Well, that didn't take long. According to Daniel Makarewicz, Mark Appel will join Quad Cities on Wednesday, where the River Bandits will be the first Minor League team to have two #1 overall picks on the roster.
Appel made two starts for the ValleyCats, throwing 5IP, 6H/2ER, 6K:0BB. That was enough for the Astros to blow my prediction that he would make another home start for the ValleyCats.
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So let's project this out a little bit, eh? Appel would be on track to start Sunday's game vs. Dayton - a home game for Quad Cities (hello, ticket sales). Then let's assume that he makes his next scheduled start on Friday, July 19 at Fort Wayne. If the Astros wanted to, he could go to Lancaster for a home start at The Hangar on Wednesday, July 24. They could also give him an extra day of rest for a second start for Lancaster and push him to start at home against Lake Elsinore on July 30. Were they to do that, Appel could feasibly spend the last month of the season with Corpus, beginning on Sunday, August 4 vs. Midland and have six starts at Double-A before the season ends on Labor Day.
But what do I know? I thought he'd be in Tri-City for another ten days.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
