2016 Astros Minor League Thread

**** it. Let him come up and DH.

 

There's certainly a place in the mlb lineup for this kid. He's obviously young but 22 isn't a baby. How much longer do you waste in the minors?

 

Yeah, I was tongue-in-cheek referencing that.

Clearly he's adjusted already.

I think he's too good to be in the minors right now. Hopefully he keeps mashing and forces their hand this month.

 

he better be up within 4 weeks

 

Or what?

 

I think in a couple weeks, unless his bat catches fire, Reed will get sent down and Bregman will be brought up. Valbuenna moves to first and Marwin can fill different roles to get his AB's. Then in September they could bring Reed back up.

 

While Bregman is launching the ball at an impressive clip in AAA, Teoscar Hernandez is also killing it. He's got another multi-hit game, including a double. Small sample size and all, but he's actually got a better K rate than Bregman in AAA, and has only 1 fewer XBH (3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 HR vs. Bregman's 3 doubles, 5 HR).

Also, Preston Tucker is starting to take off again. He is 4 for 5 with 2 doubles and home run #8. He put up an OPS near 1.100 in June in AAA after a bad start when he was first sent down.

Tyler White's also got a 4 hit game, including a HR, plus a walk.

Jon Singleton -- the top 1B prospect in the game 3 years ago -- is batting 7th. That's a combination of his fall from grace and a stacked lineup.

 

Martes with a really good start.

 

Mike Hauschild has been great this year. Another dominant start tonight

 

Oppo bomb. Wow, didn't think he could do that.

<iframe src='http://www.milb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=908271483&width=400&height=224&property=milb' width='400' height='224' frameborder='0'>Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe>

 

He's obviously on PEDs.

 

What is the word on Bregman's defense at short? I see a lot of folks suggesting Correa's time at short is numbered, and should be bumped to 3B for Bregman, but how many of those have actually watched Bregman's defense? It seems like people are saying "Bregman hit another HR today, sorry Correa, it's time to move to 3B!" I'm not saying that it won't eventually happen, but I fail to see the correlation there. Correa has actually been quite solid at SS this year, and for a 21 year old in the majors, I think it's pretty impressive. I also wouldn't ask one of the best players on our team, playing an important up-the-middle position, to make such a big change while the team has been playing so well. Again, I am not saying it would be best to eventually do it, but probably not any time soon.

I would only make the move if Bregman's SS defense is elite, or if Bregman's defense is above-average while Correa's SS defense is below-average (which I don't think is the case at the moment for Correa).

All in all, I guess my main two points are:

1. I don't see the correlation of Bregman's offensive dominance in AAA with moving Correa to 3B at the major league level.

2. I don't think this is the time to make a big move like that, since we are among the hottest teams in the league.

 

There's very little chance they'll move Correa in-season. Players thrive on continuity - they're not going to disrupt one of their best players to accommodate a prospect.

It's another reason why I don't think the team is in a rush to promote Bregman. He really doesn't have a position, and I don't think they want to raise the level of difficulty by having him play either out of position or at multiple positions.

I think it's completely viable that they go into next year with a plan to move Correa.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>.@<a href="https://twitter.com/jakemkaplan">jakemkaplan</a> Astros report: By tearing up AAA, Alex Bregman making case for call-up <a href="https://t.co/IATZlcdQeN" title="http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/Astros-report-By-tearing-up-AAA-Alex-Bregman-8347008.php?t=c6767485ff438d9cbb&amp;cmpid=twitter-premium">houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/…</a> via @<a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonChron">HoustonChron</a></p>&mdash; Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChronBrianSmith/status/751411266560724992" data-datetime="2016-07-00T13:43:01+00:00">July 0, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

On 1, Bregman looks like the most talented defensive IF that may be able to hit MLB pitching. There is no chance that the Astros move Correa to 3B for a Joe Nobody. If Bregman can continue this offensive dominance into the majors, he's not a Joe Nobody. I expect Astros start Bregman at another position this season, but if he comes in, hits well, and Correa continue to slump...It would likely cause less drama to try him at SS.

On 2, being a cold team is not the time to do it either as morale is low. Hot teams think of themselves as bulletproof and are more likely to be more team-oriented than when they are losing.

 

If Bregman's offensive dominance continues at the major league level, wouldn't his bat play up perfectly fine at 3B? It seems to be that the most optimal configuration, if Bregman was to get called up today, is: Bregman at 3B, Correa at SS, Altuve at 2B, and Valbuena at 1B. Either slide Reed to a full time DH role, or cal him down for more seasoning.

 

Yes, but his defense would play up better at SS. Correa's defense likely plays up at 3B. Valbuena's defense plays up at 1B. So the same guys are hitting with the Astros probably being better defensively. This all assumes Bregman can handle MLB SS better than Correa which looks like the case, but major leaguers do hit the ball harder making it not a certainty.

The only drawbacks are a slight uncertainty and whether the players allow the coaches to coach (this last one is huge).

 

6 of the Top 50 prospects in all of baseball with 5 players on the major league roster age 25 or younger and that doesn't include Altuve, Keuchel, and Springer? Salty.

 

Surprised by Musgrove being ahead of Paulino, and AJ Reed dropping off the list who appears to be eligible by 3 days.