Photo from Chris Creamer's SportsLogos.Net
The Tri-City ValleyCats are members of the New York-Penn League and play at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy, New York. The Tri-City moniker derives from its location in New York's Capital District, which consists of Troy, Schenectady, and New York's capital city, Albany. Why ValleyCats? That's because they are located in the Hudson River Valley.
This franchise began play in 1977 as the Little Falls Mets. The club relocated to Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1989, where it remained a Mets affiliate until 2000. Before the 2001 season, the team switched its affiliation to the Houston Astros. In 2002, the club moved to Troy, where they turned into the ValleyCats.
The ValleyCats are the defending New York-Penn League champions; last year, they swept the Hudson Valley Renegades in the NYPL Championship Series to earn their third NYPL championship in franchise history.
They got swept in their first series of the season up in Vermont but they will open up the home portion of their schedule tonight against Staten Island. Sunday's game was rained out and will be made up as part of a doubleheader on August 25.
Now, without further ado... the 2019 Tri-City ValleyCats.
New manager Ozney Guillén is the youngest son of former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén. According to the ValleyCats' press release announcing this year's staff appointments, Guillén recently concluded his playing career, which was mainly spent in the independent leagues and Venezuela. In his first coaching job, he gets to take the reins of a team right out of the gate. He takes over for Jason Bell, who will assume a new role as Fundamentals Coordinator.
New pitching coach John Kovalik spent the last two seasons as the pitching coach at his alma mater, Slippery Rock University, a Division II school in Pennsylvania.
Sean Godfrey, the ValleyCats' new hitting coach, was drafted by the Braves in the 22nd round out of Ball State in 2014 and played in the Atlanta organization until 2016. He spent the last two seasons with the Schaumburg Flyers in the independent Frontier League.
COACHING STAFF
Manager: Ozney Guillén
Hitting Coach: Sean Godfrey
Pitching Coach: John Kovalik
Performance Coach: Jake Buffa
Athletic Trainer: Brandon Zumbach
Strength Coach: Michael Hoffman
This roster is the one that currently appears on MiLB.com. Expect to see some of the 2019 draftees to file in over the next couple of weeks. It's currently an extremely young roster, especially in the outfield, and many of these players were playing in the complex leagues last year,
Bold - player bats/pitches left-handed
Italics - player is a switch-hitter
PITCHERS
Jayson Schroeder, last year's 2nd-round pick, headlines the staff. There are plenty of intriguing arms on this staff: Valente Bellozo made 14 appearances last season and 12 of them were scoreless. Manny Ramirez has a mid-90s fastball to pair with a potential wipeout slider.
Angel Macuare signed in the same international free agent class (2016-17) as Jairo Solís and the Astros gave him the second-biggest bonus among the pitchers that they signed during that period; only Cionel Pérez got a bigger bonus. However, Macuare's progress has been a bit of a slower burn than Solís, who was poised to rise through the system before he had to undergo Tommy John surgery. Now that he's out of the complex leagues, Macuare will look to continue his own progress up the ladder.
Guadalupe Chavez was originally acquired from the Blue Jays for Scott Feldman in 2016, but he abruptly retired before the 2017 season. He returned to baseball in 2018 and was subsequently loaned out to Quintana Roo of the Mexican League. Now, Chavez has returned to the Astros system and hopefully, he has been able to resolve whatever issues he had that forced him to step away from baseball.
Valente Bellozo - International free agent, 2017 (Mexico); played with DSL Astros in 2018
Guadalupe Chavez - Acquired via trade with Blue Jays in exchange for Scott Feldman, 2016; Quintana Roo (Mexican League), but was on their reserve team
Jervic Chavez - International free agent, 2016 (Venezuela); GCL Astros
Franny Cobos - International free agent, 2017 (Cuba); DSL Astros
Luis De Paula - International free agent, 2016 (Dominican Republic); Tri-City
Miguel Figueroa - 24th round, 2018 draft (Oklahoma City University); GCL in 2018, appeared in three games for Corpus Christi prior to being assigned to Tri-City
Ernesto Jaquez - International free agent, 2017 (Dominican Republic); DSL/GCL/Tri-City, currently on IL
Angel Macuare - International free agent, 2016 (Venezuela); GCL Astros
Christian Mejías - International free agent, 2016 (Venezuela); DSL/GCL
Hansel Paulino - International free agent, 2014 (Dominican Republic); Tri-City/Quad Cities
Manny Ramírez - International free agent, 2017 (Dominican Republic); GCL/Tri-City, appeared in two games for Quad Cities prior to being assigned to Tri-City
Julio Robaina - International free agent, 2017 (Cuba); GCL Astros, appeared in two games for Quad Cities prior to being assigned to Tri-City
Jayson Schroeder - 2nd round, 2018 draft (Juanita HS, Kirkland, Washington); GCL Astros, appeared in three games (one start) for Quad Cities prior to being assigned to Tri-City
POSITION PLAYERS
2019 first-round pick Korey Lee headlines the squad. Matt Barefoot (6), C.J. Stubbs (10), Zach Biermann (23), Preston Pavlica (24), and A.J. Lee (34) are also with the team, but they haven't been officially added to the roster yet.
