Totally! A lefty power bat is nice, and I also like how he has developed a lot more plate discipline lately.
Left/right combination at first and DH would be nice if Reed could somehow put it together at the next level.
He hasn't even been given that much of a chance. Last season, he only got SIX at-bats, and in 2016, only about 2 weeks or so of playing time IIRC. He's definitely worth giving another shot.
Of the four (Reed, Davis, Fisher, White), I think White is the most ready to be a consistently good major league hitter right now. Reed still has pretty massive upside but has been fairly inconsistent even in AAA this season. Davis and Fisher also have big upside but both have been given auditions in the majors and didn’t produce.
Jorge Alcala with a dominant performance: 5IP, 1H, 1BB, 5K. ERA down to 2.25 Corbin Martin now in relief
Originally signed in July 2011 for $100K. He had a pretty non-descript career until he got out of Rookie ball and has turned into a pretty steady performer wherever he's been. He seems to strictly be a corner infielder so he's definitely blocked. Also, he doesn't have the power to profile at 1B or 3B; the 8 homers he has this year is a career high. It also looks like his performance this year has been buoyed by an absurdly high BABIP (Snake probably mentioned this earlier in the thread) because he's walked 11 times and struck out 56 times entering tonight. But he knows how to put the bat on the ball... and just about all the balls he's put in play have found grass so far.
Reed has been pretty good IMO. He's improved his plate discipline compared to past years, and he could provide the lefty power bat we're missing. And he's been given the least amount of time in the big leagues to prove himself. Correa returning on Tuesday gives us an excellent opportunity to send Jake down and bring Reed up to give him a chance. With Correa back at SS, Marwin gets more time in LF. Our OF should be more than fine between Springer, Reddick, Gonzalez, and Kemp.
It's pretty crazy how good our pitchers (outside of JB) are doing from the 2017 draft. Martin has been dominating, Tyler Ivey has already been promoted, and Peter Soloman has also been dominating in A-. Our mid round guys like Parker and Bielak are also having great results so far.
JD Davis is now hitting .414. Reed has been spectacular as well, but with our current roster construction a player who is strictly a 1B/DH is very much blocked. Reed, Davis, Fisher, White, Kemp, and pretty soon Tucker have all graduated from AAA, there's just not much room on an Astros team trying to win a WS. Kemp is putting a stranglehold on his roster spot right now, and I'm pretty sure Tucker will replace Marisnick within the next month. The rest of the guys are pretty much in a crap position. Fisher at least had a chance this season, but Reed, White and Davis really haven't been given any chance in the last 2 seasons. White was actually really good in the chance he did get last year. It has to be intensely aggravating for them.
A couple looks at Alcala's slider: I thought I saw a few nice change-ups in the inning I caught as well.
Sounds like good grounds to bundle them up and trade them for a guy who CAN help us. Over the summer, some team(s) will have a fire sale.
Fangraphs has updated its Top 131 list at link below. https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-updated-top-131-prospect-rankings/ 7. Whitley (FV 60) 10. Tucker (FV 60) 32. Alvarez (FV 55)
