Astros Farm Report: 5/6

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

In case you missed my latest interviews
OF Stephen Wrenn (promoted to Round Rock the day after my interview posted)
OF Granden Goetzman (a great guy with an interesting story!)

MAY TRANSACTIONS/ROSTER MOVES

Note: Some of the assignments to Tri-City are likely to be on paper only in order to help with roster management while some indicate players who have been sent back to extended Spring Training.

5-4: 1B A.J. Reed (Round Rock) activated from the DL
5-4: OF Derek Fisher recalled to Houston from Round Rock
5-4: RHP Joey Gonzalez assigned to Fayetteville from Quad Cities
5-4: IF Michael Wielansky assigned to Quad Cities
5-4: RHP Felipe Tejada assigned to Tri-City from Quad Cities
5-4: RHP Cody Deason assigned to Quad Cities from Tri-City
5-3: OF Stephen Wrenn assigned to Round Rock from Corpus Christi
5-3: RHP Akeem Bostick (Round Rock) placed on the temporary inactive list
5-3: OF Carmen Benedetti (Corpus Christi) activated from the DL
5-3: RHP Cesar Rosado (Fayetteville) placed on the 7-day DL
5-3: OF Marty Costes (Quad Cities) placed on the 7-day DL
5-3: RHP Matt Ruppenthal assigned to Quad Cities from Tri-City

There were also a couple of moves that were reported late and not included in the early version of last week's Farm Report:

4-30: RHP Jamie Melendez, a 17-year old from Mexico, signed by the Astros
4-29: LHP Brett Adcock assigned to Tri-City from Corpus Christi
4-29: RHP Justin Ferrell (Corpus Christi) activated from the DL
4-29: OF Alex McKenna (Quad Cities) activated from the DL
4-29: OF Andy Pineda (Quad Cities) released
4-29: C Lorenzo Quintana (Corpus Christi) activated from the DL

Players who started the 2019 season on the DL
C Ruben Castro
RHP Nick Hernandez
RHP Alex House
OF Alex McKenna - activated 4-29
RHP Hansel Paulino
RHP Erasmo Pinales
RHP Abdiel Saldana
RHP Kyle Serrano
RHP Jairo Solis

Restricted List
RHP Francis Martes (80-game suspension)
1B/OF J.J. Matijevic (50-game suspension)

An ongoing list of all of the 2019 season transactions and roster moves can be found here.

2019 STANDINGS

Up and down arrows denote an increase or decrease in win percentage over the last week.

AAA ROUND ROCK (Pacific Coast League/American Southern Division)

🠉 1st 17-12 .586 -.-GB L2

AA CORPUS CHRISTI (Texas League/South Division)

🠉 T3rd 14-15 .483 3.5GB L1

ADV A FAYETTEVILLE (Carolina League/Southern Division)

🠋 4th 15-16 .484 8.0GB L3

LOW A QUAD CITIES (Midwest League/Western Division)

🠉 1st 18-10 .643 -.-GB W6

WATCH THIS SPACE

I plan to use "this space" to feature players who are currently flying below the radar, but who deserve a look.

Chas McCormick
(Pre-game ritual with Josh Rojas) - April 2019
Photo by Jayne Hansen

OF Chas McCormick is a Hooks fan favorite which is easy to understand. He plays with an unbridled joy and, judging by a couple of great catches in games I saw last weekend, won't think twice about giving up his body to make a play. He also happens to be a very disciplined hitter and has drawn 21 walks to only nine strikeouts in his first 23 games of the season. McCormick is currently hitting .267/.444/.387 and that on-base percentage is second only to top prospect Yordan Alvarez for players having played a comparable number of games. McCormick was drafted by the Astros in the 21st round in 2017 out of Millersville University of Pennsylvania. Watch this space ...

