2019 Astros Minor League Thread

Dwight Gooden faints

 

Because I like following random things like this: The losing pitcher in the Fayetteville game, Diogenes Almengo, was Javier's teammate in the DSL for the Astros before he was eventually released and signed with the Orioles. I took at look at the rosters of those 2015 DSL teams, and there was some serious pitching talent: Franklin and Hector Perez, Javier, Jorges Alcala and Guzman, Framber Valdez, and Bryan Abreu all pitched for one of the DSL Astro teams. Almengo throws in the upper 90s apparently. Cristofer Melendez was released by the Astros and was thought enough of that he was drafted in the minor league rule 5 draft after a season with the White Sox. There's also a few guys still hanging around the Astros system that haven't made much noise in Gabriel Valdez, Leovanny Rodriguez, Cesar Rosado, and Felipe Tejada.

 

Hansen’s debut was impressive. Great sign for him. Hoping those 2018 college pitchers can follow in the footsteps of the 2017 group.

 

From listening to the broadcast crew, it sounded like Whitley was sitting 95-98 and touched 99. Impressive for his first start.

From someone who was at the game:



I think Whitley may be working on a sinker that is a few ticks slower than his four-seam.

 

The Nerd Cave are not big on sinkers. His cutter might suffice since it should sink and cut.

 

If I were the GM of the Marlins or Tigers, I would try to trade for Jack Mayfield and call him up to play 2B/SS. Good enough defender, plus power for the position. He’s a major league caliber player.

 

There seems to be no interest in MLB caliber players on teams in deep rebuilds for the sake of being competitive unless the player will be around when the team is good again. The Mets this offseason realized that they had no chance at playoffs unless they upgraded their depth. I'd expect teams like the Mets were prior to their offseason (some talent, but thin) are the better bets of teams going after guys like Mayfield.

 

I look at it a little different. How many years of control would a team like Baltimore have if they dealt for a player like Mayfield? He isn't going to be good enough to sabotage a rebuild, but would have pretty good trade value because of team control if he proves to be an average or better player at his position.

 

Maybe I'm just the low man on Mayfield, but I don't see how he's any better than the AAAA types that these kind of teams are already picking up.

Baltimore has Villar, Hanser Alberto, and Richie Martin, all younger with probably more upside. Zach Vincej is waiting in AAA

Miami has JT Riddle, plus Starlin Castro should be played to see if he could return anything at the deadline. Miguel Rojas is probably about what you hope Mayfield could be anyways, so why get rid of him?

Detroit picked up Niko Goodrum, Ronny Rodriguez, and Brandon Dixon as multi-positional AAAA types in the last two years for free, all are younger with better AAA track records than Mayfield.

Guys of this profile hit the waiver wire all the time. Ronny Torreyes is another one, he doesn't have Mayfield's power, but he's likely a better defender and will make a ton of contact. I guess I could see where maybe you could slightly prefer Mayfield because he hasn't shown he can't play in the majors, but if I'm a rebuilding team, why would I give up anything of value for him, and if I'm the Astros, why would I get rid of him?

 

I didn’t mention Baltimore due to the presence of Villar and Martin, both of whom I think are more valuable than Mayfield. But Miami and Detroit are running low ceiling scrubs out in the middle infield and don’t have any top prospects on the way. Mayfield is a potential 20 HR bat at SS; less than 10 SS hit 20+ HR in the majors last season, and they were all worth at least 2 fWAR. Riddle and Rojas are no bat players being run out there because of their defense. Same for Jordy Mercer on the Tigers. A guy like Mayfield represents a cheap way to potentially get a good player, whether he’s an everyday guy who starts for them for 7 years or a utility player who bridges the gap to the next competitive team before being traded. Compare Mayfield to a guy like David Bote.

 

I don't know how good Mayfield is honestly. I do know how good Ronny Torreyes is because he has over 600 bats in the big leagues. I also know what Jonathan Villar is because he has over 2,000 at bats in the big leagues.

I am not a huge fan of Mayfield, but if a team that is towards the bottom of the standings has a hole, I can see why he is a low risk/high reward type player. With the way service time is calculated, getting someone that has some utility is quite valuable.

 

I fall into the “I don’t see it” camp as well. Don’t see why a rebuilding team would take a flier on our quad-A guys over their own.

Based (purely) on his stat lines, I think he’d have a hard time hitting enough to get to his power.

 

A rebuilding team doesn’t have the quality of ‘quad-A’ guys that Houston does. Aside from the 4 (super)stars they were able to develop internally and have reach the majors in close proximity, the 2 things that have separated Houston from all the other orgs are the quality of their upper minors depth and the quality of their pitching depth across the system.

Most orgs have players who are producing in the upper minors but aren’t quite top prospects; guys like Tanielu, Mayfield, and Ferguson. But in those other orgs those prospects are ranked in the 20-40 range of their prospect lists and are getting chances with the big league team when they are deemed ready. For Houston those guys aren’t in the top 50 and are completely blocked. Hence my point that teams like the Tigers and Marlins (who I don’t think have a mlb-ready Mayfield-caliber SS in their system) should be mining Houston’s 3rd and 4th tier of prospects for value.

 

I don't think Mayfield is a legit MLB SS.

Goodrum literally hit as many HRs as Mayfield did last year, except he did it at the major league level. Rodriguez hit 2 less split between the MLB and and the IL, and in 2017 he hit 17. Neither are probably SS either, but both are younger than Mayfield and they're both already in the Tiger's organization. The Tigers aren't given Gordan Beckham, Jordy Mercer and Josh Harrison ABs because they don't have a talent like Jack Mayfield around, they're doing it because they like veteran leaders or something. Riddle at least hit 9HRs in 330 ABs, so he's not far off from your 20 HR threshold as an everyday player, and he can actually play SS.

Bote has a peak exit velo of 114 mph in the majors, that's in line with Reed/Fisher/Davis etc. If Mayfield has that kind of raw power, I'll change my tune, but I'm skeptical. I don't think that's a good comp.

I'm very skeptical Mayfield is better than those guys, but if you're a rebuilding team, what are you really willing to give up to find out? Cash considerations?

If I'm trying to grab a blocked player from the Astros, I'd much rather ask for Reed, Fisher, Ferguson, or Jones.

 

Exactly. People are gonna gravitate to the higher upside guys and former prospects. E.g. Laureano, Teoscar, etc....

I get what you're saying. But realistically even if what you're saying is true, Houston's 3rd and 4th tier prospects are still mostly a collection of 1 ML-level tool guys who will probably scrape a 25-man roster at some point. Where's the upside/value in acquiring those types? Even the Laureano/Teoscar guys are '2nd division starter' upside guys. Drop down to the Tanielu level and you're looking at the upside of a utility/bench bat.

 

RR was leading a 2-1 pitchers duel until the 8th, now it's 5-5 in the 10th. Yordan hit a 3-run HR (5) and just got intentionally walked with 0 out and a runner on 2B to lead off the inning. Also had 2 2B and now has an OPS somewhere north of 1.6

eta: then following a Tucker BB to load the bases, Tanielu walks it off with a grand slam.