reynolds

In the next hour we'll be discussing prospects from 24 to 13 and some other totally off topic and random things.

[iTunes]

[Direct Link]

[RSS Feed]

Poll

Who should be The Crawfish Boxes 30th ranked prospect?

Jordan Scott

20 votes

Josh Zeid

18 votes

Tom Shirley

9 votes

Dallas Keuchel

35 votes

82 votes | Poll has closed

Tuesday Liftoff Links

Timothy De Block — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:00:37 -0000

While the Astros were preparing for their series against the Washington Nationals I was putting together these dignified links.

Something is Going on at the Farm

Star Wars Night Recap: Evil Empire in town at "The Joe" " 'Cats Corner
What happens when baseball and Star Wars collide. Very cool collection of pictures from an interesting night for the Tri-City Valley Cats.

Pretty in Pink " 'Cats Corner
I do love pictures.

2011 Sleeper Alert! List Review, Part Two - Minor League Ball
John Sickels reviews his 2011 prospect sleepers. Ben Heath is on the list and it's not looking good.

Diving into the Trade Market

Pirates Rumors: Bucs Eyeing Hunter Pence? - MLB Daily Dish
We're covering the latest Pittsburgh Pirates rumors today, including a report that the Bucs are scouting Astros right fielder Hunter Pence.

MLB Trade Deadline: Buyers, NL Edition
The Biz of Baseball reviews the needs of buyer teams in the NL. It appears that all of them could use one Astro or another, whether they're a good fit though is another matter.

Inside the Phillies: Phillies trade possibilities from two scouts' perspectives - Page 2 - Philly.com
A look at who the Phillies are looking to acquire with comments from an AL and NL scout. Some interesting perspective on Hunter Pence and what it would require to acquire him.

The Silly Things the Astros do

Quintero still getting comfortable behind plate | astros.com: News
This is annoying. 1) Rush a player back from the DL 2) then making excuses for said catcher when he's not throwing out runners 3) catcher is also going to be 32 in August. Injury + rushed + old age = bad move

Picking Nits...There is a Bottom Line
After every Astros game, the nit pickers come out and question many of manager Brad Mill's decisions. Greg Lucas comes to the defense of Brad Mills and while I respect his opinion I have to disagree. When you're batting Angel Sanchez and his .306 career OBP second you deserve to get nit picked. There's no reason you shouldn't be optimizing your lineup especially on a losing team. Giving at bats to someone who bunts in the first inning WITH the stolen base league leader on base is just silly.

2011 Sleeper Alert! List Review, Part Two

John Sickels — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:00:52 -0000

2011 SLEEPER ALERT! LIST REVIEW, Part Two

Every year in the Baseball Prospect Book, I point out players who I think are particularly good sleepers who could break through unexpectedly. Sometimes then pan out (Dan Hudson for example), sometimes they don't, but I try very hard to get ahead of the curve on players like that, especially pitchers.

Let's review the Sleeper Alert! list from the 2011 book (which you can still order by the way!). Here are the second 15 alphabetically and we will review all 59 players as the week moves forward. I'm including a brief mention for each player of the reasons they were on the list, if it was stats, scouting reports, intuition, or some combination thereof.

John Gast, LHP, St. Louis Cardinals: 3.95 ERA with 59/28 K/BB in 82 innings for High-A Palm Beach, but stronger numbers after moving up to Double-A, 2.70 ERA with 22/6 K/BB in 20 innings for Springfield. 1.54 GO/AO combined. Age 22. Looks very good right now, rating was based on statistics, scouting, and intuition.

Ismael Guillon, LHP, Cincinnati Reds: 5.66 ERA in 21 innings for Billings in the Pioneer League, 16/18 K/BB, 23 hits, 1.93 GO/AO. Age 19. Numbers unimpressive so far due to command problems but sample is small. Rating was based on statistics and scouting.

Ben Heath, C, Houston Astros: Hitting .245/.306/.404 combined between Low-A Lexington and High-A Lancaster, 18/58 BB/K in 208 at-bats, has thrown out just 16 percent of runners. Disappointing in all respects. Age 22. Scouting reports about a troublesome swing turned out more accurate than good stats.

Cesar Hernandez, 2B, Philadelphia Phillies: Hitting .261/.299/.331 with 15 walks, 49 strikeouts, 12 steals in 291 PA for High-A Clearwater. Playing very well defensively. Age 21, still has time to improve. Rating was based on stats and scouting.

