Happy Birthday - 2/5

Astros Scouting Director Bobby Heck
I don't know how old he is, but a little birdie told me that the patron saint of "What the Heck, Bobby?" has a birthday today.  First hired in October 2007 as the Director of Amateur Scouting for the Astros, Heck was quickly promoted to Assistant General Manager/Director of Scouting in October 2008.  Prior to joining the Astros, Heck was the Eastern Scouting Supervisor for the Milwaukee Brewers for eight seasons during which time Milwaukee went from the 30th ranked farm system (as ranked by Baseball America) to among the top five in terms of talent.  Heck's early successes for the Astros include Jason Castro, Jordan Lyles and J.D. Martinez.  The 2012 season should go a long way toward establishing Heck's legacy with the Astros as more and more of his players make their way through the system.

LHP Paris Shewey (23)
Shewey, a native of Washington state, signed with the Astros as a NDFA in 2011 and played his first professional season at Greeneville.  In 20 games, he pitched 22 innings with a 9.82 ERA and a 1.909 WHIP with 3 saves.  Since it's his birthday, let me point out that in July he pitched 11.2 innings in 8 games with a 3.86 ERA and a 1.200 WHIP.

RHP Raul Rivera (21)
This is another one of my mystery players.  Drafted in the 37th round in 2009 out of high school in Puerto Rico, Rivera only pitched in 1.2 innings in 2010 and did not play in 2011 at all.  He is still shown as being in the Astros system which likely means recovery from surgery, but I have no other information on him at this time.

RHP Zachary Grimmett (22)
Drafted in the 28th round out of high school in Oklahoma in 2008, Grimmett pitched in Lancaster in 2011.  This flyball pitcher wasn't exactly helped out by the "Lancaster effect" as he compiled a 6.81 ERA and 1.708 WHIP in 30 games (18 starts).  However, Pre All-Star, he had a more respectable 4.50 ERA and a 1.616 WHIP.

Former Astros with birthdays today ~

OF Norm Miller (66)
Norm Miller didn't exactly put up the most exciting numbers in his nine seasons (1965-1973) for Houston with a .240 batting average, but the converted second baseman (some guy named Joe Morgan had that job) does have some interesting stories to tell about his life in baseball.  I just recently finished reading his 2009 book To All My Fans ... From Norm Who?.  It's more of a collection of anecdotes than a real memoir, but for any Astros fan, those anecdotes constitute a nice glimpse of the early days of the Astros organization.  You can purchase the book from his website http://www.normwho.com/ or from Amazon.

OF Lee Thomas (76)
Played in 90 games for Houston in 1968 at the end of his career