C Luke Berryhill was promoted to AA and is in their lineup tonight. Another college position player who crushed High A but has major strikeout concerns. also looks like Cesar Salazar was promoted to AAA.
This is weird to me. Fingers crossed that no one is hurt… considering Siri isn’t on the 40 man and that Meyers has played so well, and McCormick is currently on a rehab assignment. Maybe Chas had a setback?
Dubin is a beast. If they’re willing to relegate him to the bullpen I think he could be an elite reliever right now. But looking at that skinny upper body and considering his development/usage history, if they stick with him as a starter and don’t expect him up next season, there’s a chance he could be a very high quality SP.
Surely means Chas will be out at least a few more days. Good for Siri; he will make a solid 4th OF but I expect him to strikeout a ton in the majors. I am also wondering if they plan to keep Siri on the 40 man to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency after the season.
With as much crap as Odorizzi got this year, he was really needed with all the minor league pitcher injuries. I don't think the Astros will be as fortunate next season to have MLB starters make all, but one start through August. Depending on how rehab works for a few guys, I could see Dubin being used as a spot starter next season. Hopefully, Baker won't be the manager as Dubin probably won't be built up for much more than 4-5 MLB innings a start next season. If he keeps pitching like he has when healthy, it will be very difficult to keep him out of the majors. Is it too early to pencil Bermudez in as the second lefty in the pen for 2022?
There may not be room for a 2nd lefty. If you assume Pressly, Maton, Javier, Stanek, Baez, and 1 elite FA/trade guy are locks for the pen, that gives you 2 spots for: James, Taylor, Montero, Abreu, Bielak, Emanuel, Scrubb, Paredes, Ivey, Solomon, and everybody else on the 40 man, and James and Montero are out of options. Ideally Click will be able to package 3-4 40 man pitchers up to upgrade the roster or farm, but I think lots of teams will be feeling roster crunches this offseason which may make that 2nd and 3rd tier of 40 man guys less valuable. I think its probably 50/50 whether Bermudez is even protected at this point (although if I were GM I would protect him).
David Hensley and Enmanuel Valdez both went 2-4 for Corpus tonight; they both drove in three runs apiece and they both hit a two-run home run. They were the Hooks' offense. Unfortunately, they walked off with a 7-6 loss in 10 innings in Northwest Arkansas. Hensley now has eight homers this year, while Valdez has 23.
Julio Robaina turned in six fine innings for Asheville as he allowed a run on a solo homer, three other hits, and struck out eight in the Tourists' 6-1 win in Greenville. C.J. Stubbs homered twice (8) and Wilyer Abreu (10) also went deep.
Quincy Hamilton drove in three with a couple of RBI base hits and Justin Williams hit his 4th homer of the half-season as Fayetteville topped Augusta 7-4 thanks to Chad Stevens' bases-clearing triple. Carlos Calderon allowed a run on three hits, walked three, and struck out eight in 3.2 innings to get the win. Calderon now has 35 strikeouts in 20.2 innings in his first exposure to baseball played with crowds. Calderon, who turns 20 at the start of October, signed out of the Dominican Republic to open up the 2018 IFA period and had a promising pro debut in the DSL in 2019, going 4-3 with a 4.20 ERA in 14 appearances (6 starts, 45 IP). The numbers show that he's definitely going through an adjustment period in Fayetteville, but he's probably a name to keep in the back of your head. He'll probably head back to Fayetteville to start 2022.
Peña does not look remotely ready to play SS for the Astros next season. Struggling to manage the zone against mediocre AAA pitching.
Jaime Melendez was promoted to AA. That is huge. He is 19 with very good stuff. Has pedigree and body type working against him but if he gets 5-6 good starts his stock should be WAY up. It’s not normal for a SP prospect to be in AA that early.
He’s never played above High A prior to this, so I’d expect there to be an adjustment period. I have been surprised by the rumblings about the Astros considering him as their primary solution at SS next season. He may adjust quickly and be ready by mid-2022, but I would be really surprised if he was ready before that and it doesn’t seem smart to me for Houston to pencil him in as the answer right now.
In the last 10 years only 34 pitchers have thrown >40 ip in a AA season in their age 20 or younger season. That list includes: Jose Berrios, Taijuan Walker, Mike Soroka, Tyler Skaggs, Noah Syndergaard, Eduardo Rodriguez, Lucas Giolito, and Sixto Sanchez; the vast majority from the total list reached the majors. Since 2006, only 6 Astros prospects have thrown >10ip in a AA season in their age 20 or younger season: Josh Hader, Troy Patton, Forrest Whitley, Franklin Perez, Jordan Lyles, and Francis Martes.
Let's see how he does at Corpus, but it's not like he was dominating at Asheville. He had a 1.81 whip and close to 5.00 ERA. He is listed at 5'8". I have no idea how good his stuff is.
The best data we have on predicting future value of prospects is what the organizations do with them: which round they draft them in, how much money they pay them in signing bonus, how much playing time they give them, what level they assign them to, etc. Houston’s front office has put Melendez on a development path similar to what elite young pitching prospects often follow. I also think they wanted to get him out of Asheville because it’s such a distorted park/league.
