Astros Farm Report: 1/24

The Astros blogging community participated in a great Q&A with Astros amateur scouting guru Mike Elias and Director of Player Personnel (and former Director of Player Development) Quinton McCracken on Saturday (oh, and some guy named Reid Ryan). My takeaway from that session below, but first things first ...

WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

1-24: C/2B Jose Carrillo (18)
1-24: RHP Carlos Sanabria (19)
1-28: RHP Jorge Guzman (20)
1-29: RHP Junior Garcia (20)
1-29: 1B Dexture McCall (20)
1-30: LHP Brian Holmes (25)
1-30: RHP Dariel Aquino (20)

TWEET OF THE WEEK

The Rookie of the Year presentation may have been scaled way back due to stormy weather, but Carlos Correa made the most of his time in snow-bound New York!

#Astros nuestro🇵🇷 Carlos Correa y su padre jugando beisbol en NYC ❄️❄️❄️ pic.twitter.com/0cr9Ahi8FI

— Beisbol&MuchoMàs (@PalillitoArnold) January 23, 2016

 FALL/WINTER LEAGUE STATS

Here is how the Astros players participating in fall and winter leagues have fared to date (through Saturday, the 23rd, unless otherwise noted):

ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE - FALL LEAGUE ENDED 11/21
3B J.D. Davis - .279/.329/.456 in 17 games
OF Derek Fisher - .254/.397/.424 in 17 games
IF Chan-Jong Moon - .093/.241/.116 in 13 games
1B A.J. Reed - .231/.326/.385 in 11 games
LHP Chris Cotton - 1.17 ERA/0.783 WHIP in 8 games (7.2IP)
LHP Brian Holmes - 1.13 ERA/1.250 WHIP in 6 games (16.0IP)
LHP Albert Minnis - 2.31 ERA/1.200 WHIP in 9 games (11.2IP)
RHP Keegan Yuhl - 7.88 ERA/1.625 WHIP in 8 games (8.0IP)

New Astro Brendan McCurry, obtained in the Jed Lowrie trade, went 0-1 with a 4.73 ERA and a 1.125 WHIP in 11 games (13.1 IP) in the Arizona Fall League.

DOMINICAN WINTER LEAGUE - REGULAR SEASON ENDED 12/21
OF Andrew Aplin - .278/.325/.444 in 10 games
C Tyler Heineman - .190/.288/.224 in 19 games
OF Teoscar Hernandez - .275/.295/.375 in 17 games
OF Eury Perez - .236/.250/.273 in 16 games
1B/DH Tyler White - .297/.421/.494 in 44 games
RHP Jake Buchanan - 2.01 ERA/0.830 WHIP in 7 games (31.1IP)
LHP Reymin Guduan - 4.22 ERA/1.875 WHIP in 13 games (10.2IP)
RHP Jandel Gustave - 2.87 ERA/1.277 WHIP in 14 games (15.2IP)
RHP Angel Heredia - 13.50 ERA/2.500 WHIP in 2 games (2.0IP)
RHP Jordan Jankowski - 16.20 ERA and 2.400 WHIP in 2 games (1.2IP) - moved to LBPRC
RHP Juan Minaya - 12.79 ERA/2.842 WHIP in 6 games (6.1IP)
LHP Wandy Rodriguez - 2.61 ERA/1.354 WHIP in 3 games (10.1IP)
RHP Cesar Valdez - 2.52 ERA/0.960 WHIP in 5 games (25.0IP)

Teoscar Hernandez's Toros fell short in the Round Robin playoffs. He was 1-for-8 with a home run, three RBI, two strikeouts and a run scored in the final two games of his winter. Eury Perez re-emerged to play in two games for Escogido this week, going 2-for-9 with two strikeouts in three games as Escogido has taken the first four games of the 9-game finals from Licey. Old and new Astro Wandy Rodriguez pitched well for Licey in the Championship last week (6.0IP 5H 1R 5SO), but came away with a no decision. Licey has to win this evening or their season is over.

VENEZUELAN WINTER LEAGUE - REGULAR SEASON ENDED 12/30
IF Arturo Michelena - .083/.083/.083 in 8 games (only 12 at-bats)
IF Kristian Trompiz - 2 games as pinch runner; no at-bats
OF Danry Vasquez - .276/.338/.392 in 57 games
RHP Chris Devenski - 5.21 ERA/1.579 in 5 games (19.0IP)
RHP James Hoyt - 1.86 ERA/1.035 WHIP in 19 games (19.1IP)

No Astros playing in the Championship series.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE - REGULAR SEASON ENDED 12/29
OF Leo Heras - .301/.410/.493 in 44 games
RHP Octavio Acosta - 1.98 ERA and 1.463 WHIP in 8 games (13.2IP)
RHP Enrique Chavez - 9.00 ERA/3.000 WHIP in 1 game (1.0IP)
RHP Jose Hernandez - 1.39 ERA/1.021 WHIP in 8 games (32.1IP)
RHP Juan Robles - 4.02 ERA/1.277 WHIP in 10 games (15.2IP)
RHP Gonzalo Sanudo - 3.60 ERA/1.200 WHIP in 17 games (15.0IP)

Leo Heras's Obregon team led Mazatlan 3-2 in the semifinals, but ended up losing the final two games to drop the seven game series. Heras went 1-for-8 with a triple, RBI, run scored and three strikeouts in those final two games for Obregon.

AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE - REGULAR SEASON ENDED 1/24
C Jake Bowey - .091/.167/.091 in 17 games
IF Jared Cruz - .091/.091/.091 in 7 games
1B Connor MacDonald - .156/.264/.267 in 19 games
IF/OF Marc Wik - .324/.468/.459 in 53 games
RHP Kevin Comer - 16.88 ERA/4.499 WHIP in 4 games (2.2IP)

So, this happened ...

.@astros prospect Marc Wik smashed a go-ahead grand slam as the @AdelaideBite clinched the final playoff spot. pic.twitter.com/l7fjDcVpes

— ABL (@ABLeague) January 21, 2016

[UPDATE: Wik is still down under. He just got a couple of days off after the Bite clinched the playoffs.] It appears that Marc Wik must be headed home as he didn't appear in the final two regular season games for Adelaide, but if so, he left on a high note. In his two games last week, he went 3-for-7 with a double, two home runs, a walk, three strikeouts, two runs, a stolen base and seven RBI. After not hitting a home run all season, Wik's first was a grand slam. Adelaide will advance to the playoffs to play a best-of-three against Canberra. The winner of that match will play Brisbane in the finals.

The only other Astro to appear for the week was Jake Bowey who went 1-for-10 with four strikeouts in three games for Perth. The regular season ended today with Perth out of contention.

