I guess my one issue with him is no gas on the heater. I don't dive as deep as some. Maybe he is a Dallas Keuchel type but that's tough now days with challenges. So I can see it. Does he strike folks out?
His fastball sat 95 and was up to 96 in his last start. He has plenty of velo to be a top notch starter, along with spin on his slider and command of 5 pitches. He is not elite elite at any one thing but does a lot of things really well and has multiple ways to consistently get hitters out. He posted a 29% k rate last season and is at 26% this season. So he is not elite at getting strikeouts but is definitely not just a pitch to contact guy. Pecko should be valued like a fringe top 100 prospect and is probably Houston’s best internally developed pitching prospect since Arrighetti or possibly even since Hunter Brown.
Ryan Verdugo followed Nick Potter and he allowed two runs on four hits (solo HR allowed), walked one, and struck out six in five innings. Potter allowed three hits and struck out three over three scoreless, but he also walked three and it took him 69 pitches to get those nine outs.
Cameron Sisneros is currently 3-4 tonight, and he hit his first homer as a member of the Astros organization. He now has 7 home runs on the season. Bryce Mayer allowed two hits, walked three, and struck out three over 5.2 shutout innings as Corpus is rolling in Tulsa.
I'll agree with the assessment that Tyler Whitaker has somewhat repaired his prospect status. He's probably bought himself another year in the system. I feel that he is another guy in the organization who was severely hampered by the short-season leagues shutting down. I know that’s not unique to the Astros… every organization probably has at least 10-12 guys whose status in their organizations might have been higher had the short-season leagues still existed. Who knows what Whitaker would've become at this stage if he was able to spend a half-season in Tri-City or Greeneville? After that disastrous first full season, he has had walk rates above 10% each year, he just hasn't stayed healthy and/or made enough contact. This year, it seems like he's making enough contact to not be a liability. Whitaker is not really a home run hitter, so I hope he can get to consistent gap power.
Being that I live about 15 minutes from where Tri-City used to play "Bruno Stadium" it sucks that I had Astros ball right in my back yard, now is just independent league stuff. No longer interested.
Some prospect comps: Lucas Spence: Preston Tucker with good CF defense Pascanel Ferreras: Jacob Amaya with worse SS defense Drew Brutcher: Jon Singleton with way less power Tyler Whitaker: RH Joey Loperfido Kevin Alvarez: Kyle Tucker with less speed but a better disposition
Eduardo Perez, Randy Arias, and Yensi De La Cruz went deep for the Blue team as they beat the Orange team 8-5. That was Yensi’s second home run of the season. For Arias, that was his first homer as a pro, and I hope Perez finally gets a good run of games in.
Anderson Areinamo went 3-4 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored as the FCL squad smacked the Mets 14-5. He hit a solo homer (4), an RBI single, and drew a bases-loaded walk.
Arturo Flores hit his 10th home run of the season for Fayetteville, and his hitting streak is now at 13 games.
That dude is popping up on the scene. Power hitting catcher with good defensive rep who is raking in A ball at age 20. Hell yes. strikes out quite bit but still. UDFA.
Well those other prospects just aren’t very good. Spence could be a good player; Preston Tucker with good CF defense is a fringe regular level player. Those other guys being AAAA players is a win considering none of them were prospects of note coming into the season.
Albert Fermin hit a grand slam this morning for his 3rd HR of the season. He is on fire. All 3 HRs and 3/4 of his doubles this season have come in the past 8 games, where he's walked more than struck out and stole 7 bags. He's got 10 steals on the season without being caught. Not really any red flags so far with him, unless you feel strongly about DSL platoon splits. He's (perhaps in)arguably having a better season than Alvarez did last year, though I could see why one might prefer higher contact over more power for projectable 17 year olds. When is the last time the Astros went 2 years in a row with their top international signing debuting as (or better than) advertised?
Preston is a odd comp for Spence. Tucker was an all bat prospect that had hope for being a 20-30 HR player. Tucker had more HRs in his 300 PAs for the 2014 hooks than Spence has in his ~700 PA career. Spence needs 2 more steals this season to surpass Preston's entire career. Other than LHH OF and maybe hit tool, they're very different players.
