Astros set Minor League rosters
Top four affiliates begin regular season play this Thursday
HOUSTON, TX - The Houston Astros have set their preliminary 2013 minor league rosters for four of their affiliates, Triple A Oklahoma City, Double A Corpus Christi, Class A Advanced Lancaster and Class A Quad Cities. The announcement was made by Astros Director of Player Development Quinton McCracken.
These rosters are subject to change and will not be officially finalized until the minor league Opening Day. Rosters do not include Disabled List players.
Oklahoma City:
PITCHERS
Kevin Chapman*
Jose Cisnero
Paul Clemens
Jarred Cosart
John Ely
C.J. Fick
Dallas Keuchel*
Jordan Lyles
Wes Musick*
Brett Oberholtzer*
Rudy Owens*
Jose Valdez
Josh Zeid
CATCHERS
Cody Clark
Jason Jaramillo#
Chris Wallace
INFIELDERS
Jake Elmore
Marc Krauss*
Brandon Laird
Jose Martinez
Jonathan Villar#
OUTFIELDERS
Trevor Crowe#
Jake Goebbert*
Robbie Grossman#
Che-Hsuan Lin
Jimmy Paredes#
* - denotes left-hander
# - denotes switch-hitter
Corpus Christi:
PITCHERS
Ruben Alaniz
Jake Buchanan
Jorge De Leon
Bobby Doran
Matt Heidenreich
David Martinez
Andrew Robinson
Ross Seaton
Alex Sogard*
Jason Stoffel
Nick Tropeano
Pat Urckfitz*
Asher Wojciechowski
CATCHERS
Rene Garcia
Ryan McCurdy
Carlos Perez
INFIELDERS
Erik Castro*
Enrique Hernandez
Jonathan Meyer
Jiovanni Mier
Ben Orloff
OUTFIELDERS
Michael Burgess*
Domingo Santana
George Springer
Austin Wates
Lancaster:
PITCHERS
Travis Ballew
Luis Cruz*
Chris Devenski
Jonas Dufek
Mike Foltynewicz
T.J. Geith*
Alex Gillingham
Tyson Perez
Carlos Quevedo
Brady Rodgers
David Rollins*
Tommy Shirley*
Blair Walters*
Aaron West
CATCHERS
M.P. Cokinos
Tyler Heineman#
INFIELDERS
Delino DeShields
Matt Duffy
Nolan Fontana*
Zach Johnson
Raoul Torrez
Rafael Valenzuela*
OUTFIELDERS
Andrew Aplin*
Chris Epps*
Brandon Meredith
Andrew Muren*
Preston Tucker
Quad Cities:
PITCHERS
Joe Bircher*
Colton Cain*
Kyle Hallock*
Mike Hauschild
Brian Holmes*
Jordan Jankowski
Cameron Lamb
Mitchell Lambson*
Lance McCullers
Daniel Minor
John Neely
Gera Sanchez
Vincent Velasquez
CATCHERS
Jobduan Morales#
Roberto Pena
INFIELDERS
Carlos Correa
Chase Davidson*
Ryan Dineen*
Carlos Perdomo
Rio Ruiz*
Joe Sclafani#
Jesse Wierzbicki
OUTFIELDERS
Teoscar Hernandez
Terrell Joyce
Ariel Ovando*
Jordan Scott*
Climbing the Charts :
Last season, the Astros domestic minor league clubs posted the best combined winning percentage among all 30 MLB organizations after posting the worst winning percentage in both 2010 and 2011...three of Houston's affiliates were playoff bound in 2012 (Corpus Christi Hooks, Lancaster JetHawks, Tri-City ValleyCats) with the JetHawks winning their first ever California League Championship...the ValleyCats reached the New York-Penn League Championship Series for the second time in the last three years, while the Hooks regular season record of 81-59 was the best in franchise history...the Rookie Level Greeneville Astros, which is owned and operated by the Houston Astros, led the Appalachian League in attendance for the ninth consecutive season.
The Prospects :
In early February, Keith Law of ESPN.com ranked the Astros farm system as the fourth best in baseball after ranking the club 27th in 2012...Baseball America tabbed the Astros system at No. 9 among the 30 clubs in their 2013 Prospect Handbook...Included in BA's Top 100 Prospects list were IF Carlos Correa, IF Jonathan Singleton, OF George Springer, RHP Lance McCullers and IF Delino DeShields...11 of the Astros top 20 prospects, according to MLB.com, were acquired by GM Jeff Luhnow over the last eight months...Baseball Prospectus also listed the Astros at No. 9 in their farm system rankings released last week (the Astros were listed at No. 26 last year).
The Accolades :
There were 31 Astros prospects who were named All-Stars in their respective leagues across all eight levels of the minors in 2012...RHP Mike Foltynewicz, who spent the year at Class A Lexington, was named the South Atlantic League's Most Outstanding Pitcher...2012 Astros Minor League Player of the Year Delino DeShields became the first minor league player in the modern era to steal over 100 bases and hit over 10 home runs...the Astros 2012 eighth round draft pick out of UCLA, C Tyler Heineman, was the New York-Penn League batting champion after hitting .358 with Class A Short Season Tri-City...Corpus Christi Hooks manager Keith Bodie was named the 2012 Texas League Manager of the Year.
New PDC :
This offseason, the Astros and Quad Cities River Bandits signed a new Player Development Contract that will run through the 2014 season...Quad Cities was the Class A affiliate for Houston from 1993-98, during which time the River Bandits had three first-place finishes in a four-year stretch (1995-98).