PUERTO RICAN WINTER LEAGUE - REGULAR SEASON ENDED 12/30
C Ruben Castro - 1.000/.1.000/.1.000 in 1 game (1AB)
OF Edwin Medina - .281/.342/.313 in 26 games (32AB)
OF Alexander Melendez - .250/.333/.375 in 8 games (8AB)
OF Nestor Muriel - .000/.000/.000 in 1 game (3AB)
C Roberto Pena - .159/.205/.203 in 24 games
C Max Stassi - .280/.333/.520 in 8 games
RHP Travis Ballew - 2.19 ERA/1.338 WHIP in 20 games (24.2IP)
RHP Jordan Jankowski - 1.80 ERA/1.000 WHIP in 6 games (5.0IP)
RHP Juan Santos - 12.00 ERA/4.000 WHIP in 3 games (3.0IP)

Jordan Jankowski made two perfect relief appearances last week for Caguas, but they ultimately fell just short in the Round Robin with Mayaguez and Santurce advancing to the finals. Roberto Pena appeared in six games for Santurce over the week, going 3-for-19 with an RBI, two runs scored and two walks. The only other Astro making an appearance last week was Edwin Medina who struck out in his only plate appearance for Mayaguez. Santurce and Mayaguez are currently tied 1-1 in the best-of-seven Championship series.

NEWS AND LINKS

MLB Pipeline rolled out its Top 10 first basemen last week and, unsurprisingly, A.J. Reed led the way.

Former Astros farm hand Adrian Houser talks about his major league debut and never being satisfied.

MiLB's Kelsie Heneghan posted this excellent article about current Astro Chris Devenski's background and what drives him.

And here's a short video interview with Asher Wojciechowski on his first taste of the majors and his expectations for the upcoming season.

And, if you missed it, Astros C Trent Woodward gave me a really fun and far-ranging interview that was posted last week.

Former long time Astros minor league Pitching Coach Don Alexander has found a home with the Dodgers Rookie league Ogden Raptors.

The Venezuelan Summer League has shut down. Expect a big influx of Venezuelan players in the Cubs, Phillies, Rays and Tigers organizations to appear in the Dominican Summer League and the Gulf Coast League (Phillies, Rays and Tigers) or Arizona League (Cubs).

In case you missed it, a few Astros minor leaguers were released last week. And Wandy Rodriguez came back into the Astros fold with a minor league contract and an invitation to Spring Training. The Off-Season Master Transaction List has been updated here.

Now on to the main event! The Astros invited the blogging community to attend a Q&A with Astros Director of Amateur Scouting Mike Elias, Director of Player Personnel Quinton McCracken and President Reid Ryan during Fan Fest on Saturday. I will leave it to some of the other bloggers to elaborate on Ryan's comments; however, I will tell you that upgraded WiFi is coming to Minute Maid Park (and not a moment too soon)!!!

McCracken and Elias take questions

while Media Relations Manager Steve Grande looks on

For me, the most interesting comments came from McCracken and Elias as we discussed draft philosophy, the trading of prospects, international scouting and more. I led off the questions by inquiring about the status of several members of Team Rehab. McCracken filled me in on the following players:

RHP Kyle Smith (Tommy John): "Last reports he's progressing very nicely. He's probably 80 to 90 percent; he's throwing well. So we're looking for him to come to Spring Training and bounce back and have a good spring."

LHP Tommy Shirley (undisclosed injury, but not arm-related): "Same prognosis (as Smith). He's coming along very well. I think we're looking for him probably around the first week of May or so, but he's coming along ... Tommy had a remarkable year prior to getting himself injured. Hopefully he'll be an added piece for us to work with sometime in mid-summer once he gets his legs back under him."

LHP Kent Emanuel (Tommy John): "I think mid-season with Kent. Big lefty from UNC. Another lefty we're going to be counting on for years to come. He showed so much promise in his first year and a half pitching for us. Unfortunately, he went down with Tommy John, but he's progressing well also."

RHP Derick Velazquez (Tommy John): "He's had some hiccups in his recovery, but (he's) very young (with a) promising arm. Hopefully, he'll keep working hard doing his rehab and maybe by the end of the season, we'll see where he is."

Elias spoke to how the philosophy of the draft will evolve somewhat now that the Astros are picking lower in each round. The scouting department plans to place additional focus on Rounds 5 through 10 and will be looking for hidden talent that may fall to the lower rounds. Elias cited Tyler White as a lower round player (33rd round) who the Astros were able to identify through a combination of analytics and feedback from area scouts.

McCracken expanded on this, "As Mike alluded to, (the Astros focus on) taking quality individuals in the later rounds as opposed to just drafting guys just to fill rosters. It's about eyeing true talent, maybe obscure talent that may have one or two tools that are extraordinary and giving those guys a chance and turning it over to Player Development so we can help polish that gem up as best we can. I guess the ultimate result is the player putting in the work to get the best out of his skill set and abilities."

Elias indicated that the Astros international efforts are in the capable hands of Oz Ocampo, Director of International, and that the Astros intend to retain a robust presence in Venezuela despite the upheaval in that country, calling Venezuela "very fertile soil" for finding talent. In response to a question about the Astros Asian presence, Elias said, "We certainly monitor what's going on in the Pacific Rim and have scouts that makes visits there a couple of times a year, but it's not something that you're going to consistently do every year, sign a player out of there. It's got to be the right fit at the right time, the right opportunity, so it's more of an opportunistic market for us."

As the former Director of Player Development, McCracken spoke about trading prospects and his personal feelings for those players. "You want to develop major league players and it comes time where those guys, if they achieve that status, hopefully it's for the Houston Astros, but that's a decision that Jeff (General Manager Jeff Luhnow) and the front office have to make. We're all about developing the talent to a point where it's either utilized here on our 25-man roster or it's utilized as a trade piece to help us get another asset that will help us in the immediate or near future," said McCracken.

He continued, "From a farm director's perspective, it's like losing a son. You've spent so many years, you personally know all these kids. (To) have them traded to another organization is gratifying (in) that, first and foremost, the player you player you helped achieve a certain status is wanted by another organization and you're happy for them (in) the sense where hopefully it's a promotion for them. Maybe some of those players are blocked (with the Astros); that's something that's also factored in. It's mixed emotions. Most of the kids that we've traded, it's a bond, and we tell them, 'You're Houston Astros, first and foremost, and you always will be.'"

Asked about who he might consider to be "hidden gems" in the system, McCracken declared Tyler White to be the poster boy for being under the radar, but then he segued to talk about three pitchers who he thinks might be able to help out the Astros in the coming season: starter/reliever LHP Tommy Shirley, right-handed relief pitcher Jordan Jankowski, and Chris Devenski, a right-handed starter who made his mark in 2015.

All in all, it was a really excellent and informative session and I am grateful to the Astros for the opportunity to pick the brains of McCracken and Elias.

Chris Perry at TCB has Reid Ryan's remarks covered!

Observations from the Fan Forums at Fan Fest, Part 3

In the first part of a series of ruminations from the Fan Forums at Fan Fest, new WTHB addition Nance shared her take on what Director of Player Development Quinton McCracken and Assistant GM David Stearns had to say. In the second part, we heard from Bo Porter. Today, we hear from Mark Appel, George Springer and Jason Castro.

