Five players cut

Farmstros has a list of five minor-leaguers who were cut this week:

Wander Alvino
Jordan Comadena
Bryce Lane
Mike Ness
Jose Vargas
Bubby Williams

What the Heck, Bobby also says that former A&M catcher Kevin Gonzalez voluntarily retired.

Comadena was obviously an AC favorite, and Bubby Williams won the 2nd annual Adopt-A-Player poll.

Eddie's Farm: July 22

Oklahoma City (43-57)

Lucas Harrell gets his first win for OKC with a 5-2 win over Memphis. Harrell threw 7IP, 4H/2ER, 3K:4BB; Jeff Fulchino struck out two in 1IP, and Wesley Wright got his first save with a perfect 9th.

Anderson Hernandez (2B, 3RBI), J.R. Towles, Koby Clemens (2B, RBI), and Drew Locke (2B, RBI, BB) had two hits each.

Man of the Match: Lucas Harrell

Corpus (38-59)

Holy Jeebus. Frisco flat-out destroyed Corpus, hitting eight homers - five from the 6-9 spots in the lineup in a 19-4 win. Jonnathan Aristil gave up 8H/7ER, 2HR in 1.1IP; Kyle Greenwalt gave up 7H/5ER, 3HR in 3IP; Chris Hicks and Henry Villar pitched without incident; Danny Meszaros gave up 6H/6ER, 2HR without recording an out; Arcenio Leon allowed 2H/1ER, 1HR, and catcher Emerson Frostad gave up a hit and a walk - but no homers - in 1IP.

Kody Hinze and Chris Wallace were each 2x4 with a solo homer, and Johnathan Villar and Jimmy Paredes added solo homers, as well.

Man of the Match: Kody Hinze - now has a 1.019 OPS since coming up to Corpus.

Lancaster (38-60)

Lancaster actually had a 3-0 lead. Then High Desert scored the next 11 runs in a 15-10 win over Lancaster. Zach Grimmett threw 4.2IP, 7H/7ER, 2K:2BB, three of those earned runs were given up by Colton Pitkin, who allowed 4H/4ER of his own in 0.1IP. David Berner allowed 3H/2ER, Shane Wolf gave up 1H/0ER, 3K:1BB, and Kirk Clark allowed 3H/2ER.

Miguel Arrendell was 3x3 with three walks and a solo homer; Jose Carlos Thompson was 3x4 with a walk; Jonathan Meyer was 3x5 with a double and 2RBI; Adam Bailey (RBI) and Erik Castro (HR, 2RBI) had two hits each. Andy Simunic was 1x4 with 2BB, and David Flores was 1x4 with 2RBI.

Man of the Match: Miguel Arrendell - nice when your leadoff guy gets on base six times.

Lexington (46-52)

Lexington had a two-run lead, gave it up, and got it back for a 5-4 win over Charleston. Luis Cruz allowed 7H/3ER, 2K:0BB in 5IP; Jason Chowning faced four batters and got five outs without giving up a hit, and Jorge De Leon got his 12th save with a perfect 9th.

Everyone got a hit in the lineup - Bryce Lane was 2x3 with an RBI; Delino DeShields, Enrique Hernandez, and Ben Orloff (2B) had your other RBIs.

Man of the Match: Bryce Lane

Tri-City (14-20)

Tri-City came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Connecticut 3-2 and avoid the sweep. Euris Quezada threw 4.2IP, 3H/2R (1ER), 2K:5BB; Dayan Diaz got the win with 3.1IP, 0H/0ER, 5K:2BB, and Ryan Cole threw a perfect 9th inning.

The ValleyCats only got four hits - two from Matt Duffy, a triple from Drew Muren, and a hit from Jacke Healey. All of the ValleyCats' runs were unearned, and they were also 0x8 w/RISP.

Man of the Match: Dayan Diaz

Greeneville (12-19)

Greeneville got a six-run 7th, and then turned around and gave up three in the top of the 8th to let Bristol tie it up, but got a run in the bottom of the 8th for a 7-6 win. Tyson Perez allowed 8H/3R (2ER), 3K:0BB; Scott Zuloaga got the final two outs of the 6th; Danilo Del Rio allowed three unearned runs in 1.1IP; Steve Martin got the BS/W, allowing a hit that scored one of Del Rio's unearned runs.

Garen Wright was 3x4 with two doubles, Jordan Scott was 2x4 with a triple, walk, and 3RBI; Chan-Jong Moon was 1x2 with 2BB, and Jesse Wierzbicki hit a two-out, two-run homer.

Man of the Match: Garen Wright

GCL Astros (7-21)

The GCL Astros took an early 1-0 lead, and the Mets got two in the bottom of the 3rd, going on to a 2-1 win. Frederick Tiburcio allowed 2H/2ER, 3K:5BB in 5IP; Steve Dennison gave up 3H/0ER, 4K:0BB in 2IP, and Juan Mojica threw a perfect 9th.

Jose Fernandez had a triple, and Kelvin Vizcaino had a hit and a walk. That's it. Two hits.

