I've become a believer in Straw this season. I fully expect him to be on the roster in September, and possibly in October.
4 more scoreless innings for Heitor Tokar down in the Dominican... he allowed a hit, hit another batter, and struck out two.
Went way over their cap on international signees a few years ago (Carrasco, Nova, Cueta, Y Ramirez). Drafted high upside HS position players last year (Perez, Perry, A Santana). Had a convergence of intl signees developing at different rates (H Martinez, Abreu, N Rodriguez). Got the Tigers to throw in a lotto with Verlander (J Ramirez).
So... Alex McKenna, the 4th-round pick from Cal Poly, has driven in a run in each of his first three games as a pro.
C Jamie Ritchie (13th rd pick in 2014) was promoted to AAA Fresno. RHP Ronel Blanco up to AA. RHP Yohan Ramirez up to High A.
What is the most plausible theory for why they eliminated Greenville? Did they feel it would save costs without having a marked negative effect on their ability to develop talent?
My best guess is that the Astros feel that they have a world class baseball training facility in their Palm Beach facility (which is the home to their complex league team in the GCL). Players at the Greenevillle level might progress faster if they trained more at the complex, especially pitchers. The Astros also went from two DSL teams to one. Thus, the Astros "lost" one team up and down from their complex league team. Some teams have two complex level teams. I would not be surprised if the Astros at some point added a second complex league team.
He could be Myles Straw, but we really won't know unless he gets a chance. I just hope he doesn't languish on the bench once they send him back to TC.
I think last year de La Cruz started at TC, filled in at Corpus for a while, then finished playing everyday with the Riverbandits. Pineda could follow the same path, though there's not much history of him tapping into his tools.
