Astros Triple-A Notes: Toro, Mayfield, Straw

Astros minor leaguers Abraham Toro, Jack Mayfield and Myles Straw have been hitting well at Round Rock.

Astros minor league infielder Abraham Toro has only played 11 games at Triple-A Round Rock so far, but he’s already looked like he’s mastered this level of the game. He hit .306/.393/.513 at Double-A Corpus Christi this season and has seen those numbers skyrocket since being called up.

Toro is slashing a ridiculous .457/.527/.587 for the Express. He’s totaled 18 hits in his last seven games, including a five-hit effort on Aug. 8. He’s also drawn more walks (six) than strikeouts (four) in his admittedly small sample size at Round Rock.

The 22-year-old switch-hitter is ranked as the organization’s No. 6 prospect by MLB.com. Originally a catcher, he’s played primarily third base over the past three seasons and also has some experience at second base. He could be knocking on the door of the major leagues now.

Mayfield’s Power Surge

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Infielder Jack Mayfield went off for three homers on Friday in Round Rock’s 13-3 win against Oklahoma City. That gives him a total of four homers and 14 RBIs over his last nine games, raising his season slash line to .297/.364/.595 with 24 homers.

The versatile infielder wasn’t able to establish himself in his 16 games with the Astros this year, but there’s plenty of talent in this under-the-radar prospect. He’s been a big part of the Round Rock offense this season.

Straw Stealing the Show

Myles Straw went 0-for-4 on Friday, which snapped a 10-game hit streak he had going. He raised his season average nearly 30 points in that span and is up to .310/.384/.385 at Round Rock this season.

He’s scored in 10 of his 11 games since being sent back down and looks to be making a case to be called back up to Houston. He’ll undoubtedly be back with the Astros when rosters expand in September, if not before then.

More Notes

In your weekly Kyle Tucker update, the outfielder is hitting .378 in his last 10 games with four homers and 13 RBIs. He’s now up to 32 homers and 93 RBIs on the season. Someone find this man a major league job.

Rogelio Armenteros, who gets the start on Saturday for the Astros, is coming off throwing 6.1 hitless innings in his latest outing on Aug. 11. He walked four and struck out four. That came on the heels of a six-inning, two-run start on Aug. 4. I’d say he’s earned the spot start in the majors.

Framber Valdez continues to pile up the strikeouts, fanning 13 hitters in his latest start on Monday. He did allow four runs on six hits, so it wasn’t a perfect outing. Still, he’s now whiffed 61 batters in 37 innings at Triple-A this season.

Jose Urquidy got rocked on Aug. 7 to the tune of 11 runs on 14 hits, but he bounced back in a nice way. The righthander struck out nine in six innings of one-run ball on Tuesday. His overall numbers still don’t look great, but this start is a step in the right direction.