Two more hits for Sandy Gaston down in the DSL... he's recorded a hit in 18 of the 21 games he's played to start his pro career. Gaston is currently on an 8-game hitting streak.
I love the future of both these guys. There are lots of choices to be made for 2023 13 position spots Maldonado Altuve Bregman Pena Dubon Alvarez Meyers Tucker Are set 5 positions to fill B/u catcher: I see this being Korey Lee's to lose but if he does not impress I could see a Garneau type of veteran signed. 1B: J.J.Matijevic, Taylor Jones, and Yanier Diaz could battle for this. I expect Diaz would be least likely. The only veteran I see possible here is Yuli. LF: I see a veteran either traded at deadline or signed in the off season for here. Leon could make it ( with maybe Meyers moving here and Leon in CF) but likely is in season call up. If McCormick is the starter then expect an upgrade either by Keon, Barber, or a veteran in season. 4th OF: I like McCormick in this spot. Bench: I hope and expect Yuli is resigned for this role and pairs with Dubon to back up the infield positions. Diaz or the lower of the 1B battle could be here but that would make for a younger less experienced team than is ideal for a contender. 13 pitcher spots McCullers Framber Javier L Garcia Urquidy Pressly Stanek Neris Abreu S.Martinez Maton 2 spots left 1) I hope and think they will resign Verlander ( no chance he takes the option unless he's injured) 2) they will find a lefty bullpen arm. Either Mushinski, Taylor, or a veteran. I expect Hunter Brown in the mix very early in the season if not from opening day, but that would require a trade from the young starters. Possibly for the general LF or LHP I suggested. ( or injury)
It’s a good thing there’s excitement in the DSL ranks because the FCL guys have been really disappointing and you really have to squint to find reasons for optimism, especially on the position player side. I am getting hopeful for C Fernando Caldera although he’s still at <30pa. Really expected more from the high ceiling int’l guys (Lorenzo, Gonzalez, Machandy). I am also hopeful about Colton Gordon. He’s looked great as he’s slowly built up over the last few weeks. Hopefully he can get a handful of starts in Fayetteville before the season ends.
https://www.milb.com/press-release/luis-santana-wins-south-atlantic-league-player-of-the-month Santana is really far under the radar but June was great for him. Still a good shot for him to be a good bench bat or maybe even a fringe regular 2B. Similar profile to Enmanuel Valdez so he could hopefully follow the same path.
Did I break Enmanuel Valdez? I picked him up in a dynasty league, and I haven't been seeing daily HR's like I did before picking him up. If I need to take one for the team, I'll drop him. You guys tell me to, and it's done. For full disclosure, I picked up Pena and Lee last year, drafted Pedro Leon last year, and then picked up Enmanuel this year. 1/3 of my prospects are Astros, haha!
finally it has arrived. While overall pessimistic, interesting that Diaz's fielding and arm grade out pretty well here. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/houston-astros-top-33-prospects-2022/
It’s…interesting. Lots of variance from other lists but it’s also coming out halfway thru the season so they have the benefit of hindsight. Given their relationship with Goldstein I give it extra weight. This quote was very interesting: “Of the big league starters who have thrown at least 70 innings so far this year, only 11 were signed out of Latin America, and four of them are Astros.” Other notes: Boy, they sure are high on David Hensley, and it makes sense to me. Versatile, raw, high ceiling athlete having success in AAA. They’re also high on Correa but the point they make about his swinging strike rate makes sense; he will have a lot riding on AA when he gets there. They’re low on Whitley and that also makes sense, but I find it odd they then have Solis just 2 spots behind him. Seems like Melendez and Arrighetti should both easily be better rated than Solis, looking at “stuff”. They are also way way low on Santos but if his velo is down that’s probably a pretty bad sign, although I would still think he’d fit in the top 15 in this system. I can see dropping Kessinger, but Whitaker at 33 and Solomon not ranked seems crazy. There’s no way both of those guys shouldn’t be in the top 20. I also think they’re dinging Matijevic too much for his defense; he has improved a lot in that department over the last year.
I agree I would take it more seriously than the other lists. Although, with the benefit of publishing this list in July, not sure why they have Melendez at below the 40 FV tier when he's now throwing mid-90s.
Longenhagen I believe said earlier this season that he doesn't consider Valdez a prospect but only as org depth. It's whatever. Even if you are on high on him he's not moving past the 40 FV tier anyway unless he keeps and keeps hitting.
They said Korey Lee will have a 30 grade hit tool, can someone give me something to be more optimistic than that?
Prior to this year, he kept his strikeout rates pretty reasonable. He was basically only a starter for 1 year in college, and missed time to the pandemic. He seems like a smart guy capable of making adjustments, and is much more athletic than the average catcher. I don't think it's likely that he'll improve considerably, but there is some reason for optimism.
I am pretty sure he just forgot to put Valdez on the list. It would be pretty nonsensical to have Santana in the others section but not even mention Valdez.
Ok. He’s ranking 33 guys down into the 30’s. Should be space for Valdez especially considering he’s the exact kind of guy the Astros have struck gold with over and over again.
If that’s .230-240 batting average with a decent OBP and 20 HR’s and solid to above average defense…. That’s still a 3-4 fWAR player. if thats .210 batting average with 10-15hr pop and solid defense that’s more standard backup catcher to mediocre starter.
It’s absolutely brutal that you got 2-4th round guys like Santos, Whitaker and Brewer at the bottom of the list. Gotta do better than that. Its a strange dichotomy that pop-up prospects are near the top and middle of the list. On the one hand it says you’ve done some decent scouting and development. Also says you screwed up the guys you shouldn’t have.
Yes, it is stark how bad the high bonus misses have been, which are compounded by the fact that they were already without picks for 2 years. Since 2016, their 1st and 2nd round picks have a pretty bad track record: Whitley (we all know his story and there’s still hope but for now he looks like a bust) Ronnie Dawson (lost in minor league rule 5, bust) Bukauskas, Martin (traded for Greinke but haven’t done much for Arizona) Matijevic (bench bat with hope for more but not nearly enough to balance out the other disappointing top picks) Perez (still hope but oft-injured and looks like a bench bat if he stays healthy) Schroeder (straight bust) Beer (traded) Lee (still hope but struggled in AAA to lower his projection to fringey everyday C or solid backup) Santos (taking a step back this season) Add in Whitaker, who was a high bonus 3rd round pick and has looked like a total bust so far, and it’s a pretty ugly track record. That’s 11 picks given top 75 bonus amounts, and there may not be a true core player among them. Obviously the other guys they’ve hit on (Pena, Brown, Barber, Diaz, int’l pitching) have made up for quite a bit. But the top bonuses given out over the last 5-6 years look mostly wasted.
