Astros MiLB SwStr% leaderboard (minimum 100 pