Sunday, January 29, 2017

Taking a Break from Baseball

I need to take a little break from baseball. I'll be back at some point before the season starts, but for some reason, it just doesn't seem very important to me right now.

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Give me your tired, your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

- Emma Lazarus

I sang those words in my college chorus with a moist eye. Irving Berlin put those words, etched at the base of the Statue of Liberty, to music. Berlin is probably known by most young people, if he is known at all, for writing the wonderful holiday classic, "White Christmas." He also wrote a song that we sing pretty much every Sunday at every baseball game in the United States of America. He wrote "God Bless America."

Berlin was born in Russia and was of Jewish heritage so the fact that he gave us both a Christmas classic and a patriotic standard should be of particular note. He was a refugee who embraced this country and enriched it with his talent and his patriotism. He loved the country that saved his family from the anti-Jewish pograms of late 19th century Russia.

Most immigrants to this country, including refugees from repressive regimes and war-torn countries, come here for a new life, a new start. Most embrace that opportunity and become model citizens. My own family came here from Denmark in the 1890's and lived in a cave in South Dakota while they built their first home with their own hands. I am forever thankful that this country gave my family that opportunity.

Prior to this weekend, it was incredibly hard and time-consuming to get into the United States under refugee status. I support that. It shouldn't be easy. But that's not what this is about. This is about government overreach and religious intolerance masquerading as national security. It's about demonizing Muslims from seven countries THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9-11 while ignoring the countries that were hosting and providing support to Al Qaeda. It is about a poorly conceived executive order that has caused legal permanent residents of this country to be detained without legal representation and those holding LEGALLY OBTAINED visas and green cards to be banned from boarding flights back to the United States. Even those with dual citizenships are at risk.

I keep thinking about Omran Daqneesh, a Syrian child pulled from the rubble of his home in Allepo. According to the last figures I could find, 58% of the Syrian refugees admitted to this country were children like Omran. And my country just said that Omran isn't welcome.


Yeah, for some reason, I'm just not feeling it for baseball right now. See you on the streets.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Astros Farm Report: 1-23

This issue of WTHB's Astros Farm Report is guaranteed to be 100% alternative-fact-free, or your money back.

WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

1-23: RHP Keegan Yuhl (25)
1-24: C Jose Carrillo (19)
1-24: RHP Carlos Sanabria (20)
1-29: RHP Junior Garcia (21)
1-29: 1B Dex McCall (23)
1-30: RHP Dariel Aquino (21)
1-30: LHP Brian Holmes (26)

Dariel Aquino - August 2016
Photo by Jayne Hansen

ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS

Things continue to be quiet on the transaction front, but here is a reminder of what has transpired so far this offseason.

Dustin added a few more transactions (courtesy of Baseball America) to last week's post after the fact so I'm including those in this post in case you missed them.

1-21: RHP Dayan Diaz signed to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training
1-20: RHP Makay Nelson released (was placed on the restricted list last week)
1-20: 3B Kolbey Carpenter released
1-9: LHP Bryan Radziewski released
1-9: OF Leo Heras released
1-9: RHP Manuel Gonzalez released

*Diaz was originally signed by the Astros out of Colombia in 2005 and was lost to minor league free agency in 2012.

ASTROS FALL/WINTER LEAGUE UPDATES

Since all of the fall/winter regular seasons are now over except for the Australian Baseball League, I am going to mothball the cumulative winter stats page, but you can find that final update here.

With that said, there is still a bit of news to report. OF Drew Ferguson has been playing with Santurce in the Puerto Rican Winter League as that team advanced to the Championship Finals. Ferguson started off the week well, going 5-for-9 with a double, triple, three RBI and a walk, but cooled off to go 0-for the next three games. In Sunday's game, he didn't get the start, but drew a walk in a pinch-hitting appearance in the Santurce loss to Caguas. Caguas leads the best of nine series 4 games to 3.

