Janek had a double and a homer (his 3rd in the fall league) in that game. Janek and Brito are really showing well.
Astros prospect continue to kick ass in the fall league. Yesterday, Joseph Sullivan went 3-3 with a double, Will Bush had 3 walks, and James Hicks threw 3 scoreless ip in his start with 0bb and 4k.
I think it would be crazy to trade Diaz. He had a bad year and was still the 7 best catcher in baseball and gets paid peanuts. Give the new coaches a chance to straighten out his weaknesses.
Yainer is an easy pick to be a bounceback candidate next year. He is one of the better hitters for average on this team, but his lack of approach really got exploited last season. I think he will get the average back into the .275-.280 range, but his OBP just cannot fall under .300. That just cannot happen.
Yainer had a lot of bad batted ball luck. His expected batting average was 23 points higher than his actual. His xwOBA was exactly the same as 2024. He is definitely a guy to bet on as having a bounce back year next season. That said, I don’t see him as a guy taking any more big steps forward, so he’s more of a 6-7 hole hitter on a contender. Which is great since he’s a catcher.
He likely is back in 2026 but they made him available at the deadline and likely will this Winter too.
Diaz? I find it odd he would have been available at the deadline, though we obviously did have a very good backup. Trading Diaz in the offseason, particularly next offseason would make a lot of sense trying to get high value for him as he approaches FA and having Janek ready to take over in 2027. Trading Janek makes sense to help the now.
Perez is one to watch next season. Bb rate <3% in A ball as a 21 year old is a great stat to pair with adding that much velo.
https://www.mlb.com/milb/news/arizo...-award-winners?t=arizona-fall-league-coverage Anderson Brito was the AFL pitcher of the week. Interesting note from the article is that he struck out 7 hitters in a row in his last outing and his fastball was up to 98.9 mph. At his age and size (155 lbs) he may be a triple digit guy by the time he reaches the majors.
He has hit triple digits in the lower minor leagues when side throwing. The velocity is there, and he should get stronger if he can keep his arm healthy.
James Hicks had another great start in the Fall League today: 4ip, 0bb, 0er, 6k Anderson Brito followed him and had a rougher time: 2.2ip, 1bb, 3er, 4k Walker Janek (.861ops) and Joseph Sullivan (.782ops) have fallen off a bit this week a hot start.
Or his arm could fall off. Pitchers are a funny thing. You never really know until their career is over.
https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/ast...na-fall-league?t=arizona-fall-league-coverage Article on James Hicks. He pounds the zone and doesn’t walk anybody but doesn’t have tremendous stuff, so he seems to rely on knowing opponents weaknesses and being able to exploit them with a true 5 pitch mix. In terms of value I think he’s probably like Colton Gordon, not going to be a core player but has a chance to be a solid #4-5 SP who can eat innings. But the fact that he’s only Houston’s ~10th best pitching prospect is a testament to their depth in that area of the farm.
