Houston Astros minor league players
This a partial list of Minor League Baseball players in the Houston Astros system and the rosters of their minor league affiliates:
Players
Brett Conine
Brett Michael Conine is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Houston Astros organization.Conine attended El Modena High School in Orange, California, where he played three years of varsity baseball. In 2013, his sophomore year, he pitched to a 1.94 ERA over innings. Undrafted in the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, he enrolled at California State University, Fullerton where he played college baseball.
In 2016, Conine's freshman year, he made 15 appearances in which he went 3–3 with a 5.10 ERA, striking out 24 batters over thirty innings. That summer, he played in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Wareham Gatemen. As a sophomore in 2017, Conine moved into the closer role, compiling 15 saves and a 1.39 ERA over 31 relief appearances. He returned to the Cape Cod League and the Gatemen that summer. In 2018, his junior season, he appeared in 32 games in relief, going 4–2 with a 4.09 ERA. After the season, he was selected by the Houston Astros in the 11th round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft.
Conine signed with the Astros and made his professional debut that year with the Tri-City ValleyCats, going 1–1 with a 1.99 ERA over innings. In 2019, he began the year with the Quad Cities River Bandits before being promoted to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers in May. After 15 games with Fayetteville, he was promoted to the Corpus Christi Hooks in August, with whom he finished the year. Over 25 games between the three clubs, Conine went 8–4 with a 2.20 ERA, striking out 134 batters over innings.
Kent Emanuel
Kent Jeffrey Emanuel is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros organization.Emanuel attended Woodstock High School in Woodstock, Georgia. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 19th round of the 2010 MLB draft, but did not sign. Emanuel attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and played college baseball for the North Carolina Tar Heels. In 2011, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League. In 2013, Emanuel was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Year.
The Houston Astros selected Emanuel in the third round, with the 74th overall selection, of the 2013 MLB draft. He pitched 9 scoreless innings for the GCL Astros in 2013. He split the 2014 season between the Quad Cities River Bandits and the Lancaster Jethawks, going a combined 9–7 with a 4.21 ERA over 124 innings. He spent the 2015 season with the Corpus Christi Hooks, going 1–1 with a 3.68 ERA over innings. He returned to Corpus Christi in 2016, going 6–4 with a 5.23 ERA over innings. He split the 2017 season between Corpus Christi and the Fresno Grizzlies, going a combined 6–7 with a 5.72 ERA over 116 innings. He spent the 2018 season with Fresno, going 5–4 with a 5.59 ERA over innings. Emanuel spent the 2019 season with the Round Rock Express of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, going 8–2 with a 3.90 ERA over innings.
Emanuel was added to the Houston 40-man roster on November 4, 2019.
Drew Ferguson
Ferguson attended the Knoxville Catholic High School in Knoxville, Tennessee and played college baseball at Belmont University as a walk-on. He was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 19th round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft.
Ferguson spent his first professional season with the Tri-City ValleyCats and Quad Cities River Bandits, compiling a combined.297 batting average with four home runs and 27 RBIs in 61 games. He played for the Lancaster JetHawks and Corpus Christi Hooks in 2016, slashing.315/.408/.542 with 17 home runs and 76 RBIs in 105 games, and he played with Corpus Christi and the Fresno Grizzlies in 2017 where he posted a combined.275 batting average with nine home runs and 41 RBIS in 113 games, He spent the 2018 season with Fresno, batting.305 with four home runs and 29 RBIs in 65 games.
Ferguson was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 2018 Rule 5 draft, and was returned to the Astros organization on March 22, 2019. He spent 2019 with the Round Rock Express. Over 115 games, he slashed.281/.395/.440 with 11 home runs, 57 RBIs, and 27 stolen bases.
Tyler Ivey
Tyler Cade Ivey is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Houston Astros organization.Ivey attended Rockwall-Heath High School in Heath, Texas. As a freshman, he was on the 2012 4-A State Champion Rockwall-Heath baseball team that also included future major league pitcher Jake Thompson. Ivey was undrafted out of high school in 2015 and enrolled at Texas A&M University to play college baseball for the Aggies. He posted a 2–3 record with a 3.56 ERA in 43 innings over 11 games during the 2016 season. During that season, he was involved in an incident that almost caused a post-game brawl vs. the University of Texas, when he taunted the UT dugout with a horns down gesture. Ivey transferred to Grayson County College in Denison, Texas for his sophomore season of 2017. With Grayson, Ivey posted a 9–0 record with a 2.08 ERA in 78 innings over 12 games. Ivey was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 3rd round, with the 91st overall selection, of the 2017 MLB draft and signed with them for a $450,000 signing bonus.
Ivey split the 2017 season between the Gulf Coast League Astros and the Tri City ValleyCats of the Class A Short Season New York–Penn League, posting a combined 0–3 record with a 5.63 ERA in 38 innings. He split the 2018 season between the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Class A Midwest League and the Buies Creek Astros of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League, posting a combined 4–6 record with a 2.97 ERA and 135 strikeouts over 112 innings. He split the 2019 season between the GCL Astros, Fayetteville Woodpeckers, and Corpus Christi Hooks of the Class AA Texas League, going a combined 4–0 with a 1.38 ERA and 68 strikeouts over 52 innings.
Brendan McCurry
McCurry played college baseball at Howard College and Oklahoma State University. McCurry was an infielder at Howard before transitioning into a pitcher at Oklahoma State. At Oklahoma State he set a school record with 27 career saves.
McCurry was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 22nd round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft. During his first professional season, he spent time with the Arizona League Athletics, Beloit Snappers and Stockton Ports, posting a combined 2–0 record with a 0.31 ERA in innings between the three teams. McCurry spent 2015 with both the Stockton Ports and the Midland RockHounds where he posted a 1–3 record with a 1.86 ERA, striking out 82 batters over 63 relief innings.
On November 25, 2015, McCurry was traded from the Athletics to the Houston Astros for Jed Lowrie. He began 2016 with the Corpus Christi Hooks before being promoted to the Fresno Grizzlies. He finished 2016 with a 3–5 record and a 3.07 ERA over 56 relief appearances. On December 22, 2016, McCurry was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for methamphetamine. After his suspension, he returned to Fresno, going 4–2 with a 4.43 ERA in 35 appearances in relief. In 2018, McCurry once again returned to the Grizzlies, pitching to a 6–7 record with a 3.69 ERA in 46 relief appearances. He spent 2019 with the Round Rock Express, pitching to a 3–5 record with a 4.23 ERA over innings, striking out 68.
Alex McKenna
Alexander McKenna is an American professional baseball outfielder in the Houston Astros organization.McKenna attended Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, California, where he played football, basketball, and baseball. In 2015, as a senior, he batted.402. He was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 38th round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign, instead choosing to attend California Polytechnic State University where he played college baseball for the Cal Poly Mustangs.
As a freshman at Cal Poly in 2016, McKenna batted.261 with six home runs in 45 games. In 2017, as a sophomore, he started all 56 of Cal Poly's games and compiled a.360 batting average with five home runs, 31 RBIs, 13 steals, 45 runs scored, 11 doubles, and two triples. He was named to the All-Big West First Team after the season. That summer he played in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox where he batted.298 with nine doubles, 16 RBIs, and seven stolen bases in 124 at-bats. In 2018, as a junior, McKenna batted.339 with five home runs, 31 RBIs, and a.930 OPS in 57 games. He was named the 2018 Big West Field Player of the Year along with being named to the All-Big West First Team for the second straight year.
McKenna was drafted in the fourth round by the Houston Astros in the 2018 Major League Baseball draft, and he signed for $432,500. He made his professional debut that year for the Tri-City ValleyCats and was named a New York-Penn League All-Star. He was promoted to the Quad Cities River Bandits in August. In 44 games between Tri-City and Quad Cities, McKenna hit.311/.394/.512 with seven home runs and 28 RBIs. In 2019, McKenna returned to Quad Cities, but played in only 65 games due to injury; over those games, he batted.252/.327/.303 with one home run and twenty RBIs.
Jeremy Peña
Jeremy Joan Peña is a Dominican-American professional baseball shortstop in the Houston Astros organization.Peña was born and raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before he and his family moved to Providence, Rhode Island, when he was nine years old. He attended Classical High School in Providence, playing baseball and running track and cross country. In 2014, his junior year, he batted.352. As a senior in 2015, he hit.390 with two home runs. Following his senior year, he was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 39th round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft. He did not sign and instead enrolled at the University of Maine where he played college baseball.
As a freshman at Maine in 2016, Peña started and played in 55 games, batting.283 with one home run, 15 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases, earning a spot on the America East Conference All-Rookie Team. That summer, he played in the New England Collegiate Baseball League with the Plymouth Pilgrims. In 2017, Peña's sophomore year, he started 54 games and hit.319 with six home runs and 32 RBIs. Following the season, he played in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Chatham Anglers, earning All-Star honors. In 2018, as a junior, he once again started 54 games, slashing.308/.393/.469 with five home runs, 28 RBIs, and ten stolen bases, earning American East Second-Team honors. After the season, he was drafted by the Houston Astros in the third round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft.
Peña signed with Houston and made his professional debut with the Tri-City ValleyCats, batting.250 with one home run and ten RBIs over 36 games, earning New York-Penn League All-Star honors. In 2019, Peña began the year with the Quad Cities River Bandits, with whom he was named a Midwest League All-Star, before being promoted to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers in June. Over 109 games between the two teams, he slashed.303/.385/.440 with seven home runs, 54 RBIs, and twenty stolen bases. After the season, he played in the Arizona Fall League with the Peoria Javelinas.
Peña's father, Gerónimo Peña, played in Major League Baseball.