Thanks for posting How awesome would it be for him to be another low key major hit for this organization
Wait...did we just draft him for his defense? Because we definitely didn't draft him for his power or his slightly above average speed. His draft profile had him as a 60 hit tool and most scouting services noted an advanced bat with a sound approach, but the kid is striking out in about half of his at bats.
Thanks for bringing him up, I've paid less than zero attention to him, will have to stream a couple of Fresno games sometime and watch him behind the plate. Sounds like a very cerebral guy, the same interview I quoted earlier comped him to Ausmus. Sorry I forgot to post the link: http://climbingtalshill.com/2015/12/02/astros-prospects-keeping-up-with-trent-woodward-interview/ Here's a couple of others: http://whattheheckbobby.blogspot.com/2014/07/an-interview-with-greeneville-clf1bdh.html http://www.yourcentralvalley.com/sports/open-mic-with-trent-woodward
They drafted him because he's a 19 year old potential 5 tool center fielder. I'd start to worry about him in about 3 years.
Unfortunately history has shown that highly drafted HS position players who struggle in A ball in their first full season very rarely pan out. I'm not panicking but I am concerned.
With White falling back down to earth, and the Stros struggling, any chance Reed gets called up this week?
Highly doubt it. Reed isn't exactly destorying AAA and he's not on the 40 man (yeah I know there's some guys on it that can be waived)
Given our SP woes, will any of Martes/Paulino/Musgrove see the big leagues this year? For an extended period of time?
Paulino and Martes I doubt, but if Musgrove keeps dealing, and the rotation still has a soft spot, I could certainly see him up here in a month or two.
I think Devenski will get first crack, pretty soon too if guys don't start performing. But fairly or unfairly he won't have a long leash. 1 or 2 bad outings and he will get yanked. When they call up Musgrove he will be put in the rotation and allowed to stay awhile unless he is unacceptably terrible.
Update on Top 30 and other notables thru about a month: Good: Bregman, Reed, Paulino, Musgrove, White, Kemp, Gustave, Ferrell, Hoyt, McCurry, Devenski, Shirley, Jankowski, Minaya, Mayfield, Woodward, Guduan, Sneed, Frias, Holmes, Yuhl, Martin, Dykxhoorn, Thornton, Hermelyn, Armenteros, Bower, Hernandez Ok: Tucker, Moran, Fisher, Abreu, Hernandez Bad: Martes, Cameron, Feliz, Davis, Kemmer, Gonzalez, Duffy, Aplin, Bostick, Freeman
Batting average is a pretty poor measure for overall performance. So far Moran has been a roughly average AAA hitter. His walk rate is down and his k rate is up. He has not hit for much power. He is making contact hence the high average and not classifying him as 'bad', but overall he is not excelling.
Not the most accurate measure of overall performance, but if Moran can play 3B defensively and bat 0.300, he's going to have a hard time not being at least an average MLB 3B (i.e. it doesn't take much power, walks to get to an average hitter for a 0.300 hitter).
That is what cangrejero51 does. Picks one stat that confirms his opinion. Moran has cut down on the Ks dramatically since the start of the season, so I think he'll be fine there. I don't think he'll ever be a great walk guy, but he'll hit for enough average where that won't be a big concern. The power is the bigger concern. He was really showing something the 2nd half of last year, giving hope that he had found his power stroke. He doesn't need to be a 30 HR guy, but you want him to show 15 HR power.
At this point, can we focus on the metrics like moving the runners over... ability to get an RBI with less than 2 outs... ability to change your swing pattern/intensity/technique given the base running situation? As much flack as Carlos Lee gets on here... he'd be exactly the type of hitter the Astros need right now (desperately).
Agreed. This team needs to be smarter. Altuve is the only guy I trust at the plate in those situations right now, and unfortunately he isn't going to have those opportunities very often. I think the team should consider dropping him behind Springer like they did parts of last year (I wouldn't mind seeing him hit 3rd, FWIW).
