World Baseball Classic: Checking in on the Astros

There's a break in the action today ahead of the World Baseball Classic semifinals which start tomorrow so it's as good a time as any to check in on the Astros who've been participating ...

Stijn van der Meer - August 2016

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Jose Altuve - Team Venezuela (eliminated in the 2nd round)
6G 23AB 3R 6H 1RBI 2SO .261/.292/.261

Nori Aoki - Team Japan (Semifinal 2 on Tuesday)
5G 20AB 5R 4H 3-2B 2RBI 3SO .200/.360/.350

Carlos Beltran - Team Puerto Rico (Semifinal 1 on Monday)
5G 17AB 4R 8H 1-2B 5RBI 5SO .471/.550/.529

Alex Bregman - Team USA (Semifinal 2 on Tuesday)
2G 4AB 2H 1SO .500/.600/.500

Carlos Correa - Team Puerto Rico (Semifinal 1 on Monday)
5G 14AB 5R 5H 2HR 6RBI 1SO 2SB .357/.524/.786

Stijn van der Meer - Team Netherlands (Semifinal 1 on Monday)
1G 1AB .000/.000/.000 (flew out to LF in only AB)

Dayan Diaz - Team Colombia (eliminated in the 1st round)
0-0 2G 1SV 2.0IP 2H 0BB 4SO 0.00ERA 1.000WHIP

Luke Gregerson - Team USA (Semifinal 2 on Tuesday)
0-0 2G 1SV 2.0IP 1BB 2SO 0.00ERA 0.500WHIP

The semifinals are single elimination. The finals will be on Wednesday. All games are at 8:00 CST.

World Baseball Classic Update

Astros farmhand Murilo Gouvea pitched three terrific scoreless innings in relief for Brazil, but it was the fourth that was his undoing. After allowing a single and two walks with only one out in the eighth inning, Gouvea was pulled and his replacement allowed all three inherited runners to score. Brazil lost the match to China 5-2 and was eliminated from the tournament.

Astros OF Che-Hsuan Lin went 1-for-5 with a strikeout and two outfield assists in Chinese Taipei's loss to Korea. Chinese Taipei does advance, however, as Korea lost the tiebreaker.

World Baseball Classic Update

Chinese Taipei went to 2-0 in the tournament, prevailing over the Netherlands 8-3 this morning. The Astros Che-Hsuan Lin was 0-for-4 with a strikeout in the game. Chinese Taipei will next play against Korea on Tuesday.

Brazil lost to Cuba 5-2 last night and is now 0-2 in the tournament. The Astros Murilo Gouvea did not pitch in the game. Brazil will face off against China on Tuesday.

World Baseball Classic Update

Astros farmhand Murilo Gouvea pitched three innings for Brazil in today's 5-3 loss to Japan. He allowed one run in his first inning of work on a walk, single and sac fly, but faced the minimum number of batters in his next two innings of work. His final line was 1H 1R/ER 2BB 1SO.

UPDATED TO ADD: I totally forgot about the Astros OF Che-Hsuan Lin participating in the WBC for the Chinese Taipei team. Chinese Taipei prevailed over the Australian team 4-1 last night with Lin going 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored.

Astros Friday News Dump

Winter league play is quickly coming to a close so the news on that front is starting to grind to a halt, but there was a lot of news in Astros-land yesterday. In case you missed any of it, here you go.

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC

The WBC provisional rosters were announced and we have a few Astros representing. The final rosters are not due until February 20th so there may be changes. The first round of the Classic starts on March 2nd and more info can be found here.

RHP Rhiner Cruz - Spain
OF Fernando Martinez - Spain
LHP Xavier Cedeno - Puerto Rico
RHP Murilo Gouvea - Brazil
RHP Chia-Jen Lo - Chinese Taipei
OF Che-Hsuan Lin - Chinese Taipei

Gouvea has already gotten his feet wet in WBC action. He was an integral part of the Brazilian team's upset as they knocked Panama out of the qualifying rounds back in November. According to Brian Smith of the Chronicle, Jeff Luhnow acknowledged that Fernando Martinez' chances to make the Astros opening day roster are probably going to be hindered by his participation in the WBC. And if you've forgotten who exactly Che-Hsuan Lin is, he was picked up off waivers from Boston and then later designated for assignment to Oklahoma City in order to make room for RHP John Ely.

Several other former Astros and former Astros farm hands are participating in the Classic, including Wandy Rodriguez and Miguel Tejada for the Dominican Republic, Nelson Figueroa and Carlos Beltran for Puerto Rico, Kaz Matsui for Japan, Ryan Rowland-Smith for Australia, Ben Zobrist for the U.S.A. and Jimmy Van Ostrand for Canada.