FORMER ASTRO UPDATE

Zac Grotz

MiLB Photo

RHP Zac Grotz wasn't an Astro for long. After being drafted in the 28th round in 2015 out of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Dayton, FL), he pitched only 22 innings in the Astros system before being released out of Spring Training in 2016. Grotz kicked around between independent and affiliated ball for the last three seasons and signed with the Mariners organization as a minor league free agent prior to the 2019 season. He is currently pitching for Seattle's AA affiliate, the Arkansas Travelers. In his first six games (four starts), he has a 0.50 ERA and a 0.722 WHIP, walking three and striking out 26 in 18 innings of work.

RANDOM PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Blue Footed Booby

Galapagos Islands - 2004

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Astros Farm Report: 7/25

Late edition (my apologies) as Jayne is on her travels. Let's catch up on all the latest happenings in the Astros system...

WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

Jorge Alcala - May 2018

Photo by Jayne Hansen

7-27: RHP Jacob Billingsley (24)

7-28: RHP Jorge Alcala (23)

ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS

7-24: RHP Peter Solomon assigned to Buies Creek from Quad Cities

7-23: OF Andy Piñeda assigned to Tri-City from Corpus Christi

7-23: RHP Edgardo Sandoval (Quad Cities) activated from the 7-day DL

7-23: RHP Ronel Blanco (Corpus) placed on the 7-day DL

7-23: LHP Framber Valdez activated by Corpus Christi; may have been suspended or placed on temporarily inactive list

7-22: 1B Taylor Jones assigned to Corpus Christi from Fresno

7-22: RHP Trent Thornton (Fresno) activated from temporarily inactive list

7-20: 3B J.D. Davis recalled to Houston from Fresno

7-20: RHP J.B. Bukauskas activated from DL and assigned to Quad Cities

7-18: RHP Alex House assigned to Tri-City (2017 24th-round pick)

7-17: RHP Enoli Paredes assigned to Buies Creek from Quad Cities

7-17: LHP Brett Adcock assigned to Corpus Christi from Buies Creek

7-17: RHP Ralph Garza assigned to Corpus Christi from Fresno

7-17: RHP Jayson Schroeder assigned to GCL (2018 2nd-round pick)

7-17: LHP Javier Navas (GCL) released

ASTROS MILB DISABLED LIST

7/23: RHP Ronel Blanco (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day DL

7/11: RHP Forrest Whitley (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day DL
7/11: RHP Carlos Sierra (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day DL
6/19: OF Drew Ferguson (Fresno) placed on the 7-day DL (hand)
6/1: LHP Yeremi Ceballos (DSL) placed on the 60-day DL
6/1: RHP Carlos Quintero (DSL) placed on the 60-day DL
5/26: RHP David Paulino (Fresno) placed on the 7-day DL (retroactive to the 25th)
5/4: RHP Francis Martes (Fresno) placed on the 7-day DL
5/3+/-: RHP Gerardo Bojorquez had TJ surgery per Instagram post
4/5: RHP Ryan Thompson assigned to Fresno (starting the season on the 7-day DL); according to Instagram Ryan has had surgery, but I don't know whether or not it was TJ
4/5: RHP Matt Ruppenthal assigned to Quad Cities (starting the season on the 7-day DL; according to Instagram, Ruppenthal had elbow surgery to transpose the ulnar nerve in early April and started to throw mid-June)
4/5: RHP Ángel Heredia (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day DL
4/5: RHP Nick Hernandez (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day DL (Tommy John)
No date: RHP Alex House (Tri-City) appears to be on the DL per his Instagram account but working his way back (end of June)

ASTROS MILB RESTRICTED LIST

6/22: RHP Yoanys Quiala placed on the restricted list (80 game suspension for performance-enhancing substance); Quiala won't be eligible to play again until approximately mid-April of 2019.

MISSING IN ACTION

Now that all of the short season teams have started playing, I've gone through my records and the following players all show as "active" on MiLB, but they haven't played yet this season. If anyone has any info on the following players, please let me know.

RHP Hunter Martin
LHP Javier Navas - made his first appearance of the season for the GCL team 7/16, released 7/17
RHP Kyle Serrano - made his first appearance of the season for the GCL team 7/6

I will be keeping track of all the releases, retirements, trades and signings for the 2018 season here.

