At home, Matthews is struggling at close to 40% K rate and has a .520 ops. On the road, he looks like the best prospect in baseball. 23% strikeout and 1.130 ops. In Reno and Albuquerque alone he's 18/37 with 5 homers, 2 triples and 4 doubles.
Kevin Alvarez went 2-4 with an RBI double, an RBI single, and scored twice as the DSL Blue team beat the Orange team 7-3.
I know people are rightfully cautious about Matthews' ceiling given the strikeouts... but I can't help get just a tad bit excited that we once again have one of our own #1 draft picks that has been appropriately fast-tracked through the system and is currently sporting an .890 OPS at AAA... and he's 23 years old in just his 2nd season of pro ball? Even though we were able to take for granted (for a little bit) that first round picks by the Astros not only make it... they excel... the Astros haven't been on the drafting end of fast-tracked talent since the Bregman/Tucker draft. That was 10 years ago. (and i'm still aware that they've developed/promoted Alvarez, Diaz, and now Cam...but it just feels a little different when its your draft pick).
You don't need to qualify if, the Astros have been terrible with their high picks since the Tucker/Bregman picks in 2015. We haven't picked a successful MLB player in the top 100 since them. Truth be told our minor league system has been failing a lot at identifying amateur talent for quite a while. The holdover success on the MLB club, and a couple of very productive trades have been masking it. Granted our hits on Brown, Pena and Meyers are paying huge dividends this season.
I'm trying to not be irrationally exuberant about him, and this helps: Home: .171 .323 .197 .520 (76 PA) Road: .339 .443 .687 1.130 (115 PA) It can't all be the ballparks and elevation...what do the splits for other AAA guys look like?
Maybe it’s nothing… maybe it’s maybeline. Were these similar at the other levels for him? You know more than anybody that these are kids. And sometimes kids get into funks/patterns that are unexplainable. Or maybe he doesn’t like playing baseball in a part of the country where it feels like you’re walking in a dinosaur’s mouth (along with mosquitos the size of said dinosaurs)…. Maybe the cool confines of indoor baseball in the Houston area has something.
Agreed… although I still feel the developmental system (especially on the pitching side) is above average, from the standpoint of having callups ready to play/contribute. They’ve promoted/produced some solid high floor guys. Just have’t had the high ceiling guys as much (that were drafted)… and hopefully Matthews breaks that string.
Sorry, just got back from taking a nestea plunge... Crazily enough, his splits last year were the exact opposite, he loved hitting in Corpus apparently: H: .336 .458 .642 1.100 R: .200 .313 .333 .646
We know about Asheville being a launching pad, but Fayetteville is also cut from the same cloth. On the other hand, Sugar Land and Corpus have skewed more towards being pitcher's parks. Here's how the minor league ballparks played last season: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/minor-league-baseball-park-factors-2024/
Jose Fleury made his first appearance in a month for Corpus... but like his last appearance, he left after one inning.
Down in Fayetteville, Ramsey David and Luis Rodriguez combined to shut out Fredericksburg 6-0. David: 5 IP, H, 3 BB, 6 K Rodriguez: 4 IP, 2 H, BB, 3 K Justin Trimble (3), Waner Luciano (4), and Cam Fisher (5) all homered for the Woodpeckers.
I don't think this was injury-related... hopefully just extreme caution. Fleury also missed a chunk of time last year, so there's going to be questions about his durability moving forward.
I hope you are right about this being just extreme caution. Fluery has been a player I have enjoyed following through the system.
Yeah I assumed they are just letting Fleury build back up in Corpus rather than having to go on a rehab stint in the FCL.
