Former ValleyCat, No. 1 Pick Mark Appel Traded

Last week we reported (as did many others), that the Astros were shipping out former Tri-City ValleyCats Vince Velazquez and Derek Fisher to the Phillies in the trade for reliever Ken Giles.

Half of that is still true, as Fisher is no longer in the deal. Instead...

Mark Appel! The former No. 1 overall pick is going to the Phillies. He's also a former ValleyCat, having spent a short stint there in the 2013 season.

That's an interesting move for the Astros, as Appel was supposed to be a guy who anchored the rebuilding Astros staff for years to come when he was taken out of Stanford.

He hasn't been that good in the Astros system, pitching to a 5.12 ERA. He finished the year last year at AAA, where he went 5-2 with a 4.48 ERA.

Appel has struck out 221 batters in 253 innings in his minor league career. Those strikeout numbers don't seem as dominant as a guy who was a former No. 1 pick.

But for the Phillies, this is a good move to see if he can find the stuff that made him that pick in the first place.