Ugh, are we already back to 2013? Heineman is batting .176 in AAA. Reed is currently being dominated down there. Moran has basically the same OPS in AAA as Valbuena does in the bigs. Bregman is certainly impressive at AA, but no way would anyone on this planet substitute Rasmus for him. I trust that all of those guys will eventually have their chance, but "send them all down!!" posts are not based in any sort of reality.
So you want to play for the first pick in the draft next year? That's the only way I could understand this lineup
More than a slight exaggeration there. He's off to a slow start, but a .790 OPS is most certainly not close to being dominated. My patience with Preston Tucker is wearing thin. When hitting is literally the only value you have to the team and you aren't doing it, you start to feel expendable. A 6-1 K-BB ratio isn't gonna fly. I am highly confident that reed would immediately be as good as Tucker, with much higher upside, and the ability to competently play a position in the field.
I agree on this and think that once the Super 2 passes we will likely see Reed here. I don't think that Super 2 is an issue that completely drives decisions, but it is an issue that costs money, and when a guy could "probably" help us now, and is doing "okay" at AAA but not dominating, then I don't see them spending the extra few millions just to "see" In the meantime, I'd like to see Kemp get a shot up here. He is having a good year, brings a good contact type of hitter we could use in the lineup, and this would be a chance to see how he could handle MLB pitching before they are ready to bring Reed up.
Fair point, and he's the one I'm certainly not against bringing him up in the near future. It's the backup QB mentality of "bench everyone because the other guys have to be better" that annoys me.
While we struggle along at the big league level, overall our top farm guys aren't off to a very good start either. Still very early on both accounts, but of our top 15 prospects I would say 7 of them have been disappointing. Bregman, Tucker, Paulino, Musgrove, Abreu and Kemp have all been extremely good, and i'd put White in this category also. I know he has struggled badly over the past few weeks, but i'm confident we have a player in White. Arauz (kid we got from Philly) hasn't played yet and is very young, so if he is even a top 15 guy (I have him at 15 personally) he hasn't done anything either way this year yet AJ Reed (#2), the .790 OPS is decent but not great. More K's than hits, just an overall blah start for a guy we have such high hopes for. Hopefully we see a big streak soon Martes (#3), has been bad. Era over 7, whip close to 2 and 17 K's to 16 BB. The kid has great stuff and is only 20 so young for his level obviously, but not the start we wanted to see here either. Daz (#7), struggled badly at low A and is now back at extended spring training. 33 K's to 8 BB and 11 hits, way too young to get overly concerned I suppose, but that is really bad at low A Fisher (#8), similar start to Reed. .780 OPS isn't terrible, but hitting under .230 and just not a great start Feliz (#10), been bad at the AAA level as well as the big leagues. Only 22 years old, and the K rate in limited sample size in the majors is good. The results need to catch up to the stuff though Moran (#11), kind of the opposite of Reed and Fisher. The average is good, but not hitting with much authority and 29 K's to 8 BB is not good for a guy who's best attribute is supposed to be the "hit" tool JD Davis (#12), I might have this kid a little higher on my list than most, but not sure he is going to be what i've been hoping. His start has been downright brutal at .207 with a .656 OPS. Numbers can change very quickly with the small amount of at bats these guys have at this point, but Davis has been bad, and at 23 he isn't "old" for AA, but he isn't exactly forcing his status either Ferrell and Gustave are two lower level guys I could see in our top 15 by mid-season, would be nice to see Ferrell move to AA soon, maybe when Musgrove is summoned to AAA
It isn't good, but it isn't close to being dominated. See Daz Cameron for what being dominated looks like.
B.J. Anteola is one of the sportswriters at The Fresno Bee. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fresno Grizzlies 1B A.J. Reed, the Houston Astros top prospect, has landed on the 7-day DL. Pulled hamstring running out an infield single</p>— Bryant-Jon Anteola (@Banteola_TheBee) <a href="https://twitter.com/Banteola_TheBee/status/730469507135725568">May 11, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Kyle Tucker is really starting to heat up... he's on a 4-game hitting streak, and all of them have been multi-hit games. He's recorded 2+ hits in 6 of his last 7 games.
Kyle Tucker with another 2-4 with a 2B and a SB (his 15th). They also have him playing CF. If he can graduate to Lancaster before turning 20 that would look really nice
He is Ted Williams re-incarnated, after all... (Folks in Boston really loved hearing that comparison on draft night).
The two prospects that have elevated their play to meet expectations are Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, the other top position player prospects have left a lot to be desired. Really disappointed in Moran, Reed, Fisher, Cameron
Cameron is really the only one whose stock is down significantly. Moran, Reed, and Fisher aren't dominating like we hoped they would, but none of them are floundering, and all of them are in a new/higher league where an adjustment period is to be expected. The unfortunate thing to me is that there haven't been any other lesser position player prospects who are breaking out to make up for the busts. McDonald, Hermelyn, and Tanielu are having good years but nothing that would really put them on the map yet.
Eh, I wouldn't worry about that at this point. He was obviously not ready for full-season ball. See how he does in June.
Yep. He was always gonna be one of those longer development types, more of an athlete at this point than a baseball player.
I don't know. The track record of highly drafted HS position players who don't end their first full season in full season ball is pretty bad. And I don't recall reports on Cameron describing him as raw; if anything, I thought due to his background/dad he was considered a more polished HS prospect. So I'm worried. I expected big things and he was totally lost. That said, obviously a good season in Tri-City would put him back on a good trajectory.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: The Astros have promoted SP Joe Musgrove to Triple-A Fresno, as expected. Had an ERA of 0.34 in six Double-A appearances.</p>— Ian Steele (@IanSteeleKIII) <a href="https://twitter.com/IanSteeleKIII/status/730791507192504320">May 12, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
