Wallace and Garcia are non-roster invites

Good news for the four catchers who are heading to Astros' Spring Training: two more have been added to their number. Brian McTaggart tweeted that Chris Wallace(pictured above) and Rene Garcia have been invited to Major League camp as non-roster players. Garcia was a non-roster invite last spring.

The Anteaters are in Town

With all due respect to the other five teams playing in this weekend's Urban Invitational, the University of California-Irvine is the most interesting team to watch when it comes to players the Astros may be drafting this summer and in summers to come. The Anteaters have been to the NCAA Super Regionals in two of the last three seasons, and Mike Gillespie's squad is favored to win the Big West Conference this season.

Kyle Hooper, a right-handed pitcher and shortstop D.J. Crumlich are listed by Baseball America as two of the top five draft-eligible players in the Big West Conference this season. Crumlich was on the field for UC-I this morning at Minute Maid Park against Alabama St. UC-I's starting lineup also includes 2B Dillon Moyer(pictured above). Moyer, a sophomore, is the son of Major League pitcher, Jamie Moyer.

The tournament continues in Houston through the weekend. Saturday's games will be held at Minute Maid Park, while Sunday's games are scheduled to be played at the Astros' Urban Youth Academy in Sylvester Turner Park. Friday's games were moved from the UYA to Minute Maid Park due to weather concerns. Two games on Saturday, including UC-Irvine's game at 3 p.m. will be aired on the MLB Network and MLB.com.

A few other non-Anteaters to keep an eye on this weekend at Minute Maid Park:

Jose DeLeon, RHP, Southern
Ryan Epperson, OF, Alabama St.
Waldyvan Estrada, OF, Alabama St.
Pervis Mann, LHP, Grambling
Emmanuel Marrero, SS, Alabama St.
Lionel Morrill, OF, Grambling

I included a few more pictures from Friday's Alabama St./Cal-Irvine game on Facebook.

Is Anyone Going to OCCUPY Greer Stadium?

Seeing the early planning for an event for Astros' bloggers in Atlanta in August at Turner Field makes me wonder if anybody is planning to Occupy Herschel Greer Stadium this season. Greer Stadium(with its gigantic guitar scoreboard) is the home of the Nashville Sounds, Milwaukee's AAA affiliate. The stadium is also in the backyard of James with Astros County and Brooks(aka Subber10). Come to think of it, Steve of Appy Astros is in Tennessee as well.

The Oklahoma City RedHawks, Houston's AAA club, visits Greer Stadium twice this season. The first visit is from April 17-20. The second stop is scheduled for June 19-22.

Amazing Racers Report on Sunday

I still haven't heard back from the leadership of the new Astros/Rockets TV network about a proposed Farmstros Edition of The Amazing Race. However, that won't stop me from listening in when the host of The Amazing Race, Phil Keoghan appears on Sports Radio 610 Friday morning at 8:30 a.m.(Minute Maid Park time). I presume Keoghan is appearing to promote the latest edition of the Race, which begins on Sunday.

Another Chat Test

Try this out if you Have a Moment, Please

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