Barefoot Only Fan here. Barefoot is making his push for the Astros playoff roster Matthew Barefoot is not an Astros Top 30 Prospect. ETA: Barefoot was sporting a .410 OPS at 2019 TriCity (his draft year, 6th round). Like Jake Meyers, he spent 2020 training with the Astros and found his mojo.
He’s had a good year and put himself on the radar. But that 30% k rate for a 23 year old corner outfielder in High A is a pretty big blemish. Pretty difficult to play RF in the majors when you strike out 5 times as much as you walk.
Thanks for compiling the info. It would be cool if one of the stats sites tried to quantify the MLB impact of each team's MiLB system. Good point about the draft effect. That would have to be factored in. And somehow give partial credit for guys who spent substantial time in multiple organizations (eg, Josh Hader).
I was at the Skeeters game last night. JP France looked pretty good and did pretty well until his last inning when he gave up a couple runs. He doesn’t appear to throw very hard but his off speed stuff seems to be really effective, at least in AAA. I continue to be extremely underwhelmed by Ronnie Dawson. Every time I see him play, he looks so very overmatched at the plate.
Asheville has the early game today and Shay Whitcomb hit his 16th home run of the season. Enmanuel Valdez hit his 21st homer for the Tourists.
Is France the LHP or is it Freure? I've had them confused for years now. Dawson was a toolsy hit-or-miss guy. He's a miss. Next up is Brewer.
Freure is a righty who has posted big strikeout numbers with big walk numbers at the A levels. He's also Canadian and was drafted earlier. (Freure 6th, France 14th in 2018)
Really happy with what Adolph and Julks have done the 2nd half of this season. Will be watching them in AAA next season. Great OF depth in Houston’s system right now.
France is a righty. He pitched exclusively out of the stretch in this game. I'm not sure if he always does that or not.
I wonder if Dawson is showing them something in practice, hence they are still trying to tap into what they see is there? Because they've been nursing him along for a while now. Either that, or he's got some embarrassing pictures of someone of the higher up's of the Astros organization...lol
Either way I will defer to the Astros player development staff... they have clearly demonstrated that they know what they are doing as well or better than anyone else in the game. Identifying talent is important and often focused on, but the ability of the Astros organization to strip and rework and polish players is extremely impressive... and yet another reason why commercial prospect lists and publications should be taken with a lot of salt. If the Astros PD think they can turn Dawson around, then I support them.
Aaron Brown (9th round) made his pro debut today as he got the start in game 1 of the FCL squad's doubleheader against the Marlins. Brown went two innings and allowed an unearned run on an error, a hit, walked one, and struck out four. Jacob DeLabio was the first man out of the bullpen and he struck out all six batters he faced.
Also, this apparently happened a couple of weeks ago. Ian Foggo, a RHP from Lenoir-Rhyne, a Division II school in North Carolina, signed with the Astros. He was playing for Johnson City in the Appalachian League, which is now a collegiate league. Foggo started his college career at The Citadel and grad transferred to LR. The press release in the tweet says he's got a mid-to-upper-90s fastball, apparently.