Gilberto Celestino turned in his second consecutive 3-hit game for Greeneville. He's now on a nice little 4-game hitting streak.
I personally think he's just as good of a prospect as Leody Taveras, who Rangers fans / media members fawn over.
Patrick Obley is a sportswriter for the Fayetteville Observer who periodically covers Buies Creek. I think he's the only media person who covers them on a semi-regular basis. Remember... these are only his opinions.
Abraham Toro-Hernandez is making his Quad Cities debut in game 2 of their doubleheader in Clinton. He's starting at 3B and hitting 7th. Carmen Benedetti went 2-4 with a 3-run homer (4) in the first game, which they lost 4-3.
Forrest Whitley hit a rare speed bump tonight in Kinston. 3 IP, 7 H (6 singles and a 2-R HR), 5 ER, BB, 6 K That 37:5 K:BB ratio is still ridiculous, as is his 104 Ks in 68.2 innings this year. On the other hand, Elieser Hernandez allowed 2 hits, walked 2, and struck out 4 over 5 shutout innings on the front end of the tandem.
So I did a quick pivot table to see how the top of the farm systems ranked according to Top 100 KATOH+ (results below). Astros came out 2nd with an estimated 52.9 WAR for their prospects in the Top 100. That value will likely be spread out over the next 9 years with an average of about 5.9 WAR a year. A's came in at 29.9. If they were able to compress all that expected WAR that is spread out over the next 9 years (guys won't all come up at same time) into the next two months, Astros would still likely be the favorites to win the division. Mariners have 14.1 expected WAR and Rangers 6.1 for their prospects in the Top 100 of KATOH+. Sorry Trout, but Angels have no one in the Top 100. Again. Outside the Top 100, I expect Astros are the best in division there as well. Only team somewhat comparable in prospect value is likely about to go into a 3-4 year rebuild. Mariners, Rangers, and Angels look like mediocre teams now without many top prospects with lots of guaranteed contracts through 2019. The AL West is a bunch of 2008 Astros teams to me (don't have enough MLB talent and without money or prospects to expect to improve in short term). I've done assessments with other lists as well before and the Fangraphs preseason list this year is the only one that had a team (Rangers) closer than about where this list has the A's in future value. Looking at that list today, I'm guessing a lot of those Ranger rankings will fall when updated shortly. Future does not look good for the other AL West teams. Team KATOH+ Braves 70.8 Astros 52.9 Rays 50.2 Yankees 47.2 Dodgers 42.4 Phillies 41.9 Cardinals 40.6 White Sox 36.5 Indians 33.1 Athletics 29.9 Blue Jays 28.9 Mets 28.4 Pirates 27.6 Nationals 21.5 Padres 20 Rockies 19.6 Twins 19.6 Royals 19.4 Reds 19.1 Red Sox 15.3 Mariners 14.1 Brewers 12.9 Cubs 12.7 Orioles 8.8 Rangers 6.1
The big question is how much will the Astros be able to monetize this value in the coming years. Just because you have players who are projected to contribute at the major league level does not mean that they will have every opportunity to do so on your team. No matter how many 3B we develop, we will still only have 162 games to split up amongst them at the big league level. The Astros are definitely cognizant of this, and it will be interesting to see what they do to their prospects that clearly are MLB ready, just knocking on the door in AAA with nowhere to go. Will we sell some for high-A lotto tickets that would see their values if any realized much later? Or will they actually be able to fulfill the dream scenario of packaging some of them in deals to concentrate the talent. Three days left!
5.9 WAR a year from 8 prospects is not saying all these guys will be contributors. It assumes most of them fail and it is very hard to tell who will fail and who won't. Astros should not have any problems fitting in a top prospect who performs very well. If Astros do find themselves in a problem of having too many great players at one position, it won't be hard to make a trade when it happens. PS. When I look at A's, Rangers, and Angels, the worst thing for them is likely for the Astros to stand pat. Mariners are in such bad shape financially that I think praying for some luck this year and next two is probably best course for them.
- Franklin Perez vs. Midland: 5 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 5 K - Abraham Toro-Hernandez hit his 2nd homer for Quad Cities. It's a 2-run blast that gives him 8 on the year between Quad Cities and Tri-City.
