This is fact. Look at Tucker and Bregman who were much higher rated prospects. The only issue I have with this is the lack of spots for him. He plays 1B, DH, and ( maybe they let him) LF. Mancini plays the same positions and needs to play almost every day. Yordan will play at least half ( likely more) of the games unless he is put on IL ( which according to reports they are NOT considering) Yanier Diaz is being brought up and is likely only going to be put at 1B/DH and needs the same opportunity and likely is a priority over J J. When Aledmys Diaz returns from the IL he will need several starts to get back to playoff ready. Unless he is fired, Dusty has proven he will play Yuli at first most of the time at 1B. 32 games left. Not much available for Matijevic.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-sports-nation/astros/article/Hand-soreness-Astros-Yordan-Alvarez-out-lineup-17410242.php Yordan Alvarez missed his third straight game on Wednesday with persistent hand soreness, but said he “100 percent” expects to start Friday’s series opener in Anaheim. Alvarez said he has been unavailable off the bench to pinch hit since Saturday, but said he could “possibly” be available on Wednesday. Houston has a scheduled off day on Thursday, meaning Alvarez could have four consecutive days to rest and receive treatment. “I’ve been able to do everything. I’ve been playing like this for the last couple weeks,” Alvarez said through an interpreter. “We saw the schedule and we decided these next couple days — just with the off days — would give us some time to rest.” “It’s just one of the hands,” Alvarez said on Wednesday. “I saw someone said it was both hands, but it’s just one.” Asked left or right, Alvarez replied “just one.” Baker declined to provide much of a concrete update on Alvarez prior to Wednesday’s game. The manager said “you know how he is, why you asking me?” “You trying to catch me in some stuff,” Baker continued. “You know how he is. Just write what he told you.” Asked whether an offseason procedure may be necessary to correct whatever hand is hampering him, Alvarez replied “I don’t think so.” “I think it is a very long season and every player goes through things throughout the year,” Alvarez said. “Right now, for me, the hand is the thing that’s bothering me. But I don’t think it’s anything to lose sleep over.”
3 of the days are off days, so that helps. He should make 5 starts if he comes back on time, while he would have made 6 starts if healthy. Without it, he could have made 7 starts if he went every 5th day, with someone being skipped in the rotation (so using only 4 starters with the off days), but that seems highly unlikely to have been on the table.
Yep. Houston has a fairly large group of MLB-ready prospects who project as roughly league average bats: Matijevic, Jones, Hensley, Julks, Dirden, and Diaz. Diaz has a bit more upside so will get a long look eventually, but it’s going to be hard to get all of those other guys a fair shake to determine which to stick with (and that’s ignoring Lee and Leon).
Steamer MLB wRC+ projections for Houston’s ideal AAA lineup: 2B Leon 83 SS Hensley 96 DH Y Diaz 106 1B Matijevic 103 3B Jones 112 CF Dirden 114 RF Julks 98 LF Costes 96 C Lee 77 So 7 ~ league average hitters plus Lee and Leon.
I think come the end of the year, we are going to rue not making a move for a CF. Meyers/dubon/hurt mccormick. Brantley being out for the season… it’s a black hole at the bottom of our lineup. Really miss brantley but seeing George springer and what he’s doing, if we had someone 80% of that we would be a lock. Sucks we thought we had enough, and the best is mccormick and we won’t even use him, and now he’s hurt.
No big CFer was moved. The price for Reynolds was insane and Mullins wasn't traded either. You get excited about Brandon Marsh, an injured Harrison Bader, or Tyler Naquin? None of them have been better than McCormick this season and those were the center fielders traded at the deadline.
Not going to go down this rabbit hole, but, seeing as he's 2nd in runs scored in august among AL players, I wonder how many of them were because he grounded into a fielder's choice? Probably a decent number.
As usual, his defense and speed have been outstanding and he had 6 hits including a home run in his last 3 games and even at the .620 OPS he would have been a much better August CF option than Meyers. But we've seen the burst of offense before. I truly hope he can put things together because I like him as a player
Justin Dirden is really interesting to me. He barely played as a freshman in college. He then transferred and had to sit out a year. Then as a third year sophomore he had a huge year with the bat. Then as a junior he was hurt and as a senior put up big numbers but barely played with COVID. He was an old senior from a middling (at best) conference. The Astros signed him as a free agent because of his age and the conference he was in and a history of injuries. All he has done is produce in the Astros system at every level and across the board. Also, it isn’t being discussed much but Dirden is fast and is a legitimate center fielder at the big league level. He has an accurate and strong arm and even though he is 6’3” he moves well and makes athletic plays. He is legitimately a prospect. Although he is 25 years old, he isn’t the typical 25 year old. He basically didn’t play baseball for 3 years between 19 and 23 years old and he isn’t just a bat.
while scoring damn near a run a game and playing the best defense in CF in MLB Do the last three games not count? 6 for 12 with a finger don’t count? I’m confused
The point is (see my most recent post) is that we have seen bursts from Siri before and for his sake, I hope he keeps it up.
I saw that he played some CF, but the Astros play guys all over the diamond willy nilly in the minors. If he can legit play average CF in the majors he should get a long, long look as the everyday guy in camp.
