Houston Astros: Second round roster cuts of spring

On Sunday, the Houston Astros announced their second round of roster cuts for spring training. While four pitchers were optioned and re-assigned on Friday, six players were re-assigned to the minor leagues before Sunday’s game.

The Astros started spring with 76 players, and after these ten cuts, the team is at 66 with the signing of Jake Odorizzi and Pedro Baez being on the injured list. Baez’s return will be a tricky spot to deal with that might come with Framber Valdez moving to the 60-day injured list.

Six Astros players made up the second round of spring training roster cuts.

Colin Barber, Zach Daniels, Ryan Hartman, Blair Henley, Grae Kessinger and Lorenzo Quintana made up the players re-assigned to the minor leagues. While none of them have major league experience, their minor league options were not tampered with this move.

This wave came as expected as these guys will continue to work out in West Palm Beach, while waiting on the minor league season to start. Some of these guys saw most of their spring in the two ‘B’ games against the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals.

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Of the outfielders, Barber recorded only an RBI in six at bats, while striking out four times. Daniels walked three times in eight plate appearances with two runs, while also hitting a moon shot off Jack Flaherty in a ‘B’ game.

On the mound, Hartman posted an ERA of 1.59 through 5.2 innings of work, while striking out six batters. Henley, at 23-years-old, didn’t make an appearance in a regular spring training game.

Kessinger slapped two hits in 11 at bats, while half of his outs came on punch outs. The shortstop has been more of a glove first player with respectable speed. Quintana, now 32, could be a mid-season move to the 40-man roster next season. While adding versatility at first base, the catcher had two hits in six at bats this spring.

The loss of a minor league season in 2020 along with ‘B’ game numbers not counting has slowed the overall progression and numbers of these prospects. Moving forward, they will most likely start lower in the system, while battling for roster spots in two to three years.