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Astros Minors Update: Lancaster JetHawks All-Star Time

By Brian Del Castillo

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In this update of the Houston Astros minor league teams, we’ll visit the High-A Lancaster JetHawks of the California League.  After winning against Visalia last Wednesday, the 17th, the JetHawks have hit a bit of a skid.  Coming into Tuesday’s game, they are losers of 4 straight.  While the team has failed to fill up the win column, it can’t be blamed entirely on the offense.  Their lowest output during the losing streak is four runs.  Granted that’s not that much in the California League, it’s better than nothing.

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In the Wednesday victory, the JetHawks put up 14 runs.  That outburst was aided by A.J. Reed‘s 17th homer of the season and a couple of J.D. Davis dingers.  Derek Fisher added a couple of hits including a double while leadoff man Brett Phillips failed to join the fun going 0-5.

A.J. Reed has now hit safely in 9 straight games and has seen his average continue to rise to .335 on the year.  He homered again on the 20th to give him 18 to go along with 65 r.b.i. in only 68 games.

May 2, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow waves to the crowd before a game against the Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

J.D. Davis has been hot lately too, homering three times in the last week to give him 10 for the season.  He’s now batting .282 and appears to be finding his groove.  His 76 strikeouts in 256 at-bats leaves a bit to be desired, but hopefully that poor ratio was part of a funk he’s been in lately and won’t reflect the type of player he can be moving forward.

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I mentioned that Brett Phillips went hitless in the big win against Visalia.  He’s collected just two hits in the last week and seen his average dip to .320.  A little funk never hurt anyone when you started it batting .330.  He’s fine and maybe the best prospect of the bunch.

Derek Fisher has also been somewhat pedestrian of late.  His average has fallen to just .269 during his stint at Lancaster.  Combined with his .305 average accumulated in the Quad Cities, he is hitting .291 in 2015 with 11 homers, 18 steals, and 50 r.b.i. in 60 games played.  I would imagine that he’ll stay in Lancaster for the remainder of the year. There is no need to rush the 21-year-old prospect on to Double-A prior to 2016.

In Tuesday’s California League All-Star game, the JetHawk representatives included Brett Phillips and A.J. Reed. Both players made an impact in the California League All-Stars’ win. Phillips went 1-2 with two runs batted in and A.J. Reed went 1-3 with a walk. Congrats Brett and A.J. for representing the Astros organization well!

Stay tuned to Climbing Tal’s Hill for everything on the Astros minors update and major league clubs.

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