Astros Farm Report: 1/8

Catching you up on the latest Astros MiLB offseason news ...

WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

Antonio Nunez - August 2017

Photo by Jayne Hansen

1-10: IF Antonio Nunez (25)
1-11: 3B Randy Cesar (23)
1-11: RHP Carlos Quintero (18)
1-12: SS/3B Freudis Nova (18)
1-13: RHP Andrew Thome (25)
1-14: 2B/3B Jeury Castillo (18)
1-14: SS Yorbin Ceuta (18)

ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS

It's been all quiet on the transaction front since the end of December purge. The cumulative Astros offseason transaction list can be found here.

FALL AND WINTER LEAGUE UPDATES

Since most of the Astros minor leaguers are finished with winter ball, I'll only be including the active players here. For the final stats for players having participated in the Arizona Fall League, Venezuelan Winter League, Mexican Pacific Winter League and the Dominican Winter League, please visit my Farm Report from 1/1.

AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE (ABL)

Rodrigo Ayarza started out the weekend with a nice 4-for-10 in the first two games, but was 0-fer in the next two. Overall, he was 4-for-19 with a run and a stolen base, and one walk to three strikeouts. The ABL regular season will conclude on January 27th.

Adelaide Bite
Rodrigo Ayarza - 28G .283/.325/.504 7-2B 6HR 11RBI 7BB:24SO 4SB:2CS

PUERTO RICAN WINTER LEAGUE (LBPRC)

The Puerto Rican winter league started up an abbreviated schedule of games this past weekend. Although Ruben Castro is listed on the Santurce roster, only Carlos Sierra has played to date. Sierra's first outing on Friday consisted of 1.1 innings of relief in which he allowed two hits and one walk with one of two inherited runners scoring. His second appearance on Sunday did not go well at all. After walking three straight batters, Sierra recorded his only out of the inning on a strikeout before issuing another walk with bases loaded after which he was lifted from the game. It could have been worse; only one of the three runners he left behind were allowed to score.

Cangrejeros de Santurce
RHP Carlos Sierra - 2G 1.2IP 10.80 ERA 4.200 WHIP 1SO:5BB
C Ruben Castro

NEWS AND LINKS

In case you missed it, I started a "Beyond the Top 30" series, looking at both those Astros players who are considered Top 30 prospects and others at each position who may not be top talents (or may grow to be), but will be interesting to watch nonetheless. My first post on shortstops in the system is here. Look for a post on second basemen in the system up next.

Top baseball execs like Forrest Whitley (no big surprise since they kept trying to trade for him last season!).

And speaking of trades, Jonathan Mayo sees three former Astros as breakout candidates in 2018.

Baseball Prospectus has some love for J.B. Bukauskas and Corbin Martin with a shoutout to Joe Perez.

According to MiLB via the Fayetteville Observor, the Astros new stadium being built in Fayetteville, North Carolina is already benefiting the community.

And last but certainly not least, Astros farmhand Jack Mayfield's son Jackson says "Put me in coach! ... OK, maybe after my nap."

I told him he’s a bandwagon fan because the Astros just won the World Series but Jackson insists he’s not that he’s been a true fan! @astros @MLB #Houston #astros pic.twitter.com/drj2Mm9y3i

— Jack Mayfield (@jackmayfield8) January 7, 2018