1B Connor MacDonald was re-assigned to the Australian Baseball League minor leagues and unless he is re-assigned to the Brisbane Bandits for the final games of the regular season later this week, he will end his winter season hitting a very respectable .277/.351/.373 with two doubles, two home runs, 17 RBI and 10 runs scored in 26 games.

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC

The World Baseball Classic will soon be upon us. It runs from March 6th through March 22nd and the full schedule can be found here. The rosters haven't been officially announced yet and no new names have surfaced over the last week, but I will update this list if any further Astros major leaguers or minor leaguers are announced.

RHP Luke Gregerson (U.S. Team)
3B/SS Alex Bregman (U.S. Team)
SS Carlos Correa (Team Puerto Rico)
OF Carlos Beltran (Team Puerto Rico)
2B Jose Altuve (Venezuelan Team)
OF Nori Aoki (Team Japan).

NEWS AND LINKS

It's the calm before the storm of news that will come as Spring Training approaches. In other words, not much news to report on the Astros minor league front.

ICYMI, the Astros Minor League Coaching staff and Dustin has all the info here.

The Astros Spring Training non-roster invitees list has been updated with the most recent signing, that of Dayan Diaz.

IF Reid Brignac
C Juan Centeno
3B J.D. Davis
RHP Dayan Diaz
OF Derek Fisher
RHP Edison Frias
OF Alejandro Garcia
C Tyler Heineman
LHP Brian Holmes
RHP Jordan Jankowski
OF Jon Kemmer
OF Ramon Laureano
RHP Francis Martes
RHP Tyson Perez
LHP C.J. Riefenhauser
1B Jon Singleton
RHP Cy Sneed
C Garrett Stubbs
RHP Aaron West

Monday, January 16, 2017

Astros Farm Report: 1-16

Taking a break from reading Across that Bridge by John Lewis to bring you today's Astros farm news ...

WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

1-17: OF Kyle Tucker (20)
1-18: SS/OF Osvaldo Duarte (21)
1-20: LHP Ben Smith (24)
1-21: RHP David Schmidt (24)
1-22: OF Angel Tejeda (20)
1-23: RHP Keegan Yuhl (25)

Osvaldo Duarte - May 2016
Photo by Jayne Hansen

ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS

Things continue to be quiet on the transaction front, but here is a reminder of what has transpired so far this offseason.

Dustin added the three 1-9 transactions after I posted last week, so I'm reposting in case you missed them. The only new transaction I saw was the news about Makay Nelson.

1-13: RHP Makay Nelson placed on the restricted list for 50 games
1-9: C Luis Mario Barajas signed to a minor league contract (18-year old from Mexico)
1-9: RHP Agapito Barrios released
1-9: LHP Austin Nicely released

The Astros also released LHP Bryan Radziewski, OF Leo Heras, and RHP Manuel Gonzalez on January 9; those moves showed up on the latest iteration of Baseball America's Minor League Transactions.

Radziewski was the Astros' 9th-round pick in 2013 out of Miami. He did not pitch in 2016.

Heras was signed from the Mexico City Red Devils in 2013, and the bulk of his time in the Astros system was spent with Corpus Christi. In 2016, he played two games with Fresno before being loaned back to the Red Devils.

Manuel Gonzalez made 13 relief appearances in the Gulf Coast League in his lone season with the Astros after beginning his career with the Padres.

In addition, Jake Kaplan of the Chronicle reported that 2B/3B Nick Tanielu, who finished the regular season with the AA Hooks and appeared in the Arizona Fall League, will miss most of the 2017 season after having offseason surgery to reconstruct his ACL.

ASTROS FALL/WINTER LEAGUE UPDATES

Since all of the fall/winter regular seasons are now over except for the Australian Baseball League, I am going to mothball the cumulative winter stats page, but you can find that final update here.

With that said, there is still a bit of news to report. OF Drew Ferguson has been playing with Santurce in the Puerto Rican Winter League as that team advanced to the Championship Finals. Ferguson had a good night last night, going 2-for-4 with a double, triple, 3 RBI and a walk in Santurce's win over Caguas. The best of nine series is tied at one win each.

