Jonathan Rafael (Roque) Villar

Bats: Both, Throws: Right
Height: 6' 1", Weight: 195 lb.

Born: May 2, 1991 in La Vega, La Vega, DO

• 6/18 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: June 17th: With the JetHawks and RiverBandits off for the All-Star break, it was just a three-game-day with the Tri-City ValleyCats making...
• 6/17 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: Weekend Edition (June 14th-16th): It has been an exciting year in the minor leagues this year, and the power continue this weekend. We saw nine home runs amongst...
• 6/14 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: June 13th: It was an exciting night in the farm system last night. The RedHawks let up a late lead, but took the game in extras. The Hooks...
• 6/13 Climbing Tal's Hill: Off-Day Tweets And Links: Here are some tweets and links to get you through the day.   According to Brian McTaggart (Astros Beat Writer), the Astros...
• 6/13 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: June 12th: With an Astros win, the organization was 3-2 on the day (again, don’t do DSL recaps). Here are the notable stat lines from...
• 6/12 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: June 11th: Two days ago every minor league team lost. Yesterday, they all won. Here are the notable stat lines from yesterday’s games....
• 6/11 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: June 10th: For the first time this year, the Astros organization was swept 5-0 yesterday. Though they all lost, there were some encouraging...
• 6/10 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: Weekend Edition (June 7th-9th): A 4-7 combined record in the minors this weekend is something to forget, however there were some good performances. Here are the...
• 6/4 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: June 3rd: With the draft just a few days away (click here for a CTH article on the potential #1 pick), the Astros are sure to add talent...
• 6/3 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: Weekend Edition (May 31st-June 2nd): It’s been a great weekend for the Astros organization this weekend. 3-0 in the major leagues, and the minor league affiliates...

• 5/29 Climbing Tal's Hill: Let’s Talk About The 2012 Free Agent Signings: We are pretty much two months into the season, and the Astros have a 15-37 record, good for second to last in the majors (Marlins...
• 5/29 Climbing Tal's Hill: Let’s Talk About The 2013 Free Agent Signings: We are pretty much two months into the season, and the Astros have a 15-37 record, good for second to last in the majors (Marlins...
• 5/29 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: May 28th: Though the Astros couldn’t win their game, the affiliates decided to pick up the slack as each team came away with a win....
• 5/28 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: May 27th: The Houston Astros franchise pulled off the system sweep going 5-0 on Memorial Day. The Astros and RedHawks both won close ones...
• 5/27 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: Weekend Edition (May 24-26): The Houston Astros and Oklahoma City RedHawks both had 0-fer-weekends, whereas the rest of the organization combined for an 8-2...
• 5/24 Climbing Tal's Hill: Recapping The Minors: May 23rd: Some of the better pitching prospects in the organization pitched yesterday. Cosart looked good in his start against Fresno only...
• 5/6 Motor City Bengals: Houston…You Have A Multitude Of Problems: The last two days of Tigers baseball were a massacre. They scored 26 runs on 34 hits, while allowing only two runs to the lowly...

• 4/23 What the Heck, Bobby?: Astros Minor League Snapshot - Who's Hot for Oklahoma City?: Let's take a quick look at the Oklahoma City staff to see who's hot. Jarred Cosart For the season, Cosart is 2-0 with a 1.02...

• 3/17 Climbing Tal's Hill: Astros trim 10 from spring roster; Who’s out – and why?: The Astros announced another round of cuts today, trimming their roster to 39. Paul Clemens, Robbie Grossman, Dallas Keuchel,...
• 3/6 What the Heck, Bobby?: This is Going to be a Very Big Year for ...: Over the last couple of weeks, I've talked to John Manuel of Baseball America, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com and others about many...
• 3/5 Philly Phanatics: Phillies notebook: What can Brown do for you?: In this edition of Phillies Notebook, we salute Domonic Brown and Ryan Howard, notice that the wind blows mostly out and sometimes...

• 2/26 Motor City Bengals: MLB Farm System Rankings: #5 Houston Astros: It’s that time of year again. Time to give this prospect junkie his fix. Last year, I did farm system rankings for all of baseball,...
• 2/19 What the Heck, Bobby?: Talking Astros Prospects with John Manuel of Baseball America: Last week I caught up with John Manuel of Baseball America by phone to talk about the recently released Baseball America 2013...
• 2/9 What the Heck, Bobby?: 2013 Consensus Astros Top Prospect List: To get a general consensus regarding the Astros top prospects, I took top prospect lists from the Baseball America 2013 Prospect...

• 1/22 Climbing Tal's Hill: Player Card: Jonathan Villar: Shortstop prospect Jonathan Villar has been invited to Astros Spring Training for the second straight year. Last year, Villar...
• 1/10 AppyAstros: Cumulative Top Prospect List: I enjoy the top prospect list exercise.  It is interesting to see which players are valued by different analyst.  Every...

