Speaking of speedy outfielders, KRIS-TV caught up with Josh Flores in spring training.  They inteviewed him about his freak injury that caused him to miss all of last season.  Look for Flores to be in Corpus Christi this season.

Jordan Lyles is ready to be a Legend… in a Legends uniform anyway.  He talked with his home town paper about preparing for his first go at full season baseball.

“It’s been different. It’s the first time I’ve been able to concentrate on baseball,” Lyles said by phone Friday. “I haven’t experienced things like this. I’ve hit the weight room harder than I ever have and it’s been pretty good so far.”
Lyles says he’s added 15 pounds and reported at 215 when he arrived at the Astros spring training facility in Kissimmee, Fla….“(Spring training) has been everything that I imagined it would be, and I’m happy with the decision to turn pro and not go to South Carolina,”

Tip Fairchild’s hometown paper has been following his career closely and they were the first to let us know that he had been released from the Astros.

“He had a great spring, better than he’s ever had. That’s the hard part,” Bill Fairchild said. “Every time I’ve talked to him, he’s had unbelievable outings. I think he was surprised by (the release), as were many of his friends. The day before he got released, he had a short outing, one inning, and threw five pitches – two ground balls and a strikeout. And he’d done that many times this spring.”

Beau Torbert
Michael Johnson
Andrew Darnell
Jarred Ball
Mike Just
Nick Cavanaugh
Kyle DeYoung
Aaron Raker
Guiseppe Norrito (selected in the rule 5 minor draft from the Dodgers, the paper says acquired in a trade but I haven’t seen anything about that so he may just be being sent back to the Dodgers)

Torbert was the 17th round pick in 04 and was the Salem MVP for the Astros in 06. Rickey Bennett on Torbert’s cut:

Quote

“Any time you make a release they’re all tough,” said Ricky Bennett, Houston’s assistant general manager and director of player development. “Beau’s been in our system a while and he’s been given the opportunity to play at the Double-A level. But looking at what we’ve got behind him we’ve got to give those guys chances.”…”It’s like I told Beau. ‘It’s not like you can’t play. You can play,'” Bennett said. “‘We just don’t have room for you.'”

Josh Flores is out for the year after a freak accident where he blew out his knee:

Quote

“He was walking, coming out of a restaurant and kind of slipped on a curb, kind of slipped on his knee the wrong way and blew out his knee,” Bennett said. “He didn’t do it working out or anything along those lines. It was kind of one of those freak deals.”

Sounds like they are trying to get him ready for the Arizona Fall League.