Jun 19, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros first overall draft pick
Mark Appelwaves to fans during the fifth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports
In a surprising move, the Houston Astros will promote 2013 first overall pick Mark Appel from High-A Lancaster to Double-A Corpus Christi, Evan Drillich of the Houston Chronicle reports.
The news comes in the wake of the 22 year old righthander’s best career start on Thursday, a two run, six inning, seven strikeout and no walk gem against Stockton. But that was a relative outlier in what has been an almost disastrous season.
Considered as a polished starter who should move quickly through the minors and ranked by Baseball America as the game’s 39th overall prospect in February, Appel has struggled all year. He came into Thursday’s start 1-5 with a 10.80 and an opponents OPS of 1.062.
And Thursday’s outing was not the peak in a general improvement trend. In his previous appearance, Appel got blasted for seven earned runs in just an inning and two thirds.
As CBS Sports’ Dayn Perry notes, though, much of that dismal performance is arguably the result of luck. Appel’s peripherals are excellent – 8.2 SO/9, 2.2 BB/9 – and he has been victimized by a .414 Batting average on balls in play (major league average is just under .300). Moreover, the California League is a notoriously homer-friendly circuit, leading to Appel’s extreme HR/9 of 1.8, which is almost double the major league average, and more than three times his 0.5 HR/9 from last season.
This shouldn’t completely excuse Appel – a pitcher is always at least partly responsible for any performance that extreme, and while BABIP varies greatly in the majors, elite pitching prospects tend to post low marks in the minors – but it does mean that if Houston was greatly impressed by his most recent start, a promotion is not unreasonable.