Fayetteville went down 2-0 to Hickory last night in the 1st inning before the game was suspended. They finished this game today and the Woodpeckers wound up winning 3-2. Jason Schiavone hit an RBI double in the 5th and then in the 6th, Anthony Huezo and Caden Powell hit back-to-back solo homers. Huezo, who is clearly in the middle of a "where the hell did this guy come from" phase, now has 8 home runs this season. For Powell, that was his 9th homer this year. Anthony Cruz came on to pitch after play resumed and he turned in 5.1 excellent innings, allowing a hit and striking out seven. Leomar Rosario struck out three over three no-hit innings; the only person to reach against him did so on an error. Raimy Rodriguez, who originally started the game last night, was on the verge of getting bombed, so he's a very lucky boy, for sure.
[Old post bump] Nothing, just randomly saw a 'Bobson Dugnutt' profile pop up on Facebook. The lore lives on in our hearts lol https://www.facebook.com/lumpy.numpkins?mibextid=ZbWKwL
Spoiler: Snake Diggit's Astros Top 30 Prospects: July 2025 Update Rank Position Name Grade (Preseason Rank): Notes OF Jacob Melton 55 (4): He will fall somewhere between Derek Fisher and George Springer in terms of big league value. 2B Brice Matthews 55 (2): Debuted in the majors and was the mixed bag we should have expected. He's a really good, high upside prospect who just needs a little more time. 3B Xavier Neyens 55 (NR): I'm really high on Neyens and think he was one of the 15 best players in the draft, but he may not move very quickly. OF Kevin Alvarez 50+ (16): One can never read anything into DSL numbers, but I'm going to do it anyway; he's got terrific k/bb numbers in his pro debut and he's such a high ceiling guy. But it'll be 2+ years before we have concrete info, but his stock is rising. C Walker Janek 50+ (6): Another pretty good month. Still tracking to be an everyday big league C, although he may have a relatively weak bat. We need to see him in AA. P Miguel Ullola 50+ (7): I'm still in. Best fastball of any player in Houston's system outside of Hunter Brown. Still young enough to get the walks under control. Could probably strike big league hitters out now if he had to. P Ethan Pecko 50 (5): He looked better in July than June. I'm very high on him. OF Ethan Frey 50 (NR): Betting on Dana Brown here, but also he was one of the 100 best players in the draft imho. P Ryan Forcucci 45+ (22): Patience. P Anderson Brito 45+ (13): He went on the IL on 6/25 so it looks like the injury was significant, hence the drop in stock from last month. OF Joseph Sullivan 45+ (15): Made it to AA and looks very good there so far. If he keeps that up thru August he may get some Top 100 love in offseason lists. But I am still wary of strikeout risk. P Bryce Mayer 45+ (40): Made it to AA and has maintained a high k rate. Big upside. OF/IF Shay Whitcomb 45+ (9): Still hasn't gotten the playing time in the majors needed to graduate or make a final judgement. Deserves a long big league audition, but he probably won't get it with Houston. P AJ Blubaugh 45+ (8): Something has been off since his demotion after big league debut. Hope he's not hurt. P Jackson Nezuh 45+ (12): Returned from injury, looks really good. 2026 breakout candidate. P Jose Fleury 45+ (23): Got beat up so far in AAA but it's a small sample. Certain to be a 40 man add this November. OF Zach Cole 45+ (28): Pushing him back up the list after he's had a huge resurgence. That said, the k rate still points strongly to him busting, but his ceiling is too high to ignore while he's producing. C Jase Mitchell 45 (NR): Betting on Dana Brown. P Alimber