2013 First Overall Pick Mark Appel Promoted to Triple-A

By Peyton Wesner

When Spring Training broke at the end of March, the Corpus Christi Hooks, Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, were stacked with top prospects. Since then, the talents of shortstop Carlos Correa and starting pitchers Lance McCullers and Vincent Velasquez have all been promoted to Minute Maid Park for their Major League debuts. Yet one player that has remained at Whataburger Field for the whole season has been Mark Appel, MLB.com's twenty-fifth ranked prospect. 

Appel, who has been drafted three times in his career (fifteenth round by Detroit in 2009, eighth overall by Pittsburgh in 2012, and first overall by Houston in 2013), initially struggled to begin his first full season in 2014 and he did the same this year. In fact after a start on May 22, Appel's earned run average was 6.03! Since his dreadful start in late May at Midland in which he surrendered seven earned runs in three and two/thirds innings, the Houston native has drastically improved with two starts of no earned runs and an earned run average of 2.17 in his last five outings. He even threw a complete game shutout in game one of a doubleheader against San Diego Padres' affiliate San Antonio last Sunday.

With his fantastic start against San Antonio, the Astros decided that the time was right to promote Appel to Triple-A Fresno. Speculation and rumors surfaced after Sunday's start but today the transaction became official. As of this afternoon, the Stanford product has not been made the probable pitcher for any date, but it is assumed that he will make his Triple-A debut while the Grizzlies are in Reno for a five-game set. Although Appel has not stepped on a Triple-A diamond, most believe it is not out of the realm of possibilities to see him starting with former teammates McCullers and Velasquez in an Astros' uniform by the end of the season.