FEATURED PLAYERS

This edition of the Farm Report has a triple feature...

Bryan Abreu - July 2018

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Great to see DR RHP Bryan Abreu coming into his own. Projection guy we signed who threw 84 mph with 12-to-6 CB calling card. Now 93/97 MPH with 4-pitch mix (FB/CB/SL/CH), maybe the best CB in the system. Great kid, another #AstrosSleeperhttps://t.co/IuAxmYHHWR https://t.co/nF1Hobyg7w

— Oz (@OcampoBaseball) July 22, 2018

22yo RHP Jojanse Torres, another #AstrosSleeper to watch. Three-pitch FB/SL/CH mix with FB up to 98, pwr SL at 89, and developing CH. @DSLAstros #Astroshttps://t.co/K9xd8LV8Dt

— Oz (@OcampoBaseball) July 14, 2018

Spoke too soon, velo jump for Ernesto. FF 91, t94 #allJaquezesthrowhard

— Oz (@OcampoBaseball) July 19, 2018

Bryan Abreu, Jojanse Torres, and Ernesto Jaquez are names that very, very few Astros fans know, but they're all starting to gain helium within the system and Oz Ocampo, who is now one of Jeff Luhnow's special assistants and the leader of the Astros' international operations, is extremely excited about the stable of arms that he and his team have unearthed, and are working to unearth, in Latin America. Abreu, Torres, and Jaquez look to be the latest success stories.

Abreu began the 2018 season with Tri-City and was called up to Quad Cities two weeks ago. He was originally signed in November 2013 out of the Dominican Republic at the age of 16 but was not highly regarded, even though he signed in his first year of eligibility. At the time, according to Oz Ocampo, Abreu threw 84 and had a 12-6 curveball as his primary off-speed offering. Ocampo and his team saw plenty of promise in Abreu and it's been a little bit of a slow burn as he spent his first two seasons in the Dominican Summer League and his third in the Gulf Coast League before leaving the complex leagues for good with Greeneville in 2017, where he posted an unsightly 7.98 ERA in eight appearances (six starts). Despite the rough showing in the Appalachian League, Abreu still showed some of the promise that Oz Ocampo saw in him (even though it was often hidden behind some of those four and five-run outings), like when he allowed four hits and struck out eight over five shutout innings on July 27.

Now, Abreu has gained several ticks on his fastball and has two more pitches in his arsenal and he's harnessed his newfound stuff to dominate the New York-Penn League and he's now taken his act to the Quad Cities. His most recent appearance was Saturday and he got the save by allowing a hit, walking two, and striking out seven over four scoreless innings. Obviously, the small sample size caveat applies, but he's taken the hard lessons that he learned in the Appalachian League and honed his craft to become a more complete pitcher.

Jojanse Torres made his pro debut on June 19. According to the Astros' transactions page, he officially signed on April 24. Torres, a native of the Dominican Republic, will turn 23 on August 4, so yes, he's ancient for the Dominican Summer League. With that being said, a mid-to-upper-90s fastball and a potentially plus slider will turn heads, no matter where one plays. He's also gotten a mention in Baseball America's midseason update of the Astros' top 10 prospects. Torres last appeared on Friday and recorded his first professional win by allowing two hits, walking one, and striking out seven over five shutout innings. Ronel Blanco signed as a 22-year-old, turned 23 during his first professional season, and now he's in Corpus. It's entirely possible that Torres could hop on a path similar to Blanco's.

Ernesto Jaquez signed last July for $95,000 out of the Dominican Republic. He turned 19 on June 11 and he's caught my attention mainly for his absurd performance in his second season in the DSL. Jaquez has allowed two runs (one earned) in 36 innings this season. No, that is not a typo. Jaquez is described by Oz Ocampo as having a four-pitch mix and he can throw strikes with all four of his offerings. Since literally like three people have been able to touch Jaquez while he's on the mound, I wonder about the amount of deception that he has in his delivery. He doesn't have the pure stuff of Jojanse Torres, but at 6'2", 190, that doesn't mean that he won't be able to gain another tick or two to his arsenal as he continues to progress through the system. Jaquez has had his way with DSL hitters all season and he might be making his way to the US soon.

