Astros Farm Report: 9-16

One final regularly scheduled Astros farm report to wrap up the season ...

Two teams (Fayetteville and Round Rock) made it to their respective League Championship Series, but ultimately neither team was able to bring home the hardware. The Astros minor league season officially ended on Saturday with Fayetteville's loss to Wilmington in Game 5. Despite a brilliant outing from MLB Pipeline 29th ranked Astro prospect Luis Garcia (6.1 IP 3H 1R 0BB 11K), Garcia was charged with the loss as the solo home run he allowed in the fourth inning proved to be all the run support Wilmington needed.

There will be one final minor league game on Tuesday as the Pacific Coast League Champion Sacramento River Cats will face the International League Champion Columbus Clippers for a one-game winner-take-all AAA Championship game on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. CT at the Memphis Redbirds Autozone Park. The game will be televised on FS1.

ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS

Here are the final roster moves for the minor league season. An ongoing list of all of the 2019 season transactions and roster moves can be found here.

9-14: IF Jack Mayfield recalled to Houston
9-13: SS Carlos Correa sent to Round Rock on a rehab assignment
9-7: SS/2B Anibal Sierra assigned to Round Rock from Corpus Christi
9-7: RHP Bryan Abreu recalled to Houston
9-7: RHP Colin McKee assigned to Round Rock from Corpus Christi
9-5: LHP Reymin Guduan released
9-5: OF/SS Myles Straw recalled to Houston
9-5: IF Osvaldo Duarte assigned to Round Rock from Corpus Christi
9-4: RHP Bryan Abreu assigned to Round Rock from Corpus Christi
9-4: RHP Forrest Whitley assigned to Round Rock from Corpus Christi
9-4: OF Ramiro Rodriguez (Quad Cities) activated from the IL
9-4: IF Michael Wielansky (Quad Cities) activated from the IL
9-4: 1B Zach Biermann assigned to Tri-City from Quad Cities
9-4: SS AJ Lee assigned to Tri-City from Quad Cities
9-4: RHP Jairo Lopez assigned to Quad Cities from Tri-City
9-3: LHP Reymin Guduan activated from the restricted list and designated for assignment
9-3: RHP Francis Martes assigned to Corpus Christi from Round Rock
9-2: LHP Cionel Perez recalled to Houston
9-2: C Garrett Stubbs recalled to Houston
9-2: OF Kyle Tucker recalled to Houston
9-2: OF Granden Goetzman (Corpus Christi) activated from the IL
9-2: OF Stephen Wrenn assigned to Round Rock from Corpus Christi
9-2: 2B/3B Enmanuel Valdez (Fayetteville) placed on the 7-day IL
9-2: RHP Francis Martes (Round Rock) activated from the IL
9-2: RHP Yeremi Ceballos assigned to Fayetteville from Tri-City
9-2: LHP Juan Pablo Lopez assigned to Quad Cities from Tri-City
9-1: RHP Francis Martes (Round Rock) sent to Quad Cities on a rehab assignment

2019 FINAL SEASON STANDINGS

AAA ROUND ROCK (Pacific Coast League/American Southern Division)
Division Winner
Won over Iowa in Semifinals 3-2
Lost to Sacramento in LCS 0-3

1st 84-56 .600 -.-GB L1

AA CORPUS CHRISTI (Texas League/South Division)

4th 66-73 .475 7.0GB L3

ADV A FAYETTEVILLE (Carolina League/Southern Division)
2nd half Division Winner
Won over Down East in the Semifinals 3-2
Lost to Wilmington in LCS 2-3

3rd 72-67 .518 15.0GB W2

LOW A QUAD CITIES (Midwest League/Western Division)
1st half Division Winner
Lost to Cedar Rapids in MWL Quarterfinals 1-2

2nd 79-57 .581 0.5GB W1

SHORT SEASON A TRI-CITY (New York-Penn League/Stedler Division)
4th 32-42 .432 9.0GB W3

ROOKIE LEVEL GULF COAST LEAGUE (East Division)
4th 25-26 .490 3.5GB W1

ROOKIE LEVEL DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE (Northwest Division)
2nd 38-31 .551 2.5GB W2

INTERVIEWS

The following links are to the interviews I conducted during the 2019 season. Here is a full list of links to all of the interviews I've done since December 2011.

Colin McKee
Enoli Paredes and Cristian Javier
Cesar Salazar
Brett Daniels
Felipe Tejada
AJ Lee
Peyton Battenfield
Franny Cobos and Juan Pablo Lopez
Austin Hansen
Jake Adams
Nivaldo Rodriguez and Enmanuel Valdez
Colton Shaver
Brett Conine
Bryan Abreu and Ronel Blanco
Granden Goetzman
Osvaldo Duarte and Jose Urquidy
Stephen Wrenn

WATCH THIS SPACE

If you are a regular reader, you know that I have regularly featured players who I felt were flying below the radar this season, in other words, players who weren't considered top prospects. Two of those players (Nivaldo Rodriguez and Taylor Jones) have since been included on MLB Pipeline's Top Prospect List for the Astros at #26 and #28 respectively and I wouldn't be surprised to see others added to the list as some of the current top prospects graduate over time.