Prospectations – Fan Forum Part III by Nance @Bbfanlady

Prospectations is a word I made up (or copied from somebody so long ago I have forgotten) that refers to discussions about our hopes and expectations for MLB prospects. When I was a little girl, my friends wanted to grow up and marry Prince Charming. I wanted to grow up and marry Sandy Koufax. That was the first of my Prospectations that did not come to fruition.

The following are from notes that I made during FanFest forums about two of the Astros top prospects, Mark Appel and George Springer and All-Star Jason Castro.

Mark Appel – Was very poised and seemed very comfortable speaking to an audience. He was asked how he balances lofty expectations and statistics. He said that he looks internally and doesn’t compare himself to other players. Says you have to have the right work ethic and attitude and become your own player. You cannot let expectations dictate how you play and just have to perform and compete. He said the thing he felt he needed to work on most was to develop a 4 seam fastball. He did say that if he were to face Springer in the batter’s box during spring training and Springer digs in, Mark would go in on him (laughter on stage and in room). Mark said that he views baseball as an entertainment business. He doesn’t want to feel like he’s a big shot. It is a human to human relation. He appreciates the fans so the caravan was a good experience to thank fans for their support. The guys in the minors all pull for each other. When he was at Lo A, they were constantly checking box scores to see if Springer reached 40 HR. They had an off day when Cosart made his home debut and they all got together and watched on TV. They are all pulling for each other and like that kind of excitement. He told one story that I thought was funny. He said he had a professor at Stanford that reminded him that people making decisions are your high school friends grown up.

George Springer – George was more reserved than Mark. I got the impression he was not as comfortable as Mark speaking in front of a live audience and several of his bosses. He said he doesn’t try to hit home runs. He swings hard and hopes he hits it. He laughed and said major league spring training is valuable as he watches how major leaguers prepare and see how they go about the day. He goes out and has fun and tries to learn all he can. He wants to be a sponge to soak up as much information as possible. He said he tries to hit the ball as hard as he can. When asked how he thinks he can reduce his strikeouts, he answered “Keep Swinging.” George said strikeouts were not a big deal to him and he wasn’t going to let fear of strikeouts keep him from playing the game. He plans to get prepared to hit his pitch. He said he thinks he can reduce strikeouts through proper preparation and by making sure he chooses the right pitch to swing at. He also wants to miss fewer pitches by not fouling it off when he gets his pitch to hit.

Jason Castro – Jason shared the stage with Bo Porter and since Bo was not short on things to say (see prior post), Jason didn’t get many questions. He looked and sounded poised and comfortable. When asked who the biggest practical joker was in the clubhouse, Jason said as a young team there was not much in the clubhouse in the way of pranks. He named Jarred Cosart and Dallas Kuechel as guys who were fun in the clubhouse and on the plane. He said those two were good at keeping the chemistry going.

Here’s wishing long and successful MLB careers to all of our prospects and players. And Sandy, I know you have had some arm trouble in the past, but I haven’t given up those little girl hopes and dreams yet and am still available.

Disclaimer: The content of this article is not intended to reflect direct quotes from the forum participants. Content is based on what I “heard”. I apologize in advance if my hearing was impaired.

Observations from the Fan Forums at Fan Fest, Part 2

In the first part of a series of ruminations from the Fan Forums at Fan Fest, new WTHB addition Nance shared her take on what Director of Player Development Quinton McCracken and Assistant GM David Stearns had to say. Today, we hear from Bo Porter.

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

Bo Knows or What the Heck, Bo? – Fan Fest Part II by Nance @Bbfanlady

Bo Porter, Manager – Bo had a lot to say. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him and found him very personable when I met him during one of the Caravan stops. Last year is in the rear view mirror. His job is to create an atmosphere for players to play to their potential. His players last year gave all each day. It was a year of evaluations. He was looking for guys to win championships with and to see what they had. Last year Altuve, Castro, Dominguez, Carter, Cosart, Oberholtzer, Keuchel, Clemens, Peacock, Zeid and Fields formed a core group moving forward to this year.

Porter is excited about the transformed bullpen. They wanted to find guys who could help on and off the field to mentor the young guys which will speed up the learning curve for the rookies.

He said that losing guys is tough but it is justifiable to lose guys like Lyles with the number of young pitchers coming up, and though they lost some defense in Barnes, Fowler and Grossman are both switch hitters.

Porter said young guys need somebody to lean on that is not a coach. Veterans are essential to serve as mentors. He has a lot of new coaches and seems happy with the staff. Trembley to the bench is a valued asset with his prior managerial experience. Listach is a good infield coach and will help Altuve, Villar, and Dominguez. Brock will help with the base running development of young players and will help young outfielders. Cardinals pitching success is reflection of Strom’s pedigree. Bo and Strom have interacted a lot and have sat down with Castro because of the importance of catching to pitchers. [Note from Jayne: Links to further information on the members of the coaching staff can be found here.]

Bo said he learned he had more patience than he knew he had. He learned what a thin line it was between winning and losing a ballgame. Last year he had information about, but didn’t really know the players. He had to find out what the players could do and sometimes made decisions based on having to learn what a player is capable of rather than what the game might have dictated. Makeup is important to see if prospects will live up to their talent. Sometimes he left guys in situations to see how they responded rather than pulling them. Bo is excited to see Folty, Springer, and Correa in big league camp during spring training because getting them around major league players will help their progression.

One of the meaningful events for him as a manager occurred during the Tigers series. Jim Leland came over afterwards and told Bo that the Astros did not lose because they were out managed. The Tigers just had the better team during those games.

Disclaimer: The content of this article is not intended to reflect direct quotes from the forum participants. Content is based on what I “heard”. I apologize in advance if my hearing was impaired.

Observations from the Fan Forums at Fan Fest, Part I

Note from Jayne: In an effort to bring new voices to What the Heck, Bobby?, I reached out to Nance, a very knowledgeable Astros fan, baseball fan and prospect fan who I originally met through twitter. After agreeing to try her hand at writing a post, I gave her zero notice when I saw her at Fan Fest last weekend and asked her if she would write up her take on the Fan Forums. Since all of the bloggers were tied up in Q&A's with Reid Ryan, Bo Porter and Jeff Luhnow, Nance brings us some observations that the rest of us missed. I think you will enjoy her voice. Please make her feel welcome.

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

Hi, I am Nance. I have been a baseball fan ever since I can remember. I started by watching my big brother’s Little League games (girls couldn’t play Little League back then). The Dodgers were my favorite team as a kid. I have followed baseball my whole life, including several independent league teams and affiliated minor league clubs. I became an Astros fan when I moved to Houston in 1988. My son played high school ball and I must have watched 500 hours of hitting lessons over the years. I am not really into Sabermetrics. It is the mental challenge of the game that intrigues me. I love the camaraderie associated with baseball and the many friends I have made through baseball.

Observations from Fan Forum, Part I - by Nance @Bbfanlady

I must confess, the only other time I had been to FanFest was about 10 years ago. Back then, it had all of the feeling of going to a zoo. Only thing was, with the restraining “bars” along the warning track, I couldn’t figure out who were the animals on display – the fans or the players and coaches who paraded past. This year’s FanFest was a vastly different experience. Unlike 10 years ago, it was interactive and I felt involved. My thanks go out to all of the Astros players and staff who participated to make it such an enjoyable event. And special thanks to Jayne Hansen. Through her blog, our minor league players get the recognition they deserve and I recognized most of the names mentioned during the Forum.