1B Connor MacDonald only played in one game last week for the Brisbane Bandits in the Australian Baseball League. His winter line is .277/.351/.373 with two doubles, two home runs, 17 RBI and 10 runs scored in 26 games.

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC

The World Baseball Classic will soon be upon us. It runs from March 6th through March 22nd and the full schedule can be found here. The rosters haven't been officially announced yet, but several Astros players are slated to participate, including the most recent announcement that Alex Bregman will be playing for the U.S. team.

RHP Luke Gregerson (U.S. Team)
3B/SS Alex Bregman (U.S. Team)
SS Carlos Correa (Team Puerto Rico)
OF Carlos Beltran (Team Puerto Rico)
2B Jose Altuve (Venezuelan Team)
OF Nori Aoki (Team Japan).

NEWS AND LINKS

The Astros Minor League Coaching staff and Dustin has all the info here.

The Astros Spring Training non-roster invitees were announced this week. The list includes newly signed LHP C.J. Riefenhauser, C Juan Centeno and IF Reid Brignac as well as several current Astros minor leaguers:

IF Reid Brignac
C Juan Centeno
3B J.D. Davis
OF Derek Fisher
RHP Edison Frias
OF Alejandro Garcia
C Tyler Heineman
LHP Brian Holmes
RHP Jordan Jankowski
OF Jon Kemmer
OF Ramon Laureano
RHP Francis Martes
RHP Tyson Perez
LHP C.J. Riefenhauser
1B Jon Singleton
RHP Cy Sneed
C Garrett Stubbs
RHP Aaron West

Former Astro Jake Buchanan talks about being a part of the Cubs World Series team.

Minor league umpires are getting a boost.

And MLB/USA Baseball team up in a new program aimed at giving high school players a leg up in their development.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

2017 Astros Minor League Coaching Staff

Today, the Houston Astros released their minor league staff assignments for the 2017 season.

COORDINATORS

Pitching: Doug White
Hitting: Jeff Albert
Catching: Mark Bailey
Fundamentals: Dan Radison
Infield: Adam Everett
Complex pitching: Josh Miller
Hitting instructor: Ralph Dickenson
Medical Coordinator: Bryan Baca
Medical Coordinator, Latin America: Christian Bermudez
Strength & Conditioning: Brendan Verner
Strength & Conditioning, Latin America: Rachel Balkovec
Rehab: J.T. Podell
Mental skills: Dr. Jesse Michel

Dr. Michel will be the first Mental Skills Coordinator for the Houston Astros. Prior to being named to the position, he spent the last three years with Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness as a Lead Master Resilience Trainer, helping U.S. Army personnel and their families develop their mental conditioning and toughness in order to cope with and adapt to the rigors that come with military life.

Dr. Michel also has a blog, "The Mental Athlete," but he is in the process of moving it to a new site. You can follow him on Twitter at JesseDMichel.

FRESNO GRIZZLIES

Darryl Robinson will enter his first season as Fresno's hitting coach after spending the last eight seasons with Lancaster. Taylor Rhodes moves up from Corpus Christi.

Manager: Tony DeFrancesco
Pitching Coach: Dyar Miller
Hitting Coach: Darryl Robinson
Development Coach: Aaron DelGiudice
Athletic Trainer: Lee Meyer
Strength & Conditioning: Taylor Rhoades

CORPUS CHRISTI HOOKS

Dwayne Peterson spent 2016 with Lancaster.

Manager: Rodney Linares
Pitching Coach: Dave Borkowski
Hitting Coach: Joel Chimelis
Development Coach: Tommy Kawamura
Athletic Trainer: Grant Hufford
Strength & Conditioning: Dwayne Peterson

BUIES CREEK ASTROS

A brand-new (albeit temporary) team has a brand-new coaching staff. Omar Lopez and Chris Holt are moving up from Quad Cities. Troy Snitker, the son of Braves manager Brian Snitker, gets his first coaching position in the Astros system after helping out at the Kissimmee complex last season.

Former Astro Mickey Storey will serve as the development coach. John Gregorich and Mark Spadavecchia are moving up from Tri-City.

