Well, the minor leagues will be radically different from how we've remembered it for the last decade. The reshuffling of affiliates has now resulted in the following teams now coming under the Houston Astros umbrella: AAA: Sugar Land Skeeters AA: Corpus Christi Hooks A Advanced: Asheville Tourists A: Fayetteville Woodpeckers Asheville was previously a Class A club in the South Atlantic League. My guess is that the Sally League and the Carolina League have switched levels. Baseball Prospectus has their top 10 prospects out: Outside of the season, I haven't thought about baseball all that much this year, much less the minor leagues. I've almost forgotten who's still in the system. My Top 10 Not including Pedro León in this list since he hasn't officially signed. He'd be top-3 on my list. 1. Forrest Whitley 2. Freúdis Nova 3. Jeremy Peña 4. Hunter Brown 5. Korey Lee 6. Colin Barber 7. Luis Garcia 8. Jairo Solís 9. Alex Santos 10. Jordan Brewer Other Prospects of Note No particular order. Dauri Lorenzo José Alberto Rivera Shawn Dubin Chas McCormick Jairo Lopez Jojanse Torres Peter Solomon Austin Hansen Brett Conine Zach Daniels Grae Kessinger Luis Santana C.J. Stubbs Blair Henley Tyler Ivey Tyler Brown Ryan Gusto Valente Bellozo Yohander Martinez Jaime Melendez Franny Cobos
Thanks for starting this thread Tellit, I look forward to it every year. My top 10: 1. RHP Forrest Whitley 55 2. (OF Pedro Leon 45+) 3. SS Jeremy Pena 45+ 4. SS Freudis Nova 45+ 5. C Korey Lee 45+ 6. OF Colin Barber 45+ 7. RHP Alex Santos 45+ 8. RHP Hunter Brown 45+ 9. RHP Bryan Abreu 45+ 10. RHP Jairo Solis 45+ Other Grade 45+: RHP Luis Garcia Grade 45 (grouped by position): C: Mike Papierski, Nathan Perry, Juan Santander, CJ Stubbs, Colton Shaver IF: Taylor Jones, Luis Santana, Grae Kessinger, Dauri Lorenzo, Joe Perez, Alex De Goti OF: Chas McCormick, Ronnie Dawson, Drew Ferguson, Jake Meyers, JJ Matijevic, Jordan Brewer, Zach Daniels P: Tyler Ivey, Brandon Bielak, Shawn Dubin, Jose Alberto Rivera, Nivaldo Rodriguez, Humberto Castellanos, Brett Conine, Ronel Blanco, Ralph Garza, Jojanse Torres, Cionel Perez, Andre Scrubb, Cody Deason, Austin Hansen, Ty Brown, Blair Henley, Angel Macuare, Jayson Schroeder, Ryan Gusto, Manny Ramirez, Peter Solomon Grade 40 (other notables): C: Nerio Rodriguez, Cesar Salazar, Scott Manea IF: Jake Adams, Victor Coutinho, Miguelangel Sierra, Enmanuel Valdez, JC Correa, Yohander Martinez, Narbe Cruz, Shay Whitcomb, Cristian Gonzalez, Yorbin Cueta OF: Raider Uceta, Alex McKenna, Bryan De La Cruz, Ross Adolph, Matthew Barefoot, Wilyer Abreu, Kenedy Corona, Luis Guerrero, Franklin Pinto, Rainier Rivas, Yimmi Cortabarria P: Riley Ferrell, Kent Emanuel, Chad Donato, Brett Daniels, Tommy DeJuneas, Nick Hernandez, Willy Collado, Valente Bellozo, RJ Freure, Lupe Chavez, Kyle Serrano, Matt Ruppenthal, Jaime Melendez, Diosmerky Taveras, Jairo Lopez, Juan Pablo Lopez, Ernesto Jaquez, Misael Tamarez, Heitor Tokar System is still very deep in 2nd tier pitching, and has a fine group of pitching prospects at the top. Overall position player depth is average. The system lacks top end talent on the position player side. The good news is that none of Houston's top position player prospect should graduate this year, and any of their top 5 guys (Leon, Barber, Lee, Nova, Pena) could break out and be firm Top 100 types by the end of this season. On the pitching side, there are any number of names who could break out, but Solis, Santos, and Brown are at the top of guys who could be on Top 100 lists by September. I expect there to be a 120 game minor league season that begins on May 1. Houston now owns their top 3 affiliates (AAA Sugar Land, AA Corpus Christi, and High A Fayetteville) as well as their GCL and DSL complexes. It remains to be seen if they will acquire a Low A team, stick with Quad Cities, or affiliate with another A ball team.
