Both Allgeyer and Endersby seemed to be agitated with Berryhill. Neither guy ever spoke to him when coming off the field after an inning. And Endersby mouthed “I called the ****ing ball *******” to himself after Berryhill bumped into him fielding a popup foul (Endersby did call it and did make the catch).[/QUOTE] if there is that kind of chemistry problem then maybe it needs to be blown up. The majority of that team is just filler and not real prospects anyway. On a side note - the pitcher's job is to get out of the way of a popup. Without seeing the play, I would expect Berryhill was right in that situation, not Endersby.
if there is that kind of chemistry problem then maybe it needs to be blown up. The majority of that team is just filler and not real prospects anyway. On a side note - the pitcher's job is to get out of the way of a popup. Without seeing the play, I would expect Berryhill was right in that situation, not Endersby.[/QUOTE] Of course drawing conclusions from one game is foolish, but last night did make me wonder if having so many AAAA players on the backside of disappointing careers might be hurting the other players’ morale/development. It’s part of the manager’s role to ensure positive vibes so maybe he’s not doing his job. But I wonder if it might be better to rush a few guys (Tyler Brown, Carlos Gomez, Kouba, Gordon, Robaina) a bit to clear out the has-beens and guys who clearly don’t have it. Of course this may very well happen after the draft.
Just looking at that Sugar Land roster... a bunch of guys who have Peter principled themselves, especially on the pitching side. We're starting to see the effects of two years without a first-round pick, even if those guys wouldn't have been at the AAA level yet. The draft getting scaled back also doesn't help because those round 21-40 JAGs could've been useful as warm bodies at the very least.
DSL Blue team added four players; 2 signed this past weekend and the other 2 are coming off the restricted list: RHP Dionel Villalobos - 17-year-old Venezuelan, signed July 2 IF Yariell Almanzar - 17-year-old Dominican, signed July 3 C Yosweld Vasquez - 18-year-old Venezuelan signed in April, started on restricted list RHP Jesus Carrera - 18-year-old Mexican signed in April, started on restricted list
Also prior deadlines have dinged the upper levels. The AAA roster would look quite a bit better if it had Enmanuel Valdez, Wilyer Abreu, Chayce McDermott, and Corey Julks (because he’d be in AAA if Siri was in Houston).
Something I had not considered before, those round 21-40 JAGs playing with enthusiasm would be better teammates than a bunch of dour AAAA guys and one or two might just pan out. Perhaps the draft was cut back a little too far?
Another thing to consider with the 2020 draft cut back to 5 rounds. Simply the reduction in quality depth. The Astros always tend (past tense?) to find guys who contribute from rounds 6+ 2018: Cesar Salazar (7), Shawn Dubin (13), JP France (14), David Hensley (26) 2017: Parker Mushinski (7), Corey Julks (8), Brandon Bielak (11), Jake Meyers (13), Chas McCormick (21), Josh Rojas (26) 2016: Taylor Jones (19), Alex DeGoti (15) - OK reached for that one. 2015: Garrett Stubbs (8), Patrick Sandoval (11), Myles Straw (12) 2014: Ramon Laureano (16), Josh James (34) 2013: Jason Martin (8), Tyler White (33) I don't know how many mid-lower draft picks actually work out for other teams but this feels very productive for the Astros. It feels realistic that a few of the 2020 rd 6-20+ draft picks would have worked out and be in AAA now replacing some of these guys.
I know a lot of fans are concerned with the condition of the AAA roster - but I really am not that concerned. Just in the last 90 days the Astros have taken these guys off the AAA roster and have them on the big-league team contributing.... Julks, Diaz, France, Kessinger and Dubin. That is 25% of the Astros roster....... and Julks and Diaz are basically starters....... and France has been exceptional. You can only go to the well so long in a short period of time. Unfortunately we need bullpen help, we are over using Abreu - and that isn't what the Astros have a lot of in AAA, but there are other players that can help like Pedro Leon. Also - Spencer Arrighetti is down there, and if he is good the next month - he will likely be called up as well. In AA there are a number of players that are close to going to AAA like Colin Barber, Drew Gilbert, Zach Daniels, Joey Loperfido, Shay Whitcomb, Colton Gordon, Tyler Brown..... So I think the upper part of the system is fine, but we have relied on it a lot because of injuries........ we lost 4 of our top 6 starting pitchers..... Verlander, McCullers, Urquidy and Garcia.
Yes, I am very hopeful that this time next month all 4 full season rosters will look a lot better/deeper as Houston pushes guys up to make room for the draftees and complex league studs. There could be a net of 15-18 quality guys added over the next 30 days between the draft, promotions, the deadline, and (hopefully) the big league roster getting/staying healthy.
Doesn’t look like it. Iirc, Houston only signed 3-4 UDFA after the 2020 draft (Dirden and Endersby are the 2 off the top of my head).
Not sure what we are waiting for here. Instead of moving these players up we keep going out and getting more and more culls from lesser teams. It kind of defeats the purpose of trimming the draft by half. Julks, Diaz, France, Kessinger and Dubin are all players that came up through our own system by trade or by draft. None is another teams cast off. Instead of a more efficient farm the whole system is constipated by the huge turds our new GM keeps adding. I am less impressed by him every day.
I need a list from you nerds, under both Luhnow and Click (showing draft position or signing bonus): 1. Players traded away vs player acquired That's it. That's the list.
I suspect it's a two-fold thing being a new GM: 1) As scouting director in Atlanta, he probably kept/keeps a short list of AAAA level players that can be added. Can completely envision him thinking he can make treasure of someone else's trash. That mentality is rife in baseball. 2) Probably wasn't/isn't fully familiar with the farm and/or trusting of the organizational opinions just yet. He came in at the end of the offseason and has only been in the job for less than 6mo. Cut him some slack. He's not going to step in and immediately be late-stage Luhnow. I suspect he's going to do his own thing.
I have been keeping my draft results lists since 2019, I am often sorry that I did not start keeping them sooner. 2020 UDFA's JC Correa Zack Mathews Hunter Peck Cody Orr Jimmy Endersby Kyle Gruller Justin Dirden Cesar Gomez Jonathon Sprinkle Peter Zimmerman 2021 UDFA's Deylen Miley Jacob DeLabio Kasey Ford Walker Brockhouse Ray Gaither 2022 UDFA's Austin Temple Logan VanWey Obviously trending down and I expect 1 or 2 at most going forward. Cutting down to 1 DSL team next season would not be a big surprise either.
I would expect the more legitimate prospects come out of DSL to fill the domestic leagues, the fewer UDFA will be brought in. Current DSL league teams may have a few more than the recent past.
Cristopfer Gonzalez hit his first career home run in the DSL Blue team's 11-7 win over the Reds. Darwin De Leon went 4-6 with a solo homer (3), RBI single, and scored three times in the Orange team's 16-6 win over the Royals; they scored 12 runs in the final three innings.
Bad news if/when Maldy goes down. Hoping for a quick recovery for Lee and continued good health for Maldy in the interim.
