How does Martes suspension work given the shortened season last year? Does he still need to serve out the remaining games this season? I can't really find any info from him since his suspension early last year.
ZiPS (a projection system) has Conine as the 70th best prospect and Whitley as the 100th. Conine is a control guy that carved up lower level hitters. He was up a couple of ticks at the alternate site per Putila to 92-96 instead of 90-94. If he can get swing and misses in the zone against upper level hitters, he becomes very interesting.
I was a little disappointed neither he nor Ivey (after he got healthy) got a shot last season when the Astros were throwing **** at the wall to try to solve their pen issues. Not the best stuff but excellent numbers from these two.
I think Astros (i.e., Click) were a little hesitant to bring up too many of their young arms that had major league futures on a season that the Astros were really banged up due to 2021 40-man roster issues. I could see Conine being a guy who may not have been ready for MLB batters, but may have done better than some of the disposable guys brought up. I think there is a chance Astros add someone after they can place Verlander on the 40-man. Astros are down to Nivaldo and maybe Taylor Jones (if Astros are willing to give up what little position player depth they have) as fluff on 40-man. If Astros would have brought up Conine and Ivey...Nivaldo and Jones are already gone.
The Astros can put Verlander on the 60-day DL at any time now. They'll need spots if CIshek and/or Souza make the team, but they can probably deal with that at the end of ST.
I wasn't sure when it was either, but I saw that a couple of teams have done so. I suspect we'll see a number of deals this weekend with players reporting Monday and teams having open 40-man spots.
This is a good question. I am not sure but I want to say that I saw last season that the suspensions were adjusted to account for the shortened 2020 but I could be wrong.
He's got a mouth on him. Not encouraged to read he's friends with Jacob Nix, who probably doesn't have great things to say about the Astros. And not encouraged to read he thinks he knows better than Houston's development staff. He obviously knows a lot about pitching and specifically his own stuff, especially for someone his age, but he works for one of the top 3 or 4 pitching development organizations in the league; he should just do what they say. Reading that interview, I do think he's a lot like Bauer: he is immensely talented, but nowhere near as smart or as mature as he thinks he is.
Jesus, that's not good to read at all. Justin Verlander, a first ballot hall of famer and Gerrit Cole an all star and first overall pick were willing to listen to the organization and it reaped major dividends for them. Not to mention guys like Morton and Pressly. The fact that this kid thinks he's knows better is more than a little aggravating. It was pretty well known he kind of had his head in his ass, but to openly admit it and almost brag about it. No Bauer has not had a lot of success, he was inconsistent and a serial underachiever until last season, when uncoincidentally he needed to earn a big contract, so he decided to stop doing it his way.
FIFY, and yes it was cheating. We sure as hell have no right to cast stones when it comes to the sticky stuff.
Some things in the article I like, some I don't. On his attitude, it reminds me of the movie Bull Durham. Right now, it comes off as bad. If he wins 20 in the show, he'll be colorful. On his change-up, he seemed focused on the speed and that the slower speed would yield a better shape. This is a little weird as more speed usually translates to more spin and more horizontal movement. Usually, guys focus on throwing slower to get speed separation. I think a lot of pitchers focus too much on speed separation and not focus on the movement for a change-up. On the cutter, I'm guessing he's getting a lot of gyro spin based on how he describes it. Gyro spin doesn't move the ball as much as back or side spin, but causes it to move less predictably (i.e., looks tougher to hit by catchers and hitters without above average total movement). On the curve, I like power curves. If his cutter is good, a curve would compliment it better than a slider.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/zips-2021-top-100-prospects/ Brett Conine and Forrest Whitley made the Zips Top 100. Likely to have less value this year due to it beinf based on old stats.
From Astros County: Missed this, from earlier in the week when the state was freezing over, but Keith Law released his Astros' farm system report. Law: The Astros are still finding hidden value through R&D and some great work on the player development side, and have a number of guys who look like breakout candidates for 2021, if we get a minor-league season. The Top 20 - click the link to read the write-ups: 1. Forrest Whitley 2. Luis Garcia 3. Pedro Leon 4. Hunter Brown 5. Jeremy Pena 6. Jairo Solis 7. Korey Lee 8. Shawn Dubin 9. Colin Barber 10. Jordan Brewer 11. Tyler Ivey 12. Alex Santos 13. Brett Conine 14. Luis Santana 15. Freudis Nova 16. Alex McKenna 17. Joe Perez 18. Nathan Perry 19. Zach Daniels 20. Austin Hansen Some interesting prospects in there that aren’t in other lists we’ve seen (Santana, McKenna, Perez, Perry).
I was thinking it looked more consistent with other lists than usual for Law. Abreu, Kessinger, Solomon seem the notable guys missing from Top 20 versus other lists. A lot of K%-BB% on this list for the pitching. Astros should be in a very good place for pitching in the near future provided those in majors don't get decimated with injuries again.
Shades of Mark Prior and Tim Redding and Frances Martes. Whitley thinks quite a bit, he talks a lot... if fact he does everything other than actually pitch or listen to his coaches. I really wish the interviewer would have asked him why he didn’t learn to listen to Strom after deciding to on his own completely redo his delivery and mechanics and go from the most dominant young pitcher in baseball to bring a POS in a few months. How did changing deliveries work for Martes? How did blowing off coaches work for Redding? Now I can understand why Strom says nothing and the veterans really don’t like him.... he has had Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Justin Verlander, Garrett Cole, Brent Strom, Charlie Morton and Zach Greinke to lean on and learn from... and he goes to to Jacob Nix.