RICK ANKIEL SIGNING AND NON-ROSTER INVITEES

It was also announced yesterday that the Astros signed Rick Ankiel to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training. The 33-year old pitcher turned outfielder is expected to compete for an OF position on the opening day roster. The other non-roster invitees who were announced yesterday were:

LHP Kevin Chapman
LHP Sergio Escalona
RHP Chuckie Fick
RHP Edgar Gonzalez
RHP Josh Zeid
OF Trevor Crowe
OF Jake Goebbert
OF Marc Krauss
OF Che-Hsuan Lin
OF George Springer
C Rene Garcia
C Jason Jaramillo
C Carlos Perez
C Chris Wallace
IF Brandon Laird
IF Jose Martinez
IF Delino DeShields, Jr.

Don't get too excited about the participation of Springer and DeShields; they are not expected to vie for roster spots. It is noteworthy that Kyle Weiland isn't included on the list which probably means that he hasn't progressed as far as the team would like in his recovery from surgery. There are no other real surprises for me on the list; however, I think the inclusion of Josh Zeid and Jake Goebbert signals a nice vote of confidence for the pair.

I have updated the Off-Season transaction list to make note of the Ankiel signing.

SEASON TICKET HOLDER EVENT WITH BO PORTER

I attended a Season Ticket Holder event with Bo Porter yesterday evening at Minute Maid Park. I plan to write up some of my thoughts on that event as time allows, but I did want to convey to my readers that I was able to elicit a very important promise from Porter. He assured me that he will not come up with nicknames by simply adding a "y" to the end of a name. He proclaimed himself to be "a first name kind of guy."

Also, I met Bill Brown and he really is as genuinely nice and gracious as he seems to be during the TV broadcasts. He reported that he's been doing his homework on the American League since November and, more importantly, let me try on his World Series ring!

KEVIN COMER INTERVIEW

And last but not least, this was a good interview with Kevin Comer that talks about his whirlwind first pro season and the trade that brought him to the Astros.

Winter League and WBC Recaps - 11/19

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC QUALIFIERS

Brazil over Panama 1-0
In a stunner, Brazil beat Panama on home territory to advance to the World Baseball Classic in March. RHP Murilo Gouvea who spent the 2012 season pitching for the Astros Lexington Legends affiliate threw two and a third hitless innings for the Panamanian team, walking one and striking out two. Gouvea played a key role in the tournament as he provided a total of six and two-thirds scoreless innings of relief for Panama.

VENEZUELAN WINTER LEAGUE

Caracas over Magallanes 7-5
2B Jose Altuve was 1-for-4 with an RBI single and a bases loaded walk for Magallanes. He struck out once and stole a bag as well.

DOMINICAN WINTER LEAGUE

Gigantes over Estrellas 6-1
LF Jimmy Paredes went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts for the Gigantes while a trio of Astros-related pitchers provided scoreless relief. *RHP Enerio del Rosario retired his one batter faced with a ground out as he came in with bases loaded. RHP Rhiner Cruz pitched two-thirds of an inning and allowed two hits, but no runs. *RHP Erick Abreu pitched one inning with no hits and a strikeout and was rewarded with the win.

*Free Agent

Winter League and WBC Recaps

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC QUALIFIERS

Brazil over Colombia 7-1
RHP Dayan Diaz had a tough go of it for Colombia as he pitched one and a third innings and was charged with three runs on one hit and two walks. He struck out one and also hit a batter.

Colombia plays an elimination game today against Panama. The winner will take on the Brazilian team on Monday.

VENEZUELAN WINTER LEAGUE

Caribes over Caracas 3-2
DH Marwin Gonzalez was 1-for-3 with a walk and scored a run for Caracas.

Lara over Aragua 9-5
DH Jose Martinez went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run and an RBI single for Aragua.

Magallanes over Margarita 3-1
2B Jose Altuve went hitless for Magallanes with a walk, a strikeout and a run scored.

DOMINICAN WINTER LEAGUE

Escogido over Gigantes 4-3
LF Jimmy Paredes was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts and scored a run for the Gigantes, while *RHP Erick Abreu pitched two innings and allowed one unearned run on one hit and one walk with one strikeout.

Estrellas over Aguilas 4-3
Jonathan Villar came in as a pinch runner for Aguilas and stayed in to DH. He went 0-for-1 with a strikeout.

