The 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook - Updated and On Sale!

It's Opening Day for the Tri-City ValleyCats as they hit the road to face the Connecticut Tigers in Norwich, Connecticut. Want to get to know the team a little better? I have just what you need!

The 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook has been updated to include information on dozens of players who have been signed by the Astros since the book was first published in February. In addition, basic information on all 2015 draft picks has been included, even those who haven't signed yet. And, finally, notations on the existing profiles have been made as to those players who have retired or who have been traded or released.

All that information on literally hundreds of players ... how could it get any better?!?! I'll tell you how. The book is now available at a new LOW PRICE of only $6.49. For less than the cost of a super-sized McDonald's meal, you can have a great reference work and it won't clog your arteries!!! For less than the cost of a Minute Maid Park beer, you can learn about players who are or will be playing in the Dominican Summer League, Gulf Coast League, Greeneville and Tri-City (as well as the more established players), and the book will only make you drunk with enthusiasm over the depth of this farm system!

Buy the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook today and have the information at your fingertips by downloading it to your smart phone, kindle, iPad, tablet, laptop or desktop. The information is fully searchable and portable. Thank you for considering a purchase that will help to support my endeavors to bring you the best Astros minor league coverage available!

Astros Farm System Handbook Sale - 2 days left!!!

Have you been meaning to buy the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook, but just haven't gotten around to it yet? Well, wait no more!!! For three days only, the most comprehensive book anywhere on Astros prospects and the Houston farm system will be on sale:

30% off from Monday, April 20th, at 9:00 a.m. until Tuesday, April 21st, at 8:59 a.m.
20% off from Tuesday, April 21st, at 9:00 a.m. until Wednesday, April 22nd, at 8:59 a.m.
10% off from Wednesday, April 22nd, at 9:00 a.m. until Thursday, April 23rd, at 8:59 a.m.

The sooner you buy it, the more you save!

No kindle? No problem! The 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook can be read on the kindle, iPad and most other tablets, as well as desktops, laptops and smartphones. Simply download the free kindle app. You don't even have to download the book if you don't want to. You can read it directly from the cloud on Amazon's cloud reader.

You will have instant searchable access to:

• Over 250 player profiles, including insight as to each player's strengths and weaknesses
• Expanded profiles on dozens of players, including information from coaches, managers and the players themselves
• Over 100 high-quality player photos
• Player awards, honors, rankings and postseason stats
• Comparative defensive stats on all positions
• Comparative offensive and pitching stats for leaders in dozens of categories
• Additional metrics, such as BABIP, FIP, wOBA and WRC+
• Links to even more information, such as interviews, twitter handles and the player's Baseball-Reference Page

That may sound like a lot of stats (and it is), but this is no dry statistical treatise; a good deal of humor and creativity is sprinkled throughout the book.

But don't take my word for it. Of the dozen reviews posted on Amazon, all 12 are 5-star reviews!!!

"The Quintessential Book for Any Astros Fan"
"A must-have resource for any true diehard Astros fan"
"Wish I could give it 15 stars"
"Having all this searchable info at my fingertips and in one place is about as wonderful as pancakes in bed on a Saturday morning."

So what are you waiting for?!? The best way to stay informed about the Astros farm system (and to show support for this blog and the bloggess-in-chief) is only a click and a credit card away!!!

What Are You Waiting For?!?! It's a 3-Day Sale!

Have you been meaning to buy the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook, but just haven't gotten around to it yet? Well, wait no more!!! For three days only, the most comprehensive book anywhere on Astros prospects and the Houston farm system will be on sale:

30% off from Monday, April 20th, at 9:00 a.m. until Tuesday, April 21st, at 8:59 a.m.
20% off from Tuesday, April 21st, at 9:00 a.m. until Wednesday, April 22nd, at 8:59 a.m.
10% off from Wednesday, April 22nd, at 9:00 a.m. until Thursday, April 23rd, at 8:59 a.m.

