Astros Farm Report: 8-5

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

In case you missed these, here are my recent interviews from Tri-City
RHP Franny Cobos and LHP Juan Pablo Lopez
RHP Peyton Battenfield
IF AJ Lee

And stay tuned for more interviews (coming this week, I promise!) from my trip to Beloit as I visited with a trio of Quad Cities players.

If you're missing Dustin's excellent recaps (as am I), he's taking a little personal break and I hope to see him back in the saddle soon.

ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS

Here are the latest roster moves (since the last farm report). An ongoing list of all of the 2019 season transactions and roster moves can be found here.

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
7-31: RHP Bryan Abreu (Corpus Christi) called up to Houston7-31: IF/OF Tony Kemp (DFA on 7-26) traded to the Cubs for C Martin Maldonado
7-31: RHP Corbin Martin (Round Rock IL), RHP J.B. Bukauskas (Corpus Christi), 1B Seth Beer (Corpus Christi) and IF/OF Josh Rojas (Round Rock) traded to the Diamondbacks for RHP Zack Greinke
7-31: LHP Kit Scheetz (Round Rock) placed on the 7-day IL
7-31: RHP Humberto Castellanos assigned to Round Rock from Fayetteville
7-31: LHP Reymin Guduan (Round Rock) suspended for the remainder of the season for a violation of team rules
7-31: OF Cal Stevenson acquired from the Blue Jays (along with RHP Aaron Sanchez and RHP Joe Biagini) in a trade for OF Derek Fisher and assigned to Fayetteville
7-31: OF Rainier Rivas acquired from the Angels in a trade for C Max Stassi and assigned to the GCL
7-31: OF Raider Uceta acquired from the Angels in a trade for C Max Stassi and assigned to the GCL
7-30: 1B/OF Scott Schreiber (Fayetteville) activated from the IL
7-30: 1B Zach Biermann (Quad Cities) placed on the 7-day IL
7-30: RHP Danny Cody assigned to Quad Cities from Tri-City
7-30: OF/2B Austin Dennis assigned to Quad Cities from Round Rock
7-30: RHP Luis de Paula assigned to Tri-City from Quad Cities
7-29: RHP Juan de los Santos (DSL) placed on the 60-day IL
7-29: RHP Marcos Eusebio (DSL) placed on the 60-day IL
7-29: LHP Daniel Bello assigned to the DSL from the GCL
7-29: RHP Jherson Pereira assigned to the DSL from the GCL

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 67-45 .598 2.5GB W2

AA CORPUS CHRISTI (Texas League/South Division)

3rd 54-57 .486 5.5GB W2 (Overall)
🠉 3rd 21-21 .500 4.0GB W2 (Second Half)

ADV A FAYETTEVILLE (Carolina League/Southern Division)

4th 54-59 .478 23.0GB W1 (Overall)
🠋 2nd 23-21 .523 4.5GB W1 (Second Half)

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

1st 66-42 .611 -.-GB L2 (Overall)
🠉 4th 23-19 .548 6.0GB L2 (Second Half)

SHORT SEASON A TRI-CITY (New York-Penn League/Stedler Division)
🠉 4th 19-28 .404 10.5GB W3

ROOKIE LEVEL GULF COAST LEAGUE (East Division)
🠋 4th 14-17 .452 4.5GB L2

ROOKIE LEVEL DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE (Northwest Division)
🠉 T3rd 29-25 .537 3.0GB L2

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.

Juanrael Paulino - July 2019

Photo by Jayne Hansen

C Juanrael Paulino was signed by the Astros in the 27th round out of Western Oklahoma State College in 2018. That the Astros are finding playing time for Paulino on a roster including 2019 1st round pick Korey Lee, 2019 10th round pick C.J. Stubbs and 2017 5th round pick Nate Perry is as much a testament to his bat as it is to his defensive abilities. The lefty hitting 21 year old from the Dominican Republic is currently hitting .310/.371/.437 in 29 games for Tri-City this season. Watch this space ...

FORMER ASTRO UPDATE

Kevin Comer - June 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Originally drafted by the Blue Jays in the 1st round in 2011 out of Senaca HS (NJ), RHP Kevin Comer came into the Astros system as the PTBNL in this July 2012 10-player trade with the Blue Jays. Comer played in the system for six seasons prior to becoming a minor league free agent after the 2017 season. Comer subsequently signed with the Tigers and the Twins organizations, but is now currently pitching down the road for the independent league Sugar Land Skeeters. In 29 bullpen appearances for the Skeeters, Comer has a 3.90 ERA and a 1.052 WHIP. Even more impressive is that he has allowed only nine walks (38 strikeouts) in his 32.1 innings of work.

RANDOM PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Alberta, Canada - 2003

Photo by Jayne Hansen