He has the chance to move VERY quickly. Absolutely loved the pick at the time. There were scouting reports he plateaued in high school, or that he was a poor athlete or that he had a slow bat. It was all nonsense. He has basically been a pro baseball player since he was 12 years old. While he may not be a Ronald Acuna type player, he does an incredible job following and learning the game and can make really quick adjustments. It’s the same reason someone like Alex Bregman has performed beyond his obvious tools. FWIW Clifford is not Seth Beer on the bases, he can move some. He also is not a bad corner outfielder and has a strong and accurate arm. He is someone I could see adjust really quickly in AA and AAA with his strong wrists and developing eye.
Yeah - the look like middle school kids because they aren’t much older than middle school kids. If you ever get to watch a lot of the their games in person- it’s really impressive, some even at that level just stick out.
Both Gomez and Baez are better prospects right now than Sierra. Celestino is an interesting one. He was well thought of and the expectation was he would develop power, but never did. From what I remember he was “okay” at the same stage Gomez and Baez are at, but both have had better production. I agree with you though, this is the most interesting and I would say exciting group of position players for the Astros in probably 25 years, since the Hidalgo’s and Abreu’s and Cedeno and Lugo era.
Clifford ran a 6.71 60yd his junior year, so I never understood where scouts were calling him slow or below average runner
Because he is a big guy - he isn’t loose like Acuna or Robert, and he primarily played positions for less athletic players. Scouts said the same thing about Ryan Klesko too - that he was a big lumbering guy. The numbers don’t lie though- Clifford is not slow and he doesn’t have a weak arm either. He has some above average tools beyond the hit tool. It was only a few years ago that I remember arguing with people like Keith Law (and some posters on here) who claimed that Yordan Alvarez would never play the field or that he was too stiff. Same deal -Yordan ran average to slightly above average times to first base and above average from 1st to third and more importantly he REALLY wanted to stay on the field and worked on his body and fielding. Clifford may end up playing 1st because that may be the hole we have for him to fill - and if it works out that way, I suspect he will be very good there - but he has the tools and mental make up to be a good corner outfielder too.
Mildly disappointed after looking at Arrighetti’s Savant data from his first 2 AAA appearances. His FB only sat 93 and his slider movement was pretty inconsistent. He used his change up a lot the first game but not much at all the 2nd game. Obviously that’s a small sample but based on that he looks more like a pitcher who might have to move to relief where he can get a few more ticks on his FB and be effective only throwing 2 pitches. The good news is that in both games he gave up a very low % of hard hit balls.
Everything I've seen about Clifford reminds me of Yordan. He has more K risk and therefore lower hit tool, than Yordan ever did, but that's the only difference I see.
I initially expected to scoff at this comment but after comparing their minor league numbers it’s pretty crazy how good Clifford is and how well he compares to Alvarez. He’s a year younger than Alvarez when he was in High A and he’s outperforming him. If Clifford is assigned to AA to open next season he will be in position to really start comping to some of Houston’s line of star players, including Alvarez.
I think Yordan is a better power hitter, Yordan (when he wants) is an exceptional power hitter to opposite field.... if he ever could stay healthy for a full season, he could hit 330 as well. Clifford is similar to Yordan in that he is really driven, he works hard to stay in shape, he has a lot of hitting talent and scouts under-estimate his bat speed.
It isn't a crazy take to compare them. I think Yordan at the same age was more talented - because he was adjusting to a new country, a new language, he had a bum knee and he had a hard time getting quality food to eat at the same stage Clifford is at. However, all of this is a crap shoot - there is a better chance that Clifford stays healthy for several seasons in a row - and that is a big deal for young players, it really hurt Carlos Correa and has Yordan to some extent. Clifford really reminds me of the player Ryan Klesko would have been without so many injuries.
Yeah - well apparently that stuff doesn't always matter with Astros pitchers, they have a staff of guys that were heavily doubted by the analytical and classic scouting community. When I hear one of the advanced player development guys say that he is ready - I will believe it, because they have almost never been wrong so far.
Ryan Clifford has been competing alongside the absolute top tier of talent for many years -- including being teammates with Termarr Johnson (4th overall pick of 2022 MLB draft) and Druw Jones (2nd overall pick of 2022 MLB draft) on Team USA. Clifford has outperformed both in A ball this year and has already moved up whereas they have not. He is top shelf talent that we paid waaaay over slot to get late in the draft because people thought he was going to attend Vandy.
He was very effusive in singing Houston's praises as a developmental organization and super happy he got picked here. I had the suspicion he might have been telling teams he didn't want to take him- oh- I'm definitely going to Vandy, or my number is super high to sign to not go to Vandy, while telling Houston something else. I think he's the highest floor player in the Astros system other than Gilbert.
Drew Gilbert since returning to the field (proxy for health) at Corpus 14/51 with 5 walks, 3 doubles and 2 HR's 275/340/450, 9R, 4RBI. Now, I'm not the propsect hound you guys are, but that's pretty decent numbers in the Texas league, right? Isn't that the opposite of our AAA league and a pitchers league not a hitters league?
It’s fine. Not particularly above above average or impressive. It’s good for a 104 wRC+ The Texas league (AA) isn’t the opposite of the PCL (AAA). On the spectrum of runs per game among all minor leagues, the Texas league is basically smack dab in the middle/overall neutral. Relative to the other two AA leagues (Eastern and Southern), the Texas league is more of a hitters league.
Thanks. He's -2 years in age compared to league average, so that moves it from fine to above average I would say, but would agree with short of impressive. Thanks for the breakdown on the league.
Having attended the Express-Space Cowboys game tonight, I can confidently say that no scout in attendance would recommend acquiring a single player who appeared for the Space Cowboys. Every single player looked hopeless. Allgeyer is a complete bum. I have never seen a worse AAA pitch than Endersby’s 92mph straightball that he threw half the time. Most of their position players looked like Division II linebackers and safeties playing a charity game against a real AAA team. Singleton hit out a meatball but otherwise nothing. Pretty disappointing.
Yeah AAA is bleak as hell right now. I know this is just at the margins but should we move singleton up for Bligh? That was just a terrible AB and Singleton could accidentally run into one at any time I guess.
In fairness the lineup last night was missing Lee and Hamilton and Perez, who I think are 3 of the top 5 position player prospects on the roster right now. I have seen most of those players enough times before last night to know they aren’t as bad as they looked. But Matijevic, McKenna, Leon, Singleton, and Berryhill all looked like muscle-bound k machines. A couple other notes: Last night was my first time seeing Leon play 2B and he appears to be a LONG way away from being viable there. He looked better the last time I saw him play SS. Both Allgeyer and Endersby seemed to be agitated with Berryhill. Neither guy ever spoke to him when coming off the field after an inning. And Endersby mouthed “I called the ****ing ball *******” to himself after Berryhill bumped into him fielding a popup foul (Endersby did call it and did make the catch).