Deury Carrasco is a speedster and one of the most exciting athletes in the system. He's certainly capable of making some huge plays with his bat, in the field, and definitely with his feet. Yorbin Ceuta received a $1 million bonus in 2016. He's shown a discerning eye at the plate so far but he'll have to translate some of his potential into on-field results.
Joe Perez appears to have finally received a clean bill of health. A second-round pick in 2017, Perez is a third baseman/former pitcher with legit power potential, but he's fallen behind the curve a bit due to injuries. Perez will need all the at-bats he can get.
Catchers
Korey Lee - 1st round, 2019 draft (Cal); making pro debut
Juan Paulino - 27th round, 2018 draft (Western Oklahoma State College); GCL Astros
Nathan Perry - 5th round, 2017 draft (Bassett HS, Bassett, Virginia); GCL/Tri-City
Infielders
Deury Carrasco - International free agent, 2016 (Dominican Republic); GCL/Tri-City
Yorbin Ceuta - International free agent, 2016 (Venezuela); GCL Astros
Joe Perez - 2nd round, 2017 draft (Archbishop McCarthy HS, Southwest Ranches, Florida); GCL Astros
Juan Piñeda - International free agent, 2014 (Panama); Tri-City; appeared in two games for Fayetteville prior to being assigned to Tri-City.
Yeuris Ramírez - International free agent, 2015 (Dominican Republic); GCL Astros
Outfielders
Yefri Carrillo - International free agent, 2017 (Venezuela); DSL Astros
Yimmi Cortabarria - International free agent, 2017 (Venezuela); DSL Astros
Hector Martinez - International free agent, 2014 (Dominican Republic); GCL Astros; appeared in five games for Corpus Christi prior to being assigned to Tri-City
Franklin Pinto - International free agent, 2017 (Venezuela); DSL Astros
Andrés Santana - 29th round, 2017 draft (Doral Academy, Doral, Florida); GCL/Tri-City
The ValleyCats are the defending New York-Penn League champions; last year, they swept the Hudson Valley Renegades in the NYPL Championship Series to earn their third NYPL championship in franchise history.
They got swept in their first series of the season up in Vermont but they will open up the home portion of their schedule tonight against Staten Island. Sunday's game was rained out and will be made up as part of a doubleheader on August 25.
Now, without further ado... the 2019 Tri-City ValleyCats.
New manager Ozney Guillén is the youngest son of former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén. According to the ValleyCats' press release announcing this year's staff appointments, Guillén recently concluded his playing career, which was mainly spent in the independent leagues and Venezuela. In his first coaching job, he gets to take the reins of a team right out of the gate. He takes over for Jason Bell, who will assume a new role as Fundamentals Coordinator.
New pitching coach John Kovalik spent the last two seasons as the pitching coach at his alma mater, Slippery Rock University, a Division II school in Pennsylvania.
Sean Godfrey, the ValleyCats' new hitting coach, was drafted by the Braves in the 22nd round out of Ball State in 2014 and played in the Atlanta organization until 2016. He spent the last two seasons with the Schaumburg Flyers in the independent Frontier League.
COACHING STAFF
Manager: Ozney Guillén
Hitting Coach: Sean Godfrey
Pitching Coach: John Kovalik
Performance Coach: Jake Buffa
Athletic Trainer: Brandon Zumbach
Strength Coach: Michael Hoffman
This roster is the one that currently appears on MiLB.com. Expect to see some of the 2019 draftees to file in over the next couple of weeks. It's currently an extremely young roster, especially in the outfield, and many of these players were playing in the complex leagues last year,
Bold - player bats/pitches left-handed
Italics - player is a switch-hitter
PITCHERS
Jayson Schroeder, last year's 2nd-round pick, headlines the staff. There are plenty of intriguing arms on this staff: Valente Bellozo made 14 appearances last season and 12 of them were scoreless. Manny Ramirez has a mid-90s fastball to pair with a potential wipeout slider.
