Dawson didn't play last night, and they recently moved Julks up to BC, so I wonder if he could be going to CC.
Yordan Alvarez was activated from the DL, so CC has a full roster. RHP Robert Corniel was released from BC. RHP Humberto Castellanos was sent from QC to TC. I am curious if any of the recently drafted pitchers will be sent to QC.
I was at the Round Rock Fresno game. Thoughts: Straw had a great game. HR away from the cycle. He had a thicker body than I expected. His defense was phenomenal. Routes, speed, glove, arm, all of it looked elite. Tucker looked good. A lot of potential to improve his body. Could see shades of Reddick. Kemmer has defensive value. He looked stacked. Stubbs is TINY. Really hard to look at him and see an everyday major leaguer. Good speed and eye though. Nothing notable from Davis or Reed or Nunez. Mayfield hit a HR. Quick bat. He will play in the majors. Also saw his wife and baby. Cute family. Thornton took a no-no into the 8th. Didn’t see a gun anywhere. His delivery is kinda crazy, high leg kick.
Some questions for you: 1) Is Straw a legit prospect as an above average regular, or is he the 4th OF after Marisnick runs out of options and gets to the point in time where he’s not worth paying in arbitration and you don’t want to have to guarantee him a spot on the 25 all year long 2) Tucker comp with Reddick- you down on Tucker- you mean body type or what? Josh Reddick is a fine player. If that’s what Tucker is I and many others will be sorely disappointed. 3) is Stubbs big enough to play 40-75 games at catcher? Do you get the sense that the Astros have any desire to have a “full time catcher” going forward or is this just a thing they are going to job share with nobody catching 100 times and can Stubbs do that? What was your sense of his defense? 4) what’s Kemmer doing down there? Wasting His time? Organizational depth? Tertiary piece in a consolidation type trade? What’s the FO idea on him you think? 5) as one of the last people holding out hope for AJ Reed- above average major league bat- did he look like a disgusting guy dat body still- or does he look like he’s spent some time working on his body so he can hopefully enjoy an actual career? He just makes sense to me as DH/1B in a time share with White/Davis and Yuli next year, but the FO seems really down on him and I’d assume some of that has to do with him having a bad body
Jonathan Arauz, who has been struggling to find his footing in the Carolina League since his promotion, hit his first home run with Buies Creek today. Arauz now has five home runs this season.
Unfortunately, none of these home runs will count towards their stats for the season because the Hooks' game in Midland was cancelled due to rain in the top of the 5th inning.
We are so stacked and spoiled. That being said, we still do need to add another solid bullpen arm, as other playoff teams will only get better, and we struggled with holding leads in late-innings against CLE, NYY, and BOS. Really liking Straw as a Jake replacement from what I hear. And, I still believe in Reed, wasn't at the game so I can't speak for that, but it sounds like he's really stepped it up lately. Would be nice for at least the rest of this year/next year as a lefty power bat option at 1B/DH. I think Tucker will be an oustanding player, had a monster Spring Training (not that it means anything) and has been gradually improving in AAA. With him, Alvarez, and Straw, our OF should be pretty set long-term.
On Tucker, being an average to slight above average player like Reddick should be the expectation. He has about a 33% chance to be significantly better than that. Basically, if he can elevate MLB pitching like he did AA pitching, he will be a star.
