I get it. Everyone expected him to be called up after Correa left. He was like the surest thing that we had in the farm when he got signed. The fact that it took this long for him to figure out not striking out was the surprise. We really did him a disservice by trying to make him a short stop. I'm glad Dana put a stop to the experiment. Dana really does have an eye for talent and how to make use of that talent.
I’m quite surprised he’s played so well at AAA, yet he’s outside the top 20 among Astros prospects. I’m glad he has his opportunity in the ML level.
I see no reason to not give Leon a long, serious look for the duration of the season. As is, guys like Chas, Cabbage, Hummel, Meyers, et al have shown that they may be serviceable at the bottom of the lineup in a different year, with a longer lineup. This year, though? No. This year, we need someone to step up and help to lengthen the lineup. Someone who can battle pitchers and not just go 3 pitches whiffed then back to the bench. Actually, we need a couple of those guys in the Brantley/Yuli molds, and I'm hoping Pedro can help with that. Without it, we're toast vs quality pitching anyway, so we might as well roll the dice.
When you factor in that PLUS the timing of his signing, it isn't overly surprising he didn't develop quickly. Dude signed and immediately lost a year to the pandemic, then the position stuff. I think there is a legit chance he makes it as a bigtime player, which is what many thought when we signed him
The national publications dropped him simply because he was getting older and repeating AAA without noticeable improvements. If he was 3 years younger, they would have kept him in the top 10. They don't adjust their ideology or models because a player loses 3 years of development for fluky things out of their control. Leon really is a 23 year year old top talent trapped in a 26 year old body. In 2022 Whitley was still the Astros #5 prospect at age 24 even after debuting in AAA in 2019 as a 21 year old. In 2022 he was actually better than 2019 (though still terrible and hurt) but turned 25 and fell to 21st for 2023.
Once you hit 25 which is when Judge had his first full year in the league, your prospect rankings tank.
Leon was dealt 7-2 offsuit. He had to defect from Cuba He had to wait for MLB to declare him a FA He had to wait for the new international FA period to be signed. COVID canceled a season. The Astros tried to make him an infielder after not playing baseball for 2 years. He had flukey, not chronic injuries that cost him development time.
Love poker analogies. At least with his signing bonus, he was getting paid more than rookie MLB players.
