Notable unsigned names include Paul Lo Duca, Michael Barrett, Toby Hall, David Ross, Javier Valentin, Gregg Zaun and former Astro Paul Bako.

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Eleven players were released by the Astros from their minor league system last week. David Dinelli and Luis Pardo were among the 11. Dinelli was the 6th round pick and Pardo was the 9th round pick in the 2007 draft for the Astros. Three other members of the draft class of 07 were included in the releases: Kevin Carkeek (25th round), David Miller (32) and Jake Leonhardt (37th round). Let’s look at how bad things are now from that draft.
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Here is the latest from the land of beisbol, beaches and in the VWL’s case the land of oil and dictators.

Puerto Rico

Lobos de Arecibo
Raymar Diaz, RHP - his week was slightly better than last week. His ERA dropped to 10.29. He had a good outing on Wednesday (1 hit in 1 IP) and then got shelled on Friday (*.* ERA outing).

Edwin Maysonet, SS - Suffered from the curse of the Duman. After bragging about his lack of Ks. He fanned 4 times in 10 AB this week. Five of this 13 hits this season are for doubles.

Leones de Ponce
Rene Garcia, C - has not played

Reggie Abercrombie, OF - Went 2 for 14 this week with 6 strike outs. His season average is down to .208 (more…)

The Astros Farmhands are through with their AFL season. Here is how they faired.

Drew Sutton started off hot and cooled off towards the end of the season. He only had 4 hits in his last 30 AB on the season. He had 8 straight 2 strike out games to wrap up the season. He still finished with a .315 average. His 32 runs scored ranked him in a tie for 3rd most. He tied for 7th most doubles (9) ,5th most HR (7) and 8th most total bases (66). He took 24 walks on the season which lead the league but also fanned 31 times which was 7th most in the league. He finished just out of the top 10 in OPS (1.036). Projection for spring - AAA
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(Alyson Footer) “My opinion isn’t a popular one, but when it comes to Sheets, I say pass.”  Link

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Puerto Rico

Lobos de Arecibo
Raymar Diaz, RHP - had a rough week. In 2 1/3 innings, he gave up 8 hits, 5 earned runs, no walks and one K. His season ERA is a whopping 10.50.

Edwin Maysonet, SS - he had a solid week, going 7 for 19. Last Tuesday, he went 3 for 4 with 3 doubles. He has only 3 strike outs in 32 at bats. (more…)

The fall/winter leagues in the states are wrapping up.  The Hawaiian Winter League wrapped up today.  Here is how the Astros farm hands faired.

Jason Castro - tied for 5th in the league in average (.333), 7th in the league in slugging (.487), 4th in the league in OBP (.438), and 5th in the league in OPS (.925).  He tied for 9th most doubles (6) and tied for 6th most walks (16).  He struck out 21 times in 74 AB and only made one error. (more…)

Trade for Peavy? “We talked early on, and (Padres GM Kevin Towers) was candid in looking at our situation and our system that we probably don’t have the pieces to make it work,” Wade said.

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Let’s get things started in Puerto Rico who just started their winter league on Thursday night. Here are the Astros’ connections to the league and how they have fared so far.

Lobos de Arecibo
Raymar Diaz, RHP - in his first two outings went a combined 3 2/3 innings giving up 4 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 3 while being held accountable for 2 runs.

Edwin Maysonet, SS - has hit in all three games so far (4 for 13), with only 1 strike out.
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The HWL enters it’s last week of play.  Jason Castro continues to lead the team with his .329 average.  He has played in 21 games so far and has had 14 of this 20 strike outs in his last 10 games.  He has had 5 multi strike out games in his last 10 and only had one game where he hasn’t struck out at all in his last 10.  Still for a guy who was just drafted 6 months ago, he has done impressively well during the HWL. (more…)

Astros.com has a feature on Mark Ori who is on the Taxi Squad during the Arizona Fall League. Here is what he says he learned during his repeat year in Salem.

“I was not the happiest guy coming out of Spring Training,” said Ori…. “I thought I had a chance to be in Double-A….I got 500 at-bats and the guys at Double-A had to split time. It worked out. I learned a lot from the hitting coach [Keith Bodie] and the manager [Jim Pankovits]. For my career, it was the best thing that could have happened. It was harder at the time to not see it as a bad thing because you see it as a standstill in your career going back to the same place. But after a couple of days and once games started, I didn’t even give it a thought.”

So what did they work on?

Bodie changed up Ori’s stance just a bit, having him standa bit more upright. The change allowed him to see the ball better.

We also learned that his older brother, Joseph, plays minor league hockey in the East Coast Hockey League for the Elmira Jackels.  He just joined the Jackels this season after playing for two years with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs of the CHL.

As rosters change in the U.S. (Polin Trinidad being put on the 40 man roster), rosters also change in the Caribbean (Bourn, Trinidad, Florentino now on rosters in DWL and Jeiller Castillo showing up in the VWL). The Puerto Rican league is also about to get under way. At first glance, from a Spanish language website, we will have at least two Astros connected players in the Puerto Rican League this year. Their season begins on the 6th.
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Here is your Monday morning update of the prospects in Hawaii and Arizona.

Down in Hawaii, Jason Castro still leads the team with his .328 average and is among the league leaders in several categories. He had a hitting streak snapped this weekend but another streak is continuing. He has now struck out in 7 straight games. That streak includes 11 strike outs in 29 at bats. (more…)