Astros Farm Report: 12/27

A couple of new Astros, the Dominican Republic falls in love with an Astros minor leaguer and Baseball America honors the Minor League Manager of the Year, but first things first ...

TWEET OF THE WEEK

When you and your siblings have Christmas photos at 7 and are dropping the Hottest album of 2016 at 8. #WeAllWeGot pic.twitter.com/yMTNulhOVW

— Jacob Dorris (@JacobDorris38) December 25, 2015

WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

12-27: RHP Tyson Perez (26)
12-31: LHP Maikel Sepulveda (19)
1-1: LHP Dallas Keuchel (28)

FALL/WINTER LEAGUE STATS

Here is how the Astros players participating in fall and winter leagues have fared to date (through Saturday, the 26th, unless otherwise noted):

ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE - FALL LEAGUE ENDED 11/21
3B J.D. Davis - .279/.329/.456 in 17 games
OF Derek Fisher - .254/.397/.424 in 17 games
IF Chan-Jong Moon - .093/.241/.116 in 13 games
1B A.J. Reed - .231/.326/.385 in 11 games
LHP Chris Cotton - 1.17 ERA/0.783 WHIP in 8 games (7.2IP)
LHP Brian Holmes - 1.13 ERA/1.250 WHIP in 6 games (16.0IP)
LHP Albert Minnis - 2.31 ERA/1.200 WHIP in 9 games (11.2IP)
RHP Keegan Yuhl - 7.88 ERA/1.625 WHIP in 8 games (8.0IP)

New Astro Brendan McCurry, obtained in the Jed Lowrie trade, went 0-1 with a 4.73 ERA and a 1.125 WHIP in 11 games (13.1 IP) in the Arizona Fall League.

DOMINICAN WINTER LEAGUE - REGULAR SEASON ENDED 12/21
OF Andrew Aplin - .278/.325/.444 in 10 games
C Tyler Heineman - .190/.288/.224 in 19 games
OF Teoscar Hernandez - .275/.295/.375 in 17 games
1B/DH Tyler White - .297/.421/.494 in 44 games
RHP Jake Buchanan - 2.01 ERA/0.830 WHIP in 7 games (31.1IP)
LHP Reymin Guduan - 4.22 ERA/1.875 WHIP in 13 games (10.2IP)
RHP Jandel Gustave - 2.87 ERA/1.277 WHIP in 14 games (15.2IP)
RHP Angel Heredia - 13.50 ERA/2.500 WHIP in 2 games (2.0IP)
RHP Jordan Jankowski - 16.20 ERA and 2.400 WHIP in 2 games (1.2IP) - moved to LBPRC
RHP Juan Minaya - 12.79 ERA/2.842 WHIP in 6 games (6.1IP)

The Dominican Winter League regular season is over and Tyler White earned an MVP for a league he was only intending to play in for the first month of the season. Teoscar Hernandez ended the regular season on a (very) high note, going 2-for-4 with a double, home run, RBI and two runs scored in the finale on Monday. The post season round robin playoffs will start today.

VENEZUELAN WINTER LEAGUE
IF Arturo Michelena - .083/.083/.083 in 8 games (only 12 at-bats; has been playing in the Liga Paralela)
IF Kristian Trompiz - 2 games as pinch runner; no at-bats (has been playing in the Liga Paralela)
OF Danry Vasquez - .281/.335/.401 in 52 games
RHP Chris Devenski - 5.21 ERA/1.579 in 5 games (19.0IP) - no longer playing
RHP James Hoyt - 1.86 ERA/1.035 WHIP in 19 games (19.1IP) - no longer playing

The Venezuelan Winter League regular season ends on Tuesday. Danry Vasquez had a good week, going 4-for-12 with a double, three walks (to only one strikeout), four RBI and three runs scored in four games.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE
OF Leo Heras - .297/.409/.493 in 41 games
RHP Octavio Acosta - 1.98 ERA and 1.463 WHIP in 8 games (13.2IP) - last played 12/11
RHP Enrique Chavez - 9.00 ERA/3.000 WHIP in 1 game (1.0IP) - not currently playing
RHP Jose Hernandez - 1.39 ERA/1.021 WHIP in 8 games (32.1IP) - last played 11/29
RHP Juan Robles - 4.02 ERA/1.277 WHIP in 10 games (15.2IP) - last played 11/25
RHP Gonzalo Sanudo - 3.60 ERA/1.200 WHIP in 17 games (15.0IP)

The Mexican Pacific regular season ends on Tuesday as well. Leo Heras was 8-for-16 with three doubles, four walks, one RBI and four runs scored last week. The only other active Astro for the week was Gonzalo Sanudo who allowed one hit (a solo home run) and one walk in his three appearances.

AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE (thru Sunday)
C Jake Bowey - .103/.186./.103 in 12 games
IF Jared Cruz - .091/.091/.091 in 7 games - not currently playing
1B Connor MacDonald - .156/.264/.267 in 19 games - last played 11/29
IF/OF Marc Wik - .322/.466/.400 in 35 games
RHP Kevin Comer - 16.88 ERA/4.499 WHIP in 4 games (2.2IP) - not currently playing

Unlike the Latin American and Mexican teams, the ABL still has almost a month to go in their regular season. And unlike many of the other American players playing in the winter leagues, Wik stayed down under to celebrate Christmas. Personally, I can think of worse places to spend it. In two games since last weekend, Wik went 2-for-6 with two RBI, three walks and two stolen bases.

PUERTO RICAN WINTER LEAGUE
OF Edwin Medina - .273/.370/.318 in 23 games (22AB)
OF Alexander Melendez - .000/.000/.000 in 5 games (2AB) - not currently playing
C Roberto Pena - .167/.219/.217 in 21 games
C Max Stassi - .280/.333/.520 in 8 games - no longer playing
RHP Travis Ballew - 2.38 ERA/1.368 WHIP in 19 games (22.2IP)
RHP Jordan Jankowski - 0.00 ERA and 0.923 WHIP in 5 games (4.1IP)

The LBPRC will end its regular season next week on January 4th. Ballew allowed two walks and struck out three in his one appearance last week while Jankowski walked two and struck out two in his sole outing of the week. Pena was 1-for-10 for the week (3 games) and Medina got a rare start on Saturday and made the most of it, going 1-for-3 with a walk, stolen base and run scored.

NEWS AND LINKS

Even before being named MVP for LIDOM, Tyler White was getting some attention from MLB.com. Afterwards, there was more attention forthcoming:

Entrevista a Tyler White donde agradece a nuestros fanáticos por el apoyo durante la temporada. pic.twitter.com/LIAoAvUZFh

— Winnifer Vizcaíno (@WinniferSPM) December 24, 2015

And here. And here as well. It appears that the Dominican Republic has fallen in love with White.

Someone else getting recognition recently was Fresno Manager Tony DeFrancesco. Baseball America posted his Minor League Manager of the Year acceptance speech from their Gala in Nashville.

And finally, one new Astros was inked and another was rumored over the last week. The Astros claimed RHP Danny Reynolds off waivers from the Dodgers. Baseball Reference has him as Dan Reynolds. The other rumored signing (pending a physical) is 21-year old Cuban RHP Carlos Sierra who features a 4-pitch mix.

The Off-Season Transaction List has been updated here.