Happy Birthday - 8/17

2B/SS Tyler Greene (29)
One of our newest Astros, Greene was a first round draft pick by the Cardinals in 2005 and came to Houston on August 9th in a trade with St. Louis for a PTBNL or cash. In 77 games for St. Louis in 2012, Greene hit .218/.272/.358. In six games with Houston, he is hitting .350/.350/.600.

LHP Christopher Lee (20)
Drafted by Houston in the fourth round in 2011 and originally from Tampa, Florida, Lee was assigned from Greeneville to the GCL recently. He hasn't pitched in three weeks which leads me to believe there may be an injury involved. In five appearances (three starts) for Greeneville, Lee was 1-2 with a 11.42 ERA and a 2.538 WHIP.

OF Emilio King (23)
King was signed by the Astros as an NDFA out of the Dominican Republic prior to the 2006 season. King has struggled somewhat this season and has been unable to recreate his solid 2011 Lexington season when he hit .293/.332/.439. He is now with the Tri-City club and appears to be heating up. In his last 10 games, he is hitting .314/.314/.714. For the season, he is hitting .190/.246/.322.

Former Astros with birthdays today ~

RHP John Buzhardt (died June 15, 2008 at age 71)
Buzhardt came to Houston from the Orioles in September of 1967 and pitched in only one game in 1967 and an additional 39 games in 1968 at the end of his career. Buzhardt compiled a 4-4 record with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.281 WHIP.

RHP Chad Qualls (34)
A second round pick by Houston in 2000, Qualls pitched for Houston from 2004 to 2007. In 262 games, he was 24-12 with a 3.39 ERA and a 1.236 WHIP. He appeared in 3 games in the 2005 World Series with a 1.69 ERA and a 0.938 WHIP. In December 2007 he was included in a trade with Arizona for Jose Valverde. He is currently with the Pirates, his sixth team since leaving the Astros organization.

RHP Brett Myers (32)
A first round pick by the Phillies in 1999, Meyers came to Houston as a free agent in January 2010 and pitched for the Astros until the July 2012 trade that sent him to the White Sox. In 102 games (66 starts), he was 21-26 with a 3.77 ERA and a 1.280 WHIP with 19 saves.

Roster Moves

Houston/Oklahoma City
IF Brian Bixler was designated for assignment to remove him from the 40-man roster to make room for IF Tyler Greene who was obtained in a trade with St. Louis for a PTBNL or cash.
OF J.D. Martinez was optioned from Houston to Oklahoma City (report date not set).
IF Matt Downs was optioned from Houston to Oklahoma City (report date not set).
2B Jose Martinez was assigned from Corpus Christi to Oklahoma City.
OF Fernando Martinez is being called up to Houston.

Corpus Christi
CF George Springer was assigned from Lancaster to Corpus Christi.
2B Kike Hernandez was assigned from Lancaster to Corpus Christi.

Lancaster
2B Delino DeShields Jr. was assigned from Lexington to Lancaster, not Corpus Christi. DDJ made a mistake in the tweet he sent out early this morning. Moving him directly to Corpus Christi didn't make sense to me so I waited for confirmation before posting.
LHP Kenny Long was assigned from Tri-City to Lancaster.
OF Andrew Aplin was assigned from Tri-City to Lancaster.

Lexington
SS Chan Moon was assigned from Lancaster to Lexington.
C Jobduan Morales was assigned from Tri-City to Lexington.

Tri-City
C Cristian Moronta was assigned from Lexington to Tri-City.
OF Emilio King was assigned from Lexington to Tri-City.

GCL Astros
SS Yoel Silfa was assigned from the DSL Astros to the GCL Astros.

Roster Moves

Corpus Christi
RHP Henry Villar was placed on the 7-day DL.
RHP Erick Abreu was activated from the 7-day DL.
According to Greg Rajan of the Corpus Christi Caller Times, C Rene Garcia will be assigned to the GCL for a rehab assignment and IF Brandon Wikoff is being shut down for the remainder of the season due to a wrist injury.

Lexington
OF/C Mike Kvasnicka was placed on the 7-day DL.
OF Emilio King was assigned from Tri-City to Lexington.