I attended two of the Fan Forums, “The Future” and “All Stars”. I had to leave before story time with Milo…… I observed a consistent message from all Astros participants. The strength and depth of the farm system and championships in the minor league were a common theme. As far as the 2013 Major League Team, it was a year of evaluation to see what they had. This is the first of three parts. Information gleaned is not broken down by forum, but is divided into three parts describing what I heard from representatives of Baseball Operations, Manager, and Players. First up is Baseball Operations.

Quinton McCracken, Director of Player Development – Said there is a very impressive group and talked about how high the farm system was rated and their championships. He travels 2-3 weeks each month among the affiliates. Tries to stay 5 nights at each stop so he can see the entire rotation and get a chance to see all hitters. In response to a question from the audience, he said Minor league minimum at A ball was $1000 per month and might go to $2500 as they move up. Minor leaguers only get paid during the season. McCracken was asked about prospects that may not be getting the attention they deserve. He mentioned Buchanan, Rollins, and another player that Apple autocorrect decided was named Tolstoy. My best guess is that Tolstoy is either Ronald Torreyes or Preston Tucker. I also had the opportunity to talk to McCracken about the mental aspect of the game for about 5 minutes as we were walking along the concourse. But that’s for another day.

David Stearns, Assistant GM – Only 5-7% of minor leaguers ever make it to the majors. Not all of those stick. He has been impressed with the enthusiasm and energy in the minors. They play extremely hard. Jonathon Villar and Robbie Grossman played with lots of energy. All prospects have growing pains, but character and work ethic are important. To determine if a player is big league ready they use performance, reports by minor league manager, needs. It gets more complicated as depth grows. This is the greatest depth in an organization he has been part of.

One of the most significant questions/answers to me was when the panel was asked who fans can count on keeping and becoming attached to without suffering separation anxiety in the near future. The answer was that Feldman, Obie, and Cosart show a lot of promise and talent and who a team could build around. They show promise and talent, but not too much pressure will be put on them and will see how the year goes. I can’t say with certainty who answered that question, (would guess it was David Stearns) so don’t call me Lois Lane. I found it noteworthy that the names Altuve and Castro were not mentioned. Maybe somebody coughed and I missed them or maybe he thought those two were so obvious he was trying to throw out some less familiar names.

Disclaimer: The content of this article is not intended to reflect direct quotes from the forum participants. Content is based on what I “heard”. I apologize in advance if my hearing was impaired.

Astros 2014 Fan Fest - Hearing from Jeff Luhnow

Yesterday, I brought you a pretty full meal for "Fan Feast" -- a heaping platter of Reid Ryan and Bo Porter goodness. Buca and De also weighed in with their take on Saturday's Fan Fest activities. Now it's time for dessert!

Jeff Luhnow - Fan Fest 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Unsurprisingly, for those who know Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow, the first thing he did in addressing the gathered bloggers was to have everyone introduce themselves. He wanted to make sure that he knew everyone in the room because he uses the blogs as just one more arrow in his quiver of analytic weapons.

In conjunction with this, Luhnow said, "I appreciate all the support that you all have provided and continue to provide in getting the Astros message out there and participating in not just giving us praise, but also criticizing when you think it's appropriate, and just at least having a dialogue. The dialogue is certainly constructive. I read what you guys write all the time. So do a lot of the people in the front office and I'm not going to tell you which ones, but there have been times when your input has actually moved the needle on our desire to do a transaction or something like that."

In his opening remarks, Luhnow noted that, although the major league team fell short of their goals, the farm system exceeded theirs in terms of development, and that 2014 would be the year that Astros fans start to see the fruits of those labors. "This is the year that we're really going to turn the dial," said Luhnow. He was not shy in crediting Ed Wade for his part in the turnaround, citing Wade's drafting of George Springer and the 2011 trades that brought the team Jon Singleton and others. Luhnow is not about to rest on his laurels, though, and is committed to maintaining a healthy minor league pipeline.

Luhnow went on to discuss his off-season acquisition strategy, acquiring free agents that would serve to complement the core of young players coming up and to give those more inexperienced players a strong foundation beneath them, allowing them to grow and mature as players without having the entire weight of the teams' success or failure on their shoulders.

Jesse Crain, Matt Albers and Chad Qualls were all high on a list of targeted relievers that was compiled before the season had even ended. And Luhnow sees Peter Moylan, Raul Valdes and Anthony Bass providing a "healthy amount of insurance" for the pitching staff. Scott Feldman was high on the team's list for an experienced arm to anchor the rotation. And with strikeouts an issue, Dexter Fowler should provide some stability at the top of the order.

After an excellent winter in Venezuela, Luhnow sees Jesus Guzman as a sleeper candidate who could really help the team. Cesar Izturis and Gregorio Petit (who Jose Altuve called the best defensive short stop he's ever seen) provide some insurance at short while Jonathan Villar tries to establish himself at the major league level.

Luhnow went on to discuss the team's approach in trying to sign Cuban player Jose Abreu and Japanese phenom Masahiro Tanaka. The Astros have their own method of valuing players. They had reached the maximum (in accordance with internal valuations) in their negotiations and did not want to damage their core strategy by bidding any higher [my emphasis]. But they learned a great deal from the process and Luhnow feels that Houston is now on the radar as a legitimate contender for players of this ilk. Furthermore, the Astros are now committed to scouting much more aggressively in the Cuban and Japanese markets. Luhnow will be traveling to Japan in May, along with Director of Pro Scouting Kevin Goldstein, in order to work on the business model for scouting there.

Luhnow also talked about the quirks of using the Mexican League as a prospect pipeline, giving those assembled a bit of a primer on how the process works in that league. Because of the way that player rights are purchased from the clubs rather than signing the players directly, the Mexican League won't ever replace the Dominican Republic or Venezuela as a source. Instead, it is part of his leave-no-stone-unturned strategy in finding and developing good prospects.

When asked about under the radar prospects, Luhnow mentioned RHP Michael Feliz as someone he thought was flying low until Baseball America recently included Feliz in their Top 10 Astros prospects. He also mentioned Nolan Fontana (who I would argue isn't really under the radar) and Andrew Aplin (who happens to be one of my personal favorites). He also noted that LHP Luis Cruz wasn't flying under the radar with the scouting community, leading to his inclusion on the 40-man roster prior to the Rule 5 draft.

In discussing winter league success stories, he pointed to lefties Rudy Owens and Raul Valdes, going so far as calling Valdes a sleeper to make the big league club as a starter, reliever or swing man. I also asked him about rumors that Gonzalo Sanudo would be moved to the rotation and Luhnow confirmed that was definitely under consideration.

Luhnow briefly discussed the success of the tandem rotation in keeping young arms healthy by carefully managing their innings early in the season and cited Jake Buchanan's fine 2013 campaign as one of the true success stories of using the tandem.

