Our pitching depth in the minors is just filthy. Every year it seems new guys just keep stepping up. Whitley, Framber, Josh James, Cionel, Corbin Martin, JB Bukauskas... Maybe this time next year we're talking about Chad Donato, Jairo Solis, Christian Javier, Tyler Ivey, etc. I honestly feel like we could lose Keuchel, Verlander, Cole AND Morton and still end up with a top 15 rotation by 2020, if not top 10. Sure, if we want to contend for a World Series every year that won't cut it, but I fully expect us to try and resign Morton this offseason, and I guarantee that we'll keep at least one of Verlander and Cole in the 2019 offseason. Verlander in particular seems like the kind of guy who dislikes moving around and will want to be remembered as an Old Hoss Hall of Fame type pitcher that stuck to his guns and didn't abandon a single franchise he played for.
Corpus Christi Hooks have just hit four homers in a row to go up 8-1 against the San Antonio Missions. EDIT: And the Missions have come back to tie it up at 8-8. Wow.
Good for JD. Though he strikes me as better suited to be a utility player. 1B/3B/LF, plus some RF and even relief pitching. His arm is too strong to be wasted as just a DH.
Nolan Fontana got cut, again, despite a .397 OBP in AAA, he was hitting a robust .234 in the PCL. which is hard to do.
Wonder if they can package those guys and maybe a lower level pitching prospect/Devenski type MLB guy for a catcher or an OF bat. Soon some roster spots will need to be opened up.
Still love Realmuto, but how do you all think a Maldonado (we re-sign him) plus Stubbs catching platoon would work? They seem like perfect matches to create a platoon pair (veteran vs rooke, lefty vs righty, power vs contact, etc.). And do we even have a chance at resigning Maldonado? Some #AngelsTwitter people seem to think they still have an inside track at resigning them, and the Angels will definitely like the fact that if he comes back, it will be with extensive knowledge of the Astros. This is a stupid take, but if we keep him around for even just one year, it will really make the loss of Sandoval fell much less painful.
Kyle Tucker for realmuto. As far as Forrest Whitley, he is by far the best pitching prospect in the minors.
Nolan Fontanta has only 2 more hits than I do in MLB, despite having played in 20 more games (granted, he also has 2 more HRs than me).
Bukauskas looked great last night. Next season’s AA rotation is gonna be sick: Whitley, Bukauskas, and Martin is a 3 headed monster, not many orgs will have that kind of talent in 1 Minor league rotation.
True. Martin and Whitley may only make a handful of starts before moving up. Bukauskas will probably stay in Corpus at least 2 months.
Bukauskas needs to let a league (AA or AAA) get a few looks at him and make those starters' adjustments like developing a third pitch (i.e. change-up). I'm thinking more than 2 months for everyone to get a couple of looks at him. If the goal is just to get him to the bigs ASAP, then he could be up in the Astros pen by summer. His FB/Slider mix is probably already for ML bullpen work.
Pitching: The pitching depth remains the real strength of the system even after trading away another group of elite ceiling arms (Perez, Paulino, Alcala, Sandoval). There were breakouts up and down the system from “good” to “elite” (Corbin Martin, Cionel Perez), and from “sleeper” to “legit” (James, Valdez). Every minor league roster featured 8+ prospects that have something worth tracking. We will continue to see guys no one has talked about break out, as Houston apparently still has some kind of secret sauce in identifying arms. The 2018 draftees looked great out of the gate, and they are behind the 2017 group that looks like it will feature 4+ future MLBers (Martin, Bukauskas, Ivey, Bielak, Solomon, others). If there’s a nit to pick, it’s that behind Cionel Perez, there aren’t any lefties that have a big pedigree. It bears mentioning that the top 2 pitching prospects in the system entering the season (Whitley and Buskauskas) both had odd years marred by injuries, but neither had their stock drop all that much.