ASTROS MILB STANDINGS
Up and down arrows represent increase/decrease in win percentage over the prior week.

Most of the clubs outside of the complex leagues have been a bit uneven as of late, but they've held steady in terms of their position within their divisions.

FRESNO (Pacific Coast League)

🠋1st 58-43 .574 -.-GB W1

The Grizzlies currently lead Tacoma by seven games in the PCL Pacific Northern division.

CORPUS CHRISTI (Texas League)

🠋1st 63-37 .630 -.-GB L2 (overall)
1st 20-11 .645 -.-GB L2 (second half)
1st 43-26 .623 -.-GB W5 (first half division winner)

The Hooks have made the playoffs as the first half winners of the Texas League South Division.

BUIES CREEK (Carolina League)

2nd 57-44 .564 4.0GB L1 (overall); no change in overall winning percentage
🠋2nd 20-12 .625 1.5GB L1 (second half)
2nd 37-32 .536 3.5GB L1 (first half)

QUAD CITIES (Midwest League)

🠋3rd 55-45 .559 2.5GB W1 (overall)
🠋5th 15-15 .500 6.5GB W1 (second half)
1st 40-30 .571 -.-GB W6 (first half division winner)

The River Bandits have made the playoffs as the first half winners of the Midwest League Western Division.

TRI-CITY (New York-Penn League)
🠋1st 20-15 .571 -.-GB W1

Tri-City leads Lowell by a half-game in the New York-Penn League Stedler division.

GCL ASTROS (Gulf Coast League)
🠉3rd 16-14 .533 5.5GB W1

DSL ASTROS (Dominican Summer League Northwest)
🠉6th 20-23 .465 11.0GB W1

NEWS AND LINKS

- MK Bower, in his latest for Forbes, discusses how the Astros clubhouse was an ideal environment for Kyle Tucker to enter.

- Check out Jayne's photos from her recent trip to the Quad Cities.

- Baseball America (subscription required) recently released updated top 10 prospect lists for all thirty teams. Forrest Whitley and Kyle Tucker are holding steady in the top two spots and they've taken notice of Corbin Martin's breakout 2018. 

- Sad news to pass along as former Astros clubhouse manager Dennis Liborio has passed away at the age of 63. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

- In a video package for the All-Star Game discussing the impact of the video game "Fortnite" across the league, George Springer was featured doing the eagle dance that was originally done by Dahyun, a member of the K-pop girl group Twice (and the origins of her doing that dance is a lot deeper and I don't think I have time to go in on that). Apparently the game's dance emotes are influenced by K-pop.

- For the soccer fans: Son Heung-min, my Korean older brother, just signed a contract extension which will keep him at Tottenham Hotspur (England) until 2023.

- It's still gonna be hot.

And in case you missed any of these, here are Jayne's recent interviews:

RHP Corbin Martin (Corpus Christi)
3B Abraham Toro (Corpus Christi)
RHP Trent Thornton (Fresno)
OF Chas McCormick (Buies Creek, since promoted to Corpus Christi)
OF J.J. Matijevic (Buies Creek)
RHP Brandon Bielak (Buies Creek, since promoted to Corpus Christi)
LHP Brett Adcock (Buies Creek)
SS Alex De Goti (Corpus Christi)
1B Taylor Jones (Corpus Christi, since promoted to Fresno)
RHP Brock Dykxhoorn (Corpus Christi, since promoted to Fresno)

Astros Farm Report: 7/16

Catching you up on the latest Astros MiLB news ...

WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

Ángel Heredia - July 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

7/22: RHP Ángel Heredia (26)

ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS

According to the transaction info posted on the Astros website, 30 of the 40 draft picks for 2018 signed (all of the top 20 and 30 of the top 32).

