Let's get it started with..... your Astros Minor League coaches!!! By rehashing news that's a week old. http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120103&content_id=26256222&vkey=pr_hou&c_id=hou
I posted this in last year's Minor League thread, but once again, Minor League Opening Day will take place on April 5. Here's where the farm teams will start off 2012. OKC vs. Memphis Corpus Christi vs. Northwest Arkansas Lancaster @ High Desert Lexington @ Greensboro Short Season Opening Day will be June 18, with Tri-City going on the road to play the Vermont Lake Monsters. And finally, Greeneville kicks off their season the very next day, as they hit the road to face off against last year's Appalachian League champions, the Johnson City Cardinals. I assume the Gulf Coast League and the Dominican Summer League (being rookie leagues) start their seasons at around the same time.
Astros busy in the Dominican MLB.com beat writer Brian McTaggart blogs about all things Astros. The Astros have signed a pair of teenagers out of the Dominican Republic, pitcher Carlos Vasquez and outfielder Edward Santana, and have reached an agreement with pitcher Tomas Lopez, whose signing isn’t yet official. Vasquez, 16, is a 6-2, 180-pound right-hander with an extra large frame and someone who Astros director of Latin American scouting Felix Francisco believes will be a power pitcher. He throws between 88 and 90 mph now, but Francisco said the ball jumps out of his hands and he has a good breaking ball. “We feel this guy is going to be really strong in the future,” Francisco said. Santana, 17, was the best position player left on the market, Francisco said. He can play center field, but the Astros like more in right field. There are many things Francisco likes about Santana, whose older brother used to play in the Rangers system. “He runs 60 yards in 6.75 seconds and has a good arm,” Francisco said. “He can hit and has a real nice balance. He stays inside the baseball and uses the whole field. He’s not a big power guy right now and more of a guy you can project will hit 15-20 home runs. His power will come with time, but he does have good bat speed and good extension.” Francisco likes that Santana hits the ball to the opposite field, which you don’t usually see in young players in the Dominican. Lopez, 17, is a right-handed pitcher with nice arm action. He recently established himself in the Dominican Prospect League and began to draw interest from several teams, including the Astros. All three players will report to the Astros academy in the Dominican Republic and will play there this summer.
Spoiler <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bLlAba4DgEU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> . . . Maybe old but I see Dave Borkowski made his way back to Houston
Lost in the shuffle of Fernandomania was that the Astros also signed right-hander Hector Corpas as a minor league free agent. Matt Eddy (@eddymk) A native of Panama, Corpas is a 22-year-old (turned 22 on January 8) who pitched with the Cardinals' Low-A team, the Quad Cities River Bandits last season. He was there all year, and did not have a very good time there. In 30 games, he was 2-2 with 1 save and a 7.26 ERA in 39 2/3 innings, allowing 48 hits (5 homers), walking 17 and striking out 31. In the 2010 season, he served as the closer at Johnson City, recording 17. That year, he went 0-1 with a 2.13 ERA in 24 appearances, allowing 19 hits (1 homer), and recording a K:BB ratio of 27:3 in 25 1/3 innings. http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=corpas001hec#standard_pitching::none
I dug around a bit and saw that Corpas was hampered by a biceps problem that shelved him on a few occasions.That might have been the main reason as to why he struggled so much last season. He was also arrested last September on 3 misdemeanors. http://stlcardinals.scout.com/2/1104908.html
I was reading about Fernando Martinez a lot today and it got me thinking about the top prospects in 2008. Take a look at this list and play evaluations by Keith Law: Unfortunately, it reminds me of the Rockets hoarding of 2009 NBA Draft flops.
Jonathan Singleton ranked #3 among 1B prospects by MLB.com http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120119&content_id=26391492&vkey=affililiate&c_id=
Delino Deshields ranked #6 among 2B prospects. Hopefully he shows more than raw tools this coming season. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120120&content_id=26403738&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
Wonder if they plan on fast-tracking him to possibly get some ABs in the bigs toward the end of the year. If he rakes at CC in the 1st half, let him play the 2nd half at OKC then get a cup of coffee in the show in September. It'll be interesting to see if Luhnow calls our better prospects up in September, whereas Wade seemed to be against it.
Only three making the list is a little bit disappointing. No Clemens, Deshields, Villar, Santana? It's just a list so take it for what it is, but makes me feel like our system is still a bottom dweller. Thanks Ed Wade! Great drafts!
Way to be unfair. Part of why our minor league system isn't ranked higher is our ML roster sucked so much, and everybody worth a crap got traded. Jordan Lyles, Jason Castro, Jimmy Paredes, JD Martinez, & Jose Altuve have lost their prospect status due to barely exceeding the rookie limits for ML time.