RHP Mark Appel, the top overall pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft, was promoted to AA Corpus Christi from Lancaster yesterday and will get his first start in the Texas League Wednesday.
A cause for celebration. Certainly champagne corks popped amid congratulatory pats on the back as another step toward the big leagues was taken.
Or, maybe not.
News of the promotion apparently irked some players on the major league club, especially after Appel showed up at MinuteMaid Park to throw a bullpen on his way to Corpus Christi. But then, Astros team leaders Jason Castro and Chad Qualls did damage control, indicating that there was no problem with Appel being promoted or being at MMP, and that things had been “blown out of proportion.”
