Astros signed OF Trenton Brooks. Lefty bat that doesn’t strike out much but otherwise doesn’t seem like a ton to like.
Justin Thomas led off the Tourists' game with Hub City (Spartanburg, South Carolina) with his 9th home run of the season.
Trevor Austin hit his 11th homer for Corpus to break a tie in the 8th: Joseph Sullivan and Lucas Spence both finished with three hits on the night as the Hooks won 8-7 in Midland. Sullivan was a homer shy of the cycle.
Justin Thomas probably won't be a top prospect, but I think he's a prospect. He got a mention in this Baseball America piece talking about guys outside their organization's top 10, but have interesting advanced data. Thomas is another hitter in the Joseph Sullivan/Jason Schiavone mold; good swing decisions, takes walks, hits ball hard... and has contact questions. 90th percentile EV is over 105 and has one of the highest hard-hit rates in the system. The piece also notes that his swing can get long at times. Like Schiavone, it looks like he's swinging more and he's getting to his power. Also encouraging that although the Asheville Effect applies, he still has a solid OPS away from Asheville.
I like it. Stole 40 bases last year in AAA. Fangraphs last blurb on him: Delgado was drafted by the Guardians in 2018 out of Calvary Christian Academy in Florida and reached Triple-A with them before hitting minor league free agency over the winter and signing with the Brewers. He’s got 40-grade contact and power, and is a 45 shortstop defender, a fine upper-level depth guy who can play all over the infield.
Dana Brown is a simple man. When he sees Shay Whitcomb in an Astros uniform, he acquires an infielder.
Looking for positives, there are a good number of position player prospects who have moved up a tier from non-prospects or honorable mention prospects into legit prospects: SS Max Holy IF Pascanel Ferreras IF Trevor Austin 2B/OF Yamal Encarnacion C Jason Schiavone OF/1B Nehomar Ochoa Jr. OF Justin Thomas Jr. C Collin Price None of those prospects were on the pipeline org top 30 to start the year, and I feel pretty comfortable that they’d each fit in the top 40 of most organizations at this point. So like I keep pounding on, the top tier is where the weakness is by 1-3 elite prospects, but the 2nd/3rd/4th tiers are in good shape.
Nick Potter was pretty dominant, going 5 IP 2 H 1R/ER 0 BB 3K on 49 pitches. The run came on solo shot, with the other baserunner erased on a caught stealing. His strike throwing has been inconsistent, so it's nice to see him be efficient. He's got a 2.18 ERA through 10 starts. Neyens went 2-3 with a double and a walk in the game. Another one
I know he's 23 , but he's in AA now If schiavone continues mashing he should be breaking into some lists . At least pur own org top lists. If he has an ops of 1000+ at AA (he's at 960 right now) he should be our opening day catcher next year .
The problem is that a 28% k rate in AA usually becomes a 35-40% k rate in the majors. With his power and patience he still might be a valuable big leaguer even with that high of a k rate, but that would hinge on his defense. People who make the prospect lists usually aren’t gonna put a guy with that kind of k risk and that lacking of pedigree on a Top 100. JR Towles, Justin Dirden, AJReed, Jon Kemmer, Seth Beer, Enmanuel Valdez, and Taylor Jones all put up the kind of AA production that we’re seeing from Schiavone. That said, George Springer is an example of a guy who struck out a lot in the minors then was able to dramatically reduce it once he got established in the majors.
The key for him is that he plays catcher . Granted I haven't seen a single inning from him , I also am not an MLB talent evaluator Towles was somewhat of a hot prospect for us during those dead farm days of 2008 (iirc) Anyways , I think towles was also a bit older . I'm not actually saying Schiavone is gonna be good . I'm just so ready to move on from yainer. A bit off topic , but everyone is posting doom and gloom about the astros offense . But yordan , walker , paredes, and pena are all good players . Cam seems to be peeking up . If we can find a CF or LF in our system that can be an above average on-base guy I would appreciate it . It's the pitching that needs a desperate shot in the arm
@Buck Turgidson Man i just looked at our 2009 roster . Yikes. I was wondering why we didn't give towles more AB's . Old ivan rodriguez . But hell , he hit .250