• 11/27 MLB Dirt: 2013 Houston Astros Top 16 Prospects: Just a few short years ago the Houston Astros had one of the worst farm systems in baseball. General Manager Jeff Lunhow and his...

• 9/8 Climbing Tal's Hill: Corpus Christi Hooks Eliminated from Playoffs: In what was one of the best seasons in club history, the Corpus Christi Hooks were eliminated last night from the Class AA playoffs...
• 9/1 Climbing Tal's Hill: Kevin Goldstein Joins Astros Front Office: In quite possibly my favorite move made by Jeff Luhnow since being named GM of the Astros, Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus...

• 8/26 Bus League Baseball: Bus Leagues Express: August 26: Top stories Sands homers amid trade rumors: Although he was officially not officially traded to Boston in their blockbuster deal...
• 8/17 Baseball News Source: Top Five First Base Prospects in Baseball: A year before they acquired him from Philadelphia in the Hunter Pence deal at the non-waiver trade deadline in 2011, the Houston...
• 8/15 Baseball News Source: Astros Depth at 2B – Jose Altuve and Delino DeShields Jr: In the midst of an extensive rebuilding project, first-year Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow is upgrading the team’s organizational...
• 8/9 mlbreports.com : Houston…We Have a Problem: The Astros Are in for a Painful Rebuild: Thursday August 9th, 2012 John Burns:  With a 36-76 record the Houston Astros have been the laughing-stock of baseball this season....

• 7/30 Reviewing the Brew: Series Six Pack with Greg Thurston of Climbing Tal’s Hill: There’s really not much more I can say about the Milwaukee Brewers (45-56). Losing nine out of your last ten games…can...
• 7/20 Climbing Tal's Hill: Astros Complete Mega Trade with Blue Jays: So I get to the theater to see “The Dark Knight Rises”, I park the car, buy the ticket and on my way into the theater,...
• 7/15 Climbing Tal's Hill: Lowrie’s injury may open door for an old friend: So the Astros are lifeless on offense and now they are without their borderline all-star shortstop for quite some time. Reports...
• 7/13 Climbing Tal's Hill: Let’s not forget about Jonathan Villar: I hope Jayne over at whattheheckbobby.com doesn’t get too upset with me but I wanted to discuss some Astros’ minor...
• 7/12 PhoulBallz.com: The Departed: Ex-Phils Prospect Review: In recent seasons, the Phillies have parted ways with a considerable collection of well-regarded prospects in efforts to acquire...
• 7/12 Phillies Nation: The Departed: Ex-Phils Prospect Review: In recent seasons, the Phillies have parted ways with a considerable collection of well-regarded prospects in efforts to acquire...

• 6/15 Bus League Baseball: Bus Leagues Express: June 15: My College World Series picks for the first round: Stony Brook, FSU, Kent State and Florida win. I’ll say Florida defeats...

• 5/5 Bus League Baseball: Bus Leagues Express: May 5: Top stories Vogt’s big game could springboard season: The late blooming Stephen Vogt made the Rays out of spring training...

• 3/16 Phillies Nation: Ex-Phils Prospect MLB Stats Review: In recent seasons, plenty of well-regarded prospects have been traded by the Phillies to acquire established MLB talent and other...

• 1/30 The "Mc" Effect: N.L. Central Top Prospects - Houston Astros: I am slowly going through a series taking a look at the Pirates National League Central competition's farm systems. I've been...
• 1/12 Climbing Tal's Hill: Player Profile: Brett Wallace: Next up on our tour of the Astros 40 man roster is Brett Wallace. Wallace was acquired by the Astros from the Blue Jays for Anthony...
• 1/10 MLB Dirt: 2012 Houston Astros Top 16 Prospects: The Houston Astros are headed in a different direction. This was apparent when they acquired two of their top three prospects...

• 9/6 Phillies Nation: Reflecting on the Departed, Part 2: Recently, we reviewed the prospects that the Phillies dealt to acquire Roy Halladay.  As a sequel to that piece, this week we’ll...

• 8/4 mlbcoverage.com: Revisiting the Roy Oswalt, Anthony Gose Trades: On July 29, 2010, Houston Astros GM Ed Wade traded his best pitcher and franchise player in starting pitcher Roy Oswalt to the...

• 7/30 mlbcoverage.com: Phillies Acquire Hunter Pence: Last year Houston Astros GM Ed Wade traded Roy Oswalt, to the Philadelphia Phillies for J.A. Happ, and prospects Anthony Gose,...
• 7/23 Bus League Baseball: Now Batting For the Houston Astros…: Jose Altuve. Altuve is a 5’5, 170 pound second baseman signed by Houston from Venezuela in 2006. This legitimate Eddie Gaedel...

• 6/28 Brotherly Glove: News and Notes – 6/28/2011: The Phillies open a three-game set with the Boston Red Sox tonight in what many will undoubtedly proclaim to be a potential world...