Top prospects coming to Minute Maid Park
LAKELAND, Fla. — Before they toe the Minute Maid Park rubber when it matters, the Astros’ three top pitching prospects will get a trial run next week.
Forrest Whitley and J.B. Bukauskas will start Houston’s two home exhibition games against the Pirates on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. Corbin Martin will pitch in relief of Bukauskas on Tuesday.
“We’ve always tried to bring some of our guys that may or may not debut and just get an outing out of the way in Minute Maid,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “They know their way into the ballpark, they get to face major league (hitting), the environment is a little bit different, the third deck is always there. It’s just another step in getting them as comfortable as we can.”
Neither Whitley nor Bukauskas has ever thrown in Minute Maid Park. Martin pitched in the ballpark during the Shriner’s College Classic while at Texas A&M.
There is precedent for the move. In 2015, the Astros brought Lance McCullers Jr. to Minute Maid Park for their twogame exhibition series against the Royals. McCullers threw two innings in relief during the second game.
Two months later, McCullers made his major league debut.
Hinch said Whitley would throw only three or four innings.
Bukauskas and Martin each threw on Saturday against the Tigers. Neither eclipsed four innings, so both may operate on a similar workload to Whitley.
Whitley, regarded as baseball’s top pitching prospect, wowed during his first exposure to major league spring training. The lanky righthander punched out 15 batters in 12 Grapefruit League innings with a 1.50 ERA. He was reassigned to minor league camp on March 12 alongside Martin and Bukauskas.
“I think it’s going to be awesome,” said Bukauskas, who has never pitched in a major league ballpark. “I’m excited, I just need to keep working on the same things I’ve been working on and enjoy the experience.”
On Saturday, Bukauskas struck out five Tigers in two innings. His four-seam fastball sat at 97 mph paired with the devastating putaway slider he can spin at 89 mph. The righthander struggled at times to command his fastball arm side, resulting in three walks.
“We’d like him to be a little more efficient with his pitches,” Hinch said. “But he’s got such good stuff across the board, he can throw quality strikes and get hitters out in the strike zone. He has great chase pitches and is certainly doing well as a young player.”
Hinch said Thursday that “quite a few” of the major league bullpen and starting rotation will not accompany the team to Houston for the exhibition games. All will instead remain Florida to either throw in minor league games or continue preparation for the nearby seasonopening series against the Rays at St. Petersburg.
Fisher day to day due to injured shoulder
Derek Fisher exited during the first inning of the Astros’ Grapefruit League game against the Tigers after injuring his left shoulder diving in center field.
An Astros spokesman said Fisher is as day to day and will be reassessed on Friday. Fisher said he “jarred” his shoulder but stressed his removal from the game was “more precautionary.”
Fisher was shaded toward right center field against righthanded hitting slugger Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera creamed a Corbin Martin offering to dead center field, sending Fisher scurrying toward his left. He dove for the baseball, did not catch it and remained face down on the grass.
“I did some slight tests and everything was fine, it was more precautionary just with the way it happened and the way it looked, more than anything,” Fisher said. “More importantly, everything has been checking out fine and I should be good in the coming days.”
“It looked and felt pretty bad, but a few hours after as I’m standing here, I’m in a better place. The next couple days will be big.”
Fisher was optioned to minor league camp on Tuesday, part of what manager A.J. Hinch called the “unlucky” scenario both the 25-year-old Fisher and Myles Straw find themselves embroiled in — competing for a spot within a established major league outfield.
“They’re really stuck on a really good team,” Hinch said Tuesday. “There’s no reason they shouldn’t be in the big leagues.”