Bloss was the smartest pitcher I have seen come up in years. He was brought up too soon out of necessity but would have worked past that problem in fairly short order. He is a little on the small side and is not overpowering but he will enjoy a long and successful career. Unfortunately that will not happen in Houston. Instead we will get to watch Kikuchi struggle to get back on track, maybe even successfully for the next several weeks.
what mid rotation rental can we get for him next year? If we weren’t fighting for our playoff lives, I’d be curious to see what Shay Whitcomb can do. He seems like a very interesting bench piece - positional versatility plus a spikey power/speed profile - if he had one more HR in 2022, this would make for 4 straight 20/20 seasons in the minors. He’s cut his K rate and increased his walk rate - maybe sacrificed some power for better average. Even if he’s not a starter, that’s a useful club controlled 24th man on the roster.
That looks like a pretty straight fastball, and the movement on his breaking stuff is kinda whatever... but whatever Ryan Gusto has been doing since June has worked. I did like that his fastball was still around 95 towards the end of last night's start. If he hadn't gotten off to a slow start he probably would've been up already.
It's Camp Day for Fayetteville, which means an early start. Anderson Brito hit a batter and struck out one in a scoreless 1st inning.
Gusto has had a bit of luck I would say. In 31.1 innings in July has a babip of .218. in June he did well too though and the babip was .284. The biggest changes from what I can tell are one he's not walking anyone hardly. First two months he walked about 6 per 9. Last two months, a little less than 2 per 9. He is also not giving up any homers at all. First two months he gave up 6 in 40 innings.last two months 1 in 54 innings. Not sure what to make of that. Seems like someone that might have trouble in the majors to me.
Anderson Brito vs. Columbia: 4.2 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 6 K One of his strikeouts came on a clock violation on a 0-2 count and the one run came on a solo homer. Fayetteville trails 1-0 heading into the bottom of the 5th.
Post-deadline projected 2025 opening day minor league rosters: AAA: C: Salazar, Price, Wrobleski IF: Kessinger, Whitcomb, Dezenzo, Sacco, Arocho OF: Hamilton, Leon, Melton, Cole, Brewer SP: Blubaugh, France, Gordon, Gusto, Ullola, Kouba, Henley, Tamarez RP: Murfee, Coleman, Ortega, King, VanWey Note: The last 3 SP could be replaced by AAAA guys. Dezenzo might be in the majors. They will have to sign 3-4 AAAA position players to fill out the roster. AA: C: Garcia, Palma IF: Matthews, Williams, Ferreras, R Johnson, Deming, Cruz OF: Corona, Baez, Barber, Cerny, Espinosa SP: Hicks, Pecko, Dombroski, Fleury, Mancini, Knorr, A Brown, Robaina, Santa, Robaina RP: Melendez, Torres, L Rodriguez Note: Pretty solid. Bottom half of that pitching staff could vary, as there’s a lot of extra arms. High A: C: Janek, Schiavone, L Encarnacion IF: C Gonzalez, Powell, Vogel, Nunez, Sherwin, Austin OF: Fisher, Whitaker, Gomez, Ochoa SP: Tredwell, Guedez, DeVos, Nezuh, Taylor, True, P Smith, Langford, A Pena, W Sanchez BP: David, Mathieson, Mercedes Note: Will be a lot of variance between extra arms, injuries and deciding who goes to Asheville and who goes to Fayetteville. That infield is weak. A: C: Bush, Villarroel, V Diaz IF: Jaworsky, A Hernandez, Luciano, Y Encarnacion, Holy OF: C Hernandez, Sullivan, Boettcher, Spence, Trimble P: Brito, Mejia, R Rodriguez, R Smith, J Nunez, Peralta, Y Sanchez, L Rodriguez, Y Santos, Verdugo, Hertzler, Howard, Burleson Note: see note for High A; strong roster and could be enhanced with guys graduating from the complex. Overall this farm is stronger than the one they had in April. A mild deadline helped, as did some breakouts. Really this system is still 2-3 elite prospects away from being on par with what it was 2012-2019, but their depth is fine and I think there might be a couple of star players in this group, which I did not think a few months ago.
In his Fayetteville debut today, Gonzalez allowed a run on a single, walked two, and struck out two in three innings.
