Farm system talk from the Dominican to Sugar Land
Welcome to the Bus Ride Discussion Forum. This is the discussion forum for all things minor, and the primary discussion forum for all minors articles posted at The Bus Ride and From The Bus Stop in the ezine. The Bus Ride is your primary source for the large articles including draft reviews, top tens, any interviews, etc. From the Bus Stop will feature shorter articles related to at the moment happenings and minors news. Here we wanted to give you some Astros minor league information as an introduction and resource.
The Astros have minor league affiliates in each level of minor league baseball (AAA, AA, high-A, low-A, short-season-A, and rookie league). AAA is populated by just about every kind of player from prospects to hangers-on to roster filler to guys with mlb experience hoping to make the big club. AA is usually populated by advanced prospects and roster filler. From A-ball on down you’ll find prospects of all sort hoping to develop into major league material. The short season-A and rookie level leagues generally play from late June to early September whereas the full season leagues will play from April to September. Because prospects are always developing a simple look at their statistics may not tell you the whole story. We’ll try to dig a little deeper for you.
As for the Astros, a full list of current affiliated minor league teams may be found on the Houston Astros Minor League Affiliates page. These minor league affiliate teams also have their own websites, which are as follows:
AAA: Round Rock Express in Round Rock, Texas. Fresno Grizzlies in Fresno, California. The Astros return to the Dell Diamond in 2019 this time at the AAA level. You can find them online at Express.
AA: Corpus Christi Hooks in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Hooks can be found playing their home games at Whataburger Field. You can find them online at Hooks and on Twitter at @cchooks.
High-A: Fayetteville Woodpeckers in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Buies Creek Astros in Buies Creek, North Carolina in east central North Carolina about halfway between Raleigh and Fayetteville. This is a 2 year (beginning in 2017), temporary move until the Astros new ballpark in Fayetteville is completed. With the completion of the new ballpark the Astros high-A affiliate moves into their permanent home for the 2019 season. The club will play their home games at the new downtown Fayetteville ballpark, Segra Stadium. You can find them online at Woodpeckers.
Low-A: Quad Cities River Bandits in Davenport, Iowa, on the Mississippi River half way between Chicago and Des Moines. The club plays their home games at Modern Woodmen Park. You can find them online at River Bandits and on Twitter at @QCRiverBandits.
Short Season-A: Tri-City Valleycats in Troy, New York a suburb of Albany. Joe Bruno Stadium, “The Joe”, is home to the Valleycats. You can find them online at Valley Cats and on Twitter at @ValleyCats.
Rookie League: After the 2017 season the Astros decided to reduce the number of minor league affiliates by one. They chose to abandon Greeneville. Though Greeneville has signed on with the Reds you can still find the Astros previous rosters and player statistics at the team website.
Rookie League: Gulf Coast League Astros in Kissimmee, Florida. The GCL Astros play their home games at the Astros Spring Training complex, Osceola County Stadium. You can find them online on the MiLB website at GCL Astros.
The Astros also maintain an academy in the Dominican Republic. They play their games in the Dominican Summer League. You can find that league and Astros info online at DSL Astros.
Finally, this forum is also for general minors discussion. Feel free to post minors information you have here. Also, feel free to ask any minors related questions. We will endevour to answer your questions as accurately as possible. Too, if you know the answer to a question feel free to respond. That’s it. So, kick back and have a look around. We hope you enjoy yourselves.