But one of the biggest impacts this season has been the emergence of several Latin pitchers who seemingly came out of nowhere. Coming into the season, Cristian Javier (#10), Jose Urquidy (#12), Nivaldo Rodriguez (#26), Luis Garcia (#29) and Jose Alberto Rivera (#30) were not ranked at all by MLB Pipeline. But some of us have been paying attention all along. I would advise against getting wrapped up in the MLB June Draft as the be-all and end-all of player acquisition. The Astros have done an excellent job on the international front and the fruits of those labors are really starting to show.

So my final Watch This Space of the 2019 season is to remind you not to forget about the Latin players in the system. This group below from Corpus Christi represented 188 appearances (61 starts), a 32-26 record with 23 saves, and a 3.06 ERA and 1.169 WHIP over 558.2 innings. They combined for 708 strikeouts (11.4 SO/9). Watch this space ...

(L-R) Enoli Paredes, Erasmo Pinales, Bryan Abreu,

Yohan Ramirez, Carlos Sanabria, Willy Collado,

and Cristian Javier

2016 Interviews and Profiles

It's time to clean up the interview list on the front page of the blog and move the links to the 2016 interviews. Here are the interviews and profiles from last year (in alphabetical order).

Andrew Aplin and Nolan Fontana - 6/23/16

Carmen Benedetti - 7/22/16

Alex Bregman - 4/26/16

Randy Cesar and Hector Perez - 7/21/16

Ryan Deemes - 3/10/16

Frankeny Fernandez - 9/1/16

Kyle Hallock - 8/19/16

Ryan Hartman - 7/27/16

Josh James - 6/21/16

Ramon Laureano - 6/17/16

Connor MacDonald - 9/16/16

Brendan McCurry - 4/29/16

Antonio Nunez - 10/14/16

Chuckie Robinson - 7/29/16

Brady Rodgers - 6/12/16

Jake Rogers - 7/26/16

Ben Smith - 9/8/16

Cy Sneed - 5/3/16

Garrett Stubbs - 6/15/16

Andrew Thome - 6/1/16

Stijn Van der Meer - 9/14/16

Jimmy Van Ostrand - 7/8/16

Trent Woodward - 1/20/16

2015 Interviews and Profiles

It's time to clean up the interview list on the front page of the blog and move the links to the 2015 interviews. Here are the interviews and profiles from last year:

Jordan "Funky" Comadena - 7/24/15

Kirk Clark - 4/1/15

Carlos Correa - 6/8/15

Chris Cotton - 7/21/15

J.D. Davis - 6/4/15

Dean Deetz - 8/14/15

Chris Devenski - 5/15/15

Justin Ferrell - 1/8/15

Tyler Heineman - 6/11/15

James Hoyt - 12/15/15

Jon Kemmer - 3/16/15

Jack Mayfield - 8/1/15

Jason Martin - 8/12/15

Chase McDonald - 9/4/15

Brandon Meredith - 5/4/15

Albert Minnis - 6/5/15

Bryan Muniz - 8/18/15

Joe Musgrove - 6/2/15

Steve Naemark - 7/8/15

Tyson Perez - 6/9/15

Eric Peterson - 2/26/15

Brett Phillips - 6/12/15

Bryan Radziewski - 5/27/15

A.J. Reed - 6/1/15

Tommy Shirley - 5/28/15

Jon Singleton - 5/26/15

Nick Tanielu - 8/21/15

Aaron West - 6/30/15

Kyle Westwood - 5/13/15

Tyler White - 5/6/15

Keegan Yuhl - 3/12/15

2014 Interviews and Profiles

My interview and profile links are getting really lengthy on the front page so I'm going to consolidate the links from 2014 into one post for the front page. Here are the links in alphabetical order with the publication dates of the interviews/profiles indicated.