The sooner you buy it, the more you save!

No kindle? No problem! The 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook can be read on the kindle, iPad and most other tablets, as well as desktops, laptops and smartphones. Simply download the free kindle app. You don't even have to download the book if you don't want to. You can read it directly from the cloud on Amazon's cloud reader.

You will have instant searchable access to:

• Over 250 player profiles, including insight as to each player's strengths and weaknesses
• Expanded profiles on dozens of players, including information from coaches, managers and the players themselves
• Over 100 high-quality player photos
• Player awards, honors, rankings and postseason stats
• Comparative defensive stats on all positions
• Comparative offensive and pitching stats for leaders in dozens of categories
• Additional metrics, such as BABIP, FIP, wOBA and WRC+
• Links to even more information, such as interviews, twitter handles and the player's Baseball-Reference Page

That may sound like a lot of stats (and it is), but this is no dry statistical treatise; a good deal of humor and creativity is sprinkled throughout the book.

But don't take my word for it. Of the dozen reviews posted on Amazon, all 12 are 5-star reviews!!!

"The Quintessential Book for Any Astros Fan"
"A must-have resource for any true diehard Astros fan"
"Wish I could give it 15 stars"
"Having all this searchable info at my fingertips and in one place is about as wonderful as pancakes in bed on a Saturday morning."

So what are you waiting for?!? The best way to stay informed about the Astros farm system (and to show support for this blog and the bloggess-in-chief) is only a click and a credit card away!!!

Reason #1 To Buy My Book: Drumroll Please ...

Reason #1 in the Top 10 Reasons to buy the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook: Drumroll Please ...

The Number One reason to buy the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook? The sooner you buy the book, the sooner I quit nagging you about it and get back to writing on the blog!

One final note: Aside from all of the 5-star ratings I've received on Amazon, I also received this comment from someone with whom you should be familiar.

@JayneWTHB You did a masterful job of cataloging tons of information on the Astros prospects. Nice to have it on an e-reader too
— Bill Brown (@BrownieTw) March 15, 2015

And you know that Brownie wouldn't lie!

Previous Posts:
Reason #10:Instant Hipster Cred!
Reason #9: 257+125+87+84+81=AWESOME!!!
Reason #8: You Can't Tell The Players Without A Program!
Reason #7: Humor and Fun Facts
Reason #6: Exclusive Content
Reason #5: 5-Star Reviews
Reason #4: Exclusive and Hard to Come By Stats
Reason #3: Portable and Searchable
Reason #2: Mama Needs a New Pair of Shoes

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

Please consider purchasing my new e-book, the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook. The book can be read immediately on your kindle, and can also be read on virtually any computer, tablet or smart phone by downloading the Free Kindle Reading App from Amazon or from the iTunes store. And if you have an Amazon account, no need to download anything ... just read it on the Kindle Cloud Reader at read.amazon.com.

Reason #2 To Buy My Book: Mama Needs a New Pair of Shoes

Reason #2 in the Top 10 Reasons to buy the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook: Mama Needs a New Pair of Shoes

For three years and seven months, I have been bringing you minor league news from all levels of the Astros organization. And for the last three years, I have been bleeding cash to get my minor league fix and to get you yours. Apparently some readers still don't understand that, other than a couple of hundred dollars in ad revenue over the last three years, I haven't made a cent on this. Some are under the grossly mistaken impression that I am either employed by the Astros (WRONG!) or that they reimburse me for my travel costs (WRONG AGAIN!).

But I wouldn't change a minute of it. I love to travel. I love to meet baseball people (the best people in the world) and interview the players and others. I love to take photographs. And I love to write about it all. And I was able to afford the travel costs and the new lens for my camera and the subscription to Baseball America and the video recorder and the audio recorder and the many other expenses I have had in conjunction with this pursuit.

