DSL - 2014

[La Verdad]

Today is Opening Day in the DSL, and for the first time, the Astros will be fielding 2 teams.

DSL Astros Blue will be playing in the Santo Domingo North Division with the A's, Indians, Dodgers, Rays, and Royals.

DSL Astros Orange, the new club, will be in the Boca Chica North division with the Angels, Cubs, Marlins, Mets 2, Yankees 2 Phillies, Pirates, and 2 Rangers teams.

3 Australians will be on the Blue club, which will also feature shortstops Joan Mauricio, Wander Franco, and Jonathan Matute, and OF Felix Lucas. Edwin Villarroel headlines the Orange pitching staff, and he'll be joined by fellow southpaws Starlyng Sanchez and Cristhopher Santamaria. The Orange offense looks like they'll be headlined by SS Wilson Amador and OF Bryan de la Cruz. There is also a catcher on the Orange team named Gabriel Bracamonte. Not sure if he's related to Javier.

DSL ASTROS BLUE

3 Australians are on the roster: C Hayden Timberlake, 2B Connor MacDonald, and RHP Lachlan Madden. Madden signed in February, and he's a product of the same club that also produced Travis Blackley: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/south-east/lachlan-madden-becomes-10th-cheltenham-rustler-to-get-major-league-contract/story-fngnvmhm-1226829302635

PITCHERS
RHP Albert Abreu
RHP Dariel Aquino
LHP Luis Arias
RHP Yan de la Cruz
LHP Carlos Hiraldo
RHP Lachlan Madden
RHP Ezequiel Madera
LHP Salvador Montaño
RHP Hansel Paulino
RHP Erasmo Pinales
RHP Gabriel Pirela
RHP Moreno Polanco
RHP Jose Rosario
RHP Abdiel Saldaña
RHP Carlos Sanabria
RHP Josue Uribe

CATCHERS
Carlos Canelon
Hayden Timberlake
Oliver Toribio

INFIELDERS
SS Marcos Almonte
3B Reiny Beltre
SS Wander Franco
2B Connor MacDonald
SS Jonathan Matute
SS Joan Mauricio

OUTFIELDERS
Edgar Lorenzo
Felix Lucas
Nestor Tejada

DSL ASTROS ORANGE

PITCHERS
RHP Bryan Abreu
LHP Yhoan Acosta
RHP Joel Belboder
RHP Gerald Benzant
RHP Robert Corniel
RHP Tomas Lopez
RHP Adonis Peña
RHP Carlos Pizzolato
RHP Jose Ramos
RHP Michael Richez
LHP Starlyng Sanchez
LHP Cristopher Santamaria
RHP Starlyn Taveras
RHP Gabriel Valdez
LHP Edwin Villarroel

CATCHERS
Ihan Bernal
Gabriel Bracamonte

INFIELDERS
SS Wilson Amador
SS Osvaldo Duarte
SS Frankeny Fernandez
3B Cristopher Luciano

OUTFIELDERS
Bryan de la Cruz
Andy Pineda
Vicente Sanchez

[Nate Colbert]

Small correction: Connor MacDonald is a 1B (at a listed 6' 5", a second sacker he is not). He went 0-5 today batting cleanup as the Blue squad won their debut 7-2.

17-year old Wander Franco was the hitting hero, going 3-5 with a homer and 4 RBIs. A memory refresh on Mr. Franco, courtesy of Baseball America:

Franco, a 16-year-old switch-hitter, is a nephew of Angels shortstop Erick Aybar and former major leaguer Willy Aybar. His older brother, who is also named Wander Franco, is an infielder with the Royals on their Rookie-level Arizona League team. The younger Aybar isn’t a toolsy player but he’s impressed some teams with his performances against live pitching with a line-drive approach to all fields. He’s 6 feet, 180 pounds, trains with Victor Baez and was represented by Jim Sanson and Luis Scheker.

He signed for 575K last year.

And although signed as a shortstop, he was playing 3B on Saturday.

[morningwood75]

Small correction: Connor MacDonald is a 1B. He went 0-5 today batting cleanup as the Blue squad won their debut 7-2.

17-year old Wander Franco was the hitting hero, going 3-5 with a homer and 4 RBIs. A memory refresh on Mr. Franco, courtesy of Baseball America:

He signed for 575K last year.

And although signed as a shortstop, he was playing 3B on Saturday.

Mauricio had a good game as well. He went 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 triples. He was signed for 600,000 dollars last year.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/dominican-shortstop-joan-mauricio/

Mauricio, 16, has good defensive actions with smooth hands and surprising pop from both sides of the plate for someone who is 6-foot-1, 160 pounds. Once he gets bigger and stronger, he has a chance to take a step forward and see his tools improve. Mauricio trains with Nelson Montes de Oca and plays in the International Prospect League.

[Nate Colbert]

Another performance to note in the 1st day of competition:

Older pitcher Albert Abreu, who turns 19 in September and unsurprisingly signed for a relatively paltry $185K last year, got the start for the Blue and pitched quite well (5 1 0 0 2 5).