7/16: IF Tyler White optioned to Fresno
7/14: OF Jake Marisnick optioned to Fresno
7/14: RHP Jose Luis Hernandez (Buies Creek) activated from the DL (had been on a rehab assignment with Tri-City)
7/13: RHP Brady Rodgers activated from the DL and optioned to Fresno (had been sent to Fresno 7/12 on rehab assignment)
7/12: RHP Matt Ramsey (Fresno) sent to the GCL on a rehab assignment (on the DL since 5-29)
7/12: RHP Tommy DeJuneas assigned to Buies Creek from Quad Cities
7/11: RHP Ken Giles optioned to Fresno
7/11: LHP Cionel Perez (Corpus Christi) recalled to Houston
7/11: RHP Hector Perez assigned to Corpus Christi from Buies Creek
7/11: OF Carmen Benedetti activated from the Corpus Christi DL
7/11: RHP J.P. France (14th round pick) assigned to Tri-City
7/10: OF Jake Marisnick (Fresno) recalled to Houston
7/10: RHP Carlos Sanabria assigned to Buies Creek from Quad Cities
7/10: LHP Adam Bleday (Buies Creek) released (2017 27th round draft pick out of the University of Pennsylvania)
7/10: RHP Edgardo Sandoval (Quad Cities) sent from GCL to Tri-City on a rehab assignment
7/10: RHP Luis Garcia assigned to Quad Cities from Tri-City
7/10: RHP Bryan Abreu assigned to Quad Cities from Tri-City
7/10: RHP Dariel Aquino (Quad Cities) released (signed out of the Dominican Republic in March 2013)
7/10: RHP Ian Hardman (Tri-City) released (2016 36th round draft pick out of Seminole State College)
7/10: RHP Jacob Billingsley (32nd round pick) assigned to Tri-City
7/9: SS Ricardo Balogh signed (16 year old from the Dominican Republic)

ASTROS MILB DISABLED LIST

7/11: RHP Forrest Whitley (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day DL
7/11: RHP Carlos Sierra (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day DL
6/19: OF Drew Ferguson (Fresno) placed on the 7-day DL (hand)
6/1: LHP Yeremi Ceballos (DSL) placed on the 60-day DL
6/1: RHP Carlos Quintero (DSL) placed on the 60-day DL
5/26: RHP David Paulino (Fresno) placed on the 7-day DL (retroactive to the 25th)
5/4: RHP Francis Martes (Fresno) placed on the 7-day DL
5/3+/-: RHP Gerardo Bojorquez had TJ surgery per Instagram post
4/5: RHP Ryan Thompson assigned to Fresno (starting the season on the 7-day DL); according to Instagram Ryan has had surgery, but I don't know whether or not it was TJ
4/5: RHP Matt Ruppenthal assigned to Quad Cities (starting the season on the 7-day DL; according to Instagram, Ruppenthal had elbow surgery to transpose the ulnar nerve in early April and started to throw mid-June)
4/5: RHP Ángel Heredia (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day DL
4/5: RHP Nick Hernandez (Corpus Christi) placed on the 7-day DL (Tommy John)
No date: RHP Alex House (Tri-City) appears to be on the DL per his Instagram account but working his way back (end of June)

ASTROS MILB RESTRICTED LIST

6/22: RHP Yoanys Quiala placed on the restricted list (80 game suspension for performance-enhancing substance); Quiala won't be eligible to play again until approximately mid-April of 2019.

MISSING IN ACTION

Now that all of the short season teams have started playing, I've gone through my records and the following players all show as "active" on MiLB, but they haven't played yet this season. If anyone has any info on the following players, please let me know.

RHP Hunter Martin
LHP Javier Navas
RHP Kyle Serrano - made his first appearance of the season for the GCL team 7/6

I will be keeping track of all the releases, retirements, trades and signings for the 2018 season here.

