2021 Astros Minor League Thread

So far, the only position player prospect who has been a major disappointment is Zach Daniels:

Lee, Dawson, Perez, and Papierski have broken out.

De Goti, Meyers, Martinez, Barefoot, Matijevic, McKenna, De La Cruz, Manea, and Julks have raised their stock and gone from non-prospects to firmly on the radar.

Nova, Kessinger, Santana, Barber, and Leon have been a mixed bag but overall their stock is steady.

Pena, Brewer, and Perry have been hurt (not drawing any conclusions from Brewer’s first 22 pa).

Lorenzo is still in EST.

Nothing much should have been expected of any other position player prospects.

 

Especially if your GM is Click apparently

 

Makes you appreciate the Marwin years even moreso. Legit utility players don't grow on trees.

 

Diaz...just when he gets healthy, a pitch breaks his hand.

 

Marwin's outlier year was (unsurprisingly) 2017. Other than that, he has had a few slightly above average years with below average years.

His value was the ability to play 5 positions decently. Aledmys is the better offensive player. He just can't stay healthy.

 

Parker Mushinski pitched a gem for Corpus last night (career high 11 k's) and is starting to look like he might have the makings of an effective multi-inning lefty reliever. The AA rotation (Bermudez, France, Brown, Mushinski, Daniels) have all been pretty good, although Daniels is walking too many guys and giving up too many longballs to be a viable prospect at this point.

 

Yeah...I worded that wrong. McCormick has certainly shown to be a competent backup. I was mainly talking about infielders.

 

I'm hoping Toro adjusts to the majors this year. I think he will end up being a JD Davis/Colin Moran type that may or may not develop, but play quite a bit for other teams as the Astros don't want to waste MLB ABs on OTJ training.

 

I think Toro will be a better defensive player than Davis or Moran, which makes it more possible he can stick with Houston as a bench player. He likely won’t have as much power as Davis, but he very well could end up just as valuable. Between Pena, Papierski, Toro, and McCormick, Houston’s bench should be fantastic over the next 5 seasons.

 

I assume he will be in the starting lineup tonight.

 

I could see the defense helping the Astros more than offense based on their roster. When Diaz gets back, I don't think it will matter unless he hits over the next 6 weeks. I'd guess Toro will have a better career than Davis as I think he will eventually be able to hit well enough to provide some offensive and some defensive value.

 

McCormick looks better the more playing time he gets.

 

His minor league numbers suggest he may still be adjusting to MLB pitching, and may see a decent drop in Ks. If that happens, I don't think there will be any way Straw starts over him other than Dusty.

 

Mushinski has definitely looked good this season. Another pitcher that has piqued my interest in Corpus is Layne Henderson - 30th round pick in 2018, reached AA in 2019 and sucked, but has been dominant in Corpus this season - 15.7% SwStr, 29.8% K-BB, and 2.36 FIP in his first 14.1 IP at that level.

 

McKenna (11th) and Barefoot (10th) both hit HR again for Asheville today. Their power display is getting a little ridiculous; hopefully we get to see those guys in AA for a good sample this season.

 

I was recently made aware of the insane Home/Road splits at Asheville's Stadium. Any thoughts?

 

I don’t really know much about it. I have heard that Asheville is very much a hitter’s park. That combined with McKenna/Barefoot being a little older makes me think we won’t know what they are until they get to Corpus. Same for Schreiber.

 

A park with these dimensions, yeah you better be hitting a lot of HR.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCormick_Field

Any power numbers don't mean a damn thing to me for a player there.

 

That is stupid to have a park that small in your system.