Greeneville
RHP Brad Propst was assigned from Tri-City to Greeneville.

Roster Moves - 6/14

In addition to the announced short season rosters which you can find here, the following moves were also made effective 6/14:

Oklahoma City
2B Jordan Kreke was assigned to Oklahoma City from Corpus Christi.

Corpus Christi
1B Carlos Lee was sent on rehab assignment to Corpus Christi.
3B Andrew Simunic was assigned to Corpus Christi from Oklahoma City.

Lancaster
OF Emilio King was assigned to Tri-City from Lancaster.
RHP Ruben Alaniz was activated from the temporary inactive list.

Greeneville
C Ernesto Genoves was assigned from Lexington to Greeneville.

Also, the following change will be made effective 6/15:

Lexington
OF Jay Austin will be assigned to Lexington.

Roster Moves - 6/10

Oklahoma City
LHP Fernando Abad was sent to OKC for a rehab assignment.

Lancaster
*OF Emilio King was assigned to Lancaster from Extended Spring Training.
OF Grant Hogue was placed on the 7-day DL.
OF Domingo Santana was activated from the DL.
RHP Ruben Alaniz was placed on the temporary inactive list.

*Note: I think that King is most likely temporary at Lancaster as Springer has been day-to-day with a hip flexor injury.

Greeneville
D'Andre Toney was acquired as the PTBNL in the Quintero/Bourgeois trade with Kansas City and assigned to Greeneville.

We should find out much more about where players are being assigned over the next couple of days as Tri-City and GCL players report on Tuesday and Greeneville players report on Wednesday.

Roster Moves - 5/1

The following moves have been confirmed by the Astros.

LEX
LHP Kyle Hallock is being sent to extended spring training.
RHP Tanner Bushue is being sent to extended spring training.
RF Emilio King is being sent to extended spring training.

None of these moves are unexpected based on the rough starts they've had. I sincerely hope that each of these players can make the necessary adjustments quickly and get back to fulfilling their potential.  I have been told that corresponding moves to Lexington will be made official on Wednesday.

CC
LHP Brett Oberholtzer will be assigned from OKC to CC.
RHP Henry Villar will be put on the 7-day DL retroactive to 4/29.

Non-Prospect Prospects to Watch Part 1

Since everybody and their dog has come out with a top prospect list, I thought I might as well chime in too. But I'm not going to go with the obvious. Yeah, Jarred Cosart is a stud. Jonathan Singleton is the second coming of Ryan Howard. Yada Yada. Let's look instead at a few non-prospects who have the potential to become prospects in time. We'll look at position players this week and pitchers next week.

C ERNESTO GENOVES
This 20-year old from Venezuela played in Greeneville in 2011 and really made great strides at the plate. His batting average of .280 only went up a couple of points from his prior season, but his slugging percentage went from .333 with the GCL in 2010 to .464 with Greeneville in 2011. According to Seedlings to Stars, Genoves "makes solid contact" with a "decent approach and some gap power." He faded toward the end of the season and he strikes out more than I would like to see with 29 strikeouts to 12 walks over 38 games, but there are also some good signs within his splits as he hit .313 with runners on and .302 with RISP in 2011.

His defense is coming along as well. His caught stealing percentage went from 22% in 2010 to 31% in 2011 and his fielding percentage as a catcher went from .972 with 5 errors in 2010 to .984 with 4 errors in 2011. He had 9 passed balls, but Steve with Appy Astros indicated that Genoves made progress behind the plate throughout the season. Early in the season he tended to reach for balls with his glove instead of moving his body, but Steve indicated that Genoves definitely showed improvement in that area.

Over the winter, Genoves played in the Venezuelan winter league with the Liga Paralela, Venezuela's minor league system, hitting .299/.400/.478/.878 in 22 games. I look forward to seeing what he can do in 2012.

OF TEOSCAR HERNANDEZ
It is really difficult to get much information on the prospects in the DSL, but just looking at Hernandez' stats is more than enough to get me excited about this kid.

