What's up with folty in AAA, he has been horrible this year. Maybe he is working on certain pitches that the organization feels he needs to be better on

RedHawks take on the New Orleans Zephyrs today at 2:05pm

Nick Tropeano is scheduled to make his second start of the season and his Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark debut...In his last outing Wednesday in New Orleans, Tropeano earned his first win of the season, allowing one hit, walking one and striking out one in three scoreless innings as the game’s piggyback starter...He had a tough Triple-A debut April 5 in Round Rock, picking up the loss in his first start. He allowed four runs and five hits over 3.1 innings. Tropeano walked four and struck out four...He spent the entire 2013 season with Double-A Corpus Christi, where he went 7-10 with a 4.11 ERA over 28 games (20 starts). He led the Texas League with 130 strikeouts and paced his team in starts and innings (133.2)...He split 2012 between Low-A Lexington and High-A Lancaster, leading all Astros farmhands with a 3.02 ERA and 166 strikeouts...The Astros drafted Tropeano in the fifth round in 2011 from Stony Brook University.

Jon Singleton is on an absolute tear. He drove in four runs last night and has collected at least one RBI in six of his last seven games. His 13 RBI paces the RedHawks and is tied for second in the PCL.

The RedHawks have hit a home run in eight straight games for the first time since May 30-June 7, 2012. Today they will attempt to make it nine straight for the first time since July, 2010. Last season they never hit a home run in more than four straight games. OKC has 11 home runs through the first 10 games of the season, a total that is currently tied for second in the league.

Singleton with 4 homers in his last 10 games

Jon Singleton is straight locked in.





Also, thought this quote was interesting.

quote:

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It’s probably too soon to see Astros prospects climb the minor league ladder unless an injury arises.

Two weeks is the bare minimum needed to evaluate anything about a player in the minors, general manager Jeff Luhnow said. Next month is a more realistic time for players to move up, considering that by mid-May, the 144-game season is about a third of the way done.

“Well, it depends. Were they at that (same) level last year?” Luhnow said. “What they do during the offseason, do they go to the fall league, what they do during the spring, how are they doing so far … two weeks is the earliest you can read anything into how a player’s performing. But there’s still a lot of variability within that.”

---

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2014/04/14/its-too-soon-to-promote-any-promising-astros-prospects/

Glad to see Singleton putting it back together.

I don't believe any of you true Astros fans would judge me if I pulled for a couple of our big league players to get hurt so we could get the kids up.

Maybe Presley, Grossman, Carter could all strain their obliques while swinging and missing at Ventura's 102mph heat tonight and we could give the youngsters a shot.

Lets make bets on who goes down/ gets cut to make room for Springer and Singleton.

I feel like Hoes is going to be the odd outfielder out.

I wish we would trade Carter for a bag of Doritos, but the most likely scenario is Krauss goes down.

I like hoes, really I do. Krauss Presley or grossman. Those three are the same guy as far as I'm concerned.

Jon Singleton over the last 7 days:


.375/.483/.833 for an OPS of 1.316

2 doubles and 3 HRs

5 BBs and 5 Ks in 29 plate appearances.




Vincent Velasquez

13.0 IP, 16 Ks to 3 BBs, only allowed 3 hits and 1 earned run.



The Lancaster pitching staff is just filthy nasty.

Singleton with his 7th homer and 23rd RBI this season today. Batting .343 on the season. Let's go ahead and call him up too

quote:

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Singleton with his 7th homer and 23rd RBI this season today. Batting .343 on the season. Let's go ahead and call him up too

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They will cost themselves potential millions of dollars in the future by calling him up now.

I want him up though. Our 1st base situation is disgusting.

RedHawks with 3 consecutive losses now. Went 1-4 against Nashville. Start 4-game series with Round Rock tomorrow

The big wave of talent is at Lancaster boys. When this wave lands.

This team is just filthy when you really look at it.

First off, this team is younger than all of its competition.





They are 14-9 on the season.

Here are the pitchers (average age in this league is 23.3). Check out how young they are!



Josh Hader's K/BB ratio is 7. Freaking 7. That's unreal. Remember we traded Bud Norris for him. Dude is also a baby at only 20 years old for the league.

Vincent Velasquez is picking up right where he left off last year.

Kyle Westwood is a nice pitcher also who just induces weak contact at an elite level. Check out this write up on him by my blogging buddy Anthony Boyer: http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2014/4/22/5636172/does-kyle-westwood-have-an-elite-skill

McCullers has not been dominant, but we know his arm has all kinds of upside if he can harness some command. At worst, McCullers has big league closer written all over him, but he still has time to develop into a front end starter at only age 20.

Kyle Smith is who we received for Justin Maxwell. He's off to a pretty good start also.



Then you go to the hitters. (average hitters age is 22.7)


Tony Kemp is off to a great start. He's an Altuve starter kit.

Teoscar Hernandez started off hot, but has cooled some. He's only 20 years old and has shown the potential to be a 5 toolish player.

Correa... enough said.

Rio Ruiz... one of the guys that drafting Correa allowed us to pick up. Love this guy. If his defense can stick at 3B, he will be a sweet addition to the lineup one day. Sweet left handed swing and the potential to develop a lot more. Only 20 years old!

Josh Hader has had a phenomenal season so far

The Astros recently removed top overall 2013 draft pick Mark Appel from the rotation in Class A+ Lancaster due to the pitcher’s struggles to adjust to the Astros’ tandem rotation system. Appel also missed part of spring training with an appendectomy. “I don’t expect this to be more than a couple of weeks,” says Luhnow. “Really, it’s just to make up for spring training. It’s my fault for sending him to Lancaster. … I realized that he just didn’t have a proper spring training.”

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/houston-astros

Not all great news on the farm. Hopefully they can get Appel headed in the right direction after extended Spring Training.

The Appel news certainly hurts.


Especially with Kris Bryant destroying AA pitching for the Cubs.

I think Appel will be fine. We rushed him back after core surgery. Dumb move from an organization notorious for taking its time with kids.

Whats wrong with Correa? He hasn't played in a few days.

Soreness is his throwing shoulder that apparently happened switching seats on the bus or something.

It's not a big issue because he didn't go on DL. You can bet he gets treated like antique glass.

"Thoon"

Correa banged out 5 hits on Saturday night.

Anthony Kemp has continued to play very good as well.

Josh Hader and 2 relievers combined to throw a no hitter last night at Lancaster. Hader has been dominant this season

Hader is from The Tank trade, right?

Indeed

Need to get this thread going again.

Correa is really starting to show some pop. I read that he recently made an adjustment that the coaches thought was limiting his power and it is showing. He hit a 450 foot bomb the other night.

On top of that, he apparently dazzles with his glove on a nightly basis. He is going to be a beast.

Also, Appel is starting for Lancaster tomorrow.

I am starting to really really love the Correa pick. I liked it at first because it gave us financial flexibility. But the dude is putting up huge numbers too. I am a fan

Correa is going to be a stud.

Correa and Tony Kemp in the middle infield are flippin awesome. I wish milb.tv covered the Lancaster Jethawks.

Tony Kemp is not a real prospect and shouldn't be considered part of the future

People said the same of Altuve.

I was kidding. Someone was arguing with me earlier this year against Tony Kemp.

Anyone with insider want to post Keith Laws updated top 25?

#14 for Jon Homerton.

Appel returned to the mound for Lancaster last night and gave up 10 run in less than 2 innings. Time to worry?