Manager: Omar Lopez
Pitching Coach: Chris Holt
Hitting Coach: Troy Snitker
Development Coach: Mickey Storey
Athletic Trainer: John Gregorich
Strength & Conditioning: Mark Spadavecchia

QUAD CITIES RIVER BANDITS

This is also an all-new staff; everyone will be in their first year with the Banditos. Russ Steinhorn is back in America after his successful stint at the helm of the DSL Blue team. Pitching coach Drew French moves up from Tri-City.

Hitting coach Ben Rosenthal is in his first year with the Astros; according to the Astros' press release, he was the hitting coach at Point Loma Nazarene, a Division II school in San Diego, prior to joining the organization. After finishing his college career at San Diego State, the former catcher played for four seasons as a professional, mainly with independent league teams. In 2004, Rosenthal played at both of the Cardinals' Class A affiliates and played in eight more games at Class A Advanced Palm Beach in 2005.

Elliot Diehl was Greeneville's athletic trainer in 2016.

Manager: Russ Steinhorn
Pitching Coach: Drew French
Hitting Coach: Ben Rosenthal
Development Coach: Jason Bell
Athletic Trainer: Elliot Diehl
Strength & Conditioning: Hazael Wessin

TRI-CITY VALLEYCATS

The always-exuberant Morgan Ensberg will manage a team for the first time in his coaching career. He will be joined by Bill Murphy, who was at Greeneville last season, and Jeremy Barnes, who is new to the Astros organization.

Barnes, a native of Garland, spent four seasons in the Phillies system after they drafted him in the 11th round in 2009 out of Notre Dame. The bulk of his time as a Phillies farmhand was spent in Class A, and he appeared in two games with Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2012, his final season in the system. He then moved on to independent ball and also had two stints in the Australian Baseball League with the Canberra Cavalry.

Manager: Morgan Ensberg
Pitching Coach: Bill Murphy
Hitting Coach: Jeremy Barnes
Athletic Trainer: Daniel Cerquera

GREENEVILLE ASTROS

In his first coaching job in the United States after starting his career in the Dominican Summer League, Danny Ortega will replace Josh Bonifay as the skipper of the Appy Astros. Ortega shared hitting coach duties with Omar Rosario on the DSL Blue team in 2016.

Erick Abreu and Ben Myers are moving up from the GCL. César Cedeño needs no introduction.

Manager: Danny Ortega
Pitching Coach: Erick Abreu
Hitting Coach: César Cedeño
Athletic Trainer: Ben Myers
Strength & Conditioning: Jacob Behara

GCL ASTROS

Wladimir Sutil will manage a team for the first time in his career.

Jose Rada is another former Cardinal minor leaguer who will be coaching in the Astros' minor league system. Rada pitched in the Cardinals' system from 2006-11, reaching Double-A in his final season.

Manager: Wladimir Sutil
Pitching Coach: Jose Rada
Hitting Coach: Luis Mateo
Athletic Trainer: Christian Bermudez
Strength & Conditioning: Rachel Balkovec

DSL ASTROS BLUE

The Blue team has the only vacancy at manager; we will update the post once it is filled. Evaristo Lantigua was previously a manager for the Padres' Dominican Summer League club.

Manager: Charlie Romero
Pitching Coach: Rick Aponte
Hitting Coaches: Omar Rosario and Evaristo Lantigua
Coach: Erik Acevedo Rojas
Athletic Trainer: Ambiorix Reyes
Strength & Conditioning: Miguel Angel Cabrera

DSL ASTROS ORANGE

Carlos Lugo will enter his second season at the helm of the Orange team. Gerardo Olivares will share pitching coach duties with Darwin Peguero, who pitched in the Astros system from 1997-2002, reaching Round Rock in his final season. After departing the organization, Peguero pitched three more seasons in independent ball.

