HOUSTON -- You won’t find 23-year-old left-handed pitching prospect Brayan De Paula on the Astros’ Top 30 Prospects list, but the Dominican made a statement in his first appearance of 2023 for High-A Asheville on Wednesday, when he struck out 10 batters in 4 2/3 innings at Greenville.

De Paula, who missed all of last season, was pitching for the first time since 2021, when he split the season between Asheville and Single-A Fayetteville.

“He’s come back off of injury, and he was impressive in Spring Training,” Astros director of player development Sara Goodrum said. “He was mowing down hitters. We’re excited to get him back out throwing and healthy and see what he’s capable of doing. He’s got a pretty unique delivery and some pretty devastating pitches, which showed in his first outing when struck out those 10 hitters.”

De Paula, who was acquired in a trade with the Marlins in 2018, hides the ball well and whips his arm to the plate, which can make for an uncomfortable at-bat for left-handers.

“He’s got good stuff, as well,” Goodrum said.

Triple-A Sugar Land 
In three games (one start) this year, right-hander Shawn Dubin has thrown 11 innings and given up six hits, three runs with four walks and 12 strikeouts. He has a 2.45 ERA and 0.91 WHIP. He had a 7 1/3-inning hitless streak snapped during his relief outing against Oklahoma City on Saturday. He is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 24 prospect in the Astros’ system.

Double-A Corpus Christi 
Infielder Will Wagner, the son of former Astros pitcher Billy Wagner, slugged his first professional grand slam with a 431-foot blast Friday night for the Hooks. The 24-year-old second baseman has nine hits in his first 21 at-bats with two homers and six RBIs. Wagner was an 18th-round pick out of Liberty University in the 2021 MLB Draft.

Low-A Fayetteville 
Right-hander Nolan Devos, a fifth-round pick last year out of Davidson, struck out nine batters in four hitless innings in his first start of the season on Tuesday for the Woodpeckers. Last year for Davidson, DeVos led the Atlantic 10 Conference with 106 strikeouts in 78 2/3 innings with a fastball that plays up and a sweeping slider.