But now my situation is changing. I will honestly be extremely surprised if I am still employed at year end. One of the owners of my company passed away and the other looks increasingly likely to sell. With the uncertainty of the situation, I have no choice but to cut way back on my travel expenses. I have only firmly scheduled one minor league trip so far and am hoping against hope to make enough on the handbook to help pay for additional travel.

I have never been one to hold out my hand expecting something for nothing. There is no way that I would ever set up a Paypal account asking for your support or a crowdfunding account like Go Fund Me or the like. Heck, I didn't even want to put ads on the blog, but I finally broke down and did that. So, instead of looking for a handout, I decided to create something of value ... the handbook.

And the handbook is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the Astros minor league system. It has received nothing but 5-star reviews so far from those of you who have purchased it. Covering 257 players in the Astros minor league system and including exclusive stats and content available nowhere else, frankly it would be a bargain at twice the price. Amazon estimates that the book would be 855 pages long if it was in print form. That is a lot of information.

Not everyone is going to be interested in purchasing the book no matter how much information it contains. I get that. But if you have enjoyed the blog for any part of the past three and half plus years, if you enjoy the in person player interviews, if you enjoy the photographs and the videos, if you enjoy the eyewitness accounts ... I would urge you to consider the purchase anyway because I really don't want 2015 to be my farewell tour.

Previous Posts:
Reason #10:Instant Hipster Cred!
Reason #9: 257+125+87+84+81=AWESOME!!!
Reason #8: You Can't Tell The Players Without A Program!
Reason #7: Humor and Fun Facts
Reason #6: Exclusive Content
Reason #5: 5-Star Reviews
Reason #4: Exclusive and Hard to Come By Stats
Reason #3: Portable and Searchable

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

Please consider purchasing my new e-book, the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook. The book can be read immediately on your kindle, and can also be read on virtually any computer, tablet or smart phone by downloading the Free Kindle Reading App from Amazon or from the iTunes store. And if you have an Amazon account, no need to download anything ... just read it on the Kindle Cloud Reader at read.amazon.com.

Reason #3 to Buy My Book: Portable and Searchable

Reason #3 in the Top 10 Reasons to buy the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook: Portable and Searchable

Since the handbook is an e-book, you can take it with you virtually anywhere if you have a tablet, smart phone or laptop. Suppose you're sitting in the stands at a minor league game and you're curious about who exactly this Troy Scribner guy is. You can do a search of the book on your phone and find all of the following information about him:

RHP Troy Scribner:
Basic biographical information
Basic pitching info (IP, ERA, WHIP, etc.)
FIP and BABIP
BB/9, SO/9, HR/9
SO% + number of strikeouts swinging vs. strikeouts looking
Batting line that he held hitters to in 2014
Information on his pitch repertoire
Twitter handle
Links to an interview and his Baseball-Reference Page

Plus you will find that Scribner was one of the system leaders in SO/9, WHIP, ERA, FIP and that he was in the top 10 in the system in strikeouts despite pitching far fewer innings than most of the other leaders.

Or you're following Jason Schwartz on twitter and you see that Chase McDonald hit another moonshot at The Hangar. Do a search on McDonald and you will find:

1B/DH Chase McDonald
Basic biographical information
Basic hitting stats
BB% and SO%
Splits vs. LHP and RHP
Batting line with RISP
Postseason stats
Twitter handle
Links to a batting practice video and his Baseball-Reference Page

Plus you will see that McDonald was one of the WRC+ leaders in the system in 2014, that he had the fifth highest XBH% for qualified players and that his defensive stats at first base stack up nicely among his peers.

Maybe you're just trying to remember who the Astros got in the Bud Norris trade. Type Norris in the search box and LHP Josh Hader's profile will pop up. In the "Acquisition" section of his profile, you will see that the Astros obtained Hader, OF L.J. Hoes and a competitive balance pick (which was used to draft OF Derek Fisher) in exchange for Norris.