Manager: Carlos Lugo
Pitching Coaches: Gerardo Olivares and Darwin Peguero
Hitting Coach: René Rojas
Coaches: Alejandro Martinez and Selin Aquino
Athletic Trainer: Roman Rendon
Strength & Conditioning: Mike Myers and Geremias Guzman

Monday, January 9, 2017

Astros Farm Report: 1-9

Taking a break from watching The Manchurian Candidate to bring you today's Astros farm news ...

WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

1-7: RHP Brandon McCurry (25)
1-10: IF Antonio Nunez (24)
1-11: 3B Randy Cesar (22)
1-12: RHP Ricardo Castro (21)
1-12: SS Freudys Nova (17)
1-13: RHP Andrew Thome (24)
1-14: SS Yorbin Ceuta (17)
1-15: OF Daz Cameron (20)
1-15: OF Edgar Lorenzo (20)
1-15: RHP Yoanys Quiala (23)

Randy Cesar - July 2016
Photo by Jayne Hansen

ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS

Things continue to be very quiet on the transaction front, but here is a reminder of what's transpired so far this offseason.

1-10: C José Mario Barajas signed to a minor league contract. (H/T to Ryan Dunsmore of The Crawfish Boxes)
1-9: RHP Agapito Barrios was released.
1-9: LHP Austin Nicely was released.

Barajas, 18, played with the Marineros de Ensenada, a team in the Northern League, a minor league affiliated with the Mexican League.

Barrios, 22, was signed in 2011 out of Panama and pitched in the Gulf Coast League, Tri-City, and Quad Cities in 2016.

Nicely, also 22, was the Astros' 10th-round draft pick in 2013 out of Spotswood High School in Penn Laird, Virginia. He pitched for Tri-City and had one appearance with Quad Cities in 2016.

We would like to wish Agapito and Austin all the best in their future endeavors.

ASTROS FALL/WINTER LEAGUE UPDATES

All of the fall/winter regular seasons are now over except for the Australian Baseball League where Connor MacDonald has been on a nice roll, batting .400 with one home run, eight RBI and six runs over his last 10 games.

There are also a few Astros minor leaguers still playing in the Caribbean Leagues in playoff games. OF Drew Ferguson is hitting .222 in four playoff games for Santurce in the Puerto Rican winter league, and RHP Juan Santos has pitched 2/3 of an inning for Carolina, allowing only one hit. Santurce leads Carolina 3-1 in the best of 7 semifinal.

And Ramon Laureano has shown up in the playoffs in the Dominican Republic; in three games, he is hitting .125 for the Tigres del Licey. Licey currently has the second best record in the round robin playoffs (which are being dominated by Aguilas).

ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE (AFL) - SEASON OVER

OF Alejandro Garcia: .200/.304/.200 in 6 games (replaced Laureano on the roster)
OF Jason Martin: .194/.375/.290 w/3-2B 2RBI 9R in 11 games
OF Ramon Laureano: .295/.340/.477 w/ 4-2B 2-3B 8RBI 5SB 12R in 12 games
C Garrett Stubbs: .171/.280/.271 w/ 4-2B 1HR 6RBI 13R in 20 games
IF Nick Tanielu: .352/.379/.500 w/ 5-2B 1HR 5RBI 7R in 14 games

RHP Francis Martes: 2-1 in 6 starts with a 3.22 ERA/1.299 WHIP in 22.1IP
RHP Jacob Dorris: 1-1 in 8 games with a 3.38 ERA/2.375 WHIP in 8.0IP
RHP Rogelio Armenteros: 0-0 (1SV) in 8 games with a 11.05 ERA/1.909 WHIP in 7.1IP
RHP David Paulino: 0-0 (1SV) in 5 games with a 0.00 ERA/0.600 WHIP in 5.0IP

DOMINICAN WINTER LEAGUE (LIDOM)
(Regular season ended 12/22; playoffs started 12/27)

OF Andrew Aplin: .114/.216/.114 in 19 games
OF Osvaldo Duarte: .000/.111/.000 in 7 games (only 8 at bats)
OF Teoscar Hernandez: .162/.230/.221 w/2-2B 1-3B 4RBI 6R in 20 games
C Max Stassi: .400/.400/.400 in 2 games

