Cobb sucks the 2nd and third times through the batting order. He looks like he would be a very good reliever....though not at that contract.
I thought people were low on JBB now? Hasn't developed much since college and profiles now as a good reliever with his plus-plus slider. It seems like he hasn't really shown out as a top of the rotation type guy in his minor league career? Are we still projecting him as a starter? He has the first round pedigree but what has he really shown since other than being injury prone? I remember when Miguelangel Sierra and Johnath Arauz had some hype. Have they mostly fizzled out or still fairly young? Will Bostick make a big league appearance this year?
I don't think getting in a car accident counts as injury prone. Bukauskas apparently added a solid cutter, so I don't think that he's failed to develop, especially when you consider the time he's missed.
I'd knock him down a peg because of injuries for another half season though others have said he's just a reliever as well. He's been involved in a lot of rumors (usually not a good sign). Though, his stats including AFL suggest he's doing well.
I don't think JBB's profile changed much. The car accident set him back time-wise but didn't really impact his stuff. He's still got 2 potential 60 grade pitches. I'd keep developing him as a starter until that project fails. McCullers only had two pitches for a long time and he made it pretty far.
That is because trade publication lists are always behind where the actual internal scouting departments are. James was already viewed as a top 50 guy by the Astros by mid season last year and by a number of teams that had scouted him too.
JBB looked good when he pitched especially in the AFL against good comp. And his injury turned out to be from a car wreck, not from pitching. His stock is back on track. He is on track as a starter but late inning relief is his fallback. He does have workload concerns but they will hopefully be resolved this season. Sierra has struggled in A ball, strikeouts are his issue. Hard to see a huge change from that but he still has solid ceiling as he is a good middle infield defender with average power. Arauz has been up and down but always super young for his league and has always made great contact. He has a chance to break out in High A/AA; if he does well he will shoot up prospect lists. Hard to see a path for Bostick to make Houston’s roster. He’s not on the 40 man and passed thru Rule 5. His best outcome is to show well in AAA and entice another team to trade for him (or have Houston view him in a different light and add him to the 40 man). I do think he is underrated.
Trade publications had all the data they needed last year by mid-season. This is not a case of them having a data lag that causes them to miss a guy who's had a drastic jump in ability. By midseason, James had around 70 innings of absolutely dominating the upper levels of the minors to a degree that only a few guys have done. They sucked it up. Fangraphs specifically should have egg on their face. Their lead prospect analyst was made aware before the season that James had a huge velocity spike and was dramatically improved. Fangraphs Fab Five guy (subsequently a member of the Blue Jays analytical department) identified that James was going medieval on AA only after 2-3 starts and pestered their prospect guys about who James was. I know guys that scout games like to say, "you can't scout a stat line", but I tend to believe upper level minor league hitters when their bats say they hit a pitcher.
The Astros knew how good James was by mid season. Other scouts knew how good James was as numerous teams asked for him when trade discussions occurred. Trade publications and other scouting services often have top 100 prospect lists that are more inline with what teams believed 6 months to a year earlier. I have posted on it, and on James specifically. I remember having the discussion last year and hearing about how James was the most commonly mentioned name when the Astros discussed trades. The Diamondbacks insisted on his inclusion is trade discussions for Greinke and later Ray. Trade publications and writers often over play things like age, repeating a level and other similar things. I remember posting about Lucas Giolito and some publications and writers claiming he was a great prospect still and he had been largely marginalized. Sometimes it is data lag, sometimes they just don’t hear consistent information from scouts and their information. Regardless I think we are on the same page.
Cameron to Padres. Cistulli to the Jays. Forgot where August went. Not sure it ever came out where Chris Mitchell took KATOH. Fangraphs has lost a lot in past 18 months or so. I like their prospect guys for scouting information, though I miss the analytical side as a checks and balance.
Interesting that they are all Latin American. I wonder if they expect the roster to be heavy on international players. There are quite a few Spanish-speaking position players who will probably be in QC (Salazar, Encarnacion, Santana, Sierra, Valdez, Pineda, Machado, Rodriguez, Campos, possibly Nova and Abreu if they skip TC), but the pitching staff should be heavy on college draftees unless they get really aggressive with promotions/releases.
Ozzie Guillen's son is the new Tri-City manager... and I just realized that these guys are all the same age as me.
Astros have 6 on the mlb.com Top 100: 7. Whitley 8. Tucker 44. Alvarez 62. James 81. Martin 97. Bukauskas
Glad to see Martin getting recognition. JBB, Martin, James and Whitley is an incredible collection of pitching prospects.
Add in Cionel Perez, who is probably ranked in the 125-175 range, and the future of the rotation is really, really bright, especially considering all 5 of those guys could be in the majors by the end of this season.