As always, Luhnow was open and honest and didn't shy away from answering any of our questions. He is encouraged by the progress that is being made. All in all, Jeff Luhnow is confident that the fans will see a vastly improved product on the field in 2014. Mmmmmmm. Dessert!

Fan Fest Recap

Reid Ryan said Saturday that for fans their connection to the players and the organization begins at the ballpark. Fan Fest was an excellent demonstration of that for the Astros. Ryan, Jeff Luhnow and Bo Porter were out talking and mingling with Houston fans and even spent a little time chatting with we lowly bloggers.

            Across the board, the Astros are presenting a unified front and that front is centered on building Houston not only into a championship team but into an organization that grows as large and renowned as the city itself.

The always amiable Ryan admitted that for a team with over fifty years of history in the city and MLB, the Astros have a surprisingly little footprint. Bringing not only winning teams, but former stars back into the fold is one of Ryan’s solutions to revitalizing the Houston franchise. He would like to have an “alumni association” of former players, such as J.R. Richard, to be able to interact with fans. This association would also double as a way for the Astros to give back to former players, allowing them to make additional income. It isn’t a leap either to make the connection that once the team starts honoring its former players, the fans will become more connected to them too.

Ryan also acknowledged having an Astros Hall of Fame and museum, located at Minute Maid Park, on his mind.

Ryan is working on getting the concessions streamlined with even better food and shorter lines.  He doesn’t think fans should miss a whole inning waiting in line for a hotdog….or sushi?  They are currently in talks with Aramark and other vendors to find a solution that works well for both the park and fans alike.

            Bo Porter sounded focused and sure-footed going into his second season at the helm. Porter recognized the experience and opportunities to evaluate his players during his first season was invaluable.

He added that he strongly believes the biggest mistake any organization can make is to “misevaluate its own players.”

When asked about his role in making sure that these young players become not only good baseball players, but good men who make smart life decisions, Porter said that his job is to be a mentor.  He wants his players to come to him with anything that might be on their minds. His goal is to help guide them to become good husbands, fathers and citizens. 

            Jeff Luhnow reiterated that even with as many ranked prospects and winning minor league clubs as the Houston system currently holds, that the Astros would stay aggressive on building the farm system. The Astros actively pursued pitchers throughout the off season and Luhnow is very pleased with the re-additions of Qualls and Albers. In fact, not one person all day forgot to mention their excitement over those two pitchers’ returns. Dexter Fowler drew much enthusiastic conversation from everyone as well.

Fan Fest this year ran like a well-oiled machine.  Player autograph sessions were organized and seemed to move pretty fast.  The always-interesting fan forums were moved into the Diamond Club dining room instead of being held in the stands where the sound system left much to be desired. Batting practice, bullpen sessions and running the bases drew throngs of eager fans.

If the success of Fan Fest is indicative of the care and attention that the Astros front office is putting into the “fan experience” and the non-stop work that Luhnow and company are putting into bulking up the rosters, then we can’t wait to see what 2014 has in store! Something special has indeed begun at Minute Maid Park.

~ Buca Morris and DeAnna Williamson ~

Astros 2014 Fan Fest - Hearing from Reid Ryan and Bo Porter

Saturday marked my third year to attend Astros Fan Fest as a part of the blogging community. Or as I like to call it, Fan Feast.

The meal started with an appetizer of Astros President Reid Ryan as he addressed a group of Season Ticket holders to start the day. He talked about the success of the farm system in 2013 and how the depth of the system will lead to the Astros' sustained success, "We're making a commitment to build this thing to last."

That was followed by a general discussion of the ballpark itself and the fan experience, including the opening of the roof for more games, the reconfiguration of the concession stands for increased efficiency (and the addition of more local foods), the use of former players in a variety of ways to enhance the fan experience and the all-out effort to get the games back on TV. (At this point, everything hinges on the judge's decision following a February 4th court date. No firm plans can be made until then.)

Ryan declared that he has been listening to fans, "We want to make this ballpark what you want it to  be." When he mentioned taking down the signage out of left field, there were cheers and applause.

A Q&A followed and the tenor of this one as opposed to those I've been to in the past couple of years was much more upbeat. The season ticket holders in attendance seemed satisfied with Ryan's answers and encouraged by the direction the team has taken with fans. All in all, a solid appetizer ... tantalizing the palate and stimulating the appetite for more.

Reid Ryan - Fan Fest 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

The bloggers event took place a bit later in the day. The entree arrived and it was Reid Ryan. (Well, it won't be the first time I've had the shrimp cocktail appetizer and the broiled shrimp entree.) Ryan covered many of the same things in his introductory remarks with the bloggers that he had addressed with the season ticket holders, but then branched off into a few other subjects.

Ryan indicated that the Astros have about a year to make a decision about their future Spring Training home. 2016 will likely be the final year that the Astros hold Spring Training in Kissimmee as they would prefer to move to the east coast of Florida (to the Palm Beach area) and make their new home a two-team facility. The State of Florida offers financial incentives to teams making their Spring Training homes there, but the team has initiated talks in Arizona as well, just in case.

Ryan then opened the floor up for questions and one of the things that came up was another possible move. The company that owns the AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks team is looking to sell the club. Ryan would love to have the Astros back in Round Rock, but the reality is that the Rangers have that facility locked up for the next five seasons. According to Ryan, all options are on the table and the situation should clarify itself more by the end of this season.

In conjunction with this, I asked if there were any plans for moving the Astros Advanced A team out of the California League. Ryan acknowledged that there were some challenges with the league: old ballparks, weather conditions and the logistical difficulty of moving players in and out quickly, but he went on to say that the Astros are not actively looking to move, but they are always looking to improve the situation for the Astros system.

It became obvious, when Ryan was asked about the fan experience, that he is passionate about giving Astros fans a special experience, "We want to do things that are unique, that say Texas, that say Houston." In renegotiating the concessions contract, he wants to go more local while keeping core items available and adding more craft beers. He's looking for the in-game entertainment to be much more than a series of sponsorship opportunities, helping fans better learn the players personalities and having interactive entertainment that will "build to a crescendo" and actually become a part of the home field advantage.

Ryan has a lot of ideas, but many of them have had to take a backseat as the team tries to get a TV deal worked out and addresses some of the other more pressing immediate issues. And some of his other ideas will have to be deferred due to the current layout and configuration of the ballpark. He described Minute Maid Park as landlocked and noted, "We're going to re-look at all the real estate in the building." An Astros history museum and Astros Hall of Fame are a couple of the things he'd like to tackle, eventually having an Astros Hall of Fame weekend.

Ryan would like to reach out to former players more, whether it's honoring them in an Astros Hall of Fame or creating an alumni association that will create more opportunities for players to connect with the fans through appearances, speaking engagements, etc.