Santa 45 (36): In AAA now and has elite k rates. Trending for an add to the 40 man this fall. C/1B Will Bush 45 (HM): Had a breakout in Asheville this season. He needs to get to Corpus, but given his age, power potential, and defensive potential, he could be a big time prospect. C Garret Guillemette 45 (HM): Shockingly good k/bb ratio thru 114 AA pa. Big riser. C/IF Jancel Villarroel 45 (25): Had a very good season in Fayetteville, defensive questions. Only 20. P Alonzo Tredwell 45 (HM): Looks good in High A. 2026 breakout candidate. IF Nick Monistere 45 (NR): 4th round pick should move quickly and I expect him to put up really good #'s out of the gate in Asheville next season. OF Kenni Gomez 45 (10): Not looking like this will be his breakout season. Patience is warranted. P Nick Potter 45 (NR): 5th round pick has huge ceiling. P Juan Bello 45 (20): Overall he is having a solid season considering his age, level, and league. OF Kenedy Corona 45 (29): Reached the majors. Will probably get one more season on the 40 man to try to break out in AAA. IF Alberto Hernandez 40+ (27): On a full season pace for 40+ doubles and 20+ SB. Combined with his defensive value, he's one to watch. IF German Ramirez 40+ (HM): Moving him into the top 30 after he showed added power in FCL. 2026 breakout candidate. Graduated: RF Cam Smith (1), OF Zach Dezenzo (3), P Ryan Gusto (17) (traded), P Colton Gordon (19), Brandon Walter (HM) Traded: IF Chase Jaworsky (11), OF Esmil Valencia (HM), P Twine Palmer (HM) Honorable Mention: C:Miguel Palma (30), Collin Price, Alexi Quiroz, Arturo Flores, Yosweld Vasquez, Miguel Flores; slim pickings but there are 5 catchers in the Top 30 so the depth is very good. IF: Kyle Walker, Landon Arroyos, Caden Powell, Trevor Austin, Anderson Areinamo, Pascanel Ferreras, Jeron Williams, Alejandro Nunez, Camilo Diaz, Sami Manzueta, Hector Salas, Sandro Pereira, Wes Clarke; some positive developments here in July and there's a lot of talent on this list. OF: Luis Baez (14), Nehomar Ochoa (21), Pedro Leon (26), Justin Thomas, Elijah Farley, DJ Newman, Colin Barber, Yamal Encarnacion, Ethan Wagner, Anthony Millan, Karniel Pratt, Roiner Quintana, Juan Sierra, Tyler Whitaker, Lucas Spence, Cesar Hernandez, Cristopfer Gonzalez, Anthony Huezo, Luis Rives, Ariel Lebron, Amauri Ramirez; again, a lot of talent here. Baez's stock is tumbling but he's only 21. The Astros' farm is stacked with OF. P: All of them but especially James Hicks (18), Alex Santos (35), Logan VanWey (24), Wilmy Sanchez, Hudson Leach, Ramsey David, Amilcar Chirinos, Brett Gillis, Brandon McPherson, Patrick Halligan, Jank Pichardo, Joey Mancini, Colby Langford, Raimy Rodriguez, Jagger Beck, Joan Ogando, Luis Rodriguez, Jhoster Baez, Parker Smith, Andrew Taylor, Manuel Urias, Ryan Verdugo, Omar Damian, Gabel Pentecost, Grayson Saunier, Kellen Oakes, Trey Dombroski, Michael Knorr, Cole Hertzler; lots to like but impossible to know which ones will pan out and stay healthy. The draft and trade deadline was overall a major net positive for Houston's system, as they added several potential impact talents and only traded away 1 2nd tier and 2 3rd tier prospects. Farm has great OF and P depth. Factoring in pitching development, this system is average overall and is 1-2 really good prospects away from being above average.
The DSL teams are taking on each other this morning and Anderson Arenaimo has a bases-clearing double for the Orange team. He wound up scoring on a base hit from Anthony Millán. Luis Quesada has a two-run homer for the Blue team, his first of the year. Quesada is a 20-year-old outfielder from Cuba who is in his third DSL season.
