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Houston Astros Spring Training 2006 Report

The Houston Astros have great talent in their farm system. If they made better use of it, the rings from last year's World Series might have "Champion" on them.

Baseball is still a team sport. The numbers, particularly for pitchers, are reflective not only of their effort and the support of their team on the field, but of the support of their coaches, trainers and manager off the field.

For an organization with the talent this one has, both the minor prospects on the 40 Man Roster and the Non-Roster Invitee (NRI) list were underwhelming this Spring.

The Astros have some outstanding pitchers hovering between the majors and minors who should be pitching far better than they do. Matt Gallo, Taylor Bucholtz, Fernando Nieve came up full of fire. While they're holding their own, they should be doing better. Pitchers Jason Hirsh, Felipe Paulino, and Jimmy Barthmaier have commanding records at the lower levels of the organization and looked good.

There were no infielders from the minors in this infield shadowed by the green cap.

More interesting was the glaring omission of power hitter Hunter Pence (MLN FAB50 Baseball No. 43) from the NRI list. Sure, he's not 40, and he's not likely to make the major league club this season. In a club full of aging bats, though, Pence, who cleaned up at Lexington last season, and is expected to dominate the Texas League with the Corpus Christi Hooks this season, should have had some exposure to the major league club this Spring and the credit of making the NRI that his record deserves.

Of course, given what we see going on in Phil Garner's clubhouse with the minor league talent, perhaps its better that he misses the tension of this year's Spring camp.