BP apparently published a 24 list today. I am not a subscriber so I do not know how different this list is.
I have felt that Apollo provided the most accurate and informative list of Astros prospects because of Ben. Good for him to get on with BPro.
He is a former pretty big prospect for the Cubs. He has had a lot of bad luck and injuries, coupled with some confidence issues in the past. No idea if he will ever become what they thought he would be - but he is a good arm and well worth a look for the Astros. Last year they really shoved too much on him for his first year playing baseball in years. He could figure into being a starter long term or they could try to put him in the pen and see if he can stick now.
A bit odd to me they’ve signed 3 pitchers who should slot into the AAA roster. Does not bode well for lower tier AAA guys like Jayden Murray, Tyler Brown, Austin Hansen, Jimmy Endersby, etc. and if there’s not a trade or two to free up spots or a rash of injuries then guys like Jairo Solis and Misael Tamarez could be in jeopardy. There are 7-9 pitchers on the 40 man who project to be optioned so there’s not a ton of room on that roster.
https://www.mlb.com/prospects/2021/cubs/brailyn-marquez-666622 Brailyn Marquez LHP, Sugar Land Space Cowboys, AAA AGE 24 BATS L DOB 01/30/1999 THROWS L HT 6' 4" SIGNED Aug. 23, 2015 - CHC WT 185 ETA 2023 Scouting Grades: Fastball: 80 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 55 Marquez received the largest bonus ($600,000) any left-hander received on the international amateur market in 2015 and continually has added velocity since signing out of the Dominican Republic at age 16. He made his big league debut on the final day of the 2020 season as Chicago toyed with the idea of adding him to its playoff roster until he surrendered five runs while recording just two outs, one on a strikeout of Jose Abreu with a 99-mph fastball. He has yet to pitch in 2021 after coming down with COVID-19 before Spring Training, then a strained shoulder while building up his arm strength afterward. As Marquez has added strength and cleaned up his delivery, his heater has gone from parking at 91-93 mph in 2017 to 93-96 in 2018 to 96-98 in his last full season in 2019, when he peaked at 102. The Cubs have worked with him to maintain consistent shape on his breaking ball, which can be a power mid-80s slider at its best but also devolves into a slurve at times. He has dominated left-handed hitters in the Minors but in order to keep right-handers in check he'll need to continue to improve his changeup, which has promising life but often gets too firm and arrives in the low 90s. With long limbs and a low three-quarters arm slot, Marquez sometimes has difficulty repeating his delivery. He has made progress, however, slashing his walk rate from 5.8 per nine innings in his first 15 starts of 2019 to 1.9 in his final seven. He has the ceiling of a frontline starter but also comes with reliever risk, though he definitely has closer upside if he winds up in the bullpen.
I read something here that Brown doesn't see any high upside guys in the minors. He has confidence that they can keep on turning out JP Frances, but no one that can be Pressley or Valdez. I think they are taking shots at guys that had TOR potential and see if they can get lightning in a bottle.
This makes sense to me. I remember middle of last year lots of talk about lack of impact players in the system. Apparently Brown's analysis was that it was extremely deep in bench players, #5 SP, and long relievers with very few, if any future stars. And he stated adding future stars is the focus, and that likely means ditching quite a few guys without plus skills and/or long time minor leaguers who have not developed.
I think for once it is true that we have a very weak upper minor league. If we want to compete in 24, we have to keep Valdez and Bregman. I’m really starting to get pissed at Crane. He needs to decide between Bregman and Tucker and sign one of them and extend Valdez while his market is down a bit. Altuve is a given. Spend the money on our own players, unless you are going to break the bank for an Ohtani or Snell level player.
Tells me that Brown and Dickey are not big on the talent down in AAA outside of a couple pitchers… also looks like they are loading up on guys and hoping one or two pitch well enough in AAA to join the pen in 2024. Marquez is well worth a AAA man spot IMO as he is better than a lot of guys we have down there. If Marquez stays healthy, I believe he has better than a 50/50 chance to pitch for the Astros at some point in 2024.
I said that… Brown is happy with the production of big league players from the system but stressed the need for the organization to be less risk adverse in the draft for the right players. The Astros draft was consistent with the philosophy (it should be as Brown basically made the choices) and drafted a couple risky but high upside players at the top of the draft. Also - the Astros are going to know players like Marquez very well because now the Astros have more years of advanced scouting in their upper organization than any other team… there are 3-4 guys with over 20 years each in experience as having been very successful at scouting.
Doesn't this guy throw 100? If they add Hicks and Whitley works out in the bullpen, Pressly 95-97 Abreu 97-100 Hicks 97-100 Whitley 95-98 Graveman 95-98 Marquez 97-100 That's some serious heat coming out of the bullpen.
Rule 5 draft happening right how, the stream is on MLB.com's front page. Astros didn't lose anyone in the Major League phase... only 10 teams made picks.
Guardians pick Tyler Brown in the minor league phase. Brown was the Astros' 3rd-round pick from Vanderbilt in 2020. He transitioned to the bullpen in Corpus this past season and handled it rather well. Between Corpus and Sugar Land, Brown went 6-4 with 3 saves and a 3.72 ERA in 43 appearances (38 with CC, 5 Sugar Land). Brown struck out 56 in 55.2 innings and allowed a .214 average against him.
Astros pick Railin Perez from the Red Sox in the minor league phase. Perez, 22, signed with the Red Sox in 2018 out of the Dominican Republic. 2023 was his first season outside of a complex league and he went 2-3 with 3 saves and a 3.70 ERA in 32 relief appearances with Class A Salem. He allowed 31 runs (23 earned), 48 hits (1 HR), walked 34, and struck out 69 in 56 innings.
