Meet the Sugar Land Skeeters

As Jayne is on her sabbatical, it looks like I will be assuming the responsibility of operating What the Heck, Bobby?

I recently made the decision to step away from my own blog for the time being, so that process is very much up in the air. I might just recap according to who's playing. Since Triple-A and Double-A have Wednesdays off, I'll start the posts on Thursday, add to them, and post on Wednesday.

The Class A clubs have Mondays off, so I'll utilize that same method starting on Tuesday and then adding to them until they're ready to post on Monday. So, I'll have at least two posts a week and probably a Farm Report at the end of the month. Seems manageable, especially since I had a recap post every single day.

Well, without further ado, let's meet the Houston Astros minor league affiliates! First up is the Sugar Land Skeeters.

Photo from Chris Creamer's SportsLogos.Net

Established in 2012 in the independent Atlantic League, the Sugar Land Skeeters won two championships during its tenure as an independent league club in 2016 and 2018. Now, with the realignment of Minor League Baseball, the Skeeters will continue operations as the Houston Astros' Triple-A affiliate after the Astros purchased a majority ownership stake in the club back in November.

Sugar Land begins its journey as an affiliated club as members of the Triple-A West league, which consists of nine teams that were formerly in the Pacific Coast League; they are the one outlier, considering that they joined from the independent ranks. The Skeeters will play in AAA West's East division along with El Paso, Albuquerque, Round Rock, and Oklahoma City. The West teams are Las Vegas, Sacramento, Reno, Tacoma, and Salt Lake. 

Sugar Land opens its season with 12 games on the road. They will open up with six in Albuquerque on Thursday and they'll head to Round Rock next Thursday, May 13.

Personally, I am excited that there will be a minor league baseball team close to home. I loved Corpus and I hope to head down there again soon, but the thought of not having to drive four hours is quite appealing to me. Plus, most of my family lives down in Sugar Land, so I can foresee a few gatherings of the cousins at Constellation Field in the future...

The Skeeters have played at Constellation Field since its inception. The stadium's most prominent feature is its Texas-shaped video board that forms the batter's eye.

Also, a friend of mine recently got hired on as a scorekeeper for the Skeeters. He went for an opening on the Astros in that regard but didn't get that position. But, he tried again for Sugar Land and got it.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Official website: https://www.milb.com/sugar-land

Twitter: @SL_Skeeters

Instagram: sugarlandskeeters

You can also find the various other social media platforms that they utilize on their official website, but for brevity's sake, I only listed the apps that I (and I'm sure most of you) use most often.

And now... the 2021 Sugar Land Skeeters! This roster is preliminary and subject to change.

COACHING STAFF

Press Release

Manager: Mickey Storey

Pitching Coach: Erick Abreu

Hitting Coach: Ben Rosenthal

Development Coach: Sean Connole

Strength and Conditioning Coach: Hazael Wessin

Athletic Trainers: John Gregorich, A.J. Smith

Erick Abreu moves up to Triple-A after spending 2019 as the pitching coach at Quad Cities. He was supposed to return to Quad Cities in 2020, but as you know... there was no Minor League season.

ROSTER

Italics - bats/throws left-handed

Bold - switch-hitter

Pitchers

It's an advanced group of mainly college guys, and they are essentially the same guys you've read about on here for the last three years. Tyler Ivey, Brett Conine, and Shawn Dubin could see some time in Houston this summer. 

Ronel Blanco and Jojanse Torres are a couple of Dominicans with fireballs who are still learning to harness their pitches. 

Austin Hansen and Colin McKee have shown that they can rack up some serious strikeout numbers as they've climbed the ladder. This is an aggressive assignment for Hansen, who carved up both Class A levels in 2019 and will be skipping Corpus to start 2021.

Ronel Blanco - International free agent from the Dominican Republic in 2016; Blanco played in Corpus and Round Rock in 2019 and he also made four rehab appearances with Tri-City.

Brett Conine - 11th round, 2018 draft (Cal State Fullerton); Quad Cities/Fayetteville/Corpus

Shawn Dubin - 13th round, 2018 draft (Georgetown College); Quad Cities/Fayetteville

Riley Ferrell - Returned to Astros by the Marlins during the 2019 season after being selected in the 2018 Rule 5 draft. Originally drafted by the Astros in the 3rd round of the 2015 draft (TCU). Ferrell played for five different teams in the Marlins and Astros systems in 2019.

Ralph Garza Jr. - 26th round, 2015 draft (Oklahoma); Round Rock

Austin Hansen - 8th round, 2018 draft (Oklahoma); Quad Cities/Fayetteville

Ryan Hartman - 9th round, 2016 draft (Tennessee Wesleyan); Round Rock

Tyler Ivey - 3rd round, 2017 draft (Grayson County College); Corpus Christi, with rehab appearances in Fayetteville and the Gulf Coast League

Seth Martinez - Rule 5 draft selection (minor league phase) from Athletics, 2020; Stockton/Midland

Colin McKee - 18th round, 2016 draft (Mercyhurst); Corpus/Round Rock

Nivaldo Rodríguez - International free agent (Venezuela), 2016; Houston/Alternate Site in 2020

Kit Scheetz - Undrafted free agent (Virginia Tech), 2017; Round Rock/Corpus, with two rehab appearances in the GCL

Jojanse Torres - International free agent (Dominican Republic), 2018; Fayetteville/Quad Cities

Catchers

Michael Papierski - 9th round, 2017 draft (LSU); Fayetteville

Lorenzo Quintana - International free agent (Cuba), 2018; Round Rock/Corpus

Colton Shaver - 39th round, 2017 draft (BYU); Fayetteville/Corpus

Garrett Stubbs - 8th round, 2015 draft (Southern Cal); 14 games with Houston in 2020

Infielders

Taylor Jones is probably making his way back to the Houston area to join the Skeeters as he was optioned to the Alternate Site on April 30. Miguelangel Sierra is skipping Corpus.

Alex De Goti - 15th round, 2016 draft (Barry); Round Rock, appeared in two games with Houston earlier this season

C.J. Hinojosa - Minor league free agent signing, 2021; Biloxi (Brewers) in 2019, played in the Constellation Energy League with the Lightning Sloths in 2020

Miguelangel Sierra - International free agent (Venezuela), 2014; Fayetteville

Abraham Toro - 5th round, 2016 draft (Seminole State College); 33 games with Houston in 2020

Outfielders

Bryan De La Cruz is the longest-tenured member of the Astros organization; he originally signed with the Astros out of the Dominican Republic in 2013. I think I started writing for WTHB in 2013.

As this is his seventh season in the system, De La Cruz will be eligible for Minor League free agency following this season.

Ronnie Dawson - 2nd round, 2016 draft (Ohio State); Round Rock/Corpus, appeared in three games with Houston this season

Bryan De La Cruz - International free agent (Dominican Republic), 2013; Fayetteville/Corpus

Jake Meyers - 13th round, 2017 draft (Nebraska); Corpus/Fayetteville

Jose Siri - Minor league free agent signing, 2020; Louisville/Chattanooga (Reds) in 2019, Giants Alternate Site in 2020