[La Verdad]

MacDonald was listed by MiLB.com as a 2B for some odd reason. It'll probably be corrected later on.

[Nate Colbert]

Another name to note may be Nestor Tejada. Baseball America had this to say last July when he signed for a reported $300K:

The Astros have signed Venezuelan outfielder Nestor Tejada. Tejada, a 16-year-old lefty, performed well at the 15U World Championship in Mexico last August and stands out more in games than in tryouts, although his speed is above-average and should allow him to play center field. Tejada trained at Carlos Guillen’s academy.

He was in CF yesterday for the Blue squad and hit 2nd. Walked, singled in 5 trips to the plate and threw out a runner at 2B.

[Nate Colbert]

Mauricio had a good game as well. He went 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 triples. He was signed for 600,000 dollars last year.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/dominican-shortstop-joan-mauricio/

Mauricio, 16, has good defensive actions with smooth hands and surprising pop from both sides of the plate for someone who is 6-foot-1, 160 pounds. Once he gets bigger and stronger, he has a chance to take a step forward and see his tools improve. Mauricio trains with Nelson Montes de Oca and plays in the International Prospect League.

Some more info regards Mauricio (BA premium content from this past March--not linking to and select comments only):

Leading up to July 2, Mauricio had been a switch-hitting and had only been switch-hitting for about a year to that point. His swing is better from the left side, so much so that the Astros have had him drop switch-hitting, taking away his natural righthanded stroke and having him hit exclusively from the left side. Since doing so, the Astros have seen a high contact bat, and he has sneaky power and can get the ball to the fence in batting practice.

[Nate Colbert]

Some more info regards Wander Franco (BA premium content from this past March--not linking to and select comments only):

Franco showcased as a shortstop, but he’s a fringy runner at best with a heavy lower half, so he’s going to split time between second and third base, with probably more time at third base because of the players ahead of him at second in the organization. Franco has good hands, a quick transfer and makes accurate throws to first.

[Duman]

The fact that we have this much action in the DSL thread is exciting to me.  Thanks Nate for the postings and keep it up. 

[Mr. Happy]

The fact that we have this much action in the DSL thread is exciting to me.  Thanks Nate for the postings and keep it up. 

+1 Nate rocks.

[Nate Colbert]

Blue and Orange squad hitters (17.3 years-old and 17.6 years-old, respectively) rank as the 3rd and 4th youngest squads in the DSL. Average age of hitters in the league is 18.2 years-old.

Pitchers skew a bit older but are still younger than league average: 18.7 and 18.8 respectively versus 19.2 for the league average.

B-Ref

[Mike S.]

Small correction: Connor MacDonald is a 1B (at a listed 6' 5", a second sacker he is not). He went 0-5 today batting cleanup as the Blue squad won their debut 7-2.

Great catch re: MacDonald.  Was actually going to ask whether he switched positions (which seemed very unlikely in my mind, for the reason you pointed out).  Good to hear some news on him as well.  Believe he was staying in Australia to finish school before starting his professional career?

[La Verdad]

Wander Franco was 0-1 yesterday, but he got 2 RBI on a bases-loaded walk and a sac fly and drew 3 walks for the 2nd game in a row.

[La Verdad]

How about Wander Franco through his first 5 games for the Blue team: 11 BB, 0 K

[Navin R Johnson]

The Dominican Fontana

[morningwood75]

Through nine games...

Mauricio at .242/.342/.515 with 5 bb and 9 so

Franco at .240/.487/.480 with 13 bb and 3 so

Vicente Sanchez at .387/.513/.774 with 8 bb and 6 so

Does anyone know much about Sanchez? I saw Ocampo mention him. He's a 17-year-old lefty-hitting outfielder.

[La Verdad]

Frankeny Fernandez is 15-15 in stolen base attempts for the Orange team this season.

[La Verdad]

Frankeny Fernandez is currently slashing .317/.429/.435 with a homer and 32 RBI and is 27-29 on stolen bases this year for the Orange team.

The DSL teams haven't fared very well in the standings this season, but that doesn't mean that they're devoid of talent. Fernandez will surely be one of them. Wander Franco and Connor MacDonald have shined for the Blue team. Cristopher Luciano and Vicente Sanchez have sort of come out of nowhere to deliver solid debut seasons, as well.

[Nate Colbert]

Astros Director of International Oz Ocampo: ‏

@OzOcampo  1h
DSL Astros LHP Salvador Montano leading the league in strikeouts -- 6-2, 2.14 ERA, 74/18 K/BB in 54.2 IP.

But just to footnote, he's a Dominican southpaw who apparently wasn't signed until he was 19 and currently at age 20 is a bit old for the league. Perhaps just a late-bloomer.

He's also listed at a skeeeeny 6'3" and 150.


(And in the completely irrelevant Didja Know dept. Ocampo has an MBA from Columbia Business School).