He is special with the glove - better than Marisnick, Meyers, Springer and even Siri. He is a perennial gold glover in center if his bat comes through. I doubt his hitting aptitude but he has some high end outcomes.
Defensively he is the real deal all the way around. He was voted as having the best overall arm in the system last year or the year before and he reads the ball off the bat at an elite level- also closes on balls well.
That’s really encouraging because if that’s the case then he should be able to carve out a Michael Taylor level career as a median outcome. He has speed and enough power to be viable even if he’s striking out 35% of the time.
Undrafted free agent 5th-year senior from a Division II school... those types of guys usually don't have a very high probablity of making it out of Class A, much less the majors. Great for Logan VanWey. Seriously. I don't know how long he'll get but he can call himself a big leaguer.
- Brice Matthews is off to a slow start at the plate, but he walked twice and stole two bases for Sugar Land today. - Jose Fleury had a nice start to his 2025 (see above), but unfortunately, he didn't get any run support. Pascanel Ferreras has recorded two multi-hit outings through Corpus Christi's first three games. - Asheville hit 6 home runs in their 12-10 win in Greensboro. Trevor Austin, Cam Fisher, Garrett Guillemette, Cristian Gonzalez, Alejandro Nunez, and Will Bush all went deep; all were solo shots. Gonzalez went 3-5 and drove in three. Hudson Leach struck out four over two perfect innings to get the save. - Carlos Cauro and Cesar Yankyel Hernandez homered for Fayetteville; Hernandez finished 3-4 on the afternoon.
VanWey has a very unorthodox slot angle which should play since its different from everybody else. That's the thing, if you are a reliever that no one gets to see for more than an inning a few times a year, you become very hard to hit.
Yeah - he is a little scary because there are times with the bat that he looks like he can’t hit at the minor league level - then he usually turns it around. They have stuck with him because of the defense at a minimum is good enough to be a late inning replacement.
Yeah - the game other than hitting comes easy for him. He is known as a hard worker and smart player. However - he is 25 at this point and this is the year he needs to show that 2024 struggles are behind him. He ends up with an OPS of 850 or so in Sugar Land and he will be in discussions for playing time with the Astros. However - another year like last year and he will likely be a spare part. He can steal bases, is fast - very fundamentally sound with glove, great at read the ball - strong and accurate arm. My “hope” is he has a big year in AAA and hits similar to Meyers and is a cheap Gold Glove option in CF for 5-6 years.
Astros Rule 5 eligibles this November: C: Miguel Palma, Collin Price, John Garcia, Ryan Wrobleski, Luis Encarnacion, Fernando Caldera IF: Tommy Sacco Jr., Cristian Gonzalez, Yamal Encarnacion, Luis Castro, Jack Blomgren OF: Jacob Melton, Quincy Hamilton, Colin Barber, Zach Cole, Logan Cerny, Oliver Carrillo P: Miguel Ullola, AJ Blubaugh, Jose Fleury, Jayden Murray, Rhett Kouba, Luis A Rodríguez, Alex Santos II, Ray Gaither, Tyler Ivey, Michael Knorr, Joey Mancini, Trey Dombroski, Tyler Guilfoil, Nic Swanson, Alimber Santa, Anderson Bido, Andrew Taylor, Nolan DeVos, Walker Brockhouse, Nic Swiney, Julio Rodriguez, Manuel Urias, Amilcar Chirinos, Brett Gillis, Cole McDonald, Jean Pinto, Abel Mercedes Melton, Ullola, and Blubaugh are locks to be added. Fleury is extremely likely. A lot other pitchers could be risks depending on how they look this season. Cole and Gonzalez are high ceiling guys who teams could look at.
Stock watch on most important position player prospects after week 1 (wRC+): OF Cam Smith (MLB): 15 IF Brice Matthews (AAA): 36 OF Jacob Melton (AAA): DNP OF/1B Zach Dezenzo (MLB): -3 C Walker Janek (High A): 130 IF/OF Shay Whitcomb (AAA): 38 OF Luis Baez (AA): DNP OF Kenni Gomez (High A): DNP IF Chase Jaworsky (High A): 151 OF Joseph Sullivan (High A): 225 IF Pascanel Ferreras (AA): 231 C Jancel Villarroel (A): 76 IF Alberto Hernandez (A): DNP Lesser prospects off to hot starts: IF Max Holy 251 OF Cesar Hernandez 221 IF Drew Vogel 196 C Carlos Cauro 190 C Garret Guillemette 160 C Will Bush 160 IF Caden Powell 154 IF Cristian Gonzalez 144
Some delayed minor league roster moves: Luis Baez to the development list Zach Cole, Alex Santos, and Jean Pinto to the 7 day IL Jeron Williams and Yamal Encarnacion to the 60 day IL Cole McDonald to the full season IL I only show 5 guys in roster limbo: OF Nehomar Ochoa (who we know was injured in a minor car accident), SS German Ramirez, P Sandy Mejia, P Engel Peralta, and P Abel Mercedes.
He’s had 2 starts, 1st on in AAA (30 pitches) went pretty well, 2nd one in AA (50 pitches) didn’t go well but still came out healthy. He will pitch in AAA on Saturday, assuming 70 pitches, might require one more rehab start after that. My prediction was he’d start for Houston at home on 4/21.
Any Star under 22 with High Talent and Potential must be protected. 24 - 25 or over I think should move on. Astros lost Johan Santana and Bobby Abreu in Rule V, they were quite young.
The Astros Organization as whole is going through this struggle, bad luck. Planets did all aligned at once.
