On the whole of this season so far (136 pa), Pedro Leon has shown an ability to strike out less than he has in his previous AAA seasons while maintaining his walk rate and power output. Maybe another 75 pa or so to tell for sure, but if that holds, he will have a lot better odds of being an everyday player in the majors rather than a strikeout-prone 4th OF or bench player.
Yeriel Santos with another solid outing for Fayetteville: 5 IP, 6 H, ER, BB, 6 K... he's gaining helium early on. Unfortunately, the Woodpeckers' only run came on a Juan Santander solo shot and they lost 4-1 to Carolina. Santander now has three homers this season. It's probably nothing, but Santander has played 18 games and only two have come as a catcher. He has DHed in seven games (including today) and appeared in nine games (started 8) at 1B. Fernando Caldera has gotten most of the playing time behind the plate.
The last highlight I saw of Santander, he looked pretty heavy. I’m wondering if he has gotten too round to be viewed a legit catcher and will be relegated to 1B or DH. That’d be a big low to his value.
30 HR power, 50 SB speed, cannon arm. He might be making a move. Would be such a huge boon for the Astros.
C.J. Stubbs and Chad Stevens were both released yesterday. Both showed some power but neither of them could really hit (they both hovered around the Mendoza Line for their careers). In Stubbs' case, he couldn't stay healthy either (never played more than 100 games in a season).
Not terribly surprising although I would have expected JC Correa to get the axe before CJ Stubbs. With Stubbs’ release, there are 9 players remaining in the system from Jeff Luhnow’s last draft: P Hunter Brown IF Grae Kessinger P Blair Henley P Ryan Gusto P Cole McDonald 1B Jordan Brewer LF Colin Barber UT Bryan Arias C/UT JC Correa Korey Lee and Peyton Battenfield were traded and both reached the majors. But Hunter Brown may end up being the only meaningful player from that whole draft.
He is a very unusual player - and I strongly believe that he has had a lot of bad luck that has hindered his development. He had some injuries in Cuba, and missed part of their season. He then missed over a year when he got to the Dominican Republic. Then he signs with the Astros after exhibiting bat speed and velocity off the bat that only like 5 players in the big league have - and COVID hits. Then the Astros foolishly believe that they can convert him to SS after seeing him workout and his athleticism - with the idea that he could replace Correa. All of that took a massive toll cumulatively on his development. He is not putting up massive numbers like Yordan did in AAA, but he is putting up good numbers and his strikeouts are down. I have seen a good amount of his play - and if the Astros call him up, they will need to give him at bats. He is someone that is streaky but overall productive when getting at bats. I am not sure the Astros have those at bats for him. I still remember a scout telling me that he believed that Leon would actually play better in the big leagues than AAA once he was comfortable because he doesn't struggle to hit good stuff, it is crap that he struggles with.
Yeah - it also highlights how dynamic all of this is in baseball. Innovation is constantly happening and the game itself is all moving parts. An organization or GM can be the best, in over a 2-3 span can fall behind. We even saw that with the Astros under Luhnow. He went through a lot of changes in the player development and scouting world. He moved on from very successful and smart people, he hired just so bring in someone else that had some innovation or more productive way of doing their job. He even changed the structure of the organization every few years. Dana Brown was largely recognized as the best scout and scouting director in baseball for like 5 years. He was key to building that organization. Does that mean he is STILL the best? Maybe - maybe not....... same with Elias and the Orioles. You innovate or you fall behind. The best example was Epstein with the Cubs. They didn't bring in smart fresh voices and they collapsed quickly. It is possible we were seeing the same with Luhnow - look at his last couple drafts. Look at his handling of the scouting at the end, almost getting rid of all the actual scouts. There are teams like the Dodgers that just have so much money - that they can hire the very best recent graduates, and keep the best older coaches and scientists and math guys and filter them out every year so that they are competitive every year - but most teams are not like that.
So I googled Space Cowboys as I am sick of watching the Astros. This image came up: The movie probably is campy, but I don't care. I'm not sure if I knew this and forgot, but somehow the knowledge of the existence of something that looks so gloriously bad has escaped me.
That was all over the sub when the team name was announced. You'll probably be disappointed because it's not really bad or campy...it's not really all that great either. Firmly in the just good enough to remember parts of tier.
On Leon, one of the many reasons I've wanted to see Meyers play is the situation we are starting to find ourselves in now. If Meyers can post a .750ish OPS he is a great starter, if he can't I imagine Leon can replace him as a likely lateral move while providing upside. Instead we keep seeing f**king Dubon run out there creating a blockade of guys who are just passable.
Part of the reason I hate seeing Dubon in CF is because he is a known quantity. He has ZERO upside. Now to be fair, his floor is basically MLB average but he already is what he is and can possibly be. Meanwhile there are several unproven guys who could potentially be better and every day they sit on the bench is another day of not finding out
I am fine with Dubon and I am even fine with him coming into center on a double switch or something of that sort. The problem is we need more firmly entrenched starters IMO. We need a starting centerfielder and a starting left fielder.... and a reserve that can play both... same at 1st base. Just too much variance IMO.
