The World Series champion Astros set their 40-man roster Monday by stocking it with pitching prospects.
Ahead of Monday's 7 p.m. CT deadline to protect players from next month's Rule 5 Draft, Houston selected left-hander Cionel Perez and right-hander Dean Deetz to the 40-man contingent. Perez is rated the organization's seventh-best prospect by MLBPipeline.com, while Deetz is ranked 26th. Adding Perez and Deetz filled out the Astros' 40-man roster.
Perez, 21, went 6-4 with a 4.13 ERA across three classifications in his first professional season in 2017. He began the season at Class A Quad Cities, where he posted a 4.39 ERA while striking out 57 in 55 1/3 innings.
Perez was promoted to Class A Advanced Buies Creek on July 11 and went 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA in five outings. That earned him a promotion to Double-A Corpus Christi on Aug. 15. A native of Cuba, Perez was signed by the Astros as a non-drafted free agent Dec. 9, 2016.
Deetz, 23, finished a combined 7-6 with a 4.25 ERA in 25 games at Corpus Christi and Triple-A Fresno. He registered 97 strikeouts in 84 2/3 innings. Deetz began the season at Corpus Christi, where he posted a 1.82 ERA before being promoted to Fresno on May 30.
Selected by Houston in the 11th round of the 2014 MLB Draft, the right-hander was twice named the Midwest League Pitcher of the Week (Aug. 24-30, 2015 and Sept. 1-6, 2015) and was also named Quad Cities Pitcher of the Month in August 2015. Additionally, Houston obtained righthander Brandon Bailey from Oakland for outfieder Raymon Laureano.
Bailey, 23, will be entering his third professional season after being drafted by the A's out of Gonzaga in the sixth round of the 2016 Draft. He split the 2017 season between Class A Advanced Stockton and Class A Beloit, finishing a combined 3-2 with a 3.26 ERA.
Bailey went 3-2 with a 3.26 ERA in 24 appearances (17 starts). He struck out 120 and walked 31 in 91 innings.