OF Andrew Aplin - 4/30/14

RHP Mark Appel - 2/5/14

OF Bobby Boyd - 8/6/14

RHP Tyler Brunnemann - 6/27/14

Special Assistant to the GM Enos Cabell - 2/20/14

RHP Kevin Comer - 6/25/14

SS Carlos Correa - 6/6/14

RHP Jamaine Cotton - 6/3/14

LHP Kent Emanuel - 12/9/14

OF Derek Fisher - 8/15/14

RHP Devonte German - 7/9/14

OF Justin Gominsky - 8/27/14

C Alfredo Gonzalez - 8/5/14

RHP Aaron Greenwood - 7/12/14

1B Conrad Gregor - 8/22/14

LHP Evan Grills - 7/1/14

LHP Josh Hader - 6/9/14

OF Teoscar Hernandez - 6/13/14

C Brian Holberton - 7/3/14

2B Tony Kemp - 6/10/14

RHP Jordan Jankowski - 11/13/14

LHP Mitch Lambson - 6/11/14

1B Mike Martinez - 7/14/14

RHP Lance McCullers- 6/4/14

OF Sean McMullen - 7/15/14

3B Jonathan Meyer - 1/22/14

LHP Jordan Mills - 5/13/14

OF Brett Phillips - 1/7/14

RHP Francis Ramirez - 8/5/14

C Jamie Ritchie - 8/8/14

RHP Brady Rodgers - 5/6/14

3B Rio Ruiz - 5/13/14

RHP Gonzalo Sanudo - 5/30/14

IF/OF Joe Sclafani - 2/17/14

RHP Troy Scribner - 8/13/14

LHP Tommy Shirley - 5/14/14

OF Preston Tucker - 5/7/14

OF Danry Vasquez - 6/13/14

RHP Derick Velazquez - 8/12/14

C/LF/1B/DH Trent Woodward - 7/16/14

2013 Interviews and Profiles

My interview and profile links are getting really lengthy on the front page so I'm going to consolidate the links from 2013 into one post for the front page. Here are the links in alphabetical order with the dates of the interviews/profiles indicated.

2013 Interviews

Andrew Aplin - 5/21/13

Travis Ballew - 5/16/13

Joe Bircher - 5/8/13

Josh Bonifay - 8/29/13

Jake Buchanan - 2/12/13

Jake Buchanan #2 - 5/31/13

M.P. Cokinos - 7/3/13

Jarred Cosart - 6/19/13

Delino DeShields - 8/6/13

Michael Dimock - 7/2/13

Jonas Dufek - 8/27/13

Matt Duffy - 6/28/13

Austin Elkins - 5/6/13

Morgan Ensberg - 5/19/13

Mike Foltynewicz - 5/30/13

Nolan Fontana - 5/24/13

Justin Gominsky - 4/17/13

Dan Gulbransen - 2/18/13

Brian Holmes - 1/8/13

Tony Kemp - 7/15/13

Sebastian Kessay - 8/15/13

Chris Lee - 8/21/13

Rodney Linares - 6/26/13

Jeff Luhnow Part 1 - 12/3/13

Jeff Luhnow Part 2 - 12/4/13

Tanner Mathis - 11/20/13

Brandon Meredith - 5/23/13

Jio Mier - 6/3/13

Ronnie Mitchell - 7/17/13

Telvin Nash - 5/15/13

Ben Orloff - 6/4/13

Roberto Pena - 5/4/13

David Rollins - 5/22/13

Domingo Santana - 6/6/13

Jason Schwartz - 4/10/13

Joe Sclafani - 7/1/13

Tommy Shirley - 11/12/13

Andy Simunic - 6/20/13

Alex Sogard - 1/15/13

Mark Spadavecchia - 10/11/13

Johnny Stewart - 12/10/13

Andrew Thurman - 7/19/13

Nick Tropeano - 6/5/13

Preston Tucker - 5/20/13

Patrick Urckfitz - 10/16/13

Vincent Velasquez - 5/1/13

Tyler White - 11/1/13

Marc Wik - 8/19/13

Asher Wojciechowski - 6/21/13

WTHB - 6/2/13

An Interview with Andrew Aplin

When I spoke with Manager Rodney Linares about Andrew Aplin, he had this to say about him, "Appy's just a baseball player. [He] and [Nolan] Fontana are the definition of a baseball player. Fontana's got a little bit more finesse. Aplin is just greedy and getting after it, dirty, plays hard. Love him to death. Got a chance to be whatever he wants to be in this game. As solid as they come."

Interestingly enough, both Linares and Hitting Coach Darryl Robinson spent a lot of time enumerating all of the things that Aplin needs to work on: swinging at pitches in his zone and not trying to hit the pitcher's pitch, finding his power stroke, getting a better read on the pitcher as he runs bases. But that's not because Aplin isn't good, but as Robinson puts it, "I see more for him and he does too." Aplin is, as Morgan Ensberg might put it, a "Really Good Player," but Linares and Robinson both seem to think that Aplin can be so much more.

Andrew Aplin - May 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Let's hear from the man himself (edited for brevity and clarity) ~

What does he bring to the game and what is he trying to improve on?: "I think I’m a real big team guy. I like to bring a lot of energy, a lot of hustle and try to just lead by example, more of an example guy than a vocal guy. So I just try to play as hard as I can all the time to try to set that tone. Things I’m trying to improve on … just trying to drive the ball the other way using the whole field. I’ve been working with the hitting coach on that. It’s getting better."

What does he think Robinson had to say about him?: "He probably said I still have a lot of improvement which I do. Been in there consistently in the cage working with me. I love the guy. He is a real fun guy to be around. [On hearing the assessment that he hits like he has a chip on his shoulder.] I’m a little guy out there so I have to act like a big guy."

