Whitley whiffs career-high 11 in Hooks debut

Forrest Whitley has a habit of making a brilliant first impression with a new club. In his July 4 debut with Class A Advanced Buies Creek, the second-ranked Astros prospect tossed five hitless innings.
Making his first start with Double-A Corpus Christi on Thursday night, Whitley recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts while allowing two hits over six scoreless innings in the Hooks' 2-1 loss to the Drillers at ONEOK Field.
"I had a very relaxed mentality throughout the whole game," the 19-year-old said. "I felt like I didn't really have my best stuff, but I was making pitches when I needed to make pitches, hitting the right spots and I got away with a couple mistakes. So things just kind of went my way tonight."

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Whitley's previous professional best for strikeouts was 10, amassed on July 15 for Buies Creek against Frederick. The No. 17 overall pick in last year's Draft said he used his cutter and slider as "mediator" pitches to work off his fastball and curveball, and that the changeup proved to be an effective pitch for missing bats as well.
"I was able to get in and out with [the fastball] on both sides of the plate," Whitley said. "I'd say everything was working relatively well, but I was able to put the pitches in the right spot at the right time and get guys out."
MLB.com's No. 40 prospect posted impressive numbers in the Midwest and Carolina League before earning a promotion to Double-A on Thursday. He struck out 67 while posting a 2-3 record with a 2.91 ERA in 46 1/3 innings over 12 appearances for Class A Quad Cities before getting the bump to Buies Creek on July 2.

In seven Carolina League outings, Whitley went 3-1 with a 3.16 ERA and 50 punchouts over 31 1/3 frames, holding opposing batters to a .237 average. 
"When [Buies Creek manager Omar Lopez] told me, it was actually like the last thing that I expected," Whitley said. "Everything is the same, I know most of the guys up here. I felt pretty comfortable. Also being back in Texas, my home state, just added a little extra comfort as well."
The San Antonio native made his last appearance for Buies Creek on Aug. 9 and said the long break between outings made things difficult out of the gate Thursday night. But he still retired the first seven batters he faced to open the game.
After punching out the side in the second, Whitley registered six consecutive outs by strikeout. He was staked to a 1-0 lead when top Astros prospect Kyle Tucker blasted a solo shot to right-center field in the top of the third.
"After I struck out those few dudes, I started to feel pretty comfortable," the 6-foot-7, 240-pound righty said. "I was getting the feel for the strike zone. Just kind of got in the groove. Off-speed stuff was working, keeping guys off balance and I was mixing up really well."

No. 30 Dodgers prospect Errol Robinson smacked a single on the ground through the right side to pick up the Drillers' first hit but was wiped out after Whitley coerced a 5-6-3 double play from Matt Beaty before getting Kyle Garlick to bounce out to first to end the inning. 
"They take good swings and hit mistakes. They know what they're going up there to hit," Whitley said. "Overall, they just know what they're doing better. It's especially exciting to see how I performed against a team like Tulsa, who has an extremely talent lineup. Just going forward, I'm anxious to see what other lineups are like in this league."
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The right-hander struck out the side in the fifth before surrendering a leadoff single to Johan Mieses to start the sixth. Whitley induced a pair of flyouts before getting Robinson to go down swinging to finish his outing in 92 pitches, 61 for strikes.
The Drillers took a 2-1 lead in the eighth after Corpus Christi third baseman Arturo Michelena made a wild throw on Robinson's grounder and two runs scored.
Tucker's long ball was his 11th Texas League shot this year. The 10th overall prospect also doubled to finish 2-for-4. In 104 games across two levels this season, has amassed 20 homers and 73 RBIs while batting .268.