PUERTO RICAN WINTER LEAGUE

Caguas over Carolina 6-1
C Roberto Pena went 0-for-3 for Caguas with a walk and a strikeout. 2B Kiké Hernandez was 1-for-2 with two walks and a caught stealing, and C Rene Garcia was 1-for-3 for Carolina. Also for Carolina, *RHP Adalberto Flores pitched three innings and gave up one run on two hits and a walk with three strikeouts, and RHP Raul Rivera pitched one inning and allowed two hits.

*Free Agent

AFL, Winter League & WBC Recaps - 11/15

ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE

Phoenix over Mesa 8-3
In the final game of the season for Mesa, 1B Jon Singleton went 1-for-2 and scored a run; RF George Springer was 1-for-4 with a strikeout; and 3B Jio Mier was 0-for-4. RHP Jarred Cosart started the game and allowed three runs (only one earned run) on five hits and two walks with two strikeouts in three innings pitched. RHP Chia-Jen Lo pitched one inning and allowed no hits, no runs and one walk. Here are the final stats for the Astros AFL players:

Bobby Borchering - .158/.250/.368 2-2B 2HR 5RBI in 11 games (DNP after 11/1)
Jio Mier - .297/.333/.422 8-2B 7RBI in 17 games
Jon Singleton - .226/.345/.409 4-2B 2-3B 3HR 8RBI in 25 games
George Springer - .286/.412/.600 4-2B 3-3B 4HR 14RBI 5SB in 21 games

Jarred Cosart - 0-3 6.50 ERA 1.89 WHIP 9BB/15SO in 6 starts
Chia-Jen Lo - 1-0 2.40 ERA 1.20 WHIP 4BB/11SO in 14 appearances
Alex Sogard  2-1 11.12 ERA 2.38 WHIP 9BB/8SO in 11 appearances
Nick Tropeano - 0-0 3.00 ERA 1.00 WHIP 5BB/18SO in 11 games (1 start)

George Springer was fourth in OPS and tied for fifth in runs scored in the league. Jio Mier was tied for fifth in doubles. Jon Singleton was tied for third in runs scored and tied for first in walks. Chia-Jen Lo was tied for 10th in ERA and Nick Tropeano was tied for sixth in WHIP.

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC

Brazil over Panama 3-2
RHP Murilo Gouvea played a key role in Brazil's upset of the host team in the first game of the WBC qualifier as he pitched three and a third innings in relief for Brazil. Gouvea retired 10 batters in a row before allowing singles to Carlos Ruiz and Carlos Lee. In Gouvea's first inning of work, he retired three major leaguers quickly, getting a flyout from Ruben Tejada, a swinging strikeout from Carlos Ruiz and a groundout from Carlos Lee. He struck out Tejada looking the second time he faced him before giving up the singles to Ruiz and Lee. His final line was two hits, no runs, no walks and three strikeouts in three and a third. The story is here.

VENEZUELAN WINTER LEAGUE

Caracas over Magallanes 7-6
Apparently, I misread Brandon Barnes' tweet from earlier this week because I thought he had already finished playing in Venezuela for the winter, but he played again last night (and said via tweet that last night was his final game). With that said, he went 1-for-3 for Caracas last night and ended up with a .292/.353/.491 batting line. Barnes teammate Marwin Gonzalez was 1-for-4 with a walk, scored twice and stole a base as the DH. Magallanes 1B Jose Altuve went 1-for-4 with a walk.

Caribes over Zula 4-2 (Game 1)
RF Jake Goebbert went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored for Caribes.

Zulia over Caribes 7-0 (Game 2)
RF Jake Goebbert was 1-for-3 with a walk, two strikeouts and a stolen base for Caribes.

PUERTO RICAN WINTER LEAGUE

Carolina over Ponce 10-6
2B Kiké Hernandez was 2-for-5 with an RBI and two strikeouts for Carolina while Jobduan Morales got his first winter league start as DH and went 2-for-5 with two RBI and scored a run, striking out once. Also for Carolina, C Rene Garcia was 2-for-4 with an RBI, walk and two runs scored while RHP Raul Rivera pitched two innings and allowed one run on three hits and no walks with two strikeouts and was rewarded with the win. Carlos Correa did not play in the game.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE

Los Mochis over Hermosillo 9-0
*RHP Edgar Gonzalez got the start and the loss for Hermosillo as he allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks with no strikeouts in five innings pitched.

*Free Agent

World Baseball Classic Qualifier Update

Well, the modified double elimination format didn't work in Team Israel's favor as Team Israel was eliminated Sunday after their only loss to Team Spain. Ben Orloff didn't see any action in this game, but Josh Zeid was used in all three games of the tournament for Team Israel.