RHP Edison Frias: 0-0 in 2 games with a 4.50 ERA/0.500 WHIP in 2.0IP
LHP Reymin Guduan: 1-1 with 1 save in 14 games with a 5.63 ERA/2.250 WHIP in 8.0IP
*RHP Mike Hauschild: 0-1 in 5 starts with a 2.31 ERA/1.329 WHIP in 23.1IP
RHP Jordan Jankowski: 0-1 in 7 games with a 4.50 ERA/1.667 WHIP in 6.0IP

*Claimed by the Rangers in the Rule 5 draft

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE (LMP)
(Regular season ended Friday, 12/30; playoffs started 1/2)

OF Leo Heras: .262/.368/.443 w/9-2B 8-3B 6HR 26RBI 43R in 67 games

VENEZUELAN WINTER LEAGUE (LVBP)
(Regular season ended Thursday, 12/29; playoffs started 1/2)

IF Marwin Gonzalez: .174/.269/.174 in 14 games
SS Miguel Sierra: .333/.333/.444 w/1-2B 3RBI in 3 games

RHP Jared Mortensen: 0-0 in 3 games with a 2.70 ERA/0.900 WHIP in 3.1IP

PUERTO RICAN WINTER LEAGUE (LBPRC)
(Regular season ended Friday, 12/30; playoffs started 1/3)

C Juan Centeno: .235/.327/.282 with 4-2B 9RBI in 26 games
OF Drew Ferguson: .283/.327/.413 with 1-2B 1-3B 1HR 1RBI 8R in 12 games

RHP Juan Santos: 0-0 in 8 games with a 3.68 ERA/1.364 WHIP in 7.1IP

AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE (ABL)
(Regular season ends Sunday, 1/29/17)

1B Connor MacDonald: .272/.340/.370 with 2-2B 2HR 17RBI 10R in 25 games

NEWS AND LINKS

The World Baseball Classic will soon be upon us. It runs from March 6th through March 22nd and the full schedule can be found here. The rosters haven't been officially announced yet, but several Astros players are slated to participate, including RHP Luke Gregerson (U.S. Team); SS Carlos Correa and OF Carlos Beltran (Team Puerto Rico); 2B Jose Altuve (Venezuelan Team); and OF Nori Aoki (Team Japan). I will update this list as more information on the rosters becomes available.

Former Astros reliever Josh Zeid was among the WBC Israeli Team members who traveled to Israel recently; Jonathan Mayo chronicled the trip.

Former Astros farmhand David Rollins, claimed from Houston in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft, has been on the move this offseason. Where will he land?

RHP Mike Hauschild, another former Astro claimed in the 2016 Rule 5 Draft, will have a chance to be the Rangers fifth starter. (WTHB wishes him luck!)

And, last but not least, another former Astros farmhand, the very popular Jimmy VanOstrand, landed a unique gig with the Seattle Mariners. (h/t to Steve Duer)

Monday, January 2, 2017

Astros Winter League Recaps;

Results for December 29, 2016-January 1, 2017

LIGA MEXICANA DEL PACIFICO

Leo Heras went 2-5 with a pair of RBI singles as Obregón seized control of Thursday's game in Mazatlán by scoring all of their 11 runs in the final two frames to come away with an 11-4 win. Heras struck out in his only plate appearance on Friday; the Yaquis dropped that night's game by a score of 3-2.

LIGA DE BEISBOL PROFESIONAL ROBERTO CLEMENTE

Drew Ferguson finished 2-4 with a double in Santurce's 4-1 loss to Caguas on Friday.

AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE

Connor MacDonald went 1-4 with an RBI groundout in the 2nd inning of Brisbane's 8-3 loss to Adelaide on Thursday.

In the first game of the Bandits' doubleheader on Saturday, a 13-10 win, MacDonald finished 2-4 with an RBI single in the 3rd and a solo home run in the 5th, his second homer of the season. Brisbane swept the twinbill with a 13-5 win; MacDonald went 3-4 with a sac fly in the 1st and an RBI single in the 5th.