Curious as to how many players in the system were born in Georgia or San Cristobal, Dominican Republic? How many players went to the University of North Carolina or Arizona State? Just enter those items in the search box and you can find out. You can also search for specific information like WHIP leaders, wOBA leaders, highest GO/AO, lowest FIP, etc. and pull up the tables giving you that information for the 2014 season.

The handbook is meant to be a resource for learning more about the players in the system, but it is also intended to be a reference work that can be used throughout the season.

Previous Posts:
Reason #10:Instant Hipster Cred!
Reason #9: 257+125+87+84+81=AWESOME!!!
Reason #8: You Can't Tell The Players Without A Program!
Reason #7: Humor and Fun Facts
Reason #6: Exclusive Content
Reason #5: 5-Star Reviews
Reason #4: Exclusive and Hard to Come By Stats

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

Please consider purchasing my new e-book, the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook. The book can be read immediately on your kindle, and can also be read on virtually any computer, tablet or smart phone by downloading the Free Kindle Reading App from Amazon or from the iTunes store. And if you have an Amazon account, no need to download anything ... just read it on the Kindle Cloud Reader at read.amazon.com.

Reason #4 to Buy My Book: Exclusive and Hard to Come By Stats

Reason #4 in the Top 10 Reasons to buy the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook: Exclusive and Hard to Come By Stats

Although more minor league stats are available than ever before, the actual amount of that information is nowhere close to that available for major league players and is often incomplete or incorrect. Much of the statistical information that was included in the handbook came directly from the actual boxscores for each game and was literally triple-checked for accuracy. Some of the harder to find information included in the handbook includes:

Pitchers
Swinging Strikeouts
Strikeouts Looking
Inherited Runners Scored
Bequeathed Runners Scored
Lowest Stolen Base Percentage Allowed
Most Double Plays induced
Pickoff Leaders
Highest and Lowest GO/AO Ratios
Lowest FIP

Position Players
Walk Percentage
Strikeout Percentage
Extra Base Hit Percentage Leaders
Pickoffs
Errors Quantified by Type of Error
Successful Stolen Base Percentages
Outfield Assist Leaders
wOBA Leaders
WRC+ Leaders

Also, all players who played more than a handful of games at a given position were put in a side-by-side fielding comparison at that position with their peers from either short season or full season teams.

Some of this information may be available elsewhere, but you won't find all of it in one place along with the leaderboard information that comes to you in the handbook.

Previous Posts:
Reason #10:Instant Hipster Cred!
Reason #9: 257+125+87+84+81=AWESOME!!!
Reason #8: You Can't Tell The Players Without A Program!
Reason #7: Humor and Fun Facts
Reason #6: Exclusive Content
Reason #5: 5-Star Reviews

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

Please consider purchasing my new e-book, the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook. The book can be read immediately on your kindle, and can also be read on virtually any computer, tablet or smart phone by downloading the Free Kindle Reading App from Amazon or from the iTunes store. And if you have an Amazon account, no need to download anything ... just read it on the Kindle Cloud Reader at read.amazon.com.

Reason #5 To Buy My Book: 5-Star Reviews

Reason #5 in the Top 10 Reasons to buy the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook: 5-Star Reviews

So far I've gotten 5 reviews from verified purchasers and all of them are 5-star reviews! And none of them are from my relatives!

A few excerpts:

I've been following Jayne's blog for years and I have enjoyed every minute. Her knowledge and enthusiasm for the Houston Astros minor league teams is simply unrivaled. Her passion for each of the players flows freely in this quintessential book for any Astros fan. So much information has been compiled about the Astros minor league teams in this book...ballpark information, size of the fields, coaching staff, player information, player reports, even twitter handles...do yourself a favor and buy this book. - Nick Cassone -