Speaking of which, Ryan found it  a "bitter pill to swallow" that Craig Biggio came so tantalizingly close to getting into the Hall of Fame this year, but fell just short. One of my favorite comments from Ryan came during this discussion, "We fly under the radar in Houston. I look at that as my job, to do a better job [to promote Houston]." Ryan is someone who does feel our pain when Houston gets snubbed or ignored. He gets it. And he wants to tell the world what is unique and wonderful about Houston and Texas. There was a lot of meat in that entree ... a Nolan Ryan All-Natural prime cut of beef.

Bo Porter - Fan Fest 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Ryan was followed by a side dish of Astros Manager Bo Porter. Porter looked relaxed, loose and ready for the season. When I first met him at last year's Fan Fest, he was so much more intense. He's still intense and passionate, but he seems to be having more fun with it all.

The first thing that Porter had to say? "When you get to this time of the year, when you get to the Fan Fest and all the players are around, Spring Training can't get here fast enough." He didn't have much in the way of prepared remarks, mainly addressing the off-season transactions made to shore up the bullpen, anchor the rotation and to give the team a dependable on-base guy for the top of the order.

Seeing as I write from a minor league perspective, I asked Porter what a minor leaguer invited to Spring Training can do to stand out in the crowd of 60+ players in major league camp. He noted that all of the coaches get to see the players as they rotate through the various stations in Spring Training and that he will make sure that all of them will get a quality playing experience so that they can be fairly evaluated.

I also asked Porter his thoughts on instant replay. It turns out that he's a fan of the move. Not only will it help overcome obvious bad calls, it should help the pace of the game by eliminating most arguments, "But I think managers are still going to argue," he said. "A lot of times we go out to argue, we actually already know what the call really is, but we're arguing to protect our team."

Terri Schlather of Astros County and The Crawfishboxes asked Porter what he knew now, one year in to managing the team, that he didn't know going into last season that will help him going forward. Last year, he explained, he needed to do a complete player evaluation, not just their skill sets but their make up and how they handled failure. According to Porter, "This year, as I fast forward, I know our players that we have on the roster. I know their make up. I know their DNA. I know their skill sets which will allow me to challenge the team better."

Porter is encouraged by the roster he has been given to work with this season, and he has great hope for improvement on the field in 2014 and for the sustained success of the organization.

A little side dish of Bo Porter is quite satisfying. I don't know about you, but I'm too full for desert (Jeff Luhnow) right now so this Fan Feast is over for the time being. An account of the bloggers' chat with Jeff Luhnow will be coming soon!

Proper Preparation Produces Peak Performers

This will be new Astros Manager Bo Porter's mantra for his players from Day One. Proper Preparation Produces Peak Performers. This is what we heard from Porter as various members of the blogging community talked with him at last Saturday's Fan Fest. I wanted to include some of the actual audio from that Q&A because I was struck by how the recorder picked up Porter's punctuation of his words, fingers firmly tapping the table for emphasis.

Proper Preparation Produces Peak Performers.

This response came in connection with a question posed by Terri from the Tales from the Juice Box blog about fundamentals, about doing the little things right. According to Porter, the little things aren't necessarily so little, "I'm a firm believer that anything that can cause you to lose a baseball game is major."

He went on to elaborate on the importance of mental as well as physical preparation by the players:

And you get the feeling that Porter has prepared himself well for this opportunity. Every answer he gives comes quickly and emphatically. He is a man who knows what he wants and has thought long and hard about the best way to get there.

When I asked Porter if he had any prior relationships with any of the Astros minor league coaching staffs, he brushed the question aside as unimportant. What matters to him are the relationships and cohesion going forward, "When minor league camp opens, I will address the entire minor league camp, the players, coaches, staff, the support staff." He will make it his business to establish a relationship because he contends, "One of the problems than can exist is ... a disconnect from the major leagues to the minor leagues. We're not going to have that here. It will be completely one family. We're all in this thing together. And from the minor leagues to the major leagues, it will be the Houston Astros way."

Aside from preparation by the players, Porter will want to see their competitive natures emerge at Spring Training as well, "One of the best things when you talk about our organization, where we're at right now, is the fact that there's a lot of opportunity. And with opportunity comes competition. And I think competition is one of the best things for competitive athletes. If you can't compete against each other, how can you compete against another team?"

Porter asserts that he will do everything in his power to prepare these players for success, including his embrace of data produced by the Astros Analytics Department, "We would be foolish not to take advantage of all of the material that's made readily available to us that can help the outcome of games." But he is also a realist, "At the end of the day, it may turn out that the player's not good enough. And if the player's not good enough, we need to find another player and that's the reality of the business that we're in."

When all is said and done, I think it will become evident that Porter's mantra is meant for him as much as it is meant for the players. And I think he is just fine with that because he's been preparing for this opportunity for a very long time. Proper Preparation Produces Peak Performers.

Bo Porter - Fan Fest 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Blogger Q&A with Astros OF Justin Maxwell

Several members of the Astros blogging community went speed-dating this past weekend at Minute Maid Park. Well, not really, but it felt like that at times as Astros personnel and players dashed from table to table to grant us quick interviews. I sat with Terri of Tales from the Juice Box and Chris Perry, repping The Crawfish Boxes.

First up was Justin Maxwell. Since I write from a minor league perspective, I wanted to know about how he handled the inevitable frustrations of his slow and steady journey to the big leagues and what advice he might have for players impatient for a faster trajectory.

Justin Maxwell - Fan Fest 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Maxwell, who was drafted in 2005, talked to me about expectations and realities starting with 2007 after he had been placed on the 40-man roster. "I came into Spring Training hoping to make the team. I figured if I played well, I'd make the team. I had a pretty good Spring Training that year, [but] came to find out late in Spring Training [that I was going] to AA so to me that was kind of a shock. It was my first introduction to the options process. My advice would be to always play well. Don't get frustrated with the situations that you can't control. Because that's what I did. [In 2009], I was up and down a little bit. 2010 was really frustrating. I was up and down a lot, about five times, and I kind of let that affect my play in the minor league level a little bit, but you just realize that there's a lot of teams watching you at all times so it's always in your favor to really play well. Nobody cares about what you're going through off the field. They want to see you perform on the field so if you can control what you can control at the plate or in the field, just focus on baseball. The rest will take care of itself."

I also asked Maxwell one of my standard minor league player interview questions about which pitcher on the team he would least like to face in the batter's box. He joked about Lucas Harrell and Bud Norris being "no big deal" before he singled out Rhiner Cruz as an exceptional talent. "He's got an amazing arm. If he can get those secondary pitches over for strikes, he's going to be a special player. Not many guys can throw 97 on a consistent basis, day in and day out."

We talked a little about his goals for himself in 2013; playing centerfield and hitting to centerfield in Minute Maid Park; and playing in the American League, but a major focus of the interview was team leadership. Maxwell spoke of Brett Myers and Chris Snyder establishing a veteran presence in 2012, "I liked to pick their brains and listen to them when they would talk about the game because they'd been in the game for so long." He anticipates that Carlos Pena, "one of the nicest people I've come into contact with in baseball" will provide that type of leadership in 2013.

But I wanted to know which younger players on the team were poised to evolve into leadership roles. "Hopefully, it's myself. I've been in situations like this before as one of the older players, and I was one of the older players last year. I'm usually not as vocal as I should be. Hopefully, I can take more of a leadership role this year."

