When the Houston Astros set their preliminary 2013 minor league rosters, the Lancaster Jethawks, their Class A advanced squad, included Palisadian Tyler Heineman.
Drafted in the eighth round in 2012 out of UCLA, Heineman, 21, was an All-Pac-12 Conference selection in his junior season before being selected by Houston. That year, he reached base safely in 53 of 59 games and threw out 48 percent of attempted base stealers. He also tied a school record with 18 hit by pitches. He finished his UCLA career with a .313 batting average, one home run and 34 RBI.
In three games with Lancaster this spring, Heineman is 3-for-12 (.250) with a double and one RBI. He went 3-for-5 in the team’s season-opening, 10-9 win over High Desert.
Last summer, Heineman, who attended Windward High, had a stellar campaign for the Low A affiliate of the Astros, the Tri-City ValleyCats, hitting .358 with 26 RBI in 55 games over 193 at-bats.
Heineman’s younger brother, Scott, is a sophomore outfielder for the Oregon Ducks and contributed big in a 16-3 win over Arizona State on Sunday by going 4-for-6 with 3 RBI and a run scored. For the season, Heineman is hitting .270 with 18 RBI, and the Ducks are 23-8 overall. Scott began his high school career at Windward before transferring to Crespi.
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