Thursday's Thoughts

First of all, watch this video of MLB.com recapping Day Two of the draft for the Astros. Also, the story beside the video is a quick Q&A with shortstop and 5th round draft pick Brandon Wikoff. Some good stuff in there. I'll get to the writeups soon, but the wife is ready to have this baby at any time now, so if I post this half-finished, it's because I had to hit 'publish' before running to the hospital! I also wanted to talk about the Astros 32nd round draft pick, Greg Peavey.

The righthander from Oregon State has a scouting video up on MLB.com. His fastball seems to sit in the low 90's for the most part and his arm slot comes in at three quarters. His delivery is a little violent at the end, but he follows through nicely and is in a great fielding position by the end. That coaching staff up at Oregon State is very solid and obviously imparts good fundementals. It's also a fun little fact that Peavey played in the Little League World Series. I could see Peavey making a fast rise through the system. I don't know how much I'll get to write about the picks today, but if I do get a chance to go in-depth with any of the guys, I'll post later today. With that, let's get to all the news and notes from around the Astros farm system:

Since Round Rock was off on Wednesday, Polin Trinidad will lead off our notes, as he posted his best start of the season for Corpus Christi. In seven innings, Trinidad gave up only one hit, walking none and striking out five. He needed only 74 pitches to get through his innings and had a FIP of 1.77, his second lowest total of the season. Trinidad has had a rocky time lately, as this was the first time in five starts and the second time in seven starts that he's finished with a game score over 50. On Wednesday, Trinidad turned in a game score of 80 and picked up his fifth victory after the Hooks scored eight runs for him.

Jose Valverde also made his first appearance in his rehab stint with the team, striking out two and walking two in an inning of work. Valverde threw 24 pitches, 14 for strikes and got one flyball out. Here's hoping his rehab continues to go well.

Here is a draft video of Astros 35th rounder Jackson Hogue, a centerfielder out of Mississippi State. Hogue may play well in center field, though I couldn't tell how well he throws from the video. His arm action appears good and he didn't seem to effort the throws much, but his bat has me a little concerned. I guess when you get this late in the draft, you're not going to find perfect players. Hogue's swing is long, though, and his base is huge, meaning his legs don't get involved much and he probably won't show much power. If he's got some speed, he could develop into a nice player.

The Astros also drafted their first Aggie on Thursday in righthander Scott Migl. The 21-year old was born five years to the day after me, which is cool on it's own, but Migl has the potential to be a good bullpen guy for Houston. He was named a Freshman All-American in 2007 but has pitched less and less the past two years. Migl appeared in just two games for A&M this year, both starts and may have been injured in his second, as he got roughed up over 1 1/3 innings. He didn't appear in a game after March 18.

Houston's 37th round draft pick was Raul Rivera, a right-handed pitcher from Colegio San Vincente De Paul in Puerto Rico. Rivera's video shows that he can touch low 90's with his fastball and has a nice curveball and change. His delivery is very deliberate but he finishes in good position and his arm starts vertical to the ground. He doesn't seem to use his legs much in his delivery, so I'm sure the Astros think they can coach him up to do that, which will give him more life on his fastball. That's if he'll agree to sign.

To make room for Jason Castro, the Astros demoted Jonathan Fixler to Lancaster. They also seem to have released Jordan Comadena from any roster, which isn't surprising, since he hasn't gotten much playing time in the past month. Castro, in his first game with Corpus, went 1 for 4 with a run scored. He also helped the staff throw a three-hitter, so hopefully, he can help out that pitching staff.

Houston's 39th round pick, Rory Young, has a video here. Young is a high school kid from British Columbia and has great breaking stuff. His curveball dipped down to 62 at one point and his delivery seems pretty smooth. He certainly has the body frame to be a prototypical pitcher, but he didn't show much speed on his fastball, which is why he fell all this way. Maybe with a tweak to his delivery or as he matures, he can pick up some speed on his heater. Until then, we shall see.

Collin DeLome continued to hit well on Wednesday, going 2 for 4 with a double, a home run, a run scored and two RBIs. The 22-year old hit his 12th home run of the season and is now batting over .300 in June. DeLome still isn't walking much, but he also didn't strike out last night and only has four this month.

Jimmy Van Ostrand also hit a home run last night, but it was his second hit of the month as his average plummeted to .105/.227/.263. That's not good no matter who you are and I'll be surprised if the Astros keep him in Corpus for too much longer, as his season averages of .262/.312/.524 have been plummeting fast.

Lancaster finished the suspended game and played the second, but neither box scores were posted. As soon as they are, I'll updated and post about their results.