George Springer has been as advertised since being called up: Aggressive swinger who strikes out a lot but good speed. He's hit safely in three games going 1-for-4, 1-for-5 and 1-for 4 (.286 average with 1 RBI, 1 walk, 1 SB). 5 Ks is too much but he plays good defense in right field and when he can get on base his speed is noticeable. Hopefully he'll show some of that power soon. He's still getting his feet wet after three starts.

The team isn't any good as a whole. 5-12 record overall in 2014. If they keep losing they may land the first overall pick in 2015 as well. They already have the first overall pick this June. I think Carlos Rodon is still the likely choice. He would fit in nicely into the organization after fellow top picks Carlos Correa and Mark Appel the past two years. All three of those guys could be on our big league roster at some point in 2015 if not 2016.

The Astros need to call up top prospect Jonathan Singleton to start at first base very soon. They don't have any other good options for that position. Marc Krauss is hitting .139 and doesn't offer anything at all. Jesus Guzman is hitting .226 and is a pinch-hitter with some pop at best. Chris Carter is hitting .118 and has fallen off the map this season.

While we're at it, I'd call up top outfield prospect Domingo Santana as well. Especially since Robbie Grossman was sent down.
Domingo Santana could start in left field. Jonathan Singleton at first base. It's probably too soon to call up Correa or Appel.

N.C. State Baseball: Carlos Rodon Still Top Pick in 2014 MLB Draft

This past weekend, Carlos Rodon showed off the stuff that had everyone tagging him as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 MLB Draft. While the big lefty had struggled with his control in previous outings, he carved up the Duke Blue Devils hitters Friday night, striking out 12 in 7.2 innings of work.

Rodon’s fastball was routinely in the mid 90′s, and he worked up to 98 by the middle innings. His slider had its trademark bite, and excellent vertical movement for a pitch that clocks in around 86-89 miles per hour. He also showed a cutter along with a much sharper changeup as well. With the 12 strikeouts, he set the all-time record for the Wolfpack.

NC State star Carlos Rodon set the NC State all-time strikeout record with his 387th career strikeout in the 8th inning against Duke. By the end of the night, Rodon's career total grew to 391, tied for sixth all-time in ACC history.



Carlos Rodon has top-of-the-rotation stuff. I think we'll draft him and hope that Mark Appel and Carlos Rodon become solid MLB starting pitchers. None of the other starting pitchers we have right now have strikeout ability. Both Scott Feldman and Jarred Cosart are "pitch to contact" pitchers who generate a lot of ground balls.

http://www.mymlbdraft.com/MLB-Mock-Draft/

Latest 2014 MLB mock draft has us taking high school phenom left-hander, Brady Aiken
Carlos Rodon has the higher ceiling I believe. His wildness has been overblown this year.
The draft is just around the corner, on June 5, so there isn't a lot of time to decide.

If we land the first overall pick in 2015 as well, which would be quite embarrassing to be picking first overall for four years in a row, we'll have to consider catcher or more starting pitching. Maybe taking the best player available but right now we're pretty stacked in the minor leagues except for starting pitching and catcher.

My patience is running thin with the Houston Astros but adding more talented young players at the top of the draft gives me some hope. I knew all along that if any real progress was made at the Major League level it likely wouldn't be seen until 2016 but I was hoping to at least flirt with a .500 record in 2014 or 2015. At least for 2014 it looks like another year to tank for the top pick unless more minor league talent is called up this year.

22-year-old Jonathan Singleton may get the call up to play first base for the Houston Astros pretty soon.
At Triple-A Oklahoma City he hit his seventh home run in his 16th game yesterday. He's mashing the ball.
The three players we have shared playing time at first base so far this year are hitting .200, .143 and .132

Singleton repeatedly shows he is ready for the big leagues

Astros Class AAA first-base prospect Jon Singleton, 22, hit his seventh home run of the season Saturday, the second straight day he homered. The left-handed swinger has three long balls in his last four games. He entered the day hitting .349 with a 1.200 OPS.

What good timing, too: Saturday was the first day the Astros could have promoted Singleton and guaranteed that he couldn’t become a free agent until after the 2020 season. Indications are that Singleton won’t have a tremendously long wait to join the club — it shouldn’t take weeks for him to get here — but he also does not have the same body of work at Class AAA Oklahoma City that George Springer did when Springer was promoted.