So excited about this book. The BA Prospect Handbook is great, but it only covers about 30 prospects (and these are all guys any semi-serious fan already knows about). But stats, info, and insight about 257 Astros prospects?! Wow. I think this book is a must have for any true diehard Astros fan. I've just started to dig into this, but already impressed by the stats and insight this book provides. Oh, and did I mention it has photos, videos, and links to even MORE info? For the price of a hot dog and coke at a ball game (maybe less) you can have this awesome resource at your fingertips. - Bradford Thomas Rine -

There is no better source for the Houston Astros Farm System. This is extremely thorough, yet still entertaining. Well done, Jayne Hansen! I hope this is the first of many books from you! - Brittany Burgess -

Previous Posts:
Reason #10:Instant Hipster Cred!
Reason #9: 257+125+87+84+81=AWESOME!!!
Reason #8: You Can't Tell The Players Without A Program!
Reason #7: Humor and Fun Facts
Reason #6: Exclusive Content

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

Please consider purchasing my new e-book, the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook. The book can be read immediately on your kindle, and can also be read on virtually any computer, tablet or smart phone by downloading the Free Kindle Reading App from Amazon or from the iTunes store. And if you have an Amazon account, no need to download anything ... just read it on the Kindle Cloud Reader at read.amazon.com.

Reason #6 to Buy My Book: Exclusive Content

Reason #6 in the Top 10 Reasons to buy the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook: Exclusive Content

Occasionally you will see a blog promoting an "exclusive" interview with a top prospect and it turns out that there have actually been five other interviews with that same player over the last couple of months. That's not the kind of exclusive I'm talking about. The Handbook certainly covers the top prospects in the organization, but it also contains information on those players who will be among the next wave of top prospects in the organization.

Over the last several years, I have cultivated a solid network of contacts within the farm system, from coaches and managers to the players themselves. Through this network, I was able to obtain a good amount of information on players for whom there is virtually no information readily available. In particular, I was able to pull together information on several of the more polished players in the Dominican Summer League as well as information on several of the lower round 2014 draft picks over the offseason. Add that to the numerous conversations that I had with coaches and managers throughout the 2014 season regarding their thoughts on various players and the result is a large amount of content on both the top prospects in the organization and those players who are not necessarily top prospects ... yet.

Previous Posts:
Reason #10:Instant Hipster Cred!
Reason #9: 257+125+87+84+81=AWESOME!!!
Reason #8: You Can't Tell The Players Without A Program!
Reason #7: Humor and Fun Facts

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

Please consider purchasing my new e-book, the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook. The book can be read immediately on your kindle, and can also be read on virtually any computer, tablet or smart phone by downloading the Free Kindle Reading App from Amazon or from the iTunes store. And if you have an Amazon account, no need to download anything ... just read it on the Kindle Cloud Reader at read.amazon.com.

Reason #7 to Buy My Book: Humor and Fun Facts

Reason #7 in the Top 10 Reasons to buy the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook: Humor and Fun Facts

You may not understand my sense of humor. You may not appreciate my sense of humor. But I have injected my somewhat offbeat whimsy into the handbook at times since 257 player profiles could get awfully dry and boring without it. I even made up a couple of statistical categories, the "Wild Thing Index" and the "Home Run Heartburn Ratio" as a humorous way to make my points.

I also included some fun facts about the players. Unless you read the book, you may not know which player could have a second career in the rodeo, which player's cousin is former San Francisco All-Star Will Smith, which player had a brain tumor removed when he was 11 years old and which player has the same name as his father and his brother.

Previous Posts:
Reason #10:Instant Hipster Cred!
Reason #9: 257+125+87+84+81=AWESOME!!!
Reason #8: You Can't Tell The Players Without A Program!

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

Please consider purchasing my new e-book, the 2015 Houston Farm System Handbook. The book can be read immediately on your kindle, and can also be read on virtually any computer, tablet or smart phone by downloading the Free Kindle Reading App from Amazon or from the iTunes store. And if you have an Amazon account, no need to download anything ... just read it on the Kindle Cloud Reader at read.amazon.com.