And we are using Caratini as DH I love Caratini as a backup catcher, one of the best in the league, but when he is your best option as DH, your roster isn't great
If Leon is at AAA to start next year we are ignorant as an organization He should either be in Houston, or should be traded. He doesn't need another year of AAA
Spoiler: Snake Diggit's July Astros Prospect Rankings Rank. Pos Name Grade Opening Day Rank Note CF Jacob Melton (1) 55 Moved up to AAA despite middling numbers, I trust the front office. SS Brice Matthews (7) 50+ Great last month and is shining in AA; will need to work on k rate but stock is up. C Walker Janek (NR) 50+ 3B Zach Dezenzo 50+ (4) Looks great and has crushed AAA in an early small sample. Stock up. CF Pedro Leon 50 (5) Called up, could be a better in the majors than he was in the minors. P AJ Blubaugh 50 (HM) Hasn't stayed dominant in AAA but still looks like a solid potential MoR SP. OF Luis Baez 45+ (8) Mildly disappointing season but he's only 20. CF Zach Cole 45+ (HM) One of many elite power/speed combo guys in the system, holding his own in AA. P Miguel Ullola 45+ (17) Very high upside, needs to work on reducing walks. P Ryan Forcucci 45+ (NR) We'll have to wait awhile to see how good he is. This ranking is based on his bonus and pre-injury value. P Alonzo Tredwell 45+ (18) He's a guy with middling early numbers but who is going to get a long leash and could take awhile. SS Shay Whitcomb 45+ (HM) He's been one of the most productive hitters in all of AAA. P Anderson Brito 45+ (HM) Fast mover this season looks like he could be the real deal. P Ethan Pecko 45+ (HM) Already in AA. One to watch next season. P Ryan Gusto 45+ (10) Been very good in AAA for 2 months, may have figured something out; rich man's Bielak P Colton Gordon 45 (24) Not a breakout but looks like a future MLB contributor. P James Hicks 45 (HM) Already in AA. One to watch next season. SS Chase Jaworsky 45 (13) Not quite a breakout, but looks like a legit prospect who just needs the power to develop without losing a step OF Quincy Hamilton 40+ (HM) Has a 900+ ops in AAA. He will be somebody's 4th OF soon. IF Jeron Williams 40+ (HM) breakout guy already in AA and has speed, contact skills, and defensive value, with enough power to keep pitchers honest IF Pascanel Ferreras 40+ (NR) outta nowhere dominated high a then hasn't been overmatched in AA; he's still a legit prospect to watch. OF Nehomar Ochoa Jr. 40+ (14) Super high ceiling and I'm very encouraged that he is holding his own and more in A ball, but being limited to a corner OF he is striking out too much to be a lot higher on this list. This could end up being way too low. C Miguel Palma 40+ (30) Finally playing again and is holding his own in AA. Needs to stay healthy and he'll be a AAAA C at minimum. CF Kenni Gomez 40+ (20) He might be ranked way too low; big ceiling and I'm encouraged that he's holding his own in A ball, but he is not hitting as well as I hoped he would. P Jose Fleury 40+ (16) Not striking out enough AA hitters but has been fairly productive and is only 22. P Forrest Whitley 45 (25) Always hope, still sitting high 90s P Trey Dombroski 40+ (HM) Just promoted; I think Dombroski could end up looking way better in AA than he does in High A. P Alimber Santa 45 (HM) Huge stuff getting a taste of AA in order to evaluate him prior to deadline and Rule 5 eligibility P Andrew Taylor 40+ (26) I liked what he was showing in Asheville but then he got hurt; not sure how serious it is. P Alex Santos II 45 (11) I was super stoked when he was assigned to AA but he's been hit hard, walked too many guys, and has had some bad luck, plus now he's hurt. Still only 22 and I think the stuff is still there so could break out at any time. Honorable Mention: C: Collin Price, Luis Encarnacion, Will Bush, John Garcia, Jancel Villarroel, Carlos Cauro, Kedaur Trujillo, Andrews Sosa; Price, Bush, and Villarroel saw their stock rise in July. IF: Jesus Bastidas, Yamal Encarnacion, Sandro Pereira, Waner Luciano, Alberto Hernandez, German Ramirez, Camilo Diaz, Ryan Johnson, Alejandro Nunez, Narbe Cruz, Caden Powell, Austin Deming; not much here, I'm mildly disappointed in the FCL bonus babies. I'm anxious to see how Caden Powell looks when he gets started, he could be a fast riser. OF: Kenedy Corona, Colin Barber, Cesar Hernandez, Esmil Valencia, Tyler Whitaker, Luis Rives, Logan Cerny, Anthony Huezo, Karniel Pratt, Oliver Carrillo, Cam Fisher, Eduardo Perez, Evan Wagner, Joey Sullivan, Ryan Boettcher; I really like Valencia but we'll have to wait a year on him and Rives and Huezo, Whitaker/Cerny/Fisher are power/speed/strikeout guys who are striking out too much to get out of High A. P: All of them, ymmv Graduated/Traded: Joey Loperfido (2), P Spencer Arrighetti (3), Will Wagner (12), Jake Bloss (15) Fell off: OF Kenedy Corona (6), OF Colin Barber (9), OF Tyler Whitaker (19), IF Camilo Diaz (21), P Abel Mercedes (22), OF Cesar Hernandez (23), P Jaime Melendez (27), C Will Bush (28), P Drew Strotman (29); Corona and Barber were big disappointments. Otherwise no major busts.
We’ll see. Leon is not displacing Tucker or Meyers so unless they trade McCormick, Leon would be relegated to bench duty. Cabbage is also out of options, as is Amaya, and I think Dana Brown likes both of them.
Fangraphs says Cabbage has 2 options left and Amaya still has 1 remaining. Amaya makes sense, but Cabbage surprises me
Those numbers include 2024. So Amaya is using his last option year this year and Cabbage will have one more option after this year. So I guess I was wrong, and I could see Leon making the team over Cabbage, although I would not predict that.
Ok, but Leon will be 27 year old. We really need to **** or get off the pot with him. If Meyers and Chas are so good that he can't get any legit playing time, dude needs to be traded. I mean for real
