A lot of hope, as in, just about all of it. is invested in the youth and potential talent blossom of the current and ever-changing to younger 40-man Astros player roster. A brief look at the current relativity of certain things is fun to do.
On Opening Day 2012, the home program for the Houston Astros detailed thirty-eight (38) men that were then currently the players listed on the 40-man major league player roster. I’m sure it’s probably filled out and even changed in some way from even that recent publication, but probably not enough to destroy the trends that were in place in that time demographically.
First of all, take a look at the raw data on birthplaces for the 38 men from the original list:
Alabama 2
California 3
Dominican Republic: 10
Florida 3
Illinois 2
Indiana 1
Missouri 1
New Jersey 1
New Mexico 1
Nicaragua 1
Ohio 1
Oregon 1
Panama 1
South Carolina 2
Texas 2
Utah 1
Venezuela 4
West Virginia 1
Based on birth sites alone, 42.1% (16/38) of our current Astros were born in Caribbean, Central, and South American countries, and principally in the Dominican Republic. Only 4 come from Venezuela, the country that has housed the club’s past baseball academy program and there is no one on the roster from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. WOnder what happened there?
26.3% (10/38) of our current Astros were born in the Dominican Republic.
13.2″ (5/38) of our current Astros were age 21 or older on the morning of the horrendous 9/11 attack in 2001. Most were still kids living at home back then and even wetter behind the ears than they are today.
Neal McCurdy
Here’s the one, of course, that really drives home the point for me about the current youthfulness of the 2012 current Astros: Of the 38 men on the extended roster Opening Day of 2012, 24 of them were younger than my 27-year old son Neal. That’s a 63.2% rate on how many of the current players are now younger than my “grown kid.”
Wow! That means, if I were the manager of the Astros, or one of Brad Mills’ coaches, I would have to show up everyday with the wisdom of a father on how to treat each one in similar or different situations. I would have to know who to pat on the back and who to kick in the butt – and get it right 95% of the time. It would also help if I were fluent in Spanish.
Good luck, Brad Mills. In the end, I hope the club gives you the credit you deserve.
Tags: 2012 Demographics, Houston Astros
The Pecan Park Eagle 
April 22, 2012 at 4:44 pm |
Bill, do you know who the youngest player on a big league roster is at this time? (Not a trivia question. I am curous.)
Mark
April 22, 2012 at 4:45 pm |
Because I’m wondering if there’s an active player younger than my son, who is 19.
April 22, 2012 at 10:54 pm |
Mark:
According to the Franklin Baseball Prospects Blog, a report on 4/11/12 listed Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros (DOB: 5/06/90) as the youngest player in the big leagues for 2012.
Erasmo Ramirez of the .Seattle Mariners is the youngest American Leaguer (DOB: 5/02/90), losing the overall honors to the NL’s Altuve by a mere four days. You and your son are safe, for now, from this new benchmark on the ignominy of aging for us older fathers.
Here’s a link to the complete lists of youngest new players by league:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2012/04/the-youngest-players-in-each-full-season-league/
Regards, Bill
April 22, 2012 at 11:15 pm
PS:
Rougned Odor of the Hickory Crawdads (DOB: 2/03/94) in the South Atlantic League is the youngest reported player in organized baseball for now. Odor just turned 18 a couple of months ago. I guess that makes him “a little stinker.”
What were his parents thinking?
Ma to Pa: “Since his last name is going to be ‘Odor,’ let’s make it up to him by giving him ‘Roughed’ as his first name.”
April 23, 2012 at 12:35 am |
omg.
According to the Astros team roster, Altuve is 5′ 5″. If this is accurate, I’m pretty sure it also makes him the shortest player in MLB at this time, and maybe the shortest since Fredie Patek. So – cool! We have the youngest and the shortest active player. I hope he has 20 years of stardom, all right here in Houston. I need another Astro player to get fired up about.
Thanks for the input.
Mark