FEATURED PLAYER

CF Andy Pineda: super quick-twitch athlete, 80 runner, sneaky pop, plus CF, 3.65 jailbreaker, great makeup. Not surprised one iota. @cchooks @DSLAstros #Astros

— Oz (@OcampoBaseball) July 3, 2018

You can be forgiven if you don't know who Andy Piñeda is. Although he is in his fifth season with the Astros organization, he had not progressed beyond short season Tri-City until his June 29th promotion to Corpus Christi. His 2017 season with Tri-City was rather uneven, but the Astros front office must have seen marked improvement in the 21-year old Dominican in his time at extended Spring Training this year since Piñeda played only four games with Tri-City before leapfrogging the two full season A-level teams and landing directly with the AA Hooks. Part of the reasoning for this move is likely that the Astros have been, for the most part, moving players much more aggressively over the past couple of years, particularly those that have been in the system for four or five years. But it is unlikely that they would have moved Piñeda all the way to AA unless they felt he was up to the challenge. And he certainly has proven that he is in the early going. In 11 games with the Hooks, he is hitting .364/.417/.591 with two doubles, a triple and two home runs. Yes, it is a small sample size, but with Piñeda's speed, defensive capabilities and developing power, he will be a fun player to watch.

Andy Piñeda - July 2018

Photo by Jayne Hansen

ASTROS MILB STANDINGS
Up and down arrows represent increase/decrease in win percentage over the prior week.

FRESNO (Pacific Coast League)

🠋1st 54-39 .581 -.-GB W2

CORPUS CHRISTI (Texas League)

🠋1st 60-32 .652 -.-GB L1 (overall)
1st 17-6 .739 -.-GB L1 (second half)
1st 43-26 .623 -.-GB W5 (first half division winner)

The Hooks have made the playoffs as the first half winners of the Texas League South Division.

BUIES CREEK (Carolina League)

🠋2nd 53-41 .564 4.0GB L1 (overall)
2nd 16-9 .640 0.5GB L1 (second half)
2nd 37-32 .536 3.5GB L1 (first half)

QUAD CITIES (Midwest League)

🠉2nd 52-41 .559 0.5GB W1 (overall)
T4th 12-11 .522 3.5GB W1 (second half)
1st 40-30 .571 -.-GB W6 (first half division winner)

The River Bandits have made the playoffs as the first half winners of the Midwest League Western Division.

TRI-CITY (New York-Penn League)
🠉1st 17-12 .586 -.-GB W2

GCL ASTROS (Gulf Coast League)
🠉3rd 12-11 .522 4.0GB W6

DSL ASTROS (Dominican Summer League Northwest)
🠉6th 15-21 .417 10.0GB L1

NEWS AND LINKS

Gilberto Celestino, who just made our Prospect Team of the Week, is off to a 🔥 start for @ValleyCats this week, too: 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs & a SB. 5 straight multi-hit games for the #Astros' No. 22 prospect: https://t.co/7k5y8upli6 pic.twitter.com/AZLrV29NF0

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 9, 2018

Hooks 3B Abraham Toro (see below for my interview with him) made FanGraphs Fringe Five. h/t to Astros County

Astros 2017 1st round pick J.B. Bukauskas is making his way back.

A cold, nasty Spring did not help MiLB attendance numbers.

FanGraphs updated their Top 10 Astros prospects. Notably, Hooks RHP Corbin Martin's stock is on the rise. Look for my interview with him coming out later this week.

The social media post for the new draft picks has been updated to denote those players who have officially signed.

And in case you missed any of these, here are my recent interviews:

RHP Corbin Martin (Corpus Christi) - coming soon
3B Abraham Toro (Corpus Christi)
RHP Trent Thornton (Fresno)
OF Chas McCormick (Buies Creek, since promoted to Corpus Christi)
OF J.J. Matijevic (Buies Creek)
RHP Brandon Bielak (Buies Creek, since promoted to Corpus Christi)
LHP Brett Adcock (Buies Creek)
SS Alex De Goti (Corpus Christi)
1B Taylor Jones (Corpus Christi, since promoted to Fresno)
RHP Brock Dykxhoorn (Corpus Christi, since promoted to Fresno)