Right after he was drafted, I am pretty sure it was Gilbert they were talking about. He came to Minute Maid at some point and took batting practice in front of the Astros (maybe others as well) but his exit velocity was off the chart. The draft guys were saying that that showing is what made the Astros want him.
His line drive exit velo was Yordan-esque, his problem in college was the exit velo on high fly balls was mostly absent.
This might be impressive if I could see the ball. Or even more impressive if I could HEAR the ball. A well hit ball by Yordan SOUNDS like a cannon.
So far, he (Gilbert) jumped from 1 HR per 30 PA in 21 to 1 HR per 20 PA in 22 across NCAA, RK and A ball. He was not affected by the transition to a wooden bat. He did face his first struggle at A ball in limited appearances (39) with getting hits, but that is to be expected as is his adjustment to it..
If he is actually 11. That is disgusting and def someone to keep an eye on. Already has premier power... at 11.
I think this could be a real possibility if Kyle Tucker is dreaming of a 300+ million 10+ year contract. And I think after this offseason, Kyle and his agent know that he is due a massive payday when he becomes a free agent.
Seems like we can’t rely on or pencil in Leon for anything until he fixes his K issues. Hopefully we see some improvement this season, but I’m hesitant to just assume he’ll be an answer for an OF slot.
Caveat - I can't find my glasses so pardon if already posted. From MLB Pipeline....Astros ranking in MLB executive poll Best Draft - Received votes International - 1st Underrated - 3rd (though didn't receive votes for best farm) Develop Pitchers - 3rd (just seems like 3 years ago this board was knocking the pitching development despite having a farm stacked with pitching and Pena) Develop Hitters - 2nd Develop Sleepers - 2nd AL ROY - 2nd (Brown) Pitching Prospect - receiving votes (Brown) Closer - receiving votes (Brown) Best secondary pitch - 3rd (Brown) https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-front-office-selections-best-farm-systems?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage
Was just coming to post about this. Main takeaway for me was that Brown is probably more valuable than I thought; pretty clear he is viewed as one of the 10 best pitching prospects in baseball which means he’s probably one of the 30 best prospects overall. We have certainly seen a large share of those guys bust (Martes, Whitley, Perez) but if they keep him it sure seems like they wouldn’t waste him in the bullpen or minors, and it’d be such a boon if he could be another ToR SP this year. another takeaway for me is that Houston’s farm is probably underrated by public prospect/farm lists; my guess would be that front offices around the league probably rate Houston’s system as above average.
The Astros Farm did not receive votes for Best Farm by the executives. I think most executives think the Astros are one of the best at developing talent (probably a toss up with the Dodgers), but that they've been so good at developing talent that most of the elite talent is already in Houston and not still on the farm. The public lists likely underrate the depth of the Astros Farm, but I doubt that is enough to go from bottom of the lists to within the Top 10 (i.e., above average). I don't see guys that can headline a trade for someone like Murphy and Varsho not counting Brown.
I like that the first response on twitter to this email brought up that Baltimore, the Best Farm, also got votes for underrated. When the Astros had absolutley stacked farm systems, I typically think the Astros farm was more underrated than they are now. I think public lists tend to get tired after rating the 20th or so prospect of a great farm system and tend to underrate a great farm's depth with the mentality of no way is X's 21st prospect better than Y's 8th best prospect.
