Opening Day in the Minors is Thursday, April 7, 2016. - Fresno, the defending champions in the Pacific Coast League, will begin their title defense on the road. They'll be in Vegas on Opening Night. The Grizzlies' home opener will be on April 15, against Las Vegas. - Corpus Christi will open up 2016 at home as they host Tulsa. They have a pair of 3-game series to begin the year. - Lancaster will be in San Jose for their first game of the season. Their home opener will be on April 14 against High Desert. - Quad Cities has a 4-game series against Cedar Rapids; the first 2 will be on the road, and then they'll host the final 2 games of the series at home. - Tri-City will begin its season on June 17 at home against Connecticut. - Greeneville's season begins on June 23 as they host Johnson City. - The GCL Astros will begin play on June 20, while the DSL season will probably start on May 28. So, here are a few questions to start.... 1. Who's going to be the breakout position player in 2016? Who's going to be the breakout pitcher? 2. Who is the player that you will be monitoring closely? 3. Who's your sleeper pick? 4. Who's facing a make-or-break season? Before Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus come out with their top prospect lists, I wonder how ClutchFans would rank the Astros' prospects heading into the 2016 season. Here's mine, which is a top 20 list. 1. A.J. Reed 2. Michael Feliz 3. Alex Bregman 4. Francis Martes 5. Kyle Tucker 6. Daz Cameron 7. Joe Musgrove 8. Colin Moran 9. Tyler White 10. Derek Fisher 11. Tony Kemp 12. David Paulino 13. Riley Ferrell 14. Jason Martin 15. J.D. Davis 16. Miguelangel Sierra 17. Chris Devenski 18. Teoscar Hernandez 19. Albert Abreu 20. Jonathan Arauz Next 12, in no particular order: Jon Kemmer James Hoyt Elieser Hernandez Rogelio Armenteros Dean Deetz Alfredo Gonzalez Reymin Guduan Jandel Gustave Roberto Peña Wander Franco Juan Robles Hector Perez
Great Preview I cant remember the name of the catcher they put on the 40 man roster to save him from rule 5, but I think that Luhnow values him as a top 20 prospect. Otherwise Luhnow probably wouldn't have traded Nottingham.
That's Alfredo Gonzalez, tellit had him on his next 12 which is about right. Him and Tyler Heineman are pretty close IMO. My list is pretty similar, although I have Bregman number 2. I think his likelihood of becoming at least a good player is much higher than all but Reed.
1. Reed 2. Bregman 3. Martes 4. Moran 5. Feliz 6. Fisher 7. Tucker 8. Cameron 9. A. Gonzalez 10. Musgrove 11. Kemp 12. Davis 13. Martin 14. Fontana 15. White It seemed easier in the past to rank guys. Astros have some guys that are close to majors that will likely at least be something and some guys future away that could be something great or not at all.
On breakout position player...I'll say Bregman. Not that he's lowly ranked now, but think he'll be hitting AA pitching so well by end of year that he flies up the overall top 100 and will be guy I follow most closely. My sleeper and makeor break guy is Wojo.
Can someone give a little more info on Miguelangel Sierra? I follow the Astros minors leagues reasonably closely (though definitely not as close as some in this forum) but I feel like this is the first time I've seen that name.
He's been on the MLB.com's top 30 list all year. He had a big season in the DSL, but struggled in the GCL this year.
He's extremely young (just turned 18) and had success in the foreign league, which is the lowest level of competition in the minors. He had his first cup of coffee in USA last year and he unsurprisingly struggled. If you can hit a little and handle SS you get people's attention, but nothing about him says impact player at the moment. There are quite a few prospects like that from the foreign leauges, the guy we got in the Giles trade fits the same bill. He's almost entirely a projectable lottery ticket, much more likely than not he never really amounts to anything, but he might. His first full season in America will give us a little better sense.
The guy I'll be following and rooting for is Jon Kemmer. Not recruited much out of HS (northerner, minimal exposure), drafted in the 20ish round, has done nothing but hit in the minors. He's older, 25, but tore up Corpus last year so I'm hoping he has a great spring and gets to start out in AAA.
The Astros signed him for $1,000,000. He is very young, only 16 and was playing with players on average 3 years older than him. He is a shortstop and is expected to stay there. He has very good instincts and range at shortstop and he has ample arm strength. The Astros are optimistic that his hit tool will carry over because he has a good eye, quick bat and is a very good athlete that is fluid. They have worked on simplifying his swing. He didn't simplify his swing enough, and then struggled at the GCL. This winter his swing has been simplified and the reports are very positive. His swing should be repeatable based on his fluidity and muscle memory. He isn't expected to hit many homeruns (even though he is over 6'0" tall) based on body type, swing and the build of his family members. He is still growing, and doesn't have a "man body" yet.
On the Crawfish Boxes, I saw something rather interesting.... He also did the same for Chase McDonald, D.J. Fisher, and Brett Phillips. McDonald: Fisher: And Phillips:
Tyler White named MVP of the Dominican Winter League. <blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="6" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/_nRvDlIFbe/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Jugador más Valioso: Tyler White de @eobaseballclub</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by Liga de Beisbol Profesional RD (@lidomrd) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-12-23T00:10:12+00:00">Dec 22, 2015 at 4:10pm PST</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>
Late to the party but can you provide a link to the sierra reports? I have never found much about him and would lIke to read these reports.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/longshot-white-ready-pay-astros/ Good article on White and how scouting and analytics work together for Astros.
Family members that work for the Astros and my own obsession watching video from relatives that send them to me.... and speaking to people like Oz. There are scouting reports out there that say similar things. I am on an I-Phone so difficult to dig them up.
For a guy coming off Tommy John surgery, just hope that his stuff gets back to where it was before the operation. He'll be 23 for all of the 2016 season, so he still has plenty of time.
Francis Martes included in Callis's 10 Prospects Who Could Surge in 2016 article, short writeup and video: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/160706752/jake-bauers-among-prospects-poised-to-surge Josh Hader also on there.
There is a very good chance Martes will be the Astros top prospect by the middle of next season. He has a very high upside.