Astros Farm Report: 8-12

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

In case you missed these, here are my recent interviews from Quad Cities
Cesar Salazar
Brett Daniels
Felipe Tejada

And, in case you missed this, I looked at eight years of WTHB by the numbers!

ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS

Here are the latest roster moves. An ongoing list of all of the 2019 season transactions and roster moves can be found here.

8-12: OF James Nix assigned to Quad Cities from the GCL
8-12: RHP Hunter Martin (Quad Cities) released
8-11: RHP Joey Gonzalez (Fayetteville) placed on the 7-day IL
8-11: SS Jeremy Pena (Fayetteville) activated from the IL
8-11: RHP Jayson Schroeder (Tri-City) sent to the GCL on a rehab assignment (MiLB.com doesn't actually show Schroeder as being on the IL)
8-10: C Orlando Marquez (Quad Cities) activated from the IL
8-10: IF Michael Wielansky (Quad Cities) placed on the 7-day IL
8-9: RHP Akeem Bostick (Round Rock) released
8-9: RHP Enoli Paredes (Corpus Christi) activated from the IL
8-9: RHP Tommy DeJuneas (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day IL
8-9: RHP Jacob Billingsley (Fayetteville) sent to the GCL on a rehab assignment
8-9: C Cesar Salazar (Quad Cities) placed on the 7-day IL
8-9: RHP R.J. Freure (Quad Cities) activated from the temporary inactive list (Freure had been representing Team Canada at the Pan Am Games)
8-8: C Garrett Stubbs optioned to Round Rock
8-8: 1B Zach Biermann (Quad Cities) activated from the IL
8-8: RHP Ryan Gusto (11th round 2019) assigned to the GCL
8-7: RHP Riley Ferrell (Round Rock) activated from the IL
8-7: RHP Carson LaRue (Round Rock) placed on the 7-day IL (retroactive to 8-6)
8-7: RHP Danny Cody assigned to Tri-City from Quad Cities
8-6: RHP Colin McKee assigned to Corpus Christi from Round Rock
8-6: RHP Willy Collado (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day IL
8-6: RHP Ryan Pressly sent to Corpus Christi for a rehab assignment (activated 8-9)
8-6: LHP Yeremi Ceballos assigned to the GCL from Fayetteville
8-5: RHP Humberto Castellanos assigned to Fayetteville from Round Rock
8-5: OF Carlos Machado (Quad Cities) placed on the 7-day IL
8-5: RHP Luis de Paula assigned to Quad Cities from Tri-City
8-3: OF Jacob Meyers assigned to Corpus Christi from Fayetteville
8-3: RHP Brad Peacock sent to Round Rock on a rehab assignment
8-3: RHP Ronel Blanco (Round Rock) activated from the IL
8-3: LHP Yeremi Ceballos assigned to Fayetteville from the GCL
8-3: OF Wilyer Abreu assigned to Quad Cities from Tri-City
8-2: C Garrett Stubbs recalled to Houston
8-2: RHP Cy Sneed optioned to Round Rock
8-2: OF/IF Myles Straw optioned to Round Rock
8-2: RHP Jose Urquidy optioned to Round Rock
8-2: OF Granden Goetzman (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day IL (retroactive to 8-1)
8-2: RHP Bryan Abreu optioned to Corpus Christi
8-2: RHP Brandon Bailey (Corpus Christi) activated from the IL
8-2: RHP Tanner Duncan assigned to Fayetteville from Round Rock
8-2: LHP Parker Mushinski (Fayetteville) sent to Tri-City on a rehab assignment
8-1: 3B Abraham Toro assigned to Round Rock from Corpus Christi
8-1: C Lorenzo Quintana assigned to Round Rock from Corpus Christi
8-1: 1B Jake Adams assigned to Corpus Christi from Fayetteville
8-1: SS Jonathan Arauz assigned to Corpus Christi from Fayetteville
8-1: RHP Forest Whitley assigned to Corpus Christi from Fayetteville
8-1: SS Jeremy Pena (Fayetteville) placed on the 7-day IL
8-1: C Ruben Castro (Fayetteville) activated from the IL
8-1: 1B/3B David Hensley assigned from Quad Cities to Fayetteville

Players who started the 2019 season on the DL

C Ruben Castro - activated 5-25
RHP Nick Hernandez - activated 5-8
RHP Alex House
OF Alex McKenna - activated 4-29
RHP Hansel Paulino - activated 6-14
RHP Erasmo Pinales - activated 5-20
RHP Abdiel Saldana - activated 7-5
RHP Kyle Serrano - activated 6-26
RHP Jairo Solis

Restricted List
RHP Francis Martes (80-game suspension) - suspension ended 6-26, but will remain on the restricted list for the time being due to visa issues
1B/OF J.J. Matijevic (50-game suspension) - activated 6-21

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)

🠋 2nd 70-48 .593 1.5GB L3

AA CORPUS CHRISTI (Texas League/South Division)

4th 56-62 .475 6.5GB W1 (Overall)
🠋 4th 23-26 .469 5.0GB W1 (Second Half)

ADV A FAYETTEVILLE (Carolina League/Southern Division)

4th 58-61 .487 22.0GB W3 (Overall)
🠉 2nd 27-23 .540 3.5GB W3 (Second Half)

LOW A QUAD CITIES (Midwest League/Western Division)
1st half Division Winner

1st 71-44 .617 -.-GB W2 (Overall)
🠉 4th 28-21 .571 5.0GB W2 (Second Half)

SHORT SEASON A TRI-CITY (New York-Penn League/Stedler Division)
🠉 4th 23-32 .418 7.5GB W1

ROOKIE LEVEL GULF COAST LEAGUE (East Division)
🠉 4th 18-21 .462 4.5GB L1

ROOKIE LEVEL DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE (Northwest Division)
🠋 3rd 31-28 .525 3.0GB W1

WATCH THIS SPACE

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

Blair Henley - July 2019

Photo by Jayne Hansen

RHP Blair Henley, drafted in the 7th round out of the University of Texas at Austin this year, has gotten off to one of the better starts for this Astros draft class. In eight games (3 starts) for the season, Henley is 1-0 with a 1.03 ERA and a 0.987 WHIP (7 BB:34 K in 26.1 IP). All but one of those appearances were with short season A Tri-City. He has held batters to a .198 batting average and has not allowed ANY extra base hits so far this season. Watch this space ...

FORMER ASTRO UPDATE

J.D. Davis - June 2018

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Drafted by the Astros in the 3rd round in 2014 out of Cal State Fullerton, 3B J.D. Davis spent five seasons in the Astros system prior to his January 2019 trade to the New York Mets. In 101 games for the Mets in 2019, Davis is hitting .307/.372/.521 with 16 doubles, one triple and 14 home runs. I was told often and quite loudly by certain Astros "fans" on twitter last year that Davis couldn't hit. IMHO, those are awfully good numbers for someone who can't hit.

RANDOM PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Massachusetts - 2011

Photo by Jayne Hansen