Welcome to Appy Astros, a blog dedicated to following current & former Greeneville Astros, the Appalachian League affiliate of the Houston Astros. Here you will find reports on current G-Stros, updates on the development of former G-Stros and occasionally an update on what has happened to the guys who have hung up their spikes.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Getting to Know Your 2012 Greeneville Astros

The players are in town and the first roster has been tweeted out so let's get to know your 2012 Greeneville Astros.

Pitchers

Tanner Bushue - RHP - 20 (will turn 21 on 6/21)
He is in his 4th season after being drafted in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft.  Yet he has never appeared at Pioneer Park.  He has pitched in the GCL and the Sally with mixed results. This year he had a rough start in Lexington and was sent down after six appearances. 

Zachary Dando - RHP -21 
Appeared in 19 games for Greeneville last season out of the pen.   

Michael Dimock - RHP  - 22
He was the closer at Wake Forest before being drafted in the 37th round by the Astros this year. 

Christian Garcia - RHP - 20 
Drafted in the 29th round this year from Florence - Darlington Tech in South Carolina. 

Zachary Hardoin - LHP - 23
Drafted in the 47th round in 2011 out of Missiouri, he spent 2011 with the GCL Astros where he made 16 appearances and carried a 4.70 ERA. 

Mike Hauschild - RHP - 22
Drafted in the 33rd round out of University of Dayton. He will be playing with a former teammate - more on that below. 

Adrian Houser - RHP - 19
Houser was the 2nd round pick in 2011 out of high school in Oklahoma.  He started in the GCL but finished 2011 in Greeneville.  In six starts with the G-Stros last year, he was 1 -2 with a 4.56 ERA.  

Jordan Jankowski - RHP - 23
Drafted in the 34th round out of Catawba which means he has pitched in Pioneer Park before but will be sitting in the first base dugout for the first time.  He was the conference Co- Pitcher of the year. 

Mitchell Lambson - LHP - 21
Lambson was drafted in 2011 in the 19th round.  He pitched for Tri Cities last season amassing a 4.33 ERA in 22 appearances out of the bullpen. 

Christopher Lee - RHP - 19 
Lee returns to Greeneville where he showed progress during the year last season where he fanned 47 batters in 48 2/3 IP. He was drafted in 2011 in the 4th round. 

Daniel Minor - RHP - 21
Drafted in the 9th round out of Texas A&M Corpus Christi. 

Francis Ramirez  - RHP - 20 
Ramirez finished strong in Greenville after a late call up from the GCL.  In four starts (18 1/3 IP) he had a 2.89 ERA and held opponents to a .182 average.   

Richard Rodriguez - RHP - 22
Is starting his third year in the organization and has just pitched 24 2/3 innings thus far.  Made one three inning start in Lexington earlier this year. 

Paris Shewey - LHP - 23
Another returner from the 2011 bullpen. He made 20 appearances with a 9.82 ERA after signing as a non drafted free agent in 2011 out of Washington State. 

Frederick Tiburcio - RHP - 21
Comes to Greeneville after two seasons in the Dominican Summer League and one season in the GCL. Last year he made 10 starts and two relief appearances for the GCL Astros with an ERA of 4.47.  His numbers suggest he is a ground ball pitcher.  In 112 pro innings, he has given up just two home runs.  

Scott Zuloaga - LHP - 22
Pitched in Greeneville last season after being drafted in the 16th round.  He was often used just to face a batter or two as a lefty specialist.  He has a extreme side arm delivery.   

Catchers
Ernesto Genoves -21
I am surprised to see him return for a second year.  He made a brief appearance in Lexington earlier in the month but will be on the roster for Greeneville's opening day.  He hit .280 with 4 HR last season and showed improvement in his receiving skills. 

Ricky Gingras - 21
Drafted in the 18th round this year, he bats left and throws right.   

Cristian Moronta - 22
Repeating in Greeneville.  Last season he appeared in just 13 games but made an impact on the team.  He was honored with the Oscar Pedron award, which is given for leadership and character.  

Infielders
Jean Batista - 20 - SS/2B
Batista made a late appearance in Greeneville last season and I look forward to seeing him more this year.  He has a smooth glove and showed some pop.  He hit two home runs in his 13 games in Greeneville last year.  He is one of the players profiled in the recent documentary Pelotero.  

Brian Blasik - 22 - SS
Signed as a non drafted free agent out of the University of Dayton. He appears to be the baseball equivalent of a gym rat.  He has been a teammate of Astros draft pick Michael Hauschild for two years of summer ball in High School and then their careers in Dayton.  Hauschild was reported heading to Greeneville but his name isn't on the roster yet. 

Angel Ibanez - 21- 3B
Drafted in the 28th round out of University of Texas - Pan American this year.   

Joshua Magee - 20 - 2B
Another player I am surprised to see back.  He got very hot at the end of the year last year.  So hot he got hits in 12 straight at bats.   He was drafted in the 18th round in 2010 out of Hoover High in Alabama.

Michael Martinez - 21 - 1B
Drafted in the 36th round in 2012 out of Florida International.  A former walk on who went on to set several school records.   

Ruben Sosa - 21 - 2B
Sosa spent half the season in Greeneville last year before moving on up to Lexington. He is listed as 1.03 Altuves. He also spent some time in CF last year for Greeneville. He played 20 games at 2B and 16 in CF.  So don't be surprised to see him ranging out in the outfield

Outfielders
Terrell Joyce - 20 - OF
Drafted in the 12th round out of Florida State College (not to be confused with FSU).  He passed up playing college ball at Virginia Tech to sign with the Astros. 

Jose Monzon  -20 - CF
Monzon appeared in 53 games for the G-Stros last season.  He sent most of his time in center but put a little bit of time in the corner outfield spots as well.  

Ariel Ovando - 18 - OF
To be just 18 and repeating the Appy gives you some indication of what the Astros think about Ovando. He was challenged last year as a young teen and his raw talent peaked through some but there was great deal of work to be done.  He is back this year to see if he can live up to the expectations that come with signing a contract worth more than 2 million dollars.  He will spend most of his time in right field.  


D'Andre Toney - 20 - OF 
Recently acquired from the Royals as the player to be named later in a trade that happened right before the start of the baseball season.  Tony showed promise in the Arizona League last year.  He hit .340 in 43 games with 12 doubles, five triples and five home runs.  He is expected to patrol center for Greeneville.  

Marc Wik - 19 - OF
Wik was drafted in the 21st round out of Chabot College. Chabot may sound familiar to G-Stros fans, that is where former G-Stro Andrew Darnell attended prior to being drafted.  

Breakdown & Observations:
We have 10 players who were drafted or signed this season.  
We have six players who have atleast a year of pro ball but have never played in Greeneville.  
We have 13 players who played for Greeneville part or all of last season, compared to three we had on the roster last year. 
We only have four teenagers on the roster compared to 13 we had on the roster last year.  


So that is a skeleton of the team.  I look forward to helping to put some skin on the skeleton as the year goes on and we see what we have. 

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