The early returns for the Deury Carrasco pitching experiment are really solid. 3.1 IP 3H 0R 1BB 5K. Almost all the contact has been on the ground.
Man if I still lived in Texas I would most assuredly message you to go grab a beer. You have some stories, and you appear to be in my age demographic. I'm 56. I would like to see what many on this board are like without a keyboard in hand. #TraderJorge seems like a person of interest as well. Is it bravado, or is he a true mover and shaker. We would go to Ninfa's and do tequila shots and eat Tacos Al Carbon. Or Maybe just to Taqerias Arandas, on the off chance of meeting Jeremy Pena.
There is a lot of potential in the Astros system, mostly in the lower levels. The Astros need to get some of that talent to produce at a higher level before This. The Astros have a lot of guys, especially in the lower levels that have the makings of being very good players, but they need to do it at higher levels in the minors and become more consistent. The bad news is that the failure rate typically is high for players like that, but the good news is the Astros typically have a higher success rate than other organizations and the Astros also have so many, a few should be at least good big leaguers. I think of systems as living organisms (sounds cheesy) but a lot can change in a short period of time. If you remember Luhnow for example kept saying that the international pitching was coming, and they did not all do well at first (arms), and scouts from other organizations were down on the Astros arms... and the industry had basically written them off as not high level players.... then they all popped at about the same time.... Valdez, Javier, Urquidy, Abreu. What I can tell you right now is that the Astros have two international hitters that both did very well last year at 16 and 18 years old. They had great exit velocities, etc. Baez is a big power hitter that profiles as a corner outfielder with a lot of raw power. Kenni Gomez is only 17, and he has the highest ceiling in the organization as his skills have drastically advanced and his size has increased in the last year. He is a long term plus centerfielder, that can steal bases, makes high level contract, has developing power and loves the game. From what I have seen in the video of games he played last year, he reminds me some of Carlos Beltran when he was young or Johnny Damon if he had power.
There's a handful of Fayetteville hitters who seem to be taking fairly passive approaches, leading to relatively high strikeout rates but not a whole lot of swing and miss. Zach Cole, Clifford, and Narbe Cruz have some of the better swstr rates in the system (6.9, 7.5, and 9.0%, respectively) while having fairly high strikeout rates (27.7, 23.6, and 31.6). Generally speaking the strikeout rates tend to be about double the swstr rate. Tyler Whitaker also has a pretty big discrepancy ( 10.4 swstr, 42% K).
Been very confused with Whitaker's development. Sounds like he's got tools, but he's running ridiculous K rates in the low minors. It's gotta be problems in all areas: swing mechanics, pitch recognition, swing decisions, etc.... Are the stros just cool with him playing through his obvious strikeout problems?
If you don't stop talking about Gomez like this it is going to be impossible for me to be rational. I keep thinking he's gonna be Julio Rodriguez. Even if it's someone I've never seen a picture of much less hit or field. I take your opinion basically as gospel and know you aren't hyperbolic so it makes it even worse.
Well it seems like he's doing a better job of selecting pitches he can do damage on. Right now he's got a ridiculous .556 BABIP, thanks to more line drives than flyballs. He has at least one hit (and at least one strikeout) in every game. It did seem a little curious that they let him struggle in Fayetteville all season, even when the complex league started. If he can handle failure, I guess there's not much they can do but let him try and figure things out.
He has a long way to go and a lot of hurdles to clear. He should still be in high school. He could hit bumps at any of the levels along the way - so it is FAR from a guarantee. However, he has the traits of very successful players. So I am excited about him - but he has to prove himself at more advanced levels. He is just the guy who has the highest upside in the organization.
Where is Gomez playing right now? The stats I see on him are from last yr in the Dominican summer league.
Yep, he's probably hanging out at extended spring training until the florida complex league starts in June.
France threw pretty much all 4S and cutter at a high zone% and ended up with a CSW% on each pitch north of 40%. Dominant effort.
