Astros Farm Report: 4-22

Bringing you the latest news from down on the Astros farm ...

APRIL TRANSACTIONS/ROSTER MOVES

4-21: LHP Reymin Guduan optioned to Round Rock from Houston
4-21: LHP Framber Valdez (Round Rock) recalled to Houston
4-20: IF Juan Pineda assigned to Tri-City (Extended Spring Training) from Fayetteville
4-20: 2B Alfredo Angarita (Fayetteville) activated from the 7-day DL
4-18: OF Drew Ferguson (Round Rock) activated from the DL
4-18: C Lorenzo Quintana (Corpus) placed on the 7-day DL
4-18: C Carlos Canelon assigned to Corpus Christi
4-18: RHP Jose Bravo assigned to Fayetteville from Corpus Christi
4-17: 1B A.J. Reed (Round Rock) placed on the 7-day DL
4-16: RHP Peter Solomon (Fayetteville) placed on the 7-day DL
4-15: OF Chandler Taylor (Fayetteville) placed on the 7-day DL
4-15: IF Juan Pineda assigned to Fayetteville
4-14: RHP Justin Ferrell (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day DL
4-14: RHP Brett Daniels assigned to Corpus Christi from Quad Cities
4-14: RHP Jojanse Torres assigned to Quad Cities
4-13: RHP Joey Gonzalez assigned to Fayetteville
4-13: 2B Alfredo Angarita (Fayetteville) placed on the 7-day DL
4-12: LHP Reymin Guduan recalled to Houston from Round Rock
4-12: RHP Brendan Feldmann assigned to Corpus Christi from Fayetteville
4-11: LHP Framber Valdez optioned to Round Rock from Houston
4-11: OF Drew Ferguson (Round Rock) placed on 7-day DL
4-11: RHP Tanner Duncan assigned to Round Rock from Corpus Christi
4-11: RHP Jose Bravo assigned to Corpus Christi
4-11: C Oscar Campos (Quad Cities) placed on 7-day DL
4-11: OF/2B Austin Dennis assigned to Quad Cities
4-8: RHP Hunter Martin assigned to Fayetteville
4-7: RHP Brendan Feldmann assigned to Fayetteville from Corpus Christi
4-7: RHP Edgardo Sandoval voluntarily retired (he pitched on Saturday and then retired on Sunday; I'm not sure what's going on with that!)
4-7: RHP Tanner Duncan assigned to Corpus Christi
4-6: RHP Brendan Feldmann assigned to Corpus Christi

Players who started the 2019 season on the DL
C Ruben Castro
RHP Nick Hernandez
RHP Alex House
OF Alex McKenna
RHP Hansel Paulino
RHP Erasmo Pinales
RHP Abdiel Saldana
RHP Kyle Serrano
RHP Jairo Solis

Restricted List
RHP Francis Martes (80-game suspension)

2019 STANDINGS

Up and down arrows denote an increase or decrease in win percentage over the last week.

AAA ROUND ROCK (Pacific Coast League/American Southern Division)

🠋 1st 10-7 .588 -.-GB L2

AA CORPUS CHRISTI (Texas League/South Division)

🠉 3rd 8-9 .471 2.0GB L1

ADV A FAYETTEVILLE (Carolina League/Southern Division)

🠋 T2nd 10-8 .556 3.0GB L1

LOW A QUAD CITIES (Midwest League/Western Division)

🠋 3th 8-7 .533 0.5GB W1

WATCH THIS SPACE

I plan to use "this space" to feature players who are currently flying below the radar, but who deserve a look.

Brady Rodgers - May 2015

Photo by Jayne Hansen

RHP Brady Rodgers hasn't exactly flown under the radar over his years as an Astros prospect since being drafted in the third round in 2012, but he did temporarily fall off the radar screen following his May 2017 Tommy John surgery. Once a highly ranked prospect, Rodgers was ranked by Baseball America as the #29 prospect in the Astros system in their 2019 Prospect Handbook, but he is currently unranked by MLB Pipeline. He is trying his best to remedy that, coming out strong in the early going this season. In his first three starts, Rodgers is 1-0 with a 1.56 ERA and a 1.056 WHIP, five walks to 15 strikeouts in 18 innings. There has been a lot of focus on top prospects such as Forrest Whitley and Corbin Martin, but the reality is that Brady Rodgers (who is already on the 40-man roster) will likely be the first pitcher that the Astros will call on for help should the need for another starter arise in Houston. Rodgers was in this exact same position two years ago and would certainly have been recalled to Houston had it not been for that blown UCL. WTHB is hoping for Brady to get a second chance at a first impression and the opportunity to finally prove himself. Watch this space ...

FORMER ASTRO UPDATE

Asher Wojciechowski - September 2015

Photo by Jayne Hansen

RHP Asher Wojciechowski has bounced around quite a bit since he was first drafted by the Blue Jays in the first round in 2010.

(From Baseball-Reference)
Transactions

June 7, 2010: Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1st round (41st pick) of the 2010 amateur draft. Player signed June 16, 2010.

July 20, 2012: Traded by the Toronto Blue Jays with a player to be named later, Francisco Cordero, Ben Francisco, Joe Musgrove, Carlos Perez and David Rollins to the Houston Astros for David Carpenter, J.A. Happ and Brandon Lyon. The Toronto Blue Jays sent Kevin Comer (minors) (August 16, 2012) to the Houston Astros to complete the trade.
May 24, 2016: Selected off waivers by the Miami Marlins from the Houston Astros.
November 7, 2016: Granted Free Agency.
December 9, 2016: Signed as a Free Agent with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
March 28, 2017: Released by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
April 21, 2017: Signed as a Free Agent with the Cincinnati Reds.
October 6, 2017: Granted Free Agency.
December 1, 2017: Signed as a Free Agent with the Baltimore Orioles.
July 18, 2018: Released by the Baltimore Orioles.
July 25, 2018: Signed as a Free Agent with the Chicago White Sox.
November 2, 2018: Granted Free Agency.
February 14, 2019: Signed as a Free Agent with the Cleveland Indians.

Wojciechowski has gotten off to a very nice start for the Columbus Clippers, the Indians AAA affiliate, going 1-0 in three starts with a 1.06 ERA and a 0.882 WHIP and seven walks to 20 strikeouts in 17 innings. Yes, he is 30 and he's not on the 40-man roster, but if he can build on his early success, he could help the Indians down the stretch. When healthy, Wojciechowski has been a workhorse and that could work in his favor as he looks to get back to the bigs. On a personal level, Wojo is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and he's very easy to root for. So I am doing just that.

RANDOM PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Mount Shuksan, Washington - July 2012

Photo by Jayne Hansen