What a breakout season he is having... Really love that 2012 draft with Correa, McCullers, Ruiz, Phillips, Aplin, Fontana and Tucker. Speaking of Ruiz, he went 0 for 3 today.... Oh, but he got on base 2 times with a pair of walks. He does a great job at getting on base..
Lots of Astros related articles out there right now: > Josh Hader won the California League Pitcher of the Year award. Hader, Tony Kemp, Teoscar Hernandez, and Robert Pena also made the Cali League post-season all-star team. > Nick Tropeano is getting some national attention (along with Hader). > Minorleagueball (John Sickel's website) posted their final article in the 'Looking past the stat line' series on Mark Appel. I particularly liked how they framed part of the article around the Hader/Appel promotion controversy. Hader now having 9+ ERA in Corpus and Appel having a 4 ERA (and near 3 FIP) should drive home a point that there's so much more to prospects than scouting the stat-line and that prospects aren't the best judges of their readiness.
Less than 2 weeks left in the minor league season, don't expect many promotions. Tri-Cities is in the playoffs and at this point it's best to just let them finish it out. 4th season of pro ball, and he'll already be 22 in december and hasn't gotten above short season. Not saying he's just organizational filler, but he's gonna have to do some work next year before I view him as anything of consequence.
Agree to disagree on the prospect status. He'll be the same age as a college pitcher drafted into the system next year and will most likely start at Quad Cities. He has always had a lot of talent just has never been able to put it together on the mound. Could be a late blooming type.
He's certainly improved his stock this year, but I'm inclined to agree with seal. I'm not penciling him into the 2017 rotation or anything. On the prospect hierarchy he's probably gone from deep sleeper to sleeper. He's got a long way to go. He's got 146 total innings pitched in FOUR minor league seasons below full-season ball. The odds of him making to the bigs, much less as an impact starter, are still extremely low.
I never said anything about penciling him into a future rotation or anything. I just pointed out that he needs to be considered a prospect.
Kent Emanuel was mentioned in the latest Monday Morning Ten-Pack from Baseball Prospectus. Kent Emanuel, LHP, Astros (High-A Lancaster) This was my second time catching Emanuel on a night the wind howled in Lancaster, and it was the second time I've come away impressed. The 2013 third-rounder is every bit his listed 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, with a high waist and durable, athletic frame. His delivery is clean, though unorthodox, as he curls his front leg when he drives and kicks it forward toward the landing spot. It creates a jerky appearance that, coupled with a tight upper-body coil, adds a strong element of deception to his delivery. He needs it, as his four-pitch mix is by no means overpowering. His fastball has worked 89 to 92 mph in both viewings, though it gets on hitters in a hurry and features some late arm-side run. He throws both a curve and slider, but while the former shows depth and flashes solid-average potential, the latter is a fringe pitch that lacks bite. His changeup at 76 to 79 mph plays well off his fastball, with good drop and fade on the same line. He lacks a knockout pitch, though he’s shown a consistent ability to make up for that with an advanced feel for sequencing and a willingness to work to all four quadrants to keep hitters off balance. His control and command both play above average at present, and there may just be another half-grade of projection left given his balance and overall athleticism. It’s not the sexiest of profiles, but left-handers with plus command of three solid-average pitches tend to find work in big-league rotations and carve out long careers. —Wilson Karaman
Good to see Musgrove pitching again. If he can stay healthy, he can finally display the talent that made him a first round pick. I had almost written him off. Had not heard much about him. And I agree that he is a sleeper of a prospect. But, his stock can surely go up. If he stay's healthy, look for him to make it back in the top 15 Astros talent prospect.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/qctimes?src=hash">#qctimes</a> The <a href="https://twitter.com/QCRiverBandits">@QCRiverBandits</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/astros">@Astros</a> will announce a two-year extension of their player development contract at a Tuesday news conference</p>— Steve Batterson (@sbatt79) <a href="https://twitter.com/sbatt79/statuses/504048727347453952">August 25, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It's an unsexy locale but it's proved a solid affiliate with a good ballpark. Fortunately at the low A level there's not a huge location factor like high A.
Wojo threw a gem of 7IP 4 SO no walks. Santana with three walks and 0 strikeouts with two RBIs. He's been killing it since the demotion. Hopefully he just needs a little bit more time.
I hope so. Seems like Santana has lost some shine off his prospect "luster" since his failed big league stint... problem is, he will be like most of the heralded prospects (especially the pitchers) that the Astros have so much of. They're all going to need time to "get it"... and even then, a lot of them will never get it.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Mark Appel, Rio Ruiz, Vincent Velasquez among Astros prospects heading to Arizona Fall League.</p>— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianmctaggart/statuses/504359374333018113">August 26, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
