HOUSTON -- Francis Martes, the hard-throwing 20-year-old Dominican right-hander who's the Astros' top prospect as ranked by MLBPipeline.com, could be knocking on the door of the Major Leagues next year, which is one of the reasons why manager A.J. Hinch spent a few days this week taking in the Arizona Fall League.
Martes, who was 9-6 with a 3.30 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 125 1/3 innings last season at Double-A Corpus Christi, figures to open next season in the rotation at Triple-A Fresno. He worked four innings Tuesday for Glendale in his third Arizona Fall League start and allowed three walks, five hits and three runs in four innings, with Hinch watching.