Kane Holbrooks, RHP, Minnesota Twins: 5.09 ERA, 44/25 K/BB in 88 innings, 116 hits for High-A Fort Myers. Very disappointing in most respects, K/IP and H/IP marks have slipped dramatically. Age 24. Rating was based on stats and scouting.

Mario Hollands, LHP, Philadelphia Phillies: 4.44 ERA, 63/27 K/BB in 79 innings for Low-A Lakewood, 90 hits. Blah performance so far. Much more effective when used in pen (2.70 ERA, 16/6 K/BB in 17 IP, 10 hits). Age 22. Rating was based on mix of stats, scouting, and intuition.

Deryk Hooker, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals: 6.14 ERA with 27/14 K/BB in 37 innings for Double-A Springfield. On disabled list since mid-May. Age 22. Rating was based on stats and scouting.

Drew Hutchison, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays: 2.99 ERA, 99/27 K/BB in 93 innings, 85 hits split between Low-A Lansing and High-A Dunedin. Excellent season so far, moving rapidly up prospect lists. Age 20. Rating was based on stats and scouting.

James Jones, OF, Seattle Mariners: Hitting .234/.327/.360 with 13 steals, 37 walks, 87 strikeouts in 278 at-bats for High-A High Desert. Pattern similar to last year, very slow start, but heating up now, .298/.362/.488 in last 22 games. Age 22. Rating was based on stats and scouting.

Su-Min Jung, RHP, Chicago Cubs: 5.36 ERA with 19/24 K/BB in 44 innings for Low-A Peoria, just demoted to short-season Boise. Age 21. Rating was based on stats and scouting, he succeeded in Low-A last year so command slippage is disappointing.

Steve Kent, LHP, Atlanta Braves: 7.77 ERA, 37/9 K/BB in 49 innings, 74 hits for Low-A Rome. At the same level in 2010, he had a 0.69 ERA with a 54/8 K/BB in 39 innings. 22 years old, was released in June. Sleeper rating was based mainly on stats, sudden collapse in performance at same level followed by release is weird.

Austin Kirk, LHP, Chicago Cubs: 2.95 ERA with 89/24 K/BB in 104 innings for Low-A Peoria, 80 hits. Threw no-hitter on July 4^th. Age 21, having a very nice breakthrough year. Rating was based on stats and scouting.

Tom Koehler, RHP, Florida Marlins: 5.44 ERA, 70/56 K/BB in 98 innings for Triple-A New Orleans, 96 hits. Walk rate has shot way up this year. 25 years old. Rating was based on stats and scouting.

Kyle Lotzkar, RHP, Cincinnati Reds: 5.71 ERA but with nice components, 36/11 K/BB, 29 hits in 35 innings for Low-A Dayton. Live-arm guy making progress in injury recovery. Age 21. Rating based mostly on scouting.

Big hit with this second group of 15 was Hutchison, Kirk and Gast are solid, but lots of disappointments too.

Tuesday Liftoff Links

Timothy De Block — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:00:26 -0000

While the Astros were enjoying their day off, I was putting together some delightful links for your ingestion.

Minor Leagues

Astros set Minor League rosters " Tag's Lines
Brian McTaggart fills us in on who's going where in the Minor League system. Class A Lancaster looks the most interesting.

Ultimate Astros " Which THREE TO SEE will you See?
Mike Tauser a.k.a. farmstros looks at three players from each level who warrant some attention in 2011, providing a poll for you to vote. With the expected struggles of the Major League team a lot of fans will begin looking to the Minor Leagues for some hope. Personally I'll be keeping my eye on Dallas Keuchel, Jimmy Paredes, and J.D. Martinez. I can't believe he left Ben Heath off the high-A (Lancaster) level.

Statistics

Joe Blogs: An Interview With UZR
Joe Posnanski does an informative interview with the advanced statistic UZR.

Don’t Trust Stats This Week | FanGraphs Baseball
Is Carlos Lee back? He's batting .375 so far. Not so fast say Eric Seidman who says we should hold off giving weight to statistics until a specific number of plate appearances.

There’s nothing magic about age 27
Derek Carty at The Hardball Times does an interesting study on what some believe to be the peak age for a player.

Around Baseball

MLB, Players Union announce new 7-day DL - MLB Daily Dish
In case you missed it, right before the season began MLB, and the Players Union announced a new 7-day DL. Primarily for concussion related injuries it should also come in handy for times when a 15-day DL trip is just to much.

Opening weekend - The best of all possible worlds - Red Reporter
While the Astros were getting swept by the Phillies this past weekend, the Reds were sweeping the Brewers. The guys over at Red Reporter have a review of the good and even better for the Reds this past weekend.