Let's start out by talking about rosters. Last time, I tried to predict the Opening Day roster for Round Rock. Farmstros has done me one better over the past couple weeks, however, by actually getting player assignments after guys were cut from big league camp. Then, in his post yesterday, Jonathon Fixler revealed that all the minor league players got their assignments for the upcoming season on Wednesday. Here's a breakdown of what we know:
Round Rock
Starting rotation
LHP Wesley Wright
LHP Polin Trinidad
RHP Wilton Lopez
RHP Josh Banks
RHP Casey Daigle
Bullpen
RHP Chia-jen Lo
RHP Jose G. Valdez
RHP Evan Englebrook
Catchers
Jason Castro
Infield
INF Edwin Maysonet
INF Wladimir Sutil
1B Chris Shelton
3B Drew Meyer
Outfield
OF Jason Bourgeois
OF Yordany Ramirez
OF Brian Bogusevic
The roster at RoundRockExpress.com listed Bourgeois, so I added him here. They also listed RHP Brad James, LHP Chris Blazek, RHP Roy Corcoran, RHP Andy Van Hekken, catchers Lou Santangelo and Brian Esposito and infielders Jose Vallejo and German Duran. All of those guys aren't making the roster, because guys like Kevin Cash, Josh Banks, Casey Daigle, Chris Shelton, Drew Meyer, Gustavo Chacin and Gary Majewski are also in play for roster spots. I slotted Daigle and Banks into the rotation here because I think they both will stick and added both Shelton and Meyer to the infield.
Corpus Christi
Starting rotation
LHP Fernando Abad
Infield
INF David Flores
The Hooks website lists more people on the roster here than we do, but since they also have Jason Castro on their roster, I'm not sure it's entirely accurate. I wouldn't be surprised to see Esposito back here as the starting catcher.
Lancaster
Relievers
RHP Henry Villar
RHP Matt Nevarez
Catcher
Jordan Comadena
Infield
3B Ebert Rosario
Again, not much information here. I'd like to see Comadena get a chance to start, however, even if he is joined by the likes of Bubby Williams, an 11th round pick out of Crowder College, or Federico Hernandez, a 22-year old signed out of Venezuela in 2005.
Fixler is the only known commodity at Lexington, but he mentioned in his blog post that he'd be joined by Jio Mier, David Duncan, Jonathan Meyer, Jake Goebbert and Rene Garcia, who is a catcher. Hopefully, Fixler will get ample playing time there to showcase his abilities. Now that we've had a chance to hear from him a little bit, it'd be hard to take him going the way of Crash Davis.
With those names in place, let's take a stab at filling out Lexington's roster
Starting rotation
Zachary Grimmett
Tanner Busue
David Duncan
Dallas Keuchel
Colton Pitkin
Catchers
Rene Garcia
Jonathon Fixler
Infield
SS Jio Mier
3B Jonathan Meyer
1B Aaron Bray
2B Jose Altuve
DH J.D. Martinez
Outfield
RF Grant Hogue
LF Jake Goebbert
CF Brian Kemp
That's a good guess, at any rate. Keuchel very well could start in Lancaster, as could Kemp. Just don't hold me accountable when it turns out to be very, very wrong. This page may mysteriously disappear.
MLBTradeRumors has a note about MIke Costanzo being released by the Orioles this week. You may remember Costanzo from his 10 minutes with the Houston franchise. Costanzo was one of the prospects who came over in the Brad Lidge trade, along with Michael Bourn and Geoff Geary. He was then traded to Baltimore in a big package for Miguel Tejada. Just goes to show that not every prospect pans out, I guess. Wonder if Wade will pick him up off the scrap heap now.
Some of you expressed your dismay in the Fixler FanShot at his demotion back to Low A ball. How do you feel after reading this article on the minor leagues from former Giants farmhand Garrett Brosius. Every time you feel like these guys are getting paid way too much to play a game, you see something like this about life in the minor leagues. I don't know about you, but I'd have been awfully tempted to take any advantage I could to get to the big leagues. Not saying I would have used steroids, but I can see why people did and it wasn't because their souls were black as the night, either.
Lastly, here's a story about how to evaluate amateurs before a draft. Turns out, how they do against the best competition is pretty telling. Who'd have guessed?
Next week, I'm going to cover the Round Rock/Corpus Christi scrimmage on Wednesday. Look for a game recap the next day and a little different Minor Thoughts column on Friday. Any Austinites with some dining tips for me after the game?