As we approach (or in some cases surpass) the 50-game mark, I thought I would put together a series of positional analysis pieces. I am breaking with the fantasy-driven breakdown of “middle” and “corner” infielders, mostly because there is much more overlap in the organization’s usage of 2B/3B/SS than of 1B/3B. I will treat “infielders” in this first piece, by which I mean the former grouping. I will cover C, OF, 1B/DH, SP and RP in subsequent pieces (time permitting).
Houston
Regulars Jose Altuve (2B), Matt Dominguez (3B) and Jonathan Villar (SS) have gotten by far the bulk of the playing time, with Marwin Gonzalez filling in only rarely. Altuve has raised his season average above .300 with a .343 performance over the first 18 days of May. Dominguez has pushed .300 in May and now has a .500 SLG for the season, while Villar has tailed off a bit to a .233 average and .287 OBP for the season. He has also K’d 45 times in 146 PA for the season. Gonzalez has been consistent if unremarkable (.262, .311 OBP, .365 SLG in 46 PA).
Oklahoma City
Regulars Ronald Torreyes (2B), Jonathan Meyer (3B) and Gregorio Petit (SS) are getting the bulk of the playing time, though Enrique Hernandez has seen regular work (mostly at 2B) since his promotion from Corpus Christi. Torreyes has also seen time at SS, and Petit has seen time at 3B. Meyer has seen some bench time as he continues to struggle at the plate (.207/.275/.267 for the season). Torreyes, who is still only 21, has been erratic in the field, and has cooled off at the plate in May, but is still hitting .284/.331/.383. Petit has looked very smooth in the field, but after a hot April has struggled with the bat in May (.164/.220/.236 lowering his season line to .269/.312/.397). Hernandez has hit .317/.361/.426 since his promotion with only 6 K in 108 AB. He has seen the most time at 2B or RF, but appeared in 1 game each at 1B and in CF and 3 games each at 3B and SS. He hit .325/.372/.475 in Corpus Christi, where he was the regular at 2B before his promotion. Andrew Simunic has also appeared at 2B and 3B, but has mostly played in RF this season, so he will be covered under outfielders.
Corpus Christi
April saw a lot of shared time at each position, with Hernandez’ mid-month promotion being a catalyst for change. After opening the season at SS, Nolan Fontana took over at 2B when Hernandez was promoted. His normal walk-rate has been returning in recent weeks, lifting his season line to .278/.405/.406), but he still leads the team in K (38). Jiovanni Mier opened the season splitting time at 3B, but his hot bat handed him the everyday SS job after the Hernandez promotion. He tailed off to .264/.295/.403 for the month and now sits at .230/.259/.325 for the season after sinking below the Mendoza line for May. He also leads the team in errors with 8. Matt Duffy split time early between 1B and 3B but has spent most of his time at 3B in May. He started the season a little slowly, but now leads the team in RBI (29) while hitting .275/.318/.419. Joe Sciafani has gotten significant time at both 2B (9 G) and 3B (14 G) while posting a .289/.339/.368 line in 124 AB including a May line of .328/.369/.393. He also had a cameo appearance at SS in Oklahoma City to start the season. With Mier struggling again at the plate and Carlos! performing well in Lancaster, look for more changes here.
Lancaster
Prospects Tony Kemp (2B), Rio Ruiz (3B) and Carlos Correa (SS) are getting the bulk of the playing time and are all doing very well. Kemp started will in April (.311/.416/.495) but really caught fire in May (.441/.500/.529) to give him a .363/.448/.509 line for the season. He also leads the team with 15 SB, 23 BB and 5 HBP. Ruiz has hit consistently - .295 in April and .294 so far in May, though his OBP/SLG numbers are down a little; his season line is a respectable .294/.373/.423 and his 20% K-rate is not terrible. He does lead the team with 8 errors, though. I have not seen Correa in the field, but the scouting reports are pretty encouraging. He has also posted a consistent .303/.351/.434 line with only 28 K in 168 PA. He also seems to show good judgment on the bases with 7 SB in 8 attempts. Carlos Perdomo has backed up all three positions adequately while posting a very nice .353/.402/.471 line in 98 PA.
Quad Cities
The infield at Quad Cities has been somewhat in flux so far this year. Austin Elkins started 7 games each at 2B and 3B in April before going on the DL. He was hitting .273/.289/.386 at the time. Jack Mayfield also spent time on the DL. He started 12 games at SS in April, posting a .273/.389/.455 line before his injury. He has split time at SS with Thomas Lindauer since his return, and also played some 2B and 1 game at 3B. His season line is .273/.357/.384 in 99 PA. Lindauer, meanwhile, has surprised (at least me) with his bat, tying for the team lead in HR (only 3) and posting a .288/.329/.470 line in 71 PA. If he can keep that up, it will be a huge improvement over last year. Chan Moon started the season without a position, but took over as the regular at 2B when Elkins went down. At 23 he is a bit old for the league, but has posted nice offensive numbers (.299/.390/.396) and shown good speed (team-leading 5 triples and 14 SB). He also leads the team in errors with 10, perhaps giving a hint at what is holding him back. Tyler White has been the regular at 3B all season. He started a little slow (.246/.378/.311 in 74 April PA) but is improving in May. His season line (.270/.360/.348) is still lacking the power that last year’s debut seemed to promise. I have not seen his defense, but I take it as a good sign that they are not moving him to 1B where he saw some time last year. Alex Gonzalez also spent a week or so at the end of April in Quad Cities playing 3B and hitting .250/.308/.350 in 22 PA, but has been sent back to EST. He is probably slated for Tri-Cities when short season play opens.
