He is a physical specimen and really wasn’t scouted well outside of the Houston area… he needs to focus on the bat, he is more likely to be able to pitch if he tears up the minors hitting.
Brown really needs Dezenzo and Baez to breakout to star level players. I'm hoping Gomez has a breakout yr. He's I didn't see Franny Cobos on these lists. What happened to him, he impressed me a couple of springs ago. What happened to Dezenzo?
I can’t recall an opening day A ball roster having so many players 20 or younger. Will Bush, 20 Waner Luciano, 19 Kenni Gomez, 18 Chase Jaworsky, 19 Alberto Hernandez, 20 Nehomar Ochoa, 18 Alejandro Nunez, 19 Xavier Casserilla, 20 Sandy Mejia, 20 Alain Pena, 20 Raimy Rodriguez, 18 Wilmy Sanchez, 20 Alimber Santa, 20 Yeriel Santos, 20 Juan Soto, 20 I haven’t researched it, but I feel like most years there might be 3-4 guys that young. And especially with the FCL season starting earlier, I think even fewer younger guys are starting out in A ball. That group represents a big wave of high ceiling guys and hopefully they have some success. My excitement reminds me of the Lexington Five from back when I first started following Houston’s farm; Jordan Lyles was the only one who panned out. ETA: looks like last season’s Fayetteville opening day roster had 6-7 guys that young, so more than I thought, but still not nearly as many as this season.
Dezenzo is hurt; that’s why he only fielded in all the ST games he appeared in. I am assuming all the players not on a roster (including Cobos) who have previous experience in full season ball are injured and staying in EST to rehab.
Back in the day, there used to be 3 short season teams between the complex leagues and low A. Those three teams are now gone. There also used to be 40 rounds in the MLB draft; now there is only 20. This make historical comparisons tough.
That’s true, Greeneville and Tri-City getting deleted does mean it’s more likely young players get to A ball faster. But those teams haven’t operated in several years.
I think we are just beginning to see the results of the restructuring that occurred in the low minors a couple of years ago, or was it three? The years begin to run together more quickly now. I would like to think aggressiveness by Brown is the reason but I just have not seen evidence of that.
Dezenzo and Baez are pretty sure bets already. They both have been among the Astros best prospects for some time. I can't wait to see if Baez can stay ahead of Ochao. If Ochoa can talk somebody in to letting him pitch too that could slow him down a little. Maybe.
Savant has been updated to include a minor league search which is pretty cool although it looks like for now we will only have access to SL data for the Astros org. Did you know often overlooked and much maligned Parker Mushinski had the best CSW% on the team last season (min 25 pitches)? Now you do.
Once Bregman and Tucker leave, depending on what happens with Brice Matthews, Houston likely will not have a single one of their first round picks on the roster: Whitley (2016) busted. Bukauskas (2017) and Beer (2018) traded for Greinke. Lee (2019) traded for Graveman. No pick in 2020 and 2021. Gilbert (2022) traded for Verlander. 7 drafts without a single first rounder making a direct impact on the major league roster.
I actually expect Whitley to be on the active roster some between now and 2025 and maybe during the time you reference. I just e pect him to be a JAG. Counter: From 2016: Yordan Alvarez and Yainer Diaz international FAs identified and acquired for very little in trades. Seth Martinez 16th rd of A's stolen in rule 5 draft. Ronel Blanco signed as int'l FA. Buauskas from 17: Mushinski (7th), Julks (8th), Meyers (13th), McCormick (21st), Luis Garcia (int'l signing) Beer from 18: Pena (3rd), France (14th) and possibly Dubin (13th) and Hensley (26th), also stole Sousa ( CHW 10th) and Murfee (Sea 33rd) Lee from 19: Kessinger (2nd) and Brown (5th) and still some prospect possibilities Gilbert from 22: too early to tell but still several prospect possibilities. For a team that is expected to compete, it's not about the 1st rd pick being a stalwart for your team. It's about adding talent from every class that contributes and using prospect capital to keep the contention window open. The Astros have been able to do that by trading away the 1st round picks to get high impact players and identifying other players who usually end up out performing them to keep.
Yes I agree there have been other factors that have allowed Houston to be successful despite not having a bunch of 1st round picks on their roster. Houston’s player development and ability to extract value out of the later rounds and international signees and under the radar trades has more than made up for it. I just thought it was interesting that they’ve got such a string of not getting any players from the first round as core pieces; I wonder if any other team has zero of their own first round picks on their roster like Houston likely will in 2 years.
It is interesting and I don’t have an answer for you. What I can tell you is that if you had told me 7 years ago that they would have not had a #1 on their roster in 2025, I would have bet my house they were not a playoff team. In fairness two of them were stolen by MLB and others traded for top players… and the Astros picked late…. However it shows how fickle prospects are long term. The Astros system was really good to have so many prospects do well and do well long term.
Looking at Eno's doc, Mushman also had the second best Stuff+ (116) on the team last season after...Matt Ruppenthal (118) which seems to entirely discredit Stuff+ as a relevant stat.
The rosters almost seem formulaic. 4 year college hitters go to High A, all other draftees go to low A. Only Bloss didn't follow this pattern, with Treadwell, Dixon, and Heuzo unassigned. Among the international players on the complex, they promoted all of the most interesting hitters, as well as most of the pitchers they've been giving the most innings. It almost makes Heuzo's absence conspicuous, assuming he's not injured. That being said, I'm stoked about the Fayetteville roster. The young hitters from the 2023 draft combined with the hitters from the 2022 international signing period to bring an exciting nucleus of talent. It'll be interesting to see how playing time will shake out, with the team having 3 solid SS prospects in addition to 2 solid 3B ones. If any of the players hit their way out of Fayetteville, they have the friendly Asheville stadium waiting for then upon promotion. The pitching staff is an enigma to me. The 2023 draft pitchers weren't a statistically dominant group. They have some guys who can really bring it, but haven't had much success (Santa, Mercedes, Santos). There's a handful of pitchers who pitched well on the complex, but I've never seen a scouting report or video. Other than the fireballers, I'm most interested in Raimy Rodriguez, Sandy Mejia, and Ethan Pecko.
