Through five innings, Shay Whitcomb is 4-4 with a couple of doubles and 4 RBI. Asheville is currently pounding Greensboro 10-1.
Yainer Diaz went 3-4 and all three of his hits resulted in runs: he had an RBI single, an RBI double, and finished with a solo homer as Asheville wound up winning 13-6. Diaz now has 10 home runs this season. He should probably open up 2022 in Corpus.
Jones looks the part of a very solid bench bat. I really like him as the 13th position player next season backing up 1B, 3B, LF, and DH.
He will probably have ~100 pa in High A by the end of this season. This FO has shown they are willing to promote a guy after that amount of time, so if he keeps destroying the ball as he has I do think it’s likely he’ll start next season in AA, which would set him up for a huge jump in stock. I do think he would have to keep dominating, since both Lee and Salazar should start next season back in AA, and moving Diaz that quickly would likely mean they’re betting on the bat and he’d probably play mostly 1B.
Just confirming, is this the kid (intriguing catching prospect) that was included in the Myles Straw trade, in addition to Maton?
Yanier Diaz "I think the hitting catcher prospect was too tempting to pass on. We have historically had trouble developing our own. We either move them to other positions or there is some glaring weakness that makes getting catchers from outside the organization more appealing. Stubbs is too small. Castro had trouble with pitchers. It's not about Justice, it's about EVIL THRIVING. #125 Marshall Bryant, Jul 30, 2021"
Thank you sir. Hoping for another Josh Fields situation, but I know that will probably never happen again. I am an eternal optimist though, so I am still holding out hope.
Nova is on tear the last 11 games (wRC+ of 193). Walking at a great rate while simultaneously getting his K rate respectable over that period of games.
He hasn’t played since 8/12. But prior to that had a 9 game hitting streak and had only struck out 8 times with 6 walks in those games (30 AB). His stock has plummeted amongst all the sites, but I still think he’s one of the 10-15 best prospects in the system. I am pretty sure they imposed some dramatic changes in his approach, and it may just be taking him longer than normal to adjust. He could be a guy that once it “clicks” he absolutely takes off.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/daily-prospect-notes-al-postseason-pitching-on-the-way/ Mentions Ronel Blanco, who I think is an underrated RP prospect. He may be a Rule 5 casualty.
Cristian Gonzalez and Michael Sandle (3) have homered for Fayetteville. Gonzalez now has 4 home runs this season. Diosmerky Taveras allowed a run on two hits, walked two, and struck out eight in five innings for the Woodpeckers. Luke Berryhill smacked two homers for Asheville, giving him 15 on the year.
- Joey Loperfido hit his first pro home run for Fayetteville. Michael Sandle hit his 4th in a 10-3 win. - Shawn Dubin struck out 10 over 4.1 perfect innings and J.J. Matijevic hit a grand slam (8) in Sugar Land's 9-2 win over El Paso. - Misael Tamarez went 7 innings for Asheville and allowed an unearned run on four hits while striking out 10. The run scored on a wild pitch.
Shawn Dubin might be incoming September call up. I would love to have him in the 7th inning role if he can price effective. Stanek isn’t reliable imo
I doubt they will add him since Abreu, James, Bielak, and Solomon have all been throwing pretty well and are already on the 40 man. But Dubin will be added to the 40 man this fall and it wouldn’t shock me if he earns a spot in Houston’s opening day bullpen next year, although I’m assuming with his upside that Houston will want to continue to develop him as a starter.
Any players on our 40-man roster you think are off-season trade candidates (or otherwise let go) to clear room for prospects we need to protect?
It is hard to say. In addition to the free agents, I think Montero, Wilson, and Robel Garcia will be non-tendered/DFA. That gives the Astros room to add 3 free agents (a SS plus 2 pitchers) and protect Jeremy Pena, Joe Perez, and Shawn Dubin from the Rule 5. Those 3 are the players I think would be surefire locks to be chosen. Breaking down the more clouded decisions: DFA/trade candidates: James, Emanuel, Solis, Ivey, Scrubb, Bielak, Stubbs, Nova, Paredes, Jones High Risk Rule 5 guys: Papierski, Y Diaz, Bermudez, Blanco, Torres, Taveras, Macuare Other Rule 5 eligible from mlb.com top 30: McKenna, Manea, Rivera I personally would rather protect Diaz and/or Papierski over Stubbs. Almost all of the guys I have on the potential DFA list would be claimed, and it is probably unlikely that most of the guys I’ve dubbed high risk Rule 5 guys would stick on a roster for a whole season, so they may just take some chances with those guys. I always like the idea of cashing in fringey 40 man players for lotto prospects, but it’s no guarantee that the market will exist for those deals this offseason. If I had to guess, I think James would be the biggest candidate for a trade like that. If Houston makes a meaningful “prospects for star player” trade, I would peg Bryan Abreu, Freudis Nova, Yainer Diaz, and Joe Perez as the prime candidates to be included; quick hypothetical would be those 4 prospects to Detroit for Matt Boyd and Jose Cisnero.
I like the idea of trading Abreu (the SP ship seems to have sailed) or another reasonably valuable prospect the Astros aren't that invested in and packaging him with a couple of the AAAA pitchers like James, Ivey, Solomon etc., to clean up the 40 man and make room for the next wave of Bermudez, Blanco, Macuare, etc. Nova seems very volatile at this stage - could become almost worthless next year if he still can't hit or totally rebound as a prospect if he does. Would depend a lot on what the internal data is saying and if he really has made major major adjustments this season that may take some more time to pay off. Stubbs has been superannuated by Papierski and Diaz should be protected with how he's hitting. It was nice that Click got something out of BDLC this season (although I would have preferred a young lotto prospect over Garcia) but there's still a lot of work to do in cleaning up the 40 man before December.