On his lefty/righty splits: "This year it’s been better off of righties, but over the years through college, it’s been about the same. My freshman year in college I struggled with it so I’ve worked on it a lot and practiced it hitting off our pitchers and it really helped me adjust to lefties, just learning [a good] approach to the lefties is what helped me the most."

Which Astros pitcher would he least like to face?: "I’ve never hit off of Kenny Long before but I see how he make some hitters look. I’d like to stand in there, but I don’t know if I’d like it to be in the stat book. Just something about him, whatever he’s throwing up there, it’s got to be really good because I stand in the outfield in awe sometimes. It’s pretty impressive. You see this kid walk up there, 160 pounds, and he’s just striking people out and getting them out left and right. It’s impressive. It’s really impressive. I played with him in summer ball in college in the Cape Cod [league] so I knew him before he got drafted [and] I was glad to have him [in the Astros organization]."

On his defensive skills: "I take defense really serious. Just because you can’t ever slump on defense. If [I'm] not hitting, I’d better be doing something else to help the team win. If it’s making a diving play, [if] it’s throwing somebody out, I always want to be a part of the team."

Who on the team makes him laugh?: "I like Brandon Meredith. He’s a character. I get to play outfield with him every day and he just makes you laugh nonstop all day. Him or Fontana. I’m roommates with Fontana and we’re nonstop joking with each other and messing around with each other so those two guys."

Who on the team does he like to just sit back and watch play?: "On this team I’d probably say Fontana. Kind of just sit back and just watch him. He hits the ball. He plays defense. He’s just a down dirty-nosed type player. Every night he’s just going to bring as much as he has and leave it all on the field. It’s just impressive to watch."

Was he surprised about skipping Low A last season?: "It was a big surprise. Getting drafted, just that half-year, [I] did pretty well in New York and they told me I was going up so I figured I was going to Low A, and when they told me I was coming up to High A, I was just really proud, happy, thankful. When I got here, the guys took me in under their wing really good and we gelled as a team and won the whole thing."

What would he do if he couldn't play baseball?: "If I couldn’t play baseball, and if I had the money, I’d just like to golf every day. If not, stay around the game, coach kids and help people grow as players, just share experiences and share my knowledge of the game."

Something most people don't know about him: "As serious as I look on the field, I’m actually a big jokester. I like to have fun with the game. That’s what it is. It’s a game. You’ve got to have fun with it or it’s going to eat you alive so I like to go out there and joke around when it’s the time to joke around and try to keep the team loose."

How does this Lancaster team compare to last year's team?: "I’d say it’s just as good if not better. We have a lot of talent out here … a lot of good pitchers, a lot of hitting, a lot of guys that don’t take the game too seriously so when they’re not doing too well it’s not like you don’t want to be around them. Everybody wants to be around each other all the time so it kind of keeps the team going and doesn’t separate anybody from the team. That last two weeks [last year] we had unbelievable chemistry but I definitely see it in this team [as well]. In the clubhouse, everybody is just mixed together ... pitchers, hitters, nobody really separates."

What does he think about the Astros minor league system?: "This whole minor-league system ... it’s unbelievable how much talent we have and how many young guys that are already really good and really mature and are going to be pretty awesome down the road. There are a lot of opportunities in this organization. It keeps you motivated. The depth in this organization is unbelievable."

According to Linares, you could insert Aplin into a major league roster today and he wouldn't embarrass himself because he does so many things the right way right now, but he sees a guy who will develop into a player who will give you 15 or 20 home runs, 40 doubles, 50 steals and provide great centerfield defense to boot. Linares left me with this final thought about Aplin, "He's got a chance to be however good he wants to be and I think he wants to be really, really good. That's scary a little bit." Yeah, scary good.

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

Thank you for your time, Andrew, and best of luck as the season unfolds.

An Interview with Astros OF Preston Tucker

Preston Tucker seems like kind of a quiet guy, but that may be because he lets his bat do the talking for him. Before I spoke with Tucker, I had already talked to Hitting Coach Darryl Robinson to get his take on Tucker. Robinson's eyes lit up, "Tuck. Tuck. You know, the ball comes off his bat like never before. He hits the ball hard."

The next day I talked to Manager Rodney Linares about Tucker,  "His name's Bam Bam. He's one of loudest bats I've ever listened to. I'm talking about, he ranks up there with Vlad Guerrero and those guys. It's LOUD. People talk about the park where we play at, but when Tucker hits them, he hits them. It doesn't matter [where]. He's got a chance to be a special bat. Not only hit for power but hit for average. He's going to drive the ball and it doesn't matter if it's righty or lefty. He's getting better at the left-handers. If you hang it, he's going to bang it. That's what Bam Bam does."

It's all still a work in progress as Robinson works with Tucker to use the whole field and drive the ball to all parts of the ballpark. Robinson described a recent series where Tucker struggled because they were pitching him in, but he made the necessary adjustments and hit a double and base hit the other way in the last game of the series. Linares agrees that Tucker needs to refine his approach at the plate, but also notes that he is encouraged by his play in right field, "He's learning to play right field. He's getting good at it."

