Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Astros Farm Report: 9-5

A few tidbits as the Astros MiLB season winds toward the end ...

ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS

According to Brian McTaggart, C Evan Gattis will be rehabbing with Quad Cities this week. Quad Cities starts playoffs on 9/6.

And it appears that 3B/2B Josh Rojas, who was sent to Fresno for a couple of days at the end of their season to help out, is headed back to Quad Cities for the playoffs as well.

9-5: RHP James Hoyt expected to be recalled to Houston from Fresno
9-4: RHP Michael Feliz sent to Quad Cities on a rehab assignment

The complete(ish) list of August and September moves can be found here.

NEWS AND LINKS

In case you missed it, my interview with Astros/Hooks OF Kyle Tucker. Interviews with Myles Straw and Forrest Whitley will be coming out this week as well.

Baseball America has put together the MiLB All-Star Teams for the 2017 Season. Derek Fisher (Pacific Coast League), J.D. Davis (Texas League), Myles Straw (Carolina League) and Chuckie Robinson (Midwest League) represent the Astros.

Please note that I will be bringing you a combined August and September "By The Numbers" post after Tri-City finishes their regular season on Thursday and my annual "Awards" will be presented after the conclusion of postseason play.

RECAPS/PLAYOFF INFO

And then there were two ...

All of the Astros minor league teams (except Tri-City) have now completed their regular seasons and only two have advanced to the playoffs. Tri-City will play its final game on Thursday but has no chance of advancing.

Greeneville has already played two games in its best-of-three semi-finals contest with Elizabethton. After winning the first game on Sunday 3-2, Greeneville fell to the Twins 14-7 on Monday as starter Chad Donato only managed to record only one out in the contest before being pulled in favor of Francisco Villegas to complete the inning. By the time the first inning was over Greeneville trailed 6-1 and they were never able to close the gap to less than four runs the rest of the way. Game 3 will start at 6:00 CST tonight in Elizabethton with Cole Watts (2-3 6.68 regular season) facing TBD to see who will advance to the Finals vs. the Pulaski Yankees.

Quad Cities ended their 6-game skid on Monday to close out the regular season with a 7-3 win over Wisconsin. Rehabbing Michael Feliz (1.0 IP 0H 0R 2SO) and Adrian Houser (3.0 IP 1H 0R 4SO), the starters for the game were effective, but the River Bandits got to Wisconsin's pitcher of record Drake Owenby to the tune of five runs (plus two more off the Wisconsin bullpen) while Nathan Thompson, Ronel Blanco (W, 6-4), Robert Corniel and Devon Carr kept the Timber Rattlers to eight hits. The Bandits only had eight hits as well, but seven of those were for extra bases including home runs from Chas McCormick (3-for-4 2B HR 3RBI 2R) and J.J. Matijevic. The River Bandits will travel to Peoria on Wednesday to start the best-of-three Division Quarterfinal.

Fresno closed out their season on Monday with a 9-7 win over Salt Lake. After a tough start by Cy Sneed, a bullpen of Jacob Dorris (W, 3-0), Andrew Thome, James Hoyt and Brandon McCurry (S, 6) held the Bees to one run on four hits and two walks over the final six innings. The Grizzlies collected 12 hits, including home runs from Eduardo de Oleo and A.J. Reed, his 34th of the season.

Corpus Christi did their part on Monday by beating San Antonio 2-0 in a fine performance by Akeem Bostick (7.2IP 7H 0BB 7SO). Ryan Thompson struck out three of the four batters he faced to close it out. The Hooks collected only four hits in the game, but managed to score their first run in the fifth as Jamie Ritchie scored from second on a fielding error and capped it off with a Kyle Tucker solo home run in the eighth for insurance. But the Hooks needed Midland to lose to Frisco to advance to the playoffs and that didn't happen so their season officially came to a close.

Similarly, Buies Creek needed a win to advance to the playoffs, but they succumbed to Down East, losing 10-3 to that team. The Astros pitching woes started early; they trailed by four runs after two innings and were never able to close that gap. And on that note, the Buies Creek Astros closed out their first season in existence.

The ValleyCats split their double-header on Monday, with a 6-5 win in the first game and a 7-4 loss in the second. Ian Hardman did a fine job in only his second game since joining Tri-City, pitching 3.1 perfect innings of relief, stranding a runner and striking out five in the second game. But the big story was Jake Meyers, the Astros 2017 13th round pick, collecting his first pro home run in game 1, followed by two additional home runs in game 2 of the double-header. Andy Pineda also homered in game 2 for only the second time in his pro career. Those three game 2 home runs were, however, the only hits that the Cats were able to muster. The Cats will continue their regular season schedule with a game at 6:05 CST today at Vermont before returning home to play their final two games vs. Connecticut.

STANDINGS (FINAL EXCEPT FOR TRI-CITY)

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE/PACIFIC NORTHERN DIVISION
AAA Fresno 2nd 77-65 .542 3.0GB W1

TEXAS LEAGUE/SOUTH DIVISION
AA Corpus T2nd 67-71 .486 10.0GB W3 (Overall)
AA Corpus 2nd 33-35 .485 3.0GB W3 (Second Half)

CAROLINA LEAGUE/SOUTHERN DIVISION
HiA Buies Creek 1st 74-65 .532 -.-GB L3 (Overall)
HiA Buies Creek 2nd 37-32 .536 0.5GB L3 (Second Half)

MIDWEST LEAGUE/WESTERN DIVISION (CLINCHED DIVISION)
LoA Quad Cities 1st 79-59 .572 -.-GB W1 (Overall)
LoA Quad Cities 1st 42-28 .600 -.-GB W1 (Second Half)

NEW YORK-PENN LEAGUE/STEDLER DIVISION
SSA Tri-City 3rd 34-39 .466 7.0GB L1

APPALACHIAN LEAGUE/WEST DIVISION (ADVANCED TO WEST DIVISION PLAYOFFS)
Rk+ Greeneville 3rd 33-34 .493 7.5GB L3 (Regular Season)
Postseason: Tied 1-1 with Elizabethton in a best of three semi-final

GULF COAST LEAGUE/EAST DIVISION
Rk GCL Astros 3rd 27-27 .500 6.0GB W1

DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE/NORTH DIVISION
FRk DSL Orange 7th 27-44 .380 16.5GB W2

DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE/NORTHWEST DIVISION
FRk DSL Blue 5th 38-33 .535 9.0GB W1


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