Is Nehomar Ochoa that huge high school kid that we signed over slot? Sucks that he hasn't succeeded yet, I had unreasonably high expectations for the kid.
He could turn it around quickly. Last season was derailed by getting a giant hook lodged in his head. So it was a lost year. But his ceiling is still there and he is still young.
Ahh, I read a story on that last year. It sounded like a brutal freak accident, it almost killed him. I didn't make the connection that that was him. Thanks Snake. Even more reason to root for him to succeed!
The Ochoa incident... https://www.mlb.com/milb/news/astro...eatening-car-accident?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage
The BA guys did a video on the Astros system today. Notes: System has more power hitters than prior years. Frey has elite power and could be a midseason top 100 guy if he hits and gets to Corpus. System is better than last year at this time even after losing Melton and Brito. Mentioned Forcucci and Alvarez as potential breakouts. Frey (if he makes it to AAA), Neyens, Alvarez (if he replicates DSL #s stateside and add power), and Forcucci could be the #1 prospect in the system next year. Also #17 overall pick in this draft should be a good prospect. Pecko and Mayer are in the next tier. Matthews and Blubaugh will graduate this year.
The Astros are still trying to fill out the upper minors before spring training and they signed C Freuddy Batista last week. Batista was signed by the Mariners out of the Dominican Republic in 2017 and had spent his entire career in their system. He became a free agent for the first time after the 2024 season but re-signed with the Mariners for one more season. In 2025, Batista split time between Class A Advanced Everett and AA Arkansas, slashing .295/.387/.541 with 13 home runs and 48 RBI. He threw out 20% of would-be basestealers between the two levels (36 SB, 9 CS).
I didn’t like Janek as a prospect entering the draft. I felt he was a 3rd round talent. People way smarter than me disagreed and I was open to being wrong. I didn’t like when the Astros took him and really haven’t seen anything to change my mind or convince me he was worthy of going in round one. While I still don’t like him - he isn’t at the point of being labeled a bust, but has been a little disappointing.
Astros had no one on the MLB Top 100 prospects list released on mlb.com yesterday. AL West was poorly represented outside of Seattle. Angels had 1, Rangers had 1, A’s had 3, and Seattle had 7.
I swear, Seattle always has at least 5 guys on the list and they always finish 2nd or worse. They might over value Seattle even more than the Dodgers.
Lists tend to overvalue draft slot and bonus amount. Seattle has 6 first round picks in their farm (compared to Houston’s 3), 4 of those are on the top 100. Their other top 100 prospects are 2 big money international signees and a former 2nd rd pick.