On a team like the Astros, leaders will need to emerge organically from among the younger players. But leadership cannot be forced on the unwilling. Someone must be prepared to take on the mantle and Justin Maxwell appears to be more than willing. As an excellent communicator with a clear vision, I think he will succeed in establishing himself in the clubhouse.

Some Final Thoughts on Fan Fest

The local Astros bloggers were given a great opportunity to spend a day observing and interacting with everyone from front office guys to the manager to current players to former stars to the fans for whom baseball hope always springs eternal.  I hope you've enjoyed my posts from the event.  I will leave you with some random thoughts and observations ...

• Enos Cabell is a natural story-teller with a great sense of humor.  He really needs to write a book about his days with the Astros.
• Larry Dierker REALLY isn't a fan of Carlos Lee's work ethic.  Wow, he's a straight shooter!
• Brad Mills thinks of 2011 as a learning curve for him and for a number of players as they learned about themselves.  As painful as it was, the 2011 results managed to "bring us together and kind of bond us."
• I don't know that J.R. Richard's number will get retired, but I'm pretty sure that he will be one of the early Walk of Fame inductees.
• As long as Jeff Luhnow is in charge, I don't think we'll ever see another 3-year Kaz Matsui signing.
• Competition in Spring Training will be fierce.  The catch words were "passion" and "hunger."  And the often stoic Brad Mills actually looked animated at the thought.
• Long-time fans of the Astros are really going to enjoy everything that is being planned for the 50th Anniversary celebration.  There will be many trips down memory lane.
• If an informal poll by Larry Dierker at one of the sessions means anything, a permanent return to blue and orange in 2013 is looking promising.
• If comments by Jeff Luhnow at the Baseball Dinner on Friday and Brad Mills at Fan Fest on Saturday are any indication, it is not outside the realm of possibility that Lance Berkman could be the Astros DH in 2013.  He may just be one hometown discount away from retiring as an Astro.
• Although there wasn't a huge crowd at Fan Fest on Saturday, the fans I spoke with were enthusiastic and hopeful.  They are happy that there is finally a well articulated plan in place with people in charge who listen to the average fan (and the average blogger).

Which brings me to this.  You would have been proud of the Astros blogging community on Saturday.  All were well-prepared with good questions and completely professional.  We did you, our readers, proud.  And the result has been fascinating.  In the reporting of the event, there has been overlap.  But the tone, the vision and the emphasis for each of us has been different.  Whether it's Terri at Tales from the Juice Box reporting my favorite moment from Fan Fest, this running diary from David over at Crawfishboxes, this humorous entry from Jason at Astros County, this fully-fleshed take from Alex at Climbing Tal's Hill, or my humble look at things from a minor league viewpoint, Astros fans are the beneficiaries of this robust blogging community.  Thank you for reading.

Now, let's play ball!

Q&A with Mills, Norris and Martinez

The Astros organization was kind enough to allow six of us blogger types access to sit down and ask a few questions of Brad Mills, Bud Norris and J.D. Martinez.  It went very well and we have every reason to believe that we will be invited back from time to time.

BRAD MILLS
I asked Mills about how closely the organization watches those players who participate in winter ball.  As examples, I used Sergio Perez who pitched 65 innings in winter ball after a full regular season at OKC and Aneury Rodriguez who probably pitched about 50 innings between the regular season, playoffs and the Caribbean Series this winter.  He responded, "We keep a pretty good eye on especially the guys that are closer to the major leagues like Aneury.  We didn't have any problem with him throwing down there."  Since Aneury was healthy going into the off-season, he went on to say, "We wanted him to go down there and continue to throw and work on some things."  They didn't watch Sergio Perez as much because he's not as close to the majors.

Mills also talked about Jose Altuve's workload over the winter as Altuve approached 900 plate appearances.  He seemed a little annoyed that Altuve worked so hard over the winter, and with a hint of exasperation, he said that Altuve would be getting to Kissimmee early (he was scheduled to arrive on the 13th).  I have a feeling that Brad Mills will be instructing the staff at Kissimmee to sit on Altuve until he gets there.

I also asked Mills about Brian Bogusevic.  Since he clearly did well hitting against lefties in winter ball (hitting .271), I wanted to know if Mills would play him against left-handed pitchers if he wins a roster spot. In response, he said, "My thinking on that is definitely give him the opportunity to start out ... It would be my wish that I'd put him in the line-up and he'd hit .480 against both righties and lefties."  He went on to offer the usual caveat that if a right-hander needs some AB's and the situation is right, he would sit Bogey from time to time, but overall I was encouraged by his assurances.

BUD NORRIS
I asked Bud about any coaches or managers in the minor leagues who he found to be particularly helpful in his development.  "Everybody gives you a little tidbit here and there.  You take a little bit from each and every one."  At Tri-City Don Alexander helped him with his mechanics (Alexander will be the pitching coach at Lancaster this year).  He credits Stan Boroski at AA for helping him with his slider. "The slider I still throw today as one of my bread and butters has been the slider I got in AA."  And, of course, Bud enjoyed the chance to sit and talk with Burt Hooten (AAA pitching coach) about old school baseball.  "With Burt, you had a real opportunity to understand what the old game was and how it was played."

Bud also had encouraging words about RHP Jarred Cosart with whom he's worked out this winter, "I think he has a good head on his shoulders.  He has a huge bright side."  On Cosart's disappointment on not getting an invite to the big league camp, Bud said, "It's good to see that people want it.  It's good to see that they have that burning desire."

J.D. MARTINEZ
I asked J.D. the same question about coaches or managers that had helped him along the way.  "I was fortunate.  Every major league coach and manager I had was ... really good.  It speaks volumes for the organization.  He singled out Stubby Clapp (currently Tri-City manager), Rodney Linares (who will manage at Lancaster in 2012), Tom Lawless (now a roving infield instructor) and "Johnny Mo" (John Moses, formerly the hitting coach at Corpus, who is no longer in the organization).  "Each one of them I picked something that they helped me with along the way ... Everyone has thrown me one or two things that I still use today.  Give equal credit to all those guys."

J.D. showed phenomenal honesty and candor in all of his answers to us.  He spoke of early doubts and how he got past those, struggling to keep weight on through the season, how he handles left field at MMP (giving full credit to Dave Clark for repetition after repetition of practice), and his unorthodox batting stance which he was tempted to change because "I feel like I look goofy when I hit."  As one of the other bloggers pointed out, there was another Astro with a goofy batting stance a while back; that batting stance got him a statue outside Minute Maid Park.

Next Up ~ Some Final Thoughts on Fan Fest

The Smartest Guys in the Room

Maybe using a Smartest Guys in the Room reference to talk about a story originating from a place once called Enron Field isn't the most fortuitous analogy, but I'm going to go with it anyway.

George Postolos may be the Astros President, but GM Jeff Luhnow is rapidly becoming the face of the Astros, the one we look to in order to hear THE PLAN.  And there is a plan.  And he articulates it well and clearly.  At a "Talkin' Baseball" session at Saturday's Fan Fest, he talked about his philosophy for making the Astros a perennial winner through development of the minor league system.