Melton over Matthews is interesting, but I guess both have questions about the hit tool, and Melton is very good at basically all the other facets of the game. I personally have Alvarez over Neyens at this point, but they are comparable. I have Ullola over Melton and Janek down below the string of pitchers led by Ullola and Pecko. I have Santa ahead of Janek as well. Janek is soon to be 23 years old and repeated A+ this season and has a sub .800% OPS the last I checked. The strikeouts are a little high but not quite a red flag. Defensively he isn't elite from what I have seen, but he is good and solid if the bat translates he can stay behind the plate. I guess - the way I look at it, he is likely farther away than most think. He has real concerns with the bat - and I have seen a lot of guys of his type come along as be marginal in the big leagues. Buck and Lee are two recent examples. Castro would be a high level outcome.
Moving day in Class A... The following players are headed to Fayetteville: RHP Jesus Carrera RHP Eurys Martich RHP David Landeta IF Nick Monistere OF Chase Call The 2025 draft class and undrafted free agents were assigned to the FCL for administrative purposes, as the FCL season has concluded, although I imagine the college position players will be going to Fayetteville soon. Juan Bello was placed on the Asheville full-season IL. Austin Deming and Jose Gonzalez were released from Corpus.
I really wonder when the 165 man limit is actually enforced, as after adding all the recent signings they are over the limit even if you ignore everyone on the full season or 60 day IL.
4 of the top 9 picks in the 2023 draft are no longer in the organization: Bloss snd Jaworsky traded, Fisher and Deming released. Of the 15 picks who remain in the system, 1 is in AAA, 7 are in AA, 4 in High A, 2 in Fayetteville, and 1 in the complex (Joey Dixon, who hasn’t pitched as a pro yet). That class is being processed very quickly. My guess is that 90% of the class is either gone or in the upper levels on a clear path to the majors within 3 years of their draft date.
I'm not going to make a list, but I'll say that the one guy I'm considerably higher on than consensus is Ethan Frey. If you exclude prospects who have made their ML debut already I'd have him 2nd behind Neyens. He has a 116.5 max EV, an in-zone contact rate north of 90%, and a sub 20% chase rate. He only has one year worth of college plate appearances, so he has more room to improve than your typical college draftee. LSU fans say he kept getting better as the year progressed. He showed enough athleticism in his private workout for the Astros to give him some reps in CF, so I have little doubt he will easily handle corner OF despite being a DH in college.
Ethan Pecko and Miguel Palma were promoted to AAA. Pecko had a 1.75 era across 25.2 innings in AA in July, with 27 k against only 6 walks. I think Pecko has a chance to be a good #3/4 SP if he’s able to continue to refine his 3rd/4th pitches but if that doesn’t work out I think he’d potentially be dominant in relief as a FB/SL guy who sits 95 and can run it up to 97, all with deceptive delivery.
I trust he will throw a shutout in an Astros uniform one day just like every other pitcher I've never heard of until I did. LOL
Pecko is more pedigreed than guys like Gusto, Walter, Alexander, etc. He was Houston’s minor league pitcher of the year last season and is one of their top 10 prospects.
It is early - but so far Joseph Sullivan is hitting in his promotion to AA. He could be a potential God send for the Astros in the outfield, where he is skill set is a perfect match. He has plus power - draws a lot of walks - steals a lot of bases and can play all over in the outfield.
I saw Pecko only pitched 1 inning his last appearance. I think they could potentially look at him as a September call up as a reliever.
Welp, sounds good to me. Now I will be irrationally excited about every xbh, or even walk he gets in the minors, based solely on your post.
But of a hatchet day today: https://www.milb.com/corpus-christi/roster/transactions/houston-astros No major names, 2023 8th round pick IF Ryan Johnson was released. IF Cristian Gonzalez, who’d been among the top 20 prospects in the system a few years ago, was also released. The real news was several notable promotions. Alonzo Tredwell, Will Bush, Hudson Leach, and Lucas Spence were all promoted to AA. August will be a very meaningful month for them.
