What forces have been keeping Reid down?

The Man.

Watching the replay of the Hooks game and based on the announcers, he was generally 93-98, mainly around 96.  Basically, the same as in his San Antonio start.  I doubt the gun at Corpus is that hot.

A few observations:

He looks more comfortable in his two starts than in his relief appearance;
He used his curve ball much more last night, and only a few sliders as a chase pitch.  That is completely different than his first outing.  I don't know whats behind the change, but is a far better mix, imo;
I suppose they have the data to back up this tandem stuff as far as health, but it seems to sacrifice development for health.  Not allowing these guys to pitch deeper and face tough ABs late in the games after they have pitched six or seven does them a disservice, imo; and
The players down there seem to be well coached.  Just my impression.

The tandem isn't supposed to last at AA.  I would expect it to phase out come the all-star break.

I disagree.  Thumpers are in short supply, and from what I can tell Bryant seems to be the biggest, baddest thumper in the draft class. 

I don't disagree with you, but so are guys who can hit 100 in the 7th inning.

Greg Rajan via Twitter:

“@GregRajan: Mike Foltynewicz just hit 103 mph on the #cchooks radar gun. That is some serious heat.”

WOW!!!

Truth is probably 98, but still...

Tell it to Luhnow.  He's a college player you took with a 2nd round draft pick.  His career OBP is about .460 in A Ball.  Time to move him up.

I'm starting to think the Astros are not going to take a pitcher with the #1 pick.  Rather theres the big HR hitter from San Diego (edit:  Kris Bryant) who I've seen mentioned as a 3B/OF prospect.  That's who I'm focusing on.  You can get him a little cheaper than you can the big 2 pitchers and you can address an organizational need for another bopper.

Bryant is certainly a possibility.  I'm looking at Gray still.  I think it will be easier for Luhnow to find a thumper elsewhere in the draft or via trade than it will a #1 type starter.

You realize he signed last July?

Yes, of course I do.  However, he played in the SEC.  He's very polished.  He's exactly the kind of player you'd expect to get promoted very rapidly.

Ther Midwest League has caught up with Velasquez - four bad outings in a row.

Unless he's hurt again.

Couldn't we realistically see DDJr in CF and Springer pushed to RF?  Or is the idea that DeShields will eventually usurp Altuve?

He's got to prove he can hit.  He hasn't done that yet.  He could go either way (depending on where Springer and Altuve stand at the time) if he can make it to the bigs.

[Singleton]

The Astros have about 7 players who are currently performing very well for their league/age:

Springer
Altuve
Cosart
Santana
McCuellers
Folty
Fontana

Singleton would be added to that group based on last years stats.  And Correa is doing fairly well in low A as an 18 year old.    Ruiz is struggling.  Oh well...

If you mix in the 2013 First Pick Overall (say Appel to keep it simple) and the 2014 First Pick Overall (call him Player X), then you have a pretty solid core of players who will be ready to contribute to a winning team in 2016.  None of which will be older than 27.

C--Not sold on Castro, who will 29 in 2016.  Probably need to grab a decent somewhere, or perhaps one develops.
1B--Singleton
2B--Altuve
SS--Fontana/Correa
3B--Dominguez/Correa/Ruiz
LF--Santana
CF--Springer
RF--TBD

SP1--Appel
SP2--Cosart
SP3--McCuellars
SP4--Player X
SP5--Folty

Find a catcher, find another OFer with some pop, grow a reliever or two.  

There is at least one major league catching prospect at each of the four active minor league levels.
You've hit on one area where the Astros lack depth: outfield.  But Santana is a RF. In your scenario you need a LF, which should be easier to find.
I think you have to put the brakes on the vision of everyone below AA.  A-ball performances, good and bad, can be meaningless given that development at the cost of production is so high.
Villar and Fontana are the same age.  Fontana should be proving himself at AA by now.
There is plenty of 3,4,5 type starting pitching depth in AA and AAA; a couple have been mentioned.

I thought they invented the shorter version of the DL for this sort of thing. I think there is a one week DL... unless I'm dreaming or taking way too many drugs ... errr... vitamins lately!

I believe that's reserved for concussions.

Prettty sure they want to see better control on that walk rate, otherwise MLB hitters will force him to pitch from behind.

I've been watching his pitches per inning this year and have noticed he's done a pretty good job of keeping the pitch count to about 15/inning.  He was at 92/6 yesterday.  Location of the pitches is another story.  I have no idea if they are strikes on the edges or if his stuff is just better than AAA hitters.

Wish granted.  Humber DFA'd.  Edgar Gonzalez resigned.

Has AFV started yet?

About 3 hours ago.

Eating fish?

2013 Houston Astros - Chum.

Keith Law said yesterday in his chat that he iss hearing the Astros are leaning towards striking a deal with Gray to save money for the next pick at 40.

I hate that I agree with Law, but my sense for the past month has been if the draft were today it would be Gray.

Cosart throws 88 pitches.  Last 4 were intentionals so really just 84.  But allowed to go 2 batters past 75.  Looks like he is being stretched out.  Humber days likely numbered

The tandems at AAA were a short-term thing anyway.  With the callups lately this is actually not surprising.

so Boston is going to play us 1 on 9? cocky bastards.

Fair chance of winning.  Low risk of injury.  Seems smart to me.

Some more impressive numbers from Hooks stats: the pitching staff, as a whole, has only walked 34 batters in 167 IP. That's a rate of 1.8 BB/9. Dunno if this is something they're really trying to drill home to the kids, or just a happenstance of who is on the roster, but that is pretty incredible. Bobby Doran has walked the most on the entire staff, just 5 in 18 1/3 innings.

As a staff, CC has a 4.1 strikeout to walk ratio. For perspective, the Astros staff as a whole has walked 3.96 per 9, and they have a 1.4 K/BB ratio.

That's something the tandem rotation with pitch and inning limits emphasizes.  If you start and don't hit the strike zone you will be out long before you get to 5 innings.  So, you won't be in line for a win.  If you are relieving and don't hit the strike zone you won't be in line for the save.  They have to learn to throw quality strikes or they won't make it.

Cooper = idiot.  22 year old Butler gets #5 on his list pitching in low-A.

Yeah but Oklahoma city was aimed at the anniversary of Waco. I doubt the ATF had patriots day in mind when they initiated that debacle. Columbine was hitler's birthday. I don't recall what happened to nominally provoke virginia tech. Am I missing any events?

We'll find out eventually. My hunch is that if it was an Islamic terrorist group we would know by now. The intelligence community seems completely caught off guard with this one. But who knows at this point. I agree with subnuclear. Fuckers who do this type of shit don't need a whole lot of symbolism to pick a time and place.

The guy who pointed it out is a Ph.D. student focusing on terrorism.  I was passing on the mindless speculation.

Now, ignore me and move on.  There's nothing to see here.