Preston Tucker - May 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

One of the first things I talked to Tucker about was how scouts seemed to downplay his talent prior to the draft despite his terrific college stats. Was he aware of that?: "Yeah, kind of. Most of the time numbers aren’t everything in college. You see some guys come out of college, but didn’t have great numbers that are really good and progressed pretty quickly through organizations and you see some guys with really good numbers in college [that] kind of fell short of expectations. I just do my thing. I had success in college. I plan on carrying it over. Someone told me I wasn’t going to be successful. I’ll just give it my best shot and hopefully it continues. So far I feel like I’ve been successful in professional ball and hopefully I keep it up. It's all where you end up really."

What does he bring to the game?: "Obviously I think my biggest asset would be my hitting. I can play the field. I’m not going to go out there and surprise anybody, wow anybody out there. I can play the corners. I played first [base] my first two years of college so I think I have some versatility and can play pretty much anywhere anyone needs me. I’ve been playing a little bit of both. I’ve been playing left and right here. I feel comfortable at both positions so I’m just kind of going out there wherever I see myself in the lineup. [Is he comfortable as a DH?] If it comes to that, yes. For the most part I do like playing at DH, but [it can be] a little tough. Especially [when] you have to sit and wait your turn, think about hitting the whole time, rather than go out there, focus on defense and base-running, and what not, but if that’s where someone wants to put me, I’d be more than happy to do that as well."

Which Astros pitcher would he least like to face?: "There’s a lot of good guys. One guy that I played college ball with [in Florida], I haven’t faced in this organization, obviously, [is] Kevin Chapman. He’s up in Triple-A Oklahoma City. He’s a big 6’4” lefty and throws hard, good slider and no one could hit him when I played college ball, especially lefties so that would be someone that I would probably have to battle. My confidence probably wouldn’t be as high as I’d like [it to be] against him."

What would he do if he couldn't play baseball? "I graduated from college with an anthropology degree, don’t know why. That’s the degree I got. I kind of got put in there as a freshman, hadn't decided what I wanted to do. Still haven’t decided what I want to do. I’d be going back to grad school, I guess, would be the right answer." [He went on to tell me that he's somewhat interested in business, advertising and finance.]

What did he think about getting drafted by the Astros?: "It was unexpected, that’s for sure. Beforehand, I hadn’t heard from them. My agents spoke with a couple teams but I didn’t know the Astros were interested. I knew they had picked a lot of great players before me so I was kind of excited to get in the organization, especially with Fontana having already gone to them. We were still playing. We still had probably about a month left of college ball because we had the whole playoffs to go, but it was definitely in the back of my mind the whole time we were playing college ball. I was looking forward to getting ready and starting my career with the Astros."

What does he think about the Astros farm system?: "When I got to spring training, I see all this talent, especially the outfield. I asked some guys who had been here if other organizations are like this and they said, 'No, this is something special.' There’s so much talent and a lot of guys are still working their way up [that] would already be up in the big leagues on a lot of teams just because there are so many. It’s kind of backed up because there are so many good players. I think some guys will weed themselves out. Some guys will just ride their way all the way to the big leagues and I think we’ll have a successful team in a couple of years."

Who on the team makes him laugh?: "Brandon Meredith. Absolutely. He’s always in a good mood. He sits right behind me on the bus. He’s a fun guy to talk to. He’s a fun guy to hang out with. One of my other good buddies, M. P. Cokinos, he’s one of those guys who’s really easy-going, always in a good mood. Both of those guys are just hard workers so they are always focused, but like to joke around too. I like to surround myself with those guys."

On something most people don't know about him: "I play guitar. I guess that some people don’t know [that]. I’m not going to give you something embarrassing or anything like that. I like to play guitar. It’s one of my hobbies. I normally shut it down during the season because I don’t like to haul the guitar around with me wherever I go. But in the off-season, I do like to pick it back up and it’s something to pass the time, when you’re bored. It’s something I’ve done since the eighth grade and I just enjoy doing it. I’m not too interesting. I just play baseball. Wake up. Eat some breakfast. Go to the field."

Rodney Linares had something else to say about Tucker that really stood out for me, "It's a really good mix when you have guys like Tucker and [Matt] Duffy who are really quiet and to themselves when the game's going on, but they're actually awesome teammates. They pull for each other so bad. It's more like a family than a team and that's one of the things I like." It seems that, although Tucker is a quiet guy, he lets his bat and his actions on the field speak for him. And those are just loud enough.

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

Thank you for your time, Preston, and best of luck as the season unfolds.

Checking in with Delino DeShields

As you may recall, Delino DeShields has agreed to check in from time-to-time throughout the season. This time, I was able to literally catch up with him in person on Sunday, the day he was activated from the DL.

DeShields hasn't been able to get much momentum going yet this season with injuries to his finger and thumb. According to Hitting Coach Darryl Robinson, Delino's timing was off after the first injury and he was just getting back in stride when he was injured again. Robinson is working with DeShields to make sure he sees some pitches, works the counts and does what a good lead-off man does. If he does that, the hits will follow.

Checking in with Mike Foltynewicz

As you may recall, Mike Foltynewicz has agreed to check in from time to time throughout the season and let us know how things are going for him. (Here's the first of our chats from back in early February.) I had the opportunity to talk with Mike this past Friday, shortly after his golf outing.

Mike Foltynewicz

Photo by Jayne Hansen

WTH: How would you compare this Spring Training with Spring Training a year ago?

MF: We didn't have that many trade guys coming in and that much competition really last year. It was more laid back, just trying to go in and to get your work done. We kind of knew our positions already half way in Spring Training. This year, I got called in and [was told], 'You'll compete with eight guys to go to a team.' And that's way different from last year. It's a lot more competition this year. We've got more guys that came in from trades and the new draft guys and older guys trickling down from [major league camp] and it's a whole different level. It's friendly competition basically, but it's a little more competitive than last year. You can kind of feel it in the air when you're out there practicing. Guys are really trying to compete for the club out there.

WTH: How would you characterize the general atmosphere and the coaching as compared to a year ago?

MF: Last year it was a lot more laid back I guess you could say, and this year they're really pushing us and really getting on us. They want to compete and they want to win also, just like us. They're out there every day giving it their all just like us. It's a pretty big difference. Mr. Luhnow did a good job bringing in a lot of new guys that are pretty good and know what they're doing so it's really exciting this year. Last year was just kind of going through the motions and this year it's pretty intense, pretty exciting.

WTH: What do you feel you've accomplished so far this spring?

MF: I think I've accomplished a lot. I've proved myself. I think the number one question was, 'Was last year a fluke or could he do it again, have a good year wherever he's at.' I think I've proved a lot. I even got a big league inning a couple weeks ago and I've done pretty good. I think I've thrown about seven innings in Spring Training so far and I've only given up two hits and one walk and some of those were against major league batters and AAA guys.

My fastball command has been a lot better than in previous years and my curveball's coming along great and my change up is coming along outstanding. I think I've basically started where I left off last year and brought it into Spring Training, more confident and doing a little bit more to try to earn a spot in Corpus because, like I said, they told me when I came in that there would be eight or nine fighting for a spot in Corpus. 'You've got to go out there and show us that's where you want to be,' and I think I've gone out there and done that for sure.

Good Luck, Mike! I hope to check in with you again in a few weeks.

Checking In With Mike Foltynewicz

Astros Minor League Player of the Year Delino DeShields and Pitcher of the Year Mike Foltynewicz have agreed to participate in a series of mini-interviews throughout the season. I caught up with DeShields a couple of weeks ago. Now it's Folty's turn.

WTH: 2012 was a great breakthrough season for you culminating in being named as the Astros minor league Pitcher of the Year. What are some of the special memories you'll have of this season when you look back on it years from now?

MF: Going down [to Houston] to get the Pitcher of the Year award meant a lot to me. It will be in my memories forever because there were a lot of great players in the organization that had great years. Just to be a part of that meant my hard work and my dedication is paying off. There are a lot of good players in the organization so I'm really proud of that.

[Another great memory] is going down to Charleston for the All-Star game, just going down there with all the guys. I got pretty close to them going down there and having a good time, and just playing in that All-Star game meant a lot to me. It was a lot of fun, and getting to know the other players on the other teams was pretty cool.

It was awesome getting close with teammates during the year ... [Matt] Duffy, [Nick] Tropeano, [Nate] Pettus, [Brandon] Meredith, [Zach] Johnson and all those guys ... they kind of took me under their wings. It was fun hanging out with those guys.

I had a ton of confidence and it's a ton of fun when you are winning and having a good year. I guess you can say it was just a special year.

WTH: What have you been doing in the off-season to prepare for the upcoming season?

MF: The off-season has been going well. I've been working out 4-5 times a week and I have been throwing the past three weeks or so. I'm just working hard like I always do, hitting the gym, running and throwing to prepare myself for the upcoming year. And trust me, I'm working hard.

WTH: What have you been doing in the off-season for fun?

MF: For fun in the off-season? Well, I love to golf, so I tried to get as much in when I got home from the season. I golfed for a good month or two when I got home in September, and actually got to hit the links once in January! But other than that, I'm just trying to spend time with my friends and family before I have to take off for spring training.

WTH: What do you hope to accomplish in Spring Training?

MF: I hope to accomplish a lot during spring training ... try to clean up my mechanics and focus on commanding my fastball, get more confidence in my change up and tighten up my curveball. I just want to continue where I left off last year in spring training and hopefully I prove some people wrong on where I deserve to be this year.

Interview and Profile Links from 2011 and 2012

My interview and profile links are getting really lengthy on the front page so I'm going to consolidate the links from late 2011 through 2012 into one post for the front page. Here are the links in alphabetical order with the dates of the interviews/profiles indicated.

R.J. Alaniz - 8/15/12

Adam Bailey - 3/13/12

Brandon Barnes - 1/31/12

Brian Blasik - 9/14/12

Keith Bodie - 6/13/12

Erik Castro - 8/16/12

Kevin Chapman - 6/22/12

Jason Chowning - 2/21/12

Kirk Clark - 5/21/12

Ryan Cole - 12/12/11

Carlos Correa - 8/22/12

Jarred Cosart - 1/17/12

Delino DeShields - 5/23/12

Chris Devenski - 12/12/12

Bobby Doran - 6/6/12

Matt Duffy - 2/28/12

Chris Epps - 8/16/12

Mike Fast - 12/18/12

Mike Foltynewicz Interview - 5/7/12

Mike Foltynewicz Profile - 6/7/12

Jake Goebbert - 6/18/12

Kyle Hallock - 12/5/11

Mike Hauschild - 11/7/12

Bobby Heck, Pt. 1 - 7/2/12

Bobby Heck, Pt. 2 - 7/3/12

Tyler Heineman - 12/4/12

Enrique Hernandez - 8/13/12

Chris Hicks - 3/29/12

John Hinson - 2/7/12

Adrian Houser - 1/24/12

Adrian Houser - 8/23/12

Jordan Jankowski - 9/13/12

Zach Johnson Interview - 5/9/12

Zach Johnson Profile - 5/13/12

Kenny Long - 10/9/12

Jeff Luhnow - 11/29/12

Lance McCullers - 8/30/12

Chelsa Messinger - 10/30/12

Jio Mier - 2/14/12

Daniel Minor - 9/18/12

Joe Musgrove - 9/6/12

Brett Oberholtzer Interview - 7/31/12

Brett Oberholtzer Profile - 8/26/12

Rudy Owens - 10/23/12

Tyson Perez - 10/16/12

Brett Phillips - 10/2/12

Greg Rajan - 11/20/12

Andrew Robinson - 8/14/12

Brady Rodgers - 11/13/12

Rio Ruiz - 8/28/12

Jordan Scott - 5/11/12

Ross Seaton - 5/31/12

Jon Singleton Profile - 6/17/12

Jon Singleton Interview - 6/28/12

George Springer - 8/9/12

Jason Stoffel Profile - 6/25/12

Jason Stoffel Interview - 7/23/12

Alex Todd - 8/6/12

Nick Tropeano - 5/14/12

Rafy Valenzuela - 1/10/12

Austin Wates Interview - 6/20/12

Austin Wates Profile - 7/5/12

Aaron West - 9/26/12

Josh Zeid - 3/23/12

Jeff Luhnow Interview Part 4

In Part 4 of my interview with Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, we talked about rebuilding and his first year in Houston. Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the interview are here, here and here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I asked Luhnow what he thought was the biggest misconception about rebuilding a team. “First of all, I don’t think people understand [that] rebuilding comes in a lot of different forms. There’s rebuilding the major league team -- you could have a bunch of veteran players and you promote the prospects -- that’s technically considered rebuilding, but that’s just getting younger and going with your prospects as opposed to your veterans. That’s one form of rebuilding. And actually there’s also the idea of rebuilding while you’re good at the major league level. That’s something that we did in St. Louis. The team was having a lot of success – ’04, ’05, ’06, back in the playoffs in ’09, so the team really never went through a significant down cycle, but at the same time, there was a tremendous amount of effort going into injecting talent into the minor league system through the international program and the draft and some of the other things that were going on.

But, really, how long it takes to rebuild [is a big misconception]. In order to really understand how long it’s going to take, you need to have a pretty thorough understanding of what the system looks like in the minor leagues compared to other systems. And that can give you a hint as to whether it’s going to be a couple of years or five-plus years. We’ve seen teams like Pittsburgh and Washington and Kansas City (and Tampa Bay did it a while back) pick high in the draft for sometimes five years or more. And then even after that point, it takes a few years for those high-end players to come through the system and reach the big leagues. I think we’re looking at a much shorter time frame, hopefully. There’s a lot that needs to go right for that to happen, but because we were able to do some of the things we did this year with the trades, because we felt like we had a better system than we were being given credit for and because we’re just going to make sure that from now on, we utilize our draft pool and international pool to maximize the impact, [I think we are poised to make that happen]. I think every situation is unique and I think that’s probably the one thing that fans don’t necessarily understand. It seems like sometimes in other sports [when] you rebuild, you’re bad for a year or you’re bad for two years, and then you’re back. In baseball, it’s like turning a battleship around [my emphasis]. It’s not something that you can really do very quickly.”

The final question I had for Luhnow was what he thought about Houston after his first year as the Astros General Manager. “I love the city and I love the team and the fans are great. [Me: And the bloggers are a little insane?] No, the bloggers are great as well (laughter). I really appreciate the passion. It was one thing to have passionate bloggers and people following the minor leagues in St. Louis where the team was in the World Series and all that, but to have it here in Houston... There’s just such a core group of really passionate fans and followers, it’s great.

