Hartford Courant piece on George Springer

A year ago, George Springer was a Husky before signing his deal with the Astros, where he is now an All-Star at High-A Lancaster. The Hartford Courant talked to him about it.

Astros Director of Player Development Fred Nelson:
"We want to get him to be more selective, swing at more strikes. Early in the year, Lancaster played a lot of games in its division, so they saw a lot of teams seven and eight games. Pitchers got a chance to see what George does and how to pitch him, and then he made adjustments."

Al Pedrique out, Pettini in

Al Pedrique - bench coach for the past two seasons - has resigned his position after he was told that he was being reassigned to Bullpen Coach, a void left by Jamie Quirk's move to the Cubs.

Pedrique:
“I’m leaving. I resigned after being told I was going to be the bullpen coach.”

Short. Sweet. To the point. Hemingway would love it.

McTaggart says the Astros have hired Joe Pettini, who had spent the last ten years as Tony LaRussa's bench coach in St. Louis.

Luhnow, on Pettini, to Mark Berman:
"The way he runs spring training. The way he organizes all of the fundamentals, he really brings so much experience to the game. He was a minor league field coordinator for many years before that. He just has a really deep understanding of all the elements of the game. His experience is invaluable and the fact that we were able to get someone like him is an opportunity I really felt we couldn't miss."

Here's a Derrick Goold story on Pettini from May 2011:
Pettini, 56, doesn't have the headlines or longevity of pitching coach Dave Duncan, he doesn't have the former-player following of Jose Oquendo, but he has emerged was La Russa's utility coach. Pettini's daily role is as bench coach, but at times he's filled in for Oquendo as third-base coach, he's taken over at first base when Dave McKay is ailing, and no coach is busier than Pettini when it comes to spring training.

Here's a Pettini interview with the Birdhouse, a Cardinals blog. Spoiler: Pettini uses geometry for infield defensive positioning.
-
Also, the Astros hired Matt Sinatro as the ML Catching Coach/Advance Scouting Coordinator; Dan Radison is now a special assistant in player development; Mike Elias as a special assistant to the scouting department.

Radison was fired by the Nationals with Jim Riggleman when he said Riggleman was his "best friend in the whole world."
-
But if you're Bobby Heck or Fred Nelson, don't worry, 'cos you're staying right where you are.

Fred Nelson Talks About This Year's Farm Crops

Brian McTaggart talked with Astros director of player development Fred Nelson about the progression of several players and the direction of the farm system as a whole. It's worth a read, but here's the gist:

"I would say we’re disappointed from a team standpoint, but I spent some time over the weekend looking at some things and our clubs have been very young,” Nelson said. “And so it makes it difficult at times to compete. That’s no excuse, but certainly our clubs have been young and we’re also just one of seven other clubs that field seven teams here in the United States, so you spread your players a little bit thinner. The individual performances have been very rewarding."

Carpenter could find his way to Houston soon

But apparently he's not ready yet, according to Fred Nelson:

He has work to do to get himself ready to go to the big leagues. He’s not there yet. Sometime shortly if there’s a need at the big league level, he could certainly be a candidate who could go to the big leagues. He’s still working on location and command and his secondary stuff and how to pitch to experienced hitters.”

That makes total sense considering that, in 19IP, he's allowed 15H/0ER, 21K:6BB, and opponents are hitting .221 against him.

Or if you take into account his last ten games (five at home, five on the road), where he has allowed 6H/0ER, 13K:4BB in 11IP, with a .162 BAA.

Fred Nelson says the right things

If you're stressed out about being 0-5, then check out George Vondracek's article on Fred Nelson, the new Ricky Bennett.

A nugget, from Nelson:
"Ultimately it's our responsibility to see that it gets done, along with our managers. That's where my accountability to Ed comes in, that's where the managers' accountability comes in to us and, ultimately, the managers need to make the players accountable. And if that is a change in direction or a change in the philosophy, then so be it. That's who we are."

T.J. Steele could have been be a contendah

Steve Campbell has a post up about T.J. Steele, who has five tools - and one of those might be a stethoscope.

Fred Nelson, on the oft-injured Steele:
“You talk about a guy who ventures on the term of a five-tool player (run, throw, field, hit, hit for power). He’s very talented. He can drive the ball. The ball comes off his bat very well. He’s a guy who’s going to have range, can throw, can run. He basically has all the ingredients you look for in a quality player at the major league level. We just need to keep him on the field.

What kind of hitter are you, Steele?
“I’m honestly not sure what kind of hitter I am yet. I need to learn. I need to figure that out. That will come with some at-bats.”

No one gets this excited when I put on 20 pounds

Jiovanni Mier has done some working out this off-season, apparently.

Director of Player Development Fred Nelson:
"One of the things that we were hoping he'd be able to do over time would be to add some weight, hopefully body strength, and by the same token not lose any quickness or running speed."

Wade, on what Mier needs to develop:
"It's consistency and plate discipline more than anything. He's going to grow into a little bit of power with the body he's got, but it's really just a case of getting professional at-bats."

As Levine mentions, Mier is kind of behind the eight-ball with the Astros trading for Jimmy Paredes, who's officially one-step ahead of Mier in the system. Mier's 2011 destination is up in the air, but it's logical to think he'll be back in Lexington to start the year.

Wade to OKC: You're the prettiest girl in a world of two girls

The Astros and RedHawks held a press conference yesterday about their new two-year PDC.

When asked why the Astros went after Oklahoma City, Wade said:
"For every reason. Fan base, ballpark, Mandalay Baseball and what they've done in other places, the proximity to Houston and, in all candor, the unattractive secondary choices that we would've had at our disposal.”

To his credit, he addresses the fact that the Oklahoman can't seem to write about the deal without noting that the Astros ranked at or near the bottom of organizational rankings in terms of a farm system:

"I think we're over the dry spell. When I came on board at the end of the 2007 season, there were two things: to be as strong as we could be at the major league level, but task 1A was to replenish the farm system. We've clearly acknowledged at every level that we had several bad drafts back-to-back-to-back, and it takes a long time to recover from those things, but we've had three very good drafts (since)...

...There'll be good prospects on this club next year. We know what we have to do. We think we're sort of underestimated with regard to the level of prospects and the number of prospects we have.”

Director of Player Development Fred Nelson:

"We want a blend of good, young prospects that you're trying to develop and being able to find the six-year free agents to fill in that can help you out in Triple-A and maybe in the majors if there is a need. We're really heading in the right direction.”

Big changes for the front office, minors

The looming Triple-A battle was listed as a reason, but we're not exactly sure what prompted the following changes:

*Ricky Bennett is no longer an Assistant GM, and is now the Director of Professional Scouting.

*The former Director of Professional Scouting, Fred Nelson, is now Assistant GM/Director of Player Development.

Ed Wade downplayed the demotion angle:
"It's two good baseball guys being asked to fulfill different responsibilities. Ricky will coordinate the pro scouting and will have major league coverage himself but oversee the assignments of our guys out there...

..."Fred has been a farm director and brings a lot to the table with a different voice, and we wanted to have him come in and establish policies. There's a lot on the plate with the AAA situation. He has some hires to make and other things, so Fred has a full plate of responsibilities."

Hires, you ask? That's because the following personnel will not have their contracts renewed:

-Round Rock manager Marc Bombard
-Minor league pitching coordinator Britt Burns
-Corpus Christi manager Wes Clements
-Greeneville hitting coach Pete Rancont