CORPUS CHRISTI – Earlier today, the Houston Astros announced their MiLB Players of the Year. Hooks catcher Jason Schiavone was named the Astros Player of the Year while right-handed pitcher Bryce Mayer was named the Pitcher of the Year. Among other awards included Baserunner of the Year, Anthony Huezo, Defender of the Year, Max Holy, and Astros Standard Award, Yamal Encarnacion.
Schiavone began the year in High-A where he batted .289 with 17 home runs, and 42 RBIs in 35 games. On May 19, the Maryland native was called up to Corpus Christi recording a round tripper in his first Double-A game. At the time of his promotion, Schiavone led all Minor League Baseball in home runs.
The James Madison Alum concluded the year ranked leading the Astros organization in home runs (31), RBIs (86), OPS (.927), and total bases (219). Additionally, Schiavone was ranked organizationally in extra base hits (52, 2nd), runs (83, 2nd), and walks (86, 5th). On the defensive side, Schiavone threw out 40% (27 caught stealing in 68 attempts) of Texas League runners attempting to steal.
Mayer went 4-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 17 games (14 starts) for the Hooks. The 2024 16th round pick from Missouri, led the Astros organization with 132 strikeouts in 98 innings of work. In his second game of the season, the right hander authored 4.0 innings of shutout ball guiding the Hooks to a 10-5 victory on April 15. Mayer continued to hit his stride throughout the spring recording his Double-A best nine strikeouts on May 27 at San Antonio.
The former Tiger picked up a pair of wins in July holding opponents to a .143 batting average. The successful month earned the Missouri native, Texas League Pitcher of month Honors sporting a 0.47 ERA. Mayer closed out his Corpus Christi tenure on August 1, posting no runs on three hits against Frisco.
Huezo, earned his honors thanks to 47 stolen bases this season. The clip ranked the second most in the Astros organization behind Yamal Encarnacion (48). The Etiwanda, California native spend time at three separate stops this year including three games with Corpus Christi to close out the season. Huezo swiped 30 bags at Single-A Fayetteville including a stretch where he went 5-5 during a six-game stretch. Drafted in the 12th round in 2023, Huezo had a career night on August 16 stealing four bases in High-A Ashville.
Holy was nearly perfect when taking the field for Corpus Christi in 2026. In 83 games at shortstop, the Clinton, Iowa native sported a .972 fielding percentage committing just eight errors in over 700 innings. In addition to shortstop, Holy appeared at second base and third base where he did not commit an error in 60 innings.
Encarnacion earned the standard award following a season where he notched the game winning RBI in three of the club’s six walk-off wins. Additionally, Yamal led the Astros organization with 48 stolen bases, ranking third most in club history. The only Hooks plays to record more include 50 stolen bags from Josh Anderson in 2005 and Delino DeShields Jr. with 54 in 2014.