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.Read 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.Read More

MILB.com has given their recap of the Astros’ minor league system after the season. They highlight the promise of the recent draft class calling Jason Castro

Castro represents one of the best Draft picks Houston has made in years. He was a no-brainer when the Astros expended the 10th overall pick on him, and will provide the club with a legitimate star quality catcher for the better part of the next decade.

They named Drew Sutton the player of the year and Polin Trinidad the pitcher of the year.  Be sure to check out the photo gallery of Astro’s prospects on the page.Read More