Wonder if they just tweeted the top velo and exit velo from whatever minor league game(s) went on. Wilton Lara spent 3 years in the DSL and was barely an above average hitter by his age 20 season there. They must like something about the makeup/athleticism/defense for him to not have been released by now, but can't imagine he's much of a prospect.
Based on prior years’ transaction records, this Sunday (March 16) will be when the overall organizational roster is set, meaning a dozen or so minor leaguers will be released. They won’t update the actual rosters until week after next, but they’ll know 99% of which players will be active for opening day.
Caden Powell is a big ceiling sleeper prospect. Dude had 32 (!) HR in 55 Juco games last year. Cant fake that level of power (and 107 mph EV doesn’t lie either; that would equal or better the max EV Alex Bregman produced in 7 of his 9 seasons).
In my draft day notes I had him as a likely corner infielder with a chance at starting at first base. Is that what he looks like to you?
Caden Powell is definitely one to keep an eye on. Definitely a project the development folks are looking forward to tackling... huge power potential, huger risk of striking out every time he comes up. Hopefully the first thing Powell learned from his intro to pro ball is that it's galaxies away from Oklahoma JUCO baseball (where if I'm not mistaken, is filled with extreme hitter's environments).
I spent some time in OK from about 77 to 81 and saw a few games. I didn't think of it as extreme. If you moved the fences out it seemed like it would play about average. Had a good time there. Fine folks to be around.
Today was hatchet day (at least partially) in the minors. 12 guys were released: https://www.milb.com/corpus-christi/roster/transactions/houston-astros Jaime Melendez was a prospect I really really liked a few years ago when he had some success in AA as a 20 year old. But he got hurt and never got back on track. Sad that Blair Henley won’t get a shot to redeem his awful MLB debut. Jairo Solis was Houston’s 2nd best pitching prospect a few years ago, but also got derailed by injuries. Yanquiel Sanchez was a lefty pitcher with some good numbers last year. But he was old for his level. Zach Daniels had huge power/speed combo but injuries and strikeouts kept him from making good. Carlos Calderon, Jacob DeLabio, Robel Garcia, and Cesar Gomez were guys I thought would have been cut loose last year. Keoni Cavaco was a former 1st round pick of the Twins who Houston signed to see if he could convert to pitcher. Short lived experiment. Luis Victorino and Pedro Marquez were non-prospects. No real surprises in this group.
There was a window there for Zach Daniels where I really thought he could be a guy. He seemed to be getting some hitting results to go with his tools, didn't last unfortunately
I believe he won the Golden Spikes (college POY) as both a hitter and pitcher his last year at Kentucky I thought he would mash.
100 mph with arm side run is just nasty. I want to see more of his tape. I'm a little curious cuz in that brief clip he basically sat on the inside plate and looked amazing with the fast ball and ok with the curveball. The one slider to the outside plate was not bueno... That clip basically encapsulated his grades and write-up from FG last year. Seems like could see him in the ML bullpen sooner than later.
Yep they’ve already seemingly committed him to the bullpen so he should start back in AA and could cruise to Houston pretty quickly. Could be pretty good.
https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/jackson-nezuh-ethan-pecko-impress-in-astros-spring-breakout Nezuh and Pecko were filthy today. I’m getting irrationally excited about Pecko.
