John Sickels posted his top 175 prospects for 2016 this morning. Astros listed below: 17) Alex Bregman, SS, Houston Astros, Grade A- 19) A.J. Reed, 1B, Houston Astros, Grade A- 33) Francis Martes, RHP, Houston Astros, Grade B+ 36) Joe Musgrove, RHP, Houston Astros, Grade B+ 51) Michael Feliz, RHP, Houston Astros, Grade B+ 121) Kyle Tucker, OF, Houston Astros, Grade B 128) Daz Cameron, OF, Houston Astros, Grade B 131) Colin Moran, 3B, Houston Astros, Grade B 138) Derek Fisher, OF, Houston Astros, Grade B 169) David Paulino, RHP, Houston Astros, Grade B- 174) Tyler White, 1B, Houston Astros, Grade B- Others in the Picture: J.D. Davis, 3B; Tony Kemp, 2B; Franklin Perez, RHP
48) Brett Phillips 63) Jacob Nottingham 71) Josh Hader 153) Mark Appel 163) Brady Aiken In the picture: Thomas Eschelman, Adrian Houser, Jacob Nix There are teams that wish their list was as good as the guys we traded away or failed to sign.
Per WTHB, the following Minor Leaguers have been released from the organization: RHP Jose Montero RHP Kyle Westwood RHP Austin Chrismon RHP Tyler Brunnemann RHP Samil de los Santos LHP Jordan Mills LHP Steve Naemark C Brian Holberton 1B/OF Ryan Bottger OF Sean McMullen
What's the deal with Holberton??? A catcher taken in the top-10 rounds (9th) with a reputation as a strong hitter? Why would they release him?
If i remember right,there was a lot of doubt whether he would stick at catcher long term. If they didn't think he would stay there, he immediately goes from a premium offensive position, to a slow, positionless player that needs to hit a ton. Brunnemann is the name that really surprises me. He had some very impressive K rates, and good results. Not that I was penciling him in as a bullpen anchor, just seems like a quick hook.
Remember rounds 7-9 tend to draft college players who will sign for cheap, so teams can preserve their draft pool dollars.
Reminds me of what happened with the former Oklahoma closer a couple of years ago (I think his first name was Jason). He was a late round choice that looked to be performing, and then got cut at the first minor bump in the road.
Don't want to be that guy, but Holberton was a junior when he was drafted in 2013 and his signing bonus was like $800 over the slot recommendation for his draft position.
I saw in some scouting report that AA pitchers have been able to limit his ability to make solid contact (i.e. can't get his raw power into the game).
I think he was cut because he had a bad year, and they have to find playing time for Pena, Gonzalez, Heineman, Stubbs, and Ritchie (though Ritchie may not stick at C).
I think he missed quite a bit of time with injuries, too. But I agree, he got lapped in the depth chart with Ritchie and Gonzalez having the years they had in 2015.
I think projections take a big part in the Astros roster decisions. The decision scientists in The Nerd Cave probably do deep data mining to determine where all of the players will top out.
There were issues not related to performance. He had the reputation of being very difficult to work with. When you are a marginal talent in an extremely deep organization and coaches are convinced you will never listen... then you wind up dealt or released. I don't think he was as difficult as some famous cases like Schilling, Redding, Wallace, (Orlando) Miller or Harrell (he was really bad).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Astros released Jake Buchanan, who has agreed to a deal with the Cubs, sources say.</p>— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/715620625830846464">March 31, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Astros also released Joe Sclafani and Travis Ballew.</p>— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/715621812785319936">March 31, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