Angel Macuare signed in the same international free agent class (2016-17) as Jairo Solís and the Astros gave him the second-biggest bonus among the pitchers that they signed during that period; only Cionel Pérez got a bigger bonus. However, Macuare's progress has been a bit of a slower burn than Solís, who was poised to rise through the system before he had to undergo Tommy John surgery. Now that he's out of the complex leagues, Macuare will look to continue his own progress up the ladder.
Guadalupe Chavez was originally acquired from the Blue Jays for Scott Feldman in 2016, but he abruptly retired before the 2017 season. He returned to baseball in 2018 and was subsequently loaned out to Quintana Roo of the Mexican League. Now, Chavez has returned to the Astros system and hopefully, he has been able to resolve whatever issues he had that forced him to step away from baseball.
Valente Bellozo - International free agent, 2017 (Mexico); played with DSL Astros in 2018
Guadalupe Chavez - Acquired via trade with Blue Jays in exchange for Scott Feldman, 2016; Quintana Roo (Mexican League), but was on their reserve team
Jervic Chavez - International free agent, 2016 (Venezuela); GCL Astros
Franny Cobos - International free agent, 2017 (Cuba); DSL Astros
Luis De Paula - International free agent, 2016 (Dominican Republic); Tri-City
Miguel Figueroa - 24th round, 2018 draft (Oklahoma City University); GCL in 2018, appeared in three games for Corpus Christi prior to being assigned to Tri-City
Ernesto Jaquez - International free agent, 2017 (Dominican Republic); DSL/GCL/Tri-City, currently on IL
Angel Macuare - International free agent, 2016 (Venezuela); GCL Astros
Christian Mejías - International free agent, 2016 (Venezuela); DSL/GCL
Hansel Paulino - International free agent, 2014 (Dominican Republic); Tri-City/Quad Cities
Manny Ramírez - International free agent, 2017 (Dominican Republic); GCL/Tri-City, appeared in two games for Quad Cities prior to being assigned to Tri-City
Julio Robaina - International free agent, 2017 (Cuba); GCL Astros, appeared in two games for Quad Cities prior to being assigned to Tri-City
Jayson Schroeder - 2nd round, 2018 draft (Juanita HS, Kirkland, Washington); GCL Astros, appeared in three games (one start) for Quad Cities prior to being assigned to Tri-City
POSITION PLAYERS
2019 first-round pick Korey Lee headlines the squad. Matt Barefoot (6), C.J. Stubbs (10), Zach Biermann (23), Preston Pavlica (24), and A.J. Lee (34) are also with the team, but they haven't been officially added to the roster yet.
Deury Carrasco is a speedster and one of the most exciting athletes in the system. He's certainly capable of making some huge plays with his bat, in the field, and definitely with his feet. Yorbin Ceuta received a $1 million bonus in 2016. He's shown a discerning eye at the plate so far but he'll have to translate some of his potential into on-field results.
Joe Perez appears to have finally received a clean bill of health. A second-round pick in 2017, Perez is a third baseman/former pitcher with legit power potential, but he's fallen behind the curve a bit due to injuries. Perez will need all the at-bats he can get.
Catchers
Korey Lee - 1st round, 2019 draft (Cal); making pro debut
Juan Paulino - 27th round, 2018 draft (Western Oklahoma State College); GCL Astros
Nathan Perry - 5th round, 2017 draft (Bassett HS, Bassett, Virginia); GCL/Tri-City
Infielders
Deury Carrasco - International free agent, 2016 (Dominican Republic); GCL/Tri-City
Yorbin Ceuta - International free agent, 2016 (Venezuela); GCL Astros
Joe Perez - 2nd round, 2017 draft (Archbishop McCarthy HS, Southwest Ranches, Florida); GCL Astros
Juan Piñeda - International free agent, 2014 (Panama); Tri-City; appeared in two games for Fayetteville prior to being assigned to Tri-City.
Yeuris Ramírez - International free agent, 2015 (Dominican Republic); GCL Astros
Outfielders
Yefri Carrillo - International free agent, 2017 (Venezuela); DSL Astros
Yimmi Cortabarria - International free agent, 2017 (Venezuela); DSL Astros
Hector Martinez - International free agent, 2014 (Dominican Republic); GCL Astros; appeared in five games for Corpus Christi prior to being assigned to Tri-City
Franklin Pinto - International free agent, 2017 (Venezuela); DSL Astros
Andrés Santana - 29th round, 2017 draft (Doral Academy, Doral, Florida); GCL/Tri-City
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