I have been indifferent on Click. He has huge shoes to fill replacing Luhnow. So far I see no glaring mistakes and no obvious Trade wins. But he hasn't had the opportunities for either. His internal management bringing up players appears above average. He has never appeared desperate like Purpora . Signed a risky Verlander and let Correa Walk. Both moves look pretty astute at this point in time.
He's also been an egregiously slow starter since joining the Astros, so this has been encouraging to see.
Yanier Diaz putting up a good season at the plate in AA. Any updates on how his defense is developing?
He seems to get a lot of reps at first base, so I think we'll see him get groomed more for 1B, with Korey Lee being the man at catcher in the future.
He is playing a lot of 1st and a little bit in the outfield. He is catching (a guess) 33% of the time. They like the bat as a potentially productive big league hitter but his play calling isn't where it needs to be.
Agree but he will have to work hard to get to first base on d efense. Currently I think he is a bench bat / DH. That becomes more likely if Alvarez turns into a decent defender (he really is looking better out there) in LF.
4 prospects I think have earned a promotion: 2B Enmanuel Valdez IF Will Wagner OF Wilyer Abreu OF Quincy Hamilton Those guys all have 150+ pa this season and have put up k/bb/slg numbers that indicate they may not be fully challenged. Valdez/Abreu to AAA, Wagner/Brewer to AA, and Hamilton/Loperfido to High A (with Urdaneta/Lorenzo going to Fayetteville and Barreto/Brinson released or traded) seems to make sense. Although I’m sure they’re waiting until after the draft and trade deadline to make those kinds of wholesale roster shuffles.
He's an exciting prospect as a catcher. He's a pretty terrible 1B prospect. A guess a lack of belief in him playing C at the big league level is why he is ranked so relatively low on our top prospect lists.
The AA roster is a disaster, especially on the pitching side. The emergence of Valdez of the last couple years is interesting. He has jumped multiple levels after doing nothing for 3-4 years. I guess he is probably ready for AAA. He isn't terribly young. I am kind of indifferent on Abreu honestly. That league has some offensive numbers that are high. Nerio Rodriguez is someone that I would think they want to move up.... along with Will Wagner.
All I have heard is that they question his game calling and handling of pitchers. He seems like a legit bat, lets hope he figures out the other side of the game.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/monday-prospect-notes-5-23-22/ An excerpt of the portion on Valdez. He struggles to cover the upper/outer quadrant of the plate, especially against fastballs, issues that big league pitching will likely be able to exploit. While his upper-level performance forced a sincere re-evaluation, we’re still resolved that Valdez is more an upper-level org guy than a true prospect.
LOL At #100? 2.40 era..... 14 K's per 9 innings and only 6 hits per 9 innings..... and they are gracious enough to make him #100 on their top prospect list.
Over the last 4 years or so I’ve realized prospect rankings mean absolutely nothing. None of these journalist have the bandwidth to evaluate every prospect in every organization and make an accurate stack ranking. I’ve heard much of the Baseball America list is based on writers who have relationships with team scouts and hype their guys, Astros seem like they keep things tight lipped.
