So... Alex Winkelman has posted some intriguing numbers in the short-season leagues. He's got 37 strikeouts in 29 innings between Tri-City and Greeneville. Winkleman struck out around a batter an inning in college this year, but the knock on him was his high walk rate. Seems like he's gotten that in check so far.
nice. Think we could call him up right now & he'd help the club a lot. Martes has been unbelievable. man, we have some very exciting young arms
J.D. Davis has been putting up some good numbers lately. Hoping he can keep it up and hope that he can stick at 3rd.
It will be an interesting race for the 3rd base spot. Moran and Davis are two different type of players. And both have toolsets that can translate easily to the Majors. I wonder how much the power issue will affect the decision? Because Davis is head and shoulders better at launching HR's. It will be good to see these two duke it out by pushing each other.
Davis is highly unlikely to stick at 3rd. And that .722 OPS away from Lancaster doesn't exactly jump out at you. There is no race between these 2. Moran will likely be given a very good look as our everyday 3rd baseman at some point next year. Davis will have to go the Preston Tucker route of just hitting his way up the minors, and taking advantage of his chance when he gets it.
But Davis had a better OPS at Quad Cities than he does now, suggesting his numbers might not be all Lancaster driven. He could be running into some bad luck and general adjustments as he encounters better pitching. Regardless, been a long time since the Astros had any 3B coming up that fans could be excited about.
It's a really tough position to fill. Valbuena, even with his disappointing year, is (out of the 33 guys who have 200 PA as a 3B) 18th in WAR and 21st in OPS. Pretty much middle of the pack to slightly below. As a team the Stros are 6th in 3B OPS at .742. The average MLB 3B hits .253 / .314 / .398 / .713
For what it's worth, here's a piece BP ran on April 1 about the wide range of scouting opinions on Moran. (They had some April Fool's stuff that day, but this piece appears to be completely serious.)
Nice stuff in there. I do find the blurb to be funny considering the HS's floor and LS ceiling describes a guy who likely performs as well if not better than the average player drafted 6th.
Yeah, I'm honestly happy with the "floor" player if that's all we get. My biggest concern with Moran isn't his bat. He'll hit, and the power should come with age. I just wonder whether he'll stick at 3B.
How insane is it that we got three players for Jarred Cosart (plus the draft pick used on Daz), and the worst one very well may turn out to be a gold glove caliber CF in Marisnick. Jake Marisnick Colin Moran Francis Martes Daz Cameron For a MOR starting pitcher with attitude problems. Simply amazing.
Right now Cosart isn't even an MLB level pitcher. He is in AAA, and he's struggling there. I liked the trade when I though Cosart was gonna be decent, right now it is looking like an epic fleecing.
I was critical of the trade at the time it was made but it has become an excellent deal. Also VERY good scouting by the Astros to get the players they did.
