2019 Astros Minor League Thread

Yes, especially the international guys. We hear scouts rave about the arms but they haven’t come through. This year we got the #14 international prospect, but it would be nice to be going after the top 3-4 guys.

 

At the all star break, here are the guys putting up numbers that I think project them to be future everyday major leaguers:

1B Seth Beer: projects as a below average everyday 1B. Dinged for defensive limitations, non-elite k/bb ratios, platoon weaknesses, and lack of speed. But he has been moved quickly and has 30+ HR potential.

2B Joshua Rojas: projects as a below average everyday 2B, although there is upside for a lot more. He is dinged for his age and draft position.

3B Abraham Toro: projects as an above average everyday 3B. Hits, walks, hits for power, good defender with upside to be elite defender.

RF Kyle Tucker: projects as a potential future star in the mold of Yelich/Betts.

Here are the guys in the next tier who project to have major league futures but will need to take another step to project as everyday players:

C Korey Lee: too early to tell but the power hasn’t been there.
C Garrett Stubbs: no power, hasn’t had the same contact ability this season.
C Miguel Palma: need stateside sample
C Cesar Salazar: needs to walk more, probably need sample from higher levels.
SS Jonathan Arauz: slight improvement in any one area would bump him up a tier. Still young.
SS Jeremy Pena: same with Arauz, just a slight improvement would move him up a tier. High floor.
SS Freudis Nova: needs to walk more, but teen holding his own in full season and showing power while playing SS/3B is a good start. Very high ceiling.
IF Yohander Martinez: amazing start, need stateside sample. High ceiling.
OF Chas McCormick: elite strikeout avoidance, solid defensive value, showing some power in AAA. Could surprise.

Worth mentioning:
1B Taylor Jones’ slash line is there but he’s still striking out enough that I don’t see a big league future.
1B/OF JJ Matijevic has been hot since coming back from suspension and if he keeps it up he will move up a tier by season’s end.
IF Enmanuel Valdez has struggled since being promoted to high A but he’s still young.
IF Luis Santana not showing any power in low A.
SS Alex De Goti profiles as a AAAA IF.
OF Alex McKenna is having a lost season and strikes out too much, still plenty of time to turn it around.
OF Ronnie Dawson: k rate won’t play. Power and defense are there but time will run out if he doesn’t cut down the k rate.
No/small sample: OF Jordan Brewer, OF Colin Barber, OF Luis Guerrero, SS Grae Kessinger, 3B Joe Perez, SS Dauris Lorenzo

 

No, no, no, not talking about those guys, I'm talking about the 18-24 arms we've been watching and hoping for the past X years.

Framber and James? Is that the best we've got?

Where are the fireballing youngsters? I've been hearing about them for a while now.

 

Even James has yet to convince me of his usability (5.24 ERA / 1.39 Whip)

 

Hurt or traded or busted.

Hurt: Martes, Deetz, Gustave, Martin, Whitley, C Perez

Traded: H Perez, F Perez, Musgrove, Folty, Velasquez, Hader, Appel, Thurman, Houser, Alcala, A Abreu, Guzman, H Arauz, Eshelman, Feliz, D Paulino, Hoyt, Tropeano, Mengden, Sandoval, C Lee

Busted: Guduan

 

You and I are still not talking about the same pitchers.

There seems to be a bunch of them in AA/A+. There has seemed to be a bunch of them in AA/A+ for the past few years.

Urquidy was rushed due to circumstances, I totally get this, jury is out. I do really like him.

But it seems that other teams find a guy here and there who is 23?ish and throws hard darts with a wipeout breaking ball and thus is a meaningful player in the bullpen.

Where are these guys for us?

 

We traded several who've been a bit of a mixed bag. We still have Martes (who's still only 23), who probably won't pitch this season. Hopefully Whitley can bounce back. Martin is now likely out of the MLB picture for 2020. Those that are healthy have pretty much shat the bed.

 

It's also about the Astros trying to win a World Series. Most rookie pitchers struggle and the Astros can't afford to give a guy a bunch of starts to figure it out. For instance, Dallas Keuchel had an era over 5 his first 2 seasons which included 38 starts. Can't afford to give a guy that long of a leash this season. Lance McCullers is really the only guy in a long long time that has come up as a Rookie and been a solid starting pitcher right away. Before that, I can't think of anyone since Oswalt. Wandy Rodriguez was bad for 2 seasons before figuring it out. Josh James was good last year but he only started 3 games and had 6 total appearances. Framber was living on borrowed time with all the walks. Corbin Martin only had 5 starts and who knows if the injury was already starting to be a problem before being sent down.

​

 

There have been 83 pitchers throw at least 40 innings in Houston’s upper minors since 2015:

31 of those guys are released non-prospects that nobody should have expected anything from (although quite a few ended up reaching the majors; guys like Juan Minaya, RJ Alaniz, Hauschild, Jankowski, Richard Rodriguez, etc. etc. etc.).

22 are still in the minors developing. Some are mlb ready (Urquidy, Guduan, Armenteros, Sneed). A few (Abreu, Bukauskas, Bailey, Javier, R Ferrell, Bielak, Scheetz, Hartman) could very well contribute to the major league team this season. The rest (Emanuel, Bostick, J Ferrell, Garza, LaRue, Pinales, McCurry, Adcock, McKee, Blanco) are non-prospects, even tho a few of them used to be.

5 “panned out”: McCullers, Devenski, Peacock, James, and Valdez

9 were traded: Feliz, Musgrove, Hader, Hoyt, Paulino, Thornton, Appel, Straily, and Alcala

6 are hurt: Rodgers, Deetz, Martes, Perez, Martin, Whitley

10 were (at least at one point) actual prospects who busted and were released: Alex White, Wojo, Gustave, Stoffel, Comer, Kyle Smith, Dykxhoorn, Buchanan, Chapman, Oberholtzer

What I don’t know and don’t have time to research is the validity of your claim that other teams always churn out quality relief arms at higher quality/quantity than Houston has.

 

I'm talking about the international signees, not the whiteboys in the draft. I cannot make this any clearer.

It's cool, this may just be one of my "wtf astros?" moments, kind of like them signing international catchers.

...as an aside: who is the last international catcher the Astros signed and developed who played over 100 games in MLB? I looked and was disappointed. I'm sure I missed someone.

 

RIGHT?

I love you for catching that, as far back as I went. If anyone can find another I'd sure like to know who it was.

 

I hope he figures it out.

 

White Sox is a good spot for him. They have an opening at DH and will likely have one at 1B soon. Rebuilding team who can easily give him 200+ consistent PA to see if he can make it. That’s all he can ask for and all he’s earned. Still potentially a star caliber bat, although the odds of him fulfilling that are very low. He hasn’t displayed a great attitude over the last 3 seasons but I feel for him as his situation sucked and he otherwise did everything he needed to in order to get a shot.


I’m a little surprised nobody was willing to toss Houston a PTBNL for him. Bummer.

 

Wish him luck. Definitely needs everyday AB's.

So, we don't even get a PTBNL? Bummer. Not that he'd likely end up being worth anything, but lottery tickets are at least something, and you never know.

 

Boom.

And how many of those who came up in the last decade (not sure what dates you are using) are making a difference in the Stros pen?

 

Why would a team currently in a playoff spot trade the best pitcher in the game for a prospect

 

Because he can play 1B?