This makes me wonder if there is any affordable housing halfway between MMP and the Home of the Skeeters. Throw 96+ and headed to Sugarland...better have a place somewhat close to MMP.
2023 is his last stand if he doesn't make it before then. After that, and he has to be in the majors or DFA.
Whitley, Pena, Leon, Lee, Nova, Barber, Abreu, and Brown are a fine group of position player prospects for any team's 3-10. Houston really only lacks 2-3 elite prospects to have an 'average' farm. Their depth is fine and I hope that because now most of their best prospects are 1+ years away from graduating, some of them will start to percolate into the Top 100 lists.
also , our farm is fine considering how many players weve graduated recently. Teams with amazing farms generally arent coming off years of real contention and guys like alvarez , tucker , and our group of young pitchers already in the bigs
Assuming one of Hinojosa or Pena is assigned to AAA, I really like how their lineup projects, although if they don't expect to play Shaver, Matijevic, or Stubbs in the infield then they may want to add another guy like Hinojosa for depth. C Stubbs 1B Jones 2B De Goti SS Hinojosa (or Pena) 3B Shaver RF McCormick CF Siri LF Dawson DH Matijevic bench: Papierski, Meyers, Miguelangel Sierra
Houston has now added 4 fairly high ceiling players to their upper minors this offseason (Siri, Leon, Gonzalez, Hinojosa). Only Leon is an actual prospect, but given how depleted their upper level position player ranks have gotten, adding those types of fillers is a key area Click can focus on to fortify the farm. They also added an interesting catching prospect to the lower minors. Id like to see them maybe add one more middle infield prospect who could slot in AA or AAA, but either way I think the farm has taken a bit of a step forward this offseason, especially considering Houston is a contending team under draft pick penalty.
To be honest Siri doesn't do much for me either. Maybe hes all glove? His AA and AAA numbers are pretty bad.
Obviously the term high ceiling is very subjective, but I would point out that ceiling is only one component of a prospects value. Hinojosa has proven he can stick in the middle infield and can avoid strikeouts. When a player is 1 tool (power) away from being a good hitting SS/2B, that’s a high ceiling. Now, at 26 and having been released, the odds of him adding enough power to reach that ceiling are probably very low. So in terms of overall value Hinojosa is only a 35 on an 80 grade scale, but he still has (a small) chance of becoming a very good utility player or even an everyday SS/2B.
https://theathletic.com/2338178/2021/01/28/keith-law-top-100-prospects-2021/ Not a big fan of Law's, but he was high on Garcia prior to last season. Garcia's stuff looked great in the majors last season, though he needs a tad bit more control. No surprise that Garcia made his Top 100. Law did explain in the article probably why I am not a fan..."I tend to favor upside in prospects more than certainty, but there is value in both." I tend to think people who value upside underestimate the upside of guys with high floors, over estimate the likelihood of low level guys reaching their "upside", and generally undervalue guys that are likely to be okay major leaguers. 29. Whitley 67. Garcia
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/top-63-prospects-tampa-bay-rays/ This is why I am giving Click the benefit of the doubt until he proves otherwise. He came from a place that has consistently outperformed in talent acquisition. And we are seeing Click deploy the same tactics: Swing big in the intl market. (Leon) Target position players with contact ability and one other tool. (Leon, Whitcomb, Hinojosa) Don’t be afraid to acquire another teams blocked/forgotten prospect and give them a legit shot. I would love it if Houston could swing a trade for Josh Lowe to play CF.
Forrest Whitley is #40 on MLB.com’s new 2021 Top 100 list. He is the only Astros prospect on the list.
Recap...hoping I didn't miss any ranking. Whitley BA 80 BP 69 MLB 40 Law 29 FanGraphs TBD Average: 54.5 Pena BA NR BP 82 MLB NR Law NR FanGraphs TBD Average: NR Garcia BA NR BP NR MLB NR Law 67 FanGraphs TBD Average: NR Leon BA NR BP NR MLB NR Law NR FanGraphs TBD (though it will be NR) Average: NR
