Lot of nice performances from the arms down on the farm to start the year. Rogelio Armenteros added to that list today... 5.2 IP, H, 2 runs (1 unearned), 2 BB, 10 K Corpus leads Northwest Arkansas 2-1 in the 7th.
I said it before the season, so this isn't overreaction to a slow start ... but I really want Reed out there every day in Houston at 1B. Gurriell has no upside. At this point of his career he's Marwin - a super sub who can play all over. Don't need two of them. Reed may flame out, but he has legit potential to add a fifth player to our young core.
I agree that'd I'd rather have Reed starting at 1B by the end of the season and next year but it's such a brutal start to the year for the offense that Reed would probably be going through the same stuff as Yuli right now. Getting starts every other game with MarGo getting lots of starts and AB's at first. I'd want Reed up in a low pressure environment when the rest of the offense is cooking. Yuli can and needs to sink or swim.
Also worth noting... Daz Cameron matched his career home run total today. He had 2 in 94 career games before launching 2 today.
Didn't read version: Spoiler - Currently the 2nd-youngest player in the Carolina League - Fastball was 92-94 in this start - Worked on a low-80s slider early on; Astros analytics thinks that the slider best fits his body type - Threw 12-6 curve later in the outing; velocity varied from 75-80 MPH
Jake Peavy as the most noteworthy comp for Franklin Perez? Shin-soo Choo as the most noteworthy comp for D.J. Fisher? Sure, I'll take it.
Obviously, the upper minors aren't as loaded as they were in recent years, but there is still a glut of talent down in the lower levels. I'll be paying a little more attention to the big names from last year's IFA class (Nova, Macuare, Ceuta). Don't think they'll push him right out of the gate, but everything I've read on Gilberto Celestino suggests that he might be polished enough to skip the GCL and go right to Greeneville.
If Fisher could maintain a tolerable Avg, I think he has star potential. I just don't think he will. He hit .275 and .255 respectively the last 2 years, and he's 23. That doesn't fill me with confidence that he can hold a .250 average in the show. He had an awesome spring, and he's off to a good start at Fresno, so maybe they worked on something with his swing.
Was really surprised they only had 21 prospects in that Fangraphs list. Several teams with what I think is considerably less depth than Houston had 30+ prospects profiled. I think the author ran out of steam and is just trying to get through the last few teams to be done with it. He did mention some truly under the radar international guys (Machado, DeLaCruz, etc.) so that bodes well. I think Wrenn and Nova are being massively underrated. I'm also starting to get quite optimistic about Deetz and Adcock.
This would be my current "Of The Future" roster made up of the best pre-prime (age 25 or younger) players in the system: C Stubbs 1B Reed 2B Nova SS Correa 3B Bregman RF K. Tucker CF Cameron LF Fisher DH Davis UT A. Sierra (tough choice between M. Sierra, Arauz, and Cueta) C Rogers 4OF Celestino (tough choice between Wrenn, Teoscar, and Laureano) RHP Martes RHP McCullers RHP Musgrove RHP F. Perez RHP Whitley RHP Paulino LHP C. Perez LHP Guduan RHP H. Perez RHP Feliz RHP Gustave RHP R. Ferrell RHP Giles Probably a dozen or more guys who could bump someone from the pitching list.
In addition to running out of steam, he also seems to be more about ceiling than average expected value. In other words, he didn't place much value in guys in upper levels that will likely play in the majors and provide some value, but have long odds to actually being average.
I appreciated his going deeper into the system and talking about guys I've never even heard of rather than rehash stuff on Reed, Moran or guys like Aplin. It's certainly a different perspective from the other prospect guys. You're right though, a guy like Aplin could easily be called up and be a 4th or 5th outfielder tomorrow if they were so inclined.
I thought that was weird too, but he did do 22 "other prospects of note" which at a quick glance is more than some other lists (but not as much as Atlanta's 36 OPON)
Wasn't thinking Aplin. We still have him? I do appreciate the lists for giving an idea of who to follow. For team lists, I typically take the order with a grain of salt after the third or fourth guy.
