The minor league opening day is getting closer and news is starting to get out about rosters. It looks like Round Rock is going to have one very fast outfield. Brian Bogusevic and Yordany Ramirez are both fleet enough to patrol center with ease. Now we learn from News 8 in Austin that Eli Iorg is “practically a shoe in” for the roster in Round Rock. They will be exciting on the bases if Ramirez can improve on his .254 OBP, Iorg can improve on his .268 average at AA and Bogusevic can continue hitting the baseball as he has since converting from a pitcher late last year.
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.”