Baseball America released their Prospect Hot Sheet, and there are a couple of Astros prospects who are on the wrong side of it:
Jordan Lyles:
We don't want to be too hard on Lyles. After all, the 19-year-old's had a tremendous season as the youngest pitcher in the Double-A Texas League. But the fact remains that Lyles has been fairly hittable lately. He surrendered 10 hits in six innings on June 25, his last start before the TL's all-star break, then had his shortest outing of the season Tuesday at Northwest Arkansas. Lyles failed to make it out of the fourth inning against the Naturals, allowing six runs (all earned) on eight hits and six walks he hadn't walked more than four in any previous start over 3 1/3 innings.
Jay Austin:
Early in the year, Austin looked like a breakout prospect just waiting to happen. A month into the season, Austin, 19, was hitting .322/.388/.539, drawing nearly as many walks as strikeouts. Now? Austin's season has taken a tumble, as he's down to .257/.305/.401 with 22 walks and 72 strikeouts in 351 plate appearances, numbers that are even worse when you consider he gets to play half his games in high Class A Lancaster.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
