Luis Contreras #16

A native of Maracaibo, Venezuela, Contreras was originally signed as an international free agent by the Cubs at the age of 18 on April 4, 2015...Did not appear in a single game with the Cubs before being released in May of 2016...Resurfaced again in 2018 in the independent Empire Baseball League, which is a five-team summer league in Upstate New York...Pitched for the league champions, the Puerto Rican Islanders, in 2018, posting a 3-1 record and a 1.74 ERA (11ER/57IP) in 11 games (seven starts)...Moved on to the Eastside Diamond Hoppers in the United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL) in 2019...Impressed with 39 strikeouts in 23.0 innings across five games (four starts) in 2019...The United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL) is an independent league based out of Utica, Mich...The league, which has been in existence since 2016, has graduated 51 players to Minor League Baseball, with five players reaching the Major Leagues: RHP Randy Wynne (CIN), OF Joey Wiemer (MIL), LHP Jared Koenig (OAK), RHP Logan Gillaspie (BAL) and RHP Randy Dobnak (MIN)...After his successful stint in independent ball, was signed by the Brewers on June 19, 2019...Spent parts of five seasons (2019-23) in the Brewers Minor League system before reaching free agency this offseason...Signed by Houston as a Minor League free agent with an invite to MLB Spring Training on Nov. 26, 2023...This is his first appearance at a Major League Spring Training.

2023

For the second straight year split his 2023 season between Triple-A Nashville and Double-A Biloxi, compiling a 4-3 record with a 4.55 ERA (32ER/63.1IP) in 39 relief appearances...Started and finished his season at Nashville with a 13-game stint at Biloxi...Combined to strike out 90 hitters in 63.1 innings.

2022

Went 3-2 with a 3.88 ERA in 35 games with Double A Biloxi (26) and Triple A Nashville (9) in 2022… began season with Biloxi…had two stints with Sounds (June 30-July 25 and Sept. 8-end of season)...spent June 6-15 on 7-day injured list...tossed a scoreless inning in his Triple A debut on July 1 vs. Indianapolis...held left-handed batters to a .139 average (10x72) with 33 strikeouts with Biloxi...following the season, made six appearances for Glendale in the Arizona Fall League (8ER/6IP)... also went 3-2 with a 5.79 ERA (9ER/14IP) in 15 appearances with Lara in the Venezuelan Winter League after the season.

2021

Went 0-1 with a 5.19 ERA in three games (all starts) with Double A Biloxi in 2021…struck out a career high 11 on May 16 vs. Mississippi (4IP)...placed on the injured list on May 27 and missed rest of season.

2020

Did not appear in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the Minor League season.

2019

Began the 2019 season with the East Side Diamond Hoppers of the independent United Shore League... after signing with the Brewers, went 4-4 with a 2.86 ERA in 16 games (four starts) between Arizona League Brewers Gold (9), Single A Wisconsin (6) and Double A Biloxi (1)…pitched 3.0 scoreless innings in Brewers organization debut on June 21 vs. AZL Dodgers Lasorda...tossed 3.0 scoreless innings in Double A debut on Sept. 2 at Birmingham...held left-handed batters to a .128 average (5x39) with 10 strikeouts with Wisconsin.