Man of the Match: Steve Dennison.

Bushue injured

Tanner Bushue was placed on the 7-Day DL yesterday, and Bryce Lane was called up from Tri-City to take his roster spot.

Bushue allowed 5H/3ER, 1K:2BB in 4IP on June 11.

Tranzactionz!

June 9

*Astros activate Brandon Lyon, send Jose Valdez back to OKC.

Sent Up

*June 8: Wladimir Sutil, from Corpus to OKC.

Sent Down

*June 8: Jose Vallejo, from OKC to Corpus.
*June 8: Andy Simunic, from Corpus to Lancaster.
*June 8: Bryce Lane, from Lancaster to Lexington.

Activated

*June 8: Carlos Corporan, from OKC's 7-Day DL
*June 8: Jon Gaston, from Corpus' temporarily inactive list

More Tranzactionz!

May 25

Sent Down:
David Berner, from Corpus to Lancaster.
Luis Cruz, from Lancaster to Lexington.
Jordan Comadena, from Lancaster to Tri-City.

Brought Up:
Bryce Lane, from Lexington to Lancaster

Activated:
Chris Hicks, by Lancaster, from 7-Day DL.

The HOVG interviewed Bryce Lane

On Friday, our friends at the Hall of Very Good interviewed Astros prospect Bryce Lane.

Read the whole thing, but here's a nice quote on how he expects his career to turn out:

I'm going to do my time in the minors for a couple of years then I'm going to get the big call-up. (I will) try and see if I can make a career out of it and be the Brett Favre of baseball.

I love the confidence. I'm not in love with the possibility of seeing pictures of his ding-dong.

Tranzactionz

Lots of transactions for you from Saturday:

Corpus

Placed Kody Kirkland on the 7-Day DL, and activated Jose Vallejo from the temporarily inactive list.

Lancaster

Bryce Lane assigned to Lancaster from the GCL Astros.

Lane, drafted in the 41st Round this past June, was hitting .202/.232/.213 in 37 games for Greeneville before getting sent to the GCL, where he hit .333/.429/.367 in eight games. So this is curious.

Lexington

Placed pitcher Yordany Ramirez and outfielder Brian Kemp on the temporarily inactive list.

Tri-City

2010 3rd Round pick Austin Wates was assigned to Tri-City.

Tranzactionz!

Got some tranzactionz that we promised yesterday:

Round Rock

-Polin Trinidad sent to Corpus Christi, from Round Rock

Corpus

-Jhon Florentino placed on 7-day DL
-Jose Vallejo activated from Temporarily Inactive list

Lexington

-Rene Garcia placed on 7-Day DL with Elbow Soreness (clearing way for Ben Heath)

GCL Astros

-Evan Grills and Bryce Lane assigned to GCL Astros from Greeneville.

41st Round pick Bryce Lane got 15th Round money

The Panama City News-Herald has an article on the signings of some local players, including 41st Round pick Bryce Lane:

Lane was rewarded for his patience in the process. His low draft slot came with a larger signing bonus, he told the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer. He didn’t divulge the bonus amount, but said the Astros signed him with a figure similar to those given to players taken in the 15th round.

Astros sign a literal ton of players

MLB's Official Draft Twitter account reports that the Astros have signed the following players:

4th Round pick Bobby Doran, for $237,700
8th Round pick Jake Buchanan
9th Round pick Tommy Shirley
11th Round pick Kyle Redinger
12th Round pick Andrew Robinson
16th Round pick Chris "Biggie" Wallace
26th Round pick Alex Sogard
34th Round pick Ryan Cole
41st Round pick Bryce Lane

So that's six college pitchers, a college catcher, a college outfielder, and a high school 3B (Kyle Redinger).

Bryce Lane may sign

41st Round pick Bryce Lane may sign with the Astros, but like every other pick in the draft, it comes down to the contract negotiations.

The Columbus Ledger-Inquirer:
Lane, a 2008 Russell County graduate and two-year GCCC player, said he is leaning toward signing with the Astros, but his decision would hinge on the contract negotiations. He was scheduled to meet an Astros representative with a contract Wednesday night.

Lane:
"This is the best feeling I've ever had. Despite it being the later rounds, it doesn't matter to me. I've always dreamed of playing pro ball, I've got the confidence in myself, and I'm ready to do my time at each level to get to the majors."

With the 41st Round pick (1233rd overall)

The Astros select 6'0" 190lb RF Bryce Lane, out of Gulf Coast Community College (AL).

A First Team All-Conference selection as a freshman, Lane hit .352 with seven home runs and 47 RBI at the plate while going 5-2 on the mound. This season he is hitting .444 with 71 hits, 14 doubles, 21 home runs and 76 RBI, scoring 71 runs. He has also made five appearances on the mound, going 2-1 with a save and a 1.10 ERA in 16 1/3 innings.

He was described as such:
"Bryce is a pure hitter that also has a great deal of pop - he not only is one of the best hitters in the conference, but is also very good on the mound."

Lane has signed a National Letter of Intent to join Auburn in the fall.