I'm ready to see some actual stats on his ESPN Major League player page. He's going by his shortened first name Jon instead of Jonathan.

ESPN finally added George Springer's photo and player profile after four starts in the big leagues...
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/32078/george-springer

Jon Singleton already has his ESPN player page up. Hopefully it's just a matter of time for him.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/31206/jon-singleton

It would be nice to have Jon Singleton situated at first base already. I'm tired of seeing guys with no potential hitting under .200

Jeff Luhnow is trying to downplay his service time and body of work. I understand all of that but the first basemen we have now are horrendous. I really feel like Jon Singleton can come in right now and be such an obvious upgrade it's not even funny. What's the point of him potentially winning a Triple-A MVP award and tearing the cover off the ball if it's not in the big leagues?

Jon Singleton can be called up at any point this year (as of yesterday) and it will not affect his MLB service time. No free agency until after the 2020 season. That's basically like getting a free year of big league experience during this 2014 season without losing a year of club control if the Astros decide to call him up relatively soon. I don't see the point waiting too much longer when the guys we have at first base right now are performing miserably. We should flat out release Marc Krauss, in particular.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Apr 20 2014 04:41am

I'm tuning into every Astros game just to watch George Springer at-bats. In his five starts since being called up to the Major Leagues he has at least one hit in every game. He's aiming for a six-game hitting streak at Seattle tonight but it won't be easy facing Felix "The King" Hernandez, aka the best pitcher in the game.

George Springer is also flashing around some serious leather in right field. He made a sensational diving catch in yesterday's game. He reminds me very much of a young Hunter Pence. The same type of aggressive hitter and all-hustle outfielder with a canon arm. He's one of the few bright spots on the team in such a few amount of games.

Other than that it's a seven-game losing streak and a 5-14 record. Unless we call up Jon Singleton to play first base, along with other good prospects, I feel confident that we'll end up with the worst record in baseball once again in 2014. Well on pace for a fourth straight 100-plus loss season.

We'll earn the first overall pick in 2015 for the fourth year in a row. I may as well start doing my own scouting for the 2015 MLB mock drafts but no reason to start that so soon. We still have to see who we draft with the first overall pick in the 2014 MLB draft in less than two months from now (June 5).

Jon Singleton's Triple-A surge continued on Sunday for what it's worth... The kid is flat out raking with power.
http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140420&content_id=72763328&notebook_id=72763586&c_id=hou

But at the Major League level we continue to start Marc Krauss and his .132 batting average and poor defense at first base.
We can also start Chris Carter and his .123 batting average with 26 strikeouts and horrible .250 on-base percentage. Sigh...

I probably should boycott the Astros and not watch any games until they call up Jon Singleton but like I said George Springer is fun to watch.

Just a matter of time until he hits his first career home run. He's starting to hit the ball the other way.

Here was that great catch in right field from yesterday's game...

jerry springers more fun to watch

I can't wait until we have Carlos Correa hitting second, George Springer hitting third, Jon Singleton hitting fourth and Domingo Santana hitting fifth in our lineup. Jose Altuve can go back to doing what he did best. Hitting lead off. We're going to turn the corner once we improve our everyday lineup and bullpen. Our starting rotation has surprisingly been quite good (5th best in the AL). There isn't a need to rush Mark Appel up like I would say with some of our position prospects.

Jay Mohr joins Keith Olbermann to discuss the Houston Astros farm system, and the plan that GM Jeff Luhnow devised and proposed to Astros season ticket holders.

Collin McHugh's debut for the Houston Astros: 6.2 innings. 3 hit shutout with 12 strikeouts

Why is Bo Porter taking him out of the game with a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the 7th?

He's dominating Seattle and only at 89 pitches. My goodness gracious. A win tonight and the Astros can pass Seattle in the standings tomorrow with a sweep. He made the emergency start tonight filling in for an injured Scott Feldman.

He had made nine MLB starts since 2012 with the Mets and Rockies. He must have "gotten it" in the Astros minor leagues.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Apr 22 2014 10:15pm

Raul Valdes comes into the game in relief and walks Seager and gives up a two-run homer to Justin Smoak.

I blame Bo Porter. Our bullpen is a joke. What a way to waste Collin McHugh's amazing gem.

With two outs and nobody on base too. With 89 total pitches. It made no sense to take him out!!!!!!!

Now it's 4-2 Astros in the bottom of the 7th.