2018 Astros Minor League Thread

From my understanding, teams have various different levels of scouting presence at the lower levels of the minors. So if the orioles are looking at players they want as a throw in on a Britton deal, they may have fewer scouts to cover the 40+ DSL teams than they do to cover the smaller GCL. It's unlikely that Jaquez is a good enough prospect to get in the way of a deal, but it might be preferable to have them ask for someone you like less that they have may have seen more often, let's say Manny Ramirez.

Granted it's probably more likely that Jaquez is in the low 80s with some idea of how to throw strikes and a decent change up or something, and that's why he's still down there, but conspiracy theories can be fun.

 

I am almost positive the Astros won’t let a DSL prospect preclude them from making a deal for an established major league player who they hope to help them win the World Series this season.

 

That's exactly the point, by keeping him in a situation where the information on him is more limited, you reduce the chance of the other team even asking for him in a trade.

 

Pretty sure if we know about him that major league scouts know about him.

 

Do we know about him? All we know is he's putting up good stats, if a team doesn't have a scout at that 1 of 22 games going on in the Dominican on that 1 day a week he plays, they would have to rely on 2nd hand reports for him.

 

You know enough about him to think the Astros may be hiding him from other teams.

 

I know his signing bonus and his stats. He's optimistically the 3rd best pitching prospect on his own team. Unless there's more to meet the eye there, there's not much of a reason for a team to try and catch the days he's pitching over when Cobos or Tokar are pitching, or any of the 10 other teams that will look to be buyers. I'm just saying the logistics for scouting the DSL are probably not as easy as other leagues. I think it was Kiley McDaniel that suggested that teams would do this from time to time, I'll see if I can find the tweet.

 

I got a huge chuckle out of this conversation

 

Does Cionel throw his slider in the upper 80s? The breaking pitch he was throwing last night (low 80s) was classified by Brooks as a slider but moves more like a power curve with a lot of downward bite.

 

I have never seen him throw a single pitch in professional baseball.

Good read from the offseason here: https://www.crawfishboxes.com/2018/5/16/17359826/astros-future-interview-patrick-sandoval

AF: Can you describe your repertoire and what do you think is your best pitch?

PS: “I throw a 4-Seam Fastball (89-93) Change-up (low 80s) Curveball (low 70s) Slider (81-84). As of right now I think may best pitch to LHH would be my slider, although, it still needs some work. I would love to get the veto up on it just a tick. As for RHH, I think my most effective pitch would be my curveball. I am still working on being able to land it in the zone consistently.”

AF: Throughout your minor league career you have had good groundball rates and K rates. Do you see yourself as more of a strikeout pitcher or a pitch to contact kind of guy?

PS: “That’s a tough one, I don’t really think of myself as a pitcher in that way. I definitely don’t shy away from contact. I just want to go out there and compete with my best intent for all my pitches through the zone and trust that I have the stuff to get anyone that steps into the box out at anytime.”

 

Oddly enough, he's listed on the quad cities roster.

 

Have you read/heard anything about Adcock this year, interview/scouting/whatever? He's a guy that interests me.

 

Perez hitting 95-96 but command is pretty erratic. Gets easy whiffs though when he can place it around the top of the zone.