Monday news and notes: AFL update, media softball game and JMike's pending HOF induction.
When I visited the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks last season, two players in particular from that team piqued my interest -- catcher Jason Castro and right-handed reliever Chia-Jen Lo, both of whom are among a small handful of prospects expected to appear in the big leagues in the next year or two.
Both are currently playing in the Arizona Fall League and the Lo, a 23-year-old native of Taiwan, was named the AFL's co-pitcher of the week last week after posting a three consecutive scoreless two-inning stints in the first two weeks of the season.
Overall, Lo owns a 1-0 record and a 3.45 ERA over 10 1/3 innings, having allowed seven hits and two walk while striking out 10 over six appearances.
The Astros currently have seven players in the AFL -- click here for a brief rundown of each.
________________
Congratulations to outfielder Jason Michaels, who will be inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame next year. He hopes to be in attendance at the UM football game this Saturday against Virginia, when he and the other inductees will be introduced to the crowd during halftime.
"I'm ecstatic," Michaels said during an interview with the Miami Herald. "It's a tremendous honor."
Read the full story here.
________________
Thanks to everyone who turned out for our event at Lucky's Pub last Thursday, and I look forward to scheduling the next one in the near future. Congrats to Brian Flores (below), who won the Miguel Tejada autographed ball. Brian then gave the ball to his friend, who in turn handed it over to his two young sons, Isaac and Ian Salazar. A win-win.
________________
The Astros hosted their annual softball game for Houston media last Friday at Minute Maid Park, and while I didn't participate, I was on hand to take pictures of various reporters, producers, radio hosts, camera operators and writers embarrassing themselves enjoying a fun day on the field.
790 talk show host Charlie Pallilo
Game ends, good sportmanship ensues. Then everyone headed to the Diamond Club for hot dogs, nachos and other artery-clogging delicacies.
This is Jen Vogel, host of the Astros reality-based show "Here's the Pitch!"
FS Houston's Kevin Eschenfelder to a teammate: "This is an RBI situation. Being from Pittsburgh, you might not understand what that means." Ba-da-bum.
Kevin then shows off his mad pitching skills.
Not surprisingly, FS Houston's Patti Smith was one of the better players. She played a mean second base and had a couple of pretty impressive hits as well.
I call this one "Honorary Bat Kid." That's MLB.com's Brian McTaggart, taking inventory.
Representing the under-30-and-therefore-the-least-likely-to-pull-a-hammy contingent was the Chronicle's Zachary Levine.
Follow Alyson Footer on Twitter
Questions? Send to afooter@astros.com
You mean no tickets were sold for the game? Some real money could've probably been raised if, say, Justice was advertised as the left fielder.
Report any abuse or spam
I am glad you got a picture of Levine. I feel he is overlooked as a baseball writer. More people should be reading his stuff. He is the only guy that is taking a "new school" statistical look at the Astros.
Report any abuse or spam