Read Brian McTaggart’s column on how great the Corpus Christi Hooks pitchers are. (You do know that Tag is a native Houstonian and a fan, even though he’s not officially supposed to be…) Having looked at the minor league stats last night, I almost spilled my ice tea. Underrated pitchers? Going to be called up to AAA later this year? Well, the AAA pitchers ARE terrible, so what could happen – but hey, check out the stats for yourself – not ONE starter has a WHIP under 4.0

In case all yall curious, here are the stats of the AA starters (and mind, Star Prospect Jonathan Villar and his .691 OPS already has 17 errors at short – and this is not counting plays not made and DPs not turned. But I guess that when we flip Lowrie for prospects at the break, we’re gonna be stuck with him until Mier makes it to the bigs. Hahahahahahahahaha)

- Jake Buchanan, age 22 – (8th round 2010 Astros draft) 5.32 ERA/1.46 WHIP over 12 GS and 71 IP – 5.7 K/9,  3 UER
- Ross Seaton, age 22: (3rd round Astros 2008 draft) 4.38 ERA/1.40 WHIP over 12 GS and 67.1 IP – 4.8 K/9 and 9 UER
-Brett Oberholzer, age 22: (8th round Braves 08 draft – traded for Michael Bourn) 4.83 ERA/1.47 WHIPover 11 GS and 63 IP: 4 UER. And seeing as how he’s supposed to be so “underrated” let’s see a few more stats: 7.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 10.3 H/9, 1.42 H/9, 6.05 IP/GS.
- Jose Cisnero, age 23: (signed by Astros from the DR 2008) 4.58 ERA/1.47 WHIPover 12 GS and 55 IP – 3 UER
Jarred Cosart, age 22: (38th round Phils 08 draft – traded for Hunter Pence) 4.50 ERA/1.64 WHIP over 9 GS and 50 IP – 2 UER

The only guy on the entire staff who does not suck is the closer, Jason Stoffel: (4th round of Giants 09 draft – traded for Jeff Keppinger) 26.1 IP over 23 G: 17 H, 6 W, 21 K: 1.37 ERA/0.87 WHIP – but I haven’t been hearing anything about HIM getting a callup.

Note – they have already called up to OKC the only starter who didn’t stink, Wes Musick (9th round Astros 09 draft) and relievers Chris Hicks (14th round Astros 08 draft), who has been hurt all year, Adalberto Flores, age 25 (32nd round Astros 05 draft) and Jonnathan Aristil, 6 year minor league FA) and all of the relievers have ERAs over 4 and WHIPS over 1.4. Musick has managed to not get his head beat in over the 4 games he’s thrown.

How are the other pitchers on the AA staff doing?

Erick Abreu age 28 (undrafted FA from DR signed 08): 5.27 ERA over 41 IP (2 awful GS and mopup duty)

Henry Villar, age 27 (undrafted FA from DR signed 08): 6.28 ERA (2 gawdawful starts) in 26 IP over 13 games

Josh Zeid, age 25, drafted by Philly 10th round of 09 draft – traded for Pence: 7.23 ERA over 21 G and 23.2 IP

Alex Sogard age 24, drafted 26th round of Astros 2010 draft – called up from A ball in May – 7.56 ERA over 12 G and 16.2 IP – 27 H, 18 BB, 11 K

Arcenio Leon, age 25, undrafted FA Venezuela 2005 (was hurt for quite a while early on in his career) 34 IP over 20 games: 3.38 ERA/1.58 WHIP – 34 H, 21 walks!!! 29K

Kevin Chapman, age 24, obtained in the Quintero/Bourgeois giveaway, has thrown 27.1 innings over 24 games: 24 hits, 1 HR, 23 walks (!!!!!) 31 K: 7 ER/9 R: 2.30 ERA, 1.73 WHIP (!!!!) and .233 BAA

And there, my friends, is the Double A pitching roster. Bout every guy who didn’t suck even worse is already at AAA – and you do NOT wanna see THOSE numbers.

This is the first time in a LONG time I can remember that there didn’t appear to be any good pitchers, starters OR relievers, in AAA or AA – even Tim EFF Purpura managed to have at least SOMEone every year.

Oh yeah – we got a 20 year old OF named D’Andre Toney, drafted by the Royals in the 14th round 2011 for Quintero and Bourgeois. Quintero is basically repeating his yearly stats and Bourgeois is looking BAD at AAA.

We didn’t get Toney until now – must have been agreed upon – because players who are just drafted can’t be traded for a year.

He also played rookie ball last year, hitting .341 and slugging .587 over 150 games. He’s been at Royals Extended Spring Training – wonder why he wasn’t allowed to start low A – and he’s going straight back to Rookie League with the Astros. At age 20, he’s old for Rookie ball and I’m wondering why he needs to repeat.

He’s a small guy – looks like Bourgeois or DeShields, except he’s lousy at stealing bases – stole 7 caught 11 times, and that is at the ROOKIE level.

Tags: Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals

This entry was posted on Monday, June 11th, 2012 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Jason Bourgeois, Quintero. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.