In answer to an audience question, he talked about winning vs. development in the minor leagues.  He doesn't believe that you have to chose.  There may be some individual players from time to time for whom development has to be the guiding focus, but "the philosophy of the system as a whole should be doing both at the same time."  He talked about having done just that in the Cardinal's minor league system.

In discussing the young players that will be playing for Houston in 2012, he brought up the Astros MVP's that he had heard from and about on Friday evening at the Astros Baseball Dinner.  "One of the themes that I kept hearing was this guy came up and ... all of a sudden, boom, he had a breakout year one year and became a superstar.  It's going to happen to a couple of these guys out there.  Whether it's J.D. Martinez or Altuve or Lyles, somebody's going to have a breakout year this year."

He spoke of building the franchise around those breakout players, getting the first pick of the draft this year, spending money internationally and the need to "continuously add to your pipeline" in order to become successful and stay successful.  As I post this, Luhnow is in the Dominican Republic talking to the coaching staff and looking at our prospects there.

I was able to get a brief aside with Luhnow after the Q&A was over.  Since I have a minor league focus and since this front office has brought analytics to the forefront, I wanted to hear his thoughts about the use of Sabermetric analysis in the minor leagues.  He agreed with me that the use of stats such as BABIP and FIP, etc. are not particularly useful in analyzing minor league players, especially at the lower levels since the competition can be so uneven.  He explained to me that his staff will be delving much more deeply.  They will literally be tracking every single pitch and every single stroke of the bat in every single situation.  They aren't just looking at atoms; they are looking at quarks and neutrinos.  They will be able to view a player's performance at the most fundamental level in order to facilitate that player's maximum potential and predict future performance.  That's smart.

Next Up ~ Q&A with Brad Mills, Bud Norris & J.D. Martinez

Everything Old Is New Again

"What goes around comes around" could have been the theme of the "Talkin' Baseball" session at the end of Fan Fest Saturday.  Moderated by Alyson Footer, it featured J.R. Richard, Larry Dierker, Enos Cabell and Jim Deshaies in "A Look at 50 Years."  Part of the season-long celebration, fans were given the opportunity to ask questions of these former Astros stalwarts, but most of us just sat back and listened as they spun a web of baseball gold.

Jim Deshaies started it with a masterful look at an incredible three days in September 1986 in which JD struck out the first 8 batters the first day, Nolan Ryan and Charlie Kerfeld threw a 2-hit shutout the next and, as predicted by Alan Ashby, Mike Scott eclipsed the others with the no-hit clincher on the third.  "Freaking Ashby's a prophet," JD proclaimed.

Dierker talked about his no-hitter, those who missed it as they were in line for free beer, great plays by Cruz and Cabell to keep it alive and being shunned in the dugout as no one wanted to jinx him.  But his favorite memory was the end of the 1999 season.  Winning in the last regular game of the season to clinch, while also honoring the Astrodome Team of Honor as the team prepared to move to the new stadium, was described as being glorious in every aspect.  He recalled everyone drinking champagne and smoking cigars afterwards and stated simply,  "For me, that was baseball heaven."

J.R. Richard is a man of few words, but often stole the show with those few. In response to a fan who said, "I used to come to the games all the time just to watch you pitch," he responded, "Well, that was a good enough reason."

The best J.R. stories came from others.  Enos Cabell described refusing to hit against J.R., "No, I was smarter than all the rest of the guys."  Bruce Bochy took Cabell's turn at bat and ended up with a broken toe on the first pitch.  Dierker talked about liking to hit, but bailing out of the batter's box as J.R.'s first pitch went behind his head.  And J.D. reminisced about an Old Timer's game in which Joe Garagiola only lasted about seven pitches trying to catch J.R.

Enos Cabell spoke of his hatred for the Dodgers, "We hated the Dodgers ... We'd rather have a fight with them before the game than play the game."  And of playing in the 70's, he said, "All of our games were 1-0, 2-1 or 3-2, and if you went to the bathroom, you missed it... Back when we played if J.R. and Dierker and those guys didn't pitch shutouts, we'd tell them 'we're gonna get you one run; that's it, so you'd better pitch your ass off.'"

But Cabell addressed the Astros' future as well as the past.  In his position as Special Assistant to the GM, he is in the loop as far as what is needed and what the front office is trying to accomplish.  He talked about getting back to more emphasis on pitching and defense, and having two or three guys that can hit 20-25 home runs rather than relying on just one big home run hitter.  "We're trying to get back to a better mix," he said, "because it's going to last longer."  Dierker added, "My sense is that we're trying to get back to something that's like the baseball we remember before the home run derby started."  They both want to get back to an "exciting kind of baseball."

As the Astros organization honors its past, it is nice to see that they are looking at borrowing from it as well.  An emphasis on pitching and defense with a well-rounded, balanced team of players, would go a long way toward bringing excitement back to Minute Maid Park.

Next Up ~ The Smartest Guys in the Room

Astros Fan Fest - Fan Questions

I am currently working on a couple of posts about Astros Fan Fest that I will be posting over the next couple of days, but I thought I'd give you a sneak preview.  Sarah Nelson (aka @HooksFanSarah on twitter) suggested that, since it was Fan Fest, I should ask Bud Norris and J.D. Martinez about a favorite fan memory.  Here's what they had to say ~

Rather than pointing out a single fan experience, Bud talked about how he loves getting to know some of the fans by seeing the same faces over and over at Spring Training and other venues and seeing how much they love the Astros.  "... Just seeing the love that these people have for the game, especially here in Houston, is a lot of fun.  So, when I get to see the smiles on their face, it definitely puts one on mine."

J.D. talked about how his Mom acts as de facto president of his fan club and helps him keep on top of his fan mail with particular attention to the kids.  He pointed to this recent fan interaction as one of his favorites ~

J.D. Martinez @JDMartinez14

Signing autographs for my fans tonight and ran into lil Isaac! Gotta love my fans! pic.twitter.com/5Wxoar32

"It was just cool because it was written in his writing and it was neat."

Coming tomorrow - Everything Old is New Again

Astros Fan Fest - From J.D. to J.R.

As you may know, the Astros were nice enough to grant several bloggers access to Fan Fest today.  The day was a huge success and it will take a while to digest everything we heard, but I wanted to leave you with something until I can sort through it all over the next day or two.  I left today with great hope for the future ...

and even greater respect for the past ...

Fan Fest on Saturday

The Astros front office has been gracious enough to invite several Astros bloggers to Fan Fest this Saturday, including yours truly.  I will be given the opportunity to ask questions of Brad Mills, J.D. Martinez and Bud Norris.  I have already started working on questions with an emphasis on the minor leagues since that is the raison d'etre of this blog.  I would like to invite my readers to give me input.  If you have any questions that you would like me to pose to Mills, Martinez or Norris, please leave a comment.  I won't guarantee that I will ask your question, but if there are questions you have that relate to the minor leagues in particular, I would love to hear them.