Israel took an early lead but Spain fought back, taking a short-lived lead in the fourth inning and another one run lead in the eighth. Team Israel came back to tie it up in the bottom of the eighth. Josh Zeid came in to get three quick outs in the ninth and the game went to extras. In the top of the 10th, the Israeli catcher was ejected after Zeid issued a lead-off walk and then the wheels came off as a hit batter, sac bunt and a single led to two Team Spain runs. Israel wasn't able to come back in the bottom of the frame and that was pretty much that.

One side note. The 10-inning game was played in a crisp four hours and fifty minutes. It was an exciting game, but if this is the future of baseball around the world, God help us all.

The final game from this round of qualifiers will be at noon CST today and features Canada and Germany. The next qualifying rounds will be in November in Panama and Taiwan.

World Baseball Classic Qualifying Rounds Update

Corpus Christi Hooks LHP Alex Sogard saw action in the second game for the Czech Republic. In a video interview last week, Sogard talked about his mother's Czechoslovakian heritage and how excited he was to represent her on the Czech team. And represent he did! Sogard pitched three and two-thirds innings in relief and allowed one run on two hits with three strikeouts in the Czech team's loss to Great Britain. Unfortunately, it was the Czech team's second loss so Alex will be heading home from Regensburg, Germany where this qualifying round took place.

Long-time Astros minor league followers might be interested to know that former Astro Albert Cartwright played for the British team and went 3-for-5 in yesterday's game. And Another former Astro has been making news in Regensburg for the Canadian team. Jimmy VanOstrand went 4-for-6 with two home runs, five RBI and scored three times in Team Canada's win over Germany yesterday.

Astros Josh Zeid and Ben Orloff will take part in the final qualifying round for Team Israel today in Jupiter, Florida. Team Israel is undefeated and will take on Team Spain for the second time in the tournament. Israel defeated Spain on Friday 4-2 in, as one very clever tweeter said, payback for the Spanish Inquisition. If you want to root on Team Israel, you can follow their game on the World Baseball Classic site live at 4:00 CST or watch the delay on MLB network at 7:00 CST this evening.

World Baseball Classic Qualifying Rounds Update

Israel won out over Spain 4-2 to advance to the final qualifying round which will take place on Sunday at 4:00 CST and can be seen live on the WBC website. Astros RHP Josh Zeid pitched the ninth inning and had to work around a lead-off double. He gave up one run on one hit and earned the save. 2B Ben Orloff also saw action in the game and went 0-for-3.

World Baseball Classic Qualifying Rounds Update

RHP Josh Zeid saw his first action in the World Baseball Classic qualifiers last night as his Team Israel prevailed over South Africa 7-3. Zeid came in in the sixth inning with two on and one out and struck out one batter before issuing an intentional walk and inducing a pop out for the third out to end the threat. He went on to pitch the seventh for Team Israel and allowed no hits and no runs and three strikeouts to go with the intentional walk. Manager Brad Ausmus had this to say about Zeid's performance.

"Huge difference. Not only is it a big difference in terms of the scoreboard, it could be a big momentum shift," Ausmus said. "Zeid's inning-plus there was probably the turning point of the game for us."

Ben Orloff did not get in to the first game for Team Israel. Their next game will be on Friday at 12:00 CST. The full schedule and results can be found here.

2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifying Rounds

The 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifying rounds start next week and we have three Astros minor leaguers participating in those rounds. (For more info on the WBC, go here.)

Team Israel will be competing in Qualifying Round 1 in Jupiter, Florida (along with France, South Africa and Spain) from September 19th to the 23rd. Brad Ausmus' Roster will include SS/2B Ben Orloff and RHP Josh Zeid. Orloff split his time this season between Lancaster and Corpus Christi and ended the season hitting a combined .290/.361/.327 with a .975 fielding percentage. Zeid spent the season working out of the Corpus Christi Hooks bullpen. In 47 appearances, Zeid was 2-0 with a 5.59 ERA and a 1.367 WHIP with 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

The Czech Republic team will be competing in Qualifying Round 2 in Regensburg, Germany (along with Canada, Germany and Great Britain) from September 20th to September 24th. LHP Alex Sogard will be included on the roster for the Czech team. After a handful of games in Lancaster this season, Sogard was promoted to Corpus Christi. In 39 total appearances out of the bullpen between the two venues, he was 3-3 with a 3.62 ERA and a 1.597 WHIP.

Former Astro farmhands Jimmy VanOstrand and Albert Cartwright will be playing for the Canadian and Great Britain teams, respectively.