He's listed as 6'2" 180 and will be 19 years old for the entire 2012 season. He was named MVP for the DSL team in 2011 for good reason. He hit .274/.360/.487/.847, led the team in doubles, triples and home runs and was tied for the lead in RBI's. In addition he had 16 stolen bases and 7 outfield assists to go with 5 errors over 62 games. Can you say 5-tool player? The potential is there. The right-handed hitter will need to hit better than .143 against lefties, as he did in 2011, but I'm very excited by his upside.

I asked Jeff Luhnow about this player as he was heading to the Dominican Republic last week. I received the following response, "Hernandez is a definite prospect from what I saw today." I would love to see Hernandez get brought up to the GCL this season to see what he can do.

3B MATT DUFFY
A 20th round pick in 2011, I hadn't heard much, if anything, about Duffy. Then I wrote his birthday profile a few weeks back and I got really excited looking at his numbers. His batting line was good at .298/.370./.417/.787 with 20 doubles, one triple and two home runs, but it was his consistency that struck me. He was incredibly consistent against lefties and against righties, throughout the season, road and home, day games and night games - he just kept hitting. And he was even better in the clutch, batting .342 with runners on and .352 with RISP. So, I kept looking and I found things like this assessment from The Baseball Draft Report:

"I have an irrational like of Tennessee 3B Matt Duffy (Round 20) that I can only attempt to explain in terms of relevant baseball skills by talking about his excellent defense at third and patient approach at the plate."

and this from TCVFan's Blog:

"This dude can flat out hit. He’s got a calm, level swing and he’ll use all parts of the field, with signs of power to both gaps. When he gets full extension on the ball it travels a long way. I don’t know if he’s got a swing conducive to becoming a home run hitter, but he’s got potential to be a really solid doubles guy. It feels as though he’s got a strong grasp of the strikezone, and he rarely chases bad pitches."

The reports of his defense were conflicting though. And seeing that he had 12 errors in 63 games gave me pause. But when I looked further, it appears that he had 11 errors in his 1st 31 games and 1 in his final 32 games. And TCVFan had this to say:

"Early on he wasn’t trusting his arm and rushed throws, pulling Zach off the base a lot. Everyone in the infield took about three weeks to settle in and know that they’re good enough to take their time and make accurate throws."

The only knocks I could find on him were somewhat limited range at third and lack of speed on the base paths. But if he can turn his doubles power into home run power, speed may not be that important. And with our lack of depth at third, I'll be keeping a close eye on Mr. Duffy to see how he develops.

HONORABLE MENTION

OF EMILIO KING

• Why he could have made the list - a .293/.332./.439/.772 batting line with 24 doubles, a triple and 9 home runs and reports that he has an absolute cannon for an arm
• Why he didn't make the list - 81 SO to 13 BB

SS JUAN SANTANA

• Why he could have made the list - a .274/.350/.363/.713 batting line with 28BB:22SO at 16 years old
• Why he didn't make the list - 28 errors and the fact that he just turned 17 in August

OF WALLACE GONZALEZ

• Why he could have made the list - Buzz. Baseball America thought he was the Astros best late signing and from The Baseball Draft Report: 

"Wallace Gonzalez has tools you’d never expect to see out of guy a few pounds short of Lions receiver Calvin Johnson. His raw power, plus arm, and great athleticism are major strong points."

• Why he didn't make the list - Results. 18 games isn't a big enough sample size for an 18-year old kid.

Tweet of the Day

@zacharylevine Zachary Levine

Astros minor league team MVPs: Anderson Hernandez (AAA), Jimmy Paredes (AA), Austin Wates (A+), Emilio King (A)...

More Astros minor league team MVPs: Matt Duffy (short-season A), Jordan Scott (rookie), Yonathan Mejia (GCL), Teoscar Hernandez (DSL)

Happy Birthday - 8/17

OF Emilio King (22)
Born in the Dominican Republic, King was acquired by the Astros as an NDFA prior to the 2006 season. For the season at Lexington, he is hitting .268. His production has tapered off this season, with a .346 BA before the All-Star break and a .204 BA after the break.

LHP Christopher Lee (19)
Drafted in the 4th Round in 2011 and originally from Tampa, FL, Lee is still trying to find his way for the Greeneville Astros. He is 1-3 with a 6.63 ERA and 1.91 WHIP in 10 starts.

It is also Brett Myer's 31st birthday today.