"I think we have our challenges ahead, but I like the team that we’re building here. We’ve basically replaced the entire front office. We’ve replaced a lot of the scouting, player development, the field staff, and I really believe that we have a staff in place now that can match up against any staff in baseball. And that’s a starting point because it’s a people business and people are the ones that make the decisions. We need to have the right people making the right decisions with the right information. I know it’s been frustrating for our fans to go through two seasons like we just went through and the only thing I can continue to promise (I won’t give a timeline because if I do, I’ll be wrong), but I promise that we are working as hard and as smart as we can to win as many games as quickly as possible at the big league level and, once we get there, [to] sustain that so it’s not a situation where … we made a run at it and now we have to go back and start over again. That’s the goal and I think we’re well on our way. The first year, while on paper at the big league level, may not appear to have been successful, the number of things that we were able to accomplish, setting up the infrastructure and the underlying fundamentals that are going to help us in the future -- it was a huge success. So the key for this next year is to continue to build on that and to allow some of that work to begin to show its fruits."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I sincerely thank Jeff Luhnow for taking the time to talk with me. Astros fans have been through some very trying times the last few seasons. Personally, I take comfort in knowing that the Astros system is being rebuilt the right way and that a smart, focused and highly motivated individual like Luhnow is in charge. I think he has this battleship turned around. Now it’s just a matter of getting it up to speed. That may take a while, but once we get there, I think we’ll be cruising along smoothly for a long time to come.

Jeff Luhnow Interview Part 3

In Part 3 of my interview with Jeff Luhnow, the topics were more wide-ranging. We talked about some of the problems that come with greater depth, protecting players in the Rule 5 draft, and winter league player control. Parts 1 and 2 are here and here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I asked Luhnow about whether he’d been to the Dominican Republic yet to look at the players in the instructional league in hopes I could hear about a player or two who had caught his eye. Alas, he won’t be going until after the winter baseball meetings, but told me that he would be going with Assistant GM David Stearns and Director of Latin American Scouting Oz Campo to “watch a couple games, do a couple tryouts.”

I mentioned something that Lancaster Manager Rodney Linares said to me in talking about the increasing depth in the farm system, calling it “a good mess.” Luhnow agreed that there are challenges, “Once you start to have depth, you put pressure on your 40-man, you have to worry about playing time. That decision [is something] that Quinton [new Director of Player Development Quinton McCracken] and the rest of us will have to make next year as far as who gets what spots, what level, what playing time. [It] becomes a much more important decision when you have a number of prospects and your system is starting to become more robust like ours is, so those decisions will be carefully weighed. It’s always a challenge not to over weigh what you see in Spring Training in two weeks of at-bats or in two weeks of innings pitched because, as we all know, Spring Training is an OK predictor of what’s going to happen during the season, but it’s not perfect and sometimes looking at [the player’s] track record may be just as important.”

I spoke with Luhnow on the 20th shortly before the 40-man roster had been set in advance of the Rule 5 draft. In speaking of the process of protecting players, he said, “I wouldn’t underestimate how difficult it is for a team to keep a player on their 25-man roster all year. It is a challenge. We were able to do it last year in large part because Marwin [Gonzalez] was so important to our team and he really became a regular player, and we have enough bullpen depth where we could pitch [Rhiner] Cruz in certain spots and not necessarily overexpose him so we were fortunate in that way. I think it would be a lot more challenging going forward to protect two more guys this year. We’re certainly going to take players but whether or not we are able to keep them? [It’s] going to be difficult to repeat that.”

I was curious about the level of control that the team has over players who play winter league ball in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, among other places. In particular, I was thinking of how Jimmy Paredes was being used extensively in the outfield in his time in the Dominican Republic. I assumed that this was something that the Astros front office would want as Paredes continues in his transition from second base to the outfield. According to Luhnow, “It’s a negotiation. What we do is whenever we can possibly legally prevent the team from using the player, we usually trigger that using the extreme fatigue clauses so that we can have a little more control over how they’re used. A lot of those players, we were able to say you can’t use them, but then we do allow them to play but under certain conditions. We do that whenever we can and that allows us, especially with pitchers, to dictate the number of innings, how they’re used, how often they can go back-to-back, all those types of things. And then with respect to Paredes, I think it’s a combination of he wanted to play outfield, we talked to the team and we asked them to make sure that he gets extensive playing time out there and it’s also just a good fit for them as well so … it’s a negotiation. There are ongoing relationships that we have with all the winter club teams and they know we’re all in this together for many years. They know if they do something against our wishes this year, it might come back to haunt them next year because we might not let them have the player they want so it’s definitely one of those things where we work collaboratively with a team.

On Thursday: Some final thoughts from Jeff Luhnow on rebuilding and his first year in Houston