Whitley, Garcia, and Conine are the guys I'm most paying attention. Whitley and Garcia have the stuff to be very good starters. Conine has good control, but I'm not sure he will miss enough bats in the majors to remain effective. Hard to do a Top 10 list for me as these guys for the most part haven't played games with publicly available information. Tough to get excited about guys that haven't seen AA batters or pitchers except in extreme circumstances.
So...dare I ask. What are the feelings on Whitley? I guess we won’t have a better idea until the season actually starts and we see him throw, but I’m worried given his complete non-existence last season. I mean, we were pitching players with ridiculously low levels of experience, and he still couldn’t get the nod over them. Projections/comparisons? Is he in all likelihood just a back end starter or high end reliever?
Whitley is chaos personified. A butterfly flaps its wings at the wrong time in Brazil, he busts. If an armadillo gets run over by the Astros Spring Training caravan, he's an ace. If the rooster squaks three times during the dot of the i in Jeremy Bearimy, he's a setup man. Go Roadkill!
I think his ceiling is still all there, but his bust potential has consistently increased over the last 2+ years. Next season will be very important, but as high as his ceiling is, I dare say he won’t be in a “make or break” situation until he is out of options. One silver lining is that his bust potential has increased because of injuries, off the field issues, and lack of innings, not necessarily because of failure on the mound (unlike somebody like Mark Appel whose bust potential increased because whenever he did pitch, he pretty much sucked). I could easily see Whitley becoming a true ace, or I could see him totally flopping. The odds of the latter are higher, but the fact that the potential is still there makes him a valuable prospect. I think he should still be ranked in the middle 3rd (25-75) of Top 100 lists.
Didn't Baker say he would have gotten a shot with all the injuries they had but Whitley also got injured (elbow discomfort). I just don't know where he was in the pecking order.
Picking a sleeper (player outside the Org Top 30 who could break out) at each position for 2021: C: Nathan Perry: high ceiling former 5th rd pick getting overshadowed by Korey Lee; Luhnow's track record with HS draftees is phenomenal 1B: JJ Matijevic: posted elite exit velocities in AFL; had bumpy ride but is still a pretty high ceiling offensive player 2B: MiguelAngel Sierra SS: Yohander Martinez 3B: Joe Perez: former 2nd rd pick has elite power ceiling paired with an elite throwing arm; again, Luhnow's history with HS draftees was amazing RF: Matthew Barefoot CF: Kenedy Corona LF: Rainier Rivas P: Ryan Gusto (HM: Chad Donato, Kyle Serrano, Diosmerky Taveras, Heitor Tokar, Valente Bellozo, Jayson Schroeder, Angel Macuare)
AAA Sugarland AA Corpus Christi High A Asheville Low A Fayetteville Logistically makes a lot of sense for Houston.
I think it's probably a nice advantage to have the new facility that the organization owns be the first stop in pro ball. As cool as the River Bandits were, I'm sure they're glad to not have to worry about the river flooding cancellations or the midwest league in spring.
Asheville and Fayetteville will make it easier (and cheaper) to shuffle young guys back and forth between those 2 spots and the complex in Florida. I wonder if Crane will end up buying the Asheville team. I really wish Crane had wanted to buy the Express to keep them as the AAA affiliate but the way things have shaken out make a lot of sense.
