Astros send eight players to minor league camp including Jon Singleton

As the season fast approaches, the roster cuts contiue to be deeper and deeper for the Houston Astros. The cuts were both sufficient and surprising with the team announcing eight more roster cuts on Monday.

The Houston Astros and general manager Jeff Luhnow annouced the team has sent RHP Jake Buchanan, RHP Michael Feliz, catcher Tyler Heineman, outfielder Eury Perez, first baseman A.J. Reed, infielder Joe Sclafani, first baseman Jon Singleton, and RHP Cesar Valdez to minor league camp.

#Astros officially send 8 players to minor league camp: Buchanan, Feliz, Heineman, Perez, Reed, Sclafani, Singleton, Valdez.

— Houston Astros (@astros) March 28, 2016

The biggest surprise of the group is Singleton. From the moment that Chris Carter was not tendered a contract this offseason, Singleton has been in the driver seat for the starting first base position.

But Singleton hasn't impressed in Spring Training, batting .151 (8x53) with three home runs and seven RBIs in 22 Grapefruit league games.

The Astros signed Singleton to a five-year, $10 million contract in 2014. At the moment, he'll be making $ 2 million dollars this season to presumably be the designated hitter/first baseman for Triple A Fresno.

With Reed and Singleton out, the frontrunner for the first base position is Tyler White.

White, a 33rd round pick out of Western Carolina in the 2013 MLB Draft, has batted .366 with two home runs and 10 RBIs this spring. He batted .297 (47x158) with seven home runs and 31 RBIs in 44 games in Dominican Winter League this offseason.

Another question is who will be the Astros backup catcher if it's not Tyler Heinemann?