The Astros have released 28-year old righty reliever Brad Thompson. Thompson pitched in 15 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball for the Astros this year and he was 1-1 with a 8.87 ERA and a 1.93 WHIP. He allowed a whopping 41 hits in only 23 1/3 innings in AAA so the Astros knew he wasn’t going to help them any time soon. They won’t miss him at all.

The Houston Astros have released 33-year old lefty swinging shortstop Ramon Vazquez. Vazquez played in 16 games in AAA-ball for the Houston Astros and he was 19 of 54 (.352 avg, .900 OPS) with 6 runs scored and 7 RBIs. I think they should have held onto Vazquez a little longer as the Astros might be making some trades to open up a roster spot for him. I guess the Astros have faith that they will be able to either trade for a SS or that Angel Sanchez is the real deal.

The Astros could use help in middle relief so maybe they should make a call to 29-year old righty reliever Jonah Bayliss who is pitching decent in AAA for them. Bayliss has pitched in 27 games (0 starts) this season in AAA-ball and he is 1-3 with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. He has whiffed 41 batters in 41 1/3 innings in the minors so his stuff must be pretty decent. At this point in the season it wouldn’t hurt to give Bayliss a chance to show what he can do.

The Astros have released 28-year old lefty swinging infielder Drew Meyer. Meyer played in 46 games in AAA-ball for the Astros this season and he was 35 of 145 (.241 avg, .691 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 2 homers, 13 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. With the shambles that the Astros’ infield is in Meyer’s release speaks volumes of how they think of him as a player.

19-year old righty swinging shortstop Jiovanni Mier came into this season as the Astros’ #2 rated prospect according to Baseball America. But he’s having a rough time in A-ball so far this season. He has played in 72 games in A-ball this year and he is 60 of 268 (.224 avg, .607 OPS) with 39 runs scored, 0 homers, 32 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Mier has now played in 123 games in his two years in the minors and he is 113 of 460 (.246 avg, .715 OPS) with 71 runs scored, 7 homers, 64 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. The Astros don’t have a lot of talent in the organization at shortstop so they have their fingers crossed that Mier finishes this season strongly.