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After long and much anticipated waiting, the Astros have finally released their minor league rosters for the 2013 season. The season starts for each affiliate on Thursday and the Lancaster JetHawks actually have an exhibition game tomorrow.
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#
Not any real surprises here. Also, not really anything exciting prospect wise. The biggest thing to watch will be the usage of Josh Zeid and Kevin Chapman in the bullpen with the new pitching philosophy. I'm curious as to how Jose Martinez performs as he tries to come back from being a good prospect and his career derailed. Villar may be the most interesting assignment as that was debatable whether or not he deserved a AAA assignment. Grossman's is a promotion, but we all knew it was coming.
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
There's a lot of promotions from last season, particularly on the fielding side. Domingo Santana is the headliner here as the combination of he and Springer will surely make the outfield exciting to watch. Wates' injury problems are probably the biggest reason he returns. The Meyer and Mier combo are probably challenges to see if they'll really progress. Castro will have to use this opportunity to prove he's not a Lancaster product. The catching group is noteworthy and I really like the possible rotation. This will be a pretty exciting group.
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*
Raoul Torrez
Rafael Valenzuela*
OUTFIELDERS
Andrew Aplin*
Chris Epps*
Brandon Meredith
Andrew Muren
Preston Tucker
There are quite a few players who skipped Quad-Cities this season, which we didn't really see last season. Tucker, Ballew, Rodgers, West, Cokinos, and Heineman all made the jump. It's very trusting of the FO to skip the pitchers but I'm not really that surprised with the position players. This team boasts a lot of power potential and the winds of Lancaster could make this one of the best offensive teams in recent Lancaster history. As for the rotation, Houston hasn't sent this amount of talent to Lancaster...ever.
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*
Prospect fun! This is the team that will have scouts flocking to. Ovando, Ruiz, Correa, Velasquez, and McCullers is one of the best prospect headlines to be in one place we've seen recently. Corpus last year boasted the best prospect lineup last year, but this blows that out of the water. There are plenty of others to watch with Hernanez, Joyce, Scott, Davidson, Pena, and Morales position wise. The pitchers are mostly college level guys with Minor, Holmes, Bircher, Hallock and Cain, but should definitely be effective.
Missing Notables:
Bobby Borchering, Max Stassi, Chan Moon, Kenny Long: I would suspect these are injury guys who are working back to action.
Kevin Comer, Joe Musgrove, Adrian Houser, Lance Day, Jose Fernanez: I guess these guys just aren't ready for fulls season ball quite yet or are pushed back due to depth.
Telvin Nash, Tanner Bushue: Dog House
We will also be bringing out season previews for each team starting tomorrow.