So as an Astros fan who knows very little of our minor league system nor follows any minor league games-- can anyone share their thoughts on our minor league system? Are we in a good position? Beyond Whitley and Tucker, do we have any potential stars in the making? Trade bait? Is Luhnow maintaining a strong minor league system despite the attrition through trades and low draft picks? Appreciate any input! Likes for responses
Yordan Alvarez, Myles Straw, JB Bakaukus, Corbin Martin and Seth Beer stand out. Also, look at the last few pages of this thread to get a bunch of info.
Astros are in great position to add some talent over next year with Whitley, Tucker, and Alvarez. Astros have a ton of guys in high minors that could likely provide no value (negative or positive) in majors. In other words, if Astros are hit but rash of injuries, Astros won't be affected as dramatically as other teams. Yes, posters will still complain "X" guy from minors sucks, but "X"guy from Astros is likely significantly not as bad as counterpart for most teams. Here's an article that talks about which teams have the most and least players providing negative value...https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-mlb-landscape-of-negative-war/. After that, Astros have a bunch of guys that might be good, but need to rise a few levels before getting too excited.
AAA IF Nick Tanielu has turned it on a bit. He's great at not striking out. He's had some bad BABIP luck, and if he could hit for more power he'd be a decent prospect since he can play 3 positions. OF Chas McCormick has also hit well recently in AA. In 86 PA with Corpus he's walked as much as he has struck out. Ronnie Dawson has fallen off a bit. He just hasn't taken the next step that would Seth Beer is the only good hitter on the QC roster. SS Trey Dawson off to a great start in Tri-City. I expected Wielansky to be the one who broke out but so far Dawson is the gem of the infield draftees. Yorbin Cueta and Juan Ramirez are both walking more than they are striking out. No power yet but I don’t worry about that too much with GCL guys.
The farm is healthy. Catcher is a positional weakness but otherwise it’s in good shape across the board. The pitching depth is unmatched. Overall I think the farm is ranked somewhere in the 8-12 range in the league. Potential stars: Whitley Tucker LF Yordan Alvarez LF Seth Beer CF Myles Straw 3B Joe Perez SS Freudis Nova RHP Corbin Martin RHP Josh James LHP Cionel Perez RHP JB Bukauskas RHP Jayson Schroeder Trade bait: 1B AJ Reed 3B JD Davis LF Derek Fisher LF Yordan Alvarez RHP Josh James RHP Corbin Martin LHP Cionel Perez RHP Jorge Alcala Yes, Luhnow has done a pretty excellent job of maintaining the farm despite late draft picks, trading away prospects, and international signing restrictions. Getting Whitley late in the draft was a master stroke. Hopefully he will be able to get an extra draft pick or two from departing free agents over the next few years which will help keep the pipeline strong. Also he will hopefully be able to maintain their competitive advantage with regard to acquiring and developing pitchers. And the international restrictions will come off next year. So as long as he doesn’t get crazy trading away top prospects the farm should be above average for the foreseeable future.
Awesome! Thanks for the summary and responses. This is really interesting. I followed the Astros through the Drayton McLane era so have a good appreciation for maintaining a strong farm system and not decimating it for short-term gains. Glad to hear we have a healthy system in spite of our recent success and lower draft picks! Love having a competent GM! Luhnow has to be one of the best in the biz.
It’s a deep system, not as many consensus top 100 players like in years past, but overall very strong. And plus Luhnow has said it before, each team has its own rating for players across MILB. So what the associated press prints might not tally up to what Luhnow and Co. determined. Last year an opposing GM made a comment that the Astros were too enamored with their prospects, to get anything done. So the Astros know whom they have on the roster.
Fangraphs had a blurb about Randy Cesar in their Daily Prospect Notes: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/daily-prospect-notes-7-5/ It's interesting he mentions Cesar having defensive versatility; that goes against what I've seen and read, and the fact that Cesar hasn't moved around the field much this season has me skeptical. But if he were able to competently play 1B, 2B, 3B, LF, and RF, his chances of carving out a major league career would go up dramatically.
Yeah, I don't understand that at all. Having the athleticism to play somewhere and having the skill to play there are 2 totally different things. In his career, he's played 4 innings in 1 game at SS, 36 games at 1B and 390 at 3B. Contrast with Marwin, who in his 6 years in the minors played 318 games at SS, 108 at 2B, 82 at 3B, 48 in the OF and 13 at 1B.
Cesar's biggest issue seems to be his underwhelming BB/K. Although BABIP is obviously driving his success this season, he seems to have the batted ball profile to carry a .320+ BABIP even at the MLB level, and he has added power as well. However, he's just not going to be a productive MLB hitter unless he can get his BB/K closer to even, which seems doubtful given his age.
Forrest Whitley left his start with and injury midway through his 4th batter faced. No idea what it was.
But generally players can transition to 1B from 3B and to corner OF if they have the foot speed. Ben Zobrist basically played SS exclusively in the minors. He had 2 games at 3B before his MLB debut and the rest at SS.
Abraham Toro (14) and Osvaldo Duarte (5) hit back-to-back homers in the 8th to cap off a 6-1 Buies Creek victory.
