24-year old righty reliever Samuel Gervacio was the Astros’ #19 rated prospect heading into this season according to Baseball America. He has pitched in 25 games (0 starts) for the Astros this season and he is 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP. Gervacio has only allowed 12 hits in 18 2/3 innings this season for the Astros while whiffing 23 batters showing that he has solid stuff. His work with Houston is a huge improvement over the year he had in AAA-ball this season. Gervacio worked in 39 games in AAA and he was 2-2 with a 4.82 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. He whiffed 58 batters in 52 1/3 innings in AAA while only allowing 43 hits showing that he has good stuff despite the sub par ERA. The Astros could really use another good, cheap arm in the bullpen so they hope Gervacio is the real deal.

22-year old lefty swinging catcher Jason Castro was the #1 rated prospect in the Astros’ minor league system coming into this season according to Baseball America. He played in 119 games in A+AA ball this season and he was 134 for 446 (.300 avg, .826 OPS) with 65 runs scored, 10 homers and 73 RBIs. The Astros have a black hole behind the plate so they should put Castro on the fast track to Houston.

The Astros have recently recalled 25-year old righty swinging catcher J.R. Towles with the idea of getting a good look at him. He won the starting job out of spring training for the Astros last season but he didn’t hold it too long as he couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag. Towles has played in 10 games for the Astros this season and he is 3 for 26 (.115 avg, .322 OPS) with 4 runs scored and 1 RBI. He has now played in 78 games in his career with the Astros and he is 38 for 212 (.179 avg, .575 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 5 homers and 29 RBIs. This could be Towles last chance with the Astros who appear to be running out of patience with him.

24-year old righty starting pitcher Bud Norris was the Astros’ #2 rated prospect in the system coming into this season according to Baseball America. He pitched well enough in the minors to earn his chance with the Astros. He has pitched in 10 games (9 starts) for the Astros this season and he is 5-3 with a 5.07 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. Norris has whiffed 51 batters in 49 2/3 innings so far for the Astros showing that he has the stuff to make it. A strong finish this season will likely help Norris all but lock up a spot in the starting rotation with the Astros in 2010.

The Houston Astros fired their manager Cecil Cooper today after a disappointing 2009 season and a recent seven game losing streak.  The Astros are currently 70-79 and only have 13 games left to play, but they decided to let Cooper go now so they have more time to evaluate things in the off-season.  Cooper became the manager of the Astros in late August of 2007 and had a career record of 171-170 with the Astros.  Dave Clark, the former 3B coach for the Astros, is now the interim manager and will be considered for the job in the off-season.