Welcome to Appy Astros, a blog dedicated to following current & former Greeneville Astros, the Appalachian League affiliate of the Houston Astros. Here you will find reports on current G-Stros, updates on the development of former G-Stros and occasionally an update on what has happened to the guys who have hung up their spikes.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Season Recap - Starting Pitchers

Let's start our look at the 2012 Greeneville Astros by looking at the starting pitchers.  Twelve different pitchers started a game for the G-Stros.  We will take a look at the six who made the most starts.

We will look at them using my Appy Astros Adjusted Scoring System (3A2S).  This system takes the best outing game score and the worst outing game score and discards them.  The resulting starts will give us a truer picture of the real performance of the starters. For more information on the game score read this.

Francis Ramirez made 13 starts on the season.  His highest game score was a 70 on 7/1/12 and his worst game score was a 28 on 8/2/12.  His average game score across all starts was a 50.62.

His season ERA was a 4.05 and his WHIP was 1.46.
His 3A2S ERA was 4.53 and his WHIP was 1.43.

So his ERA goes up a half point but his WHIP stays basically the same.

The 20 year old showed flashes of promise with a great July but faded in August.  I look for him to be in short season ball again next season, likely in Tri Cities.

Daniel Minor was one of three pitchers who made 11 starts on the season.  His highest game score was an impressive 85 on 8/10/12. He lowest game score was a 21 on 7/30/12.  His average game score was 55.36 over his 11 starts.

His season ERA was 2.75 and his WHIP was 1.03.
His 3A2S ERA was 2.29 and his WHIP was 1.00.

His ERA drops by almost a half point when adjusted and his WHIP is maintained.

The 21 year old out of Texas A&M Corpus Christi made strong impression in 2012.  What is more impressive is that he had already pitched 110 1/3 innings in college before the draft.  He added 59 more innings for Greeneville and finished strong with a 0.35 ERA over his last four starts. He showed he is ready for the next step up the ladder.  I fully expect to see Minor in Lexington next season and would not be surprised if he made the jump to Lancaster. 

Adrian Houser also made 11 starts.  His high game score was 73 on 7/6/12 and his low was a dismal 4 on 8/6/12.  His average game score for the season was 49. 36.

His season ERA was 4.19 and his WHIP was 1.31
His 3A2S ERA was 3.86 and his WHIP was 1.35

His ERA drops .33 points and his WHIP is basically unchanged.

The 19 year old Houser experienced a pretty consistent season.  He had two great starts (games scores of 73 & 74) and two horrible starts (game scores of 4 & 11). The other seven scores ranged from 46 to 58.  With four of them being a score of 56.  What that tells me is that he was challenged at this level and that he responded fairly well.  I don't expect him to return to Greeneville again.  I expect him to be challenged in Lexington next year. It will be a very good test for him.

Fredrick Tiburcio was the third pitcher to make 11 starts. His first appearance of the year was out of the pen but he was a starter after that.  His highest game score was 74 on 7/14/12.  His lowest game score was on 7/2/12 and was a 31.  His average game score was a 51 but six of his starts scored below a 50. 

His season ERA as a starter was 4.08 and his WHIP was 1.29
His 3A2S ERA was 4.18 and his WHIP a 1.23.

The change in dropping the best and worst starts made only a negligible change. that would seem to indicate that his numbers are pretty accurate. 

The 21 year old Tiburcio showed brief flashes of quality stuff with two starts scoring a game score over 70 and claimed the two seven inning complete games this year.  But he was either on or off.  I don't know what to expect from Tiburcio next year,  If forced to project, I think he will start the year in extended spring training again. 

Michael Feliz made six starts after his promotion from the GCL Astros.  Feliz' worst game score came in his Appy League debut on 7/29/12.  His best outing was his last one of the season when he put up a game score of 66 on 8/28/12.  His average game score over his six starts was 46.16.

Six outings is really too small of a sample to evaluate. Feliz will turn 19  and has been invited to instructional league starting up next week.  How he does there will probably impact his placement next year.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in Greeneville in 2013.

Lance McCullers Jr. made four late season starts after his promotion from the GCL.  His game scores ranged from a low of 39 in his final start to a high of 60 in his first start.  His average game score was 47.75.  McCullars struggled some in moving up to the Appy League.  Not too much can be made from this sample size as well.  The last two starts were tainted by errors that lead to unearned runs.  It also caused him to have to use more pitches which limited his outings.  The one thing I will be watching in the future from McCullers is how he does with runners on base.  He didn't appear very comfortable with runners on base at times this year. 

McCullers appears to have a very strong work ethic and will take the feedback from the staff in Greeneville and what he hears in instructional league and will work on those things in the off season.  I expect he will break spring training in Lexington next season.

So there you have my feedback on the primarily starters in Greeneville.  I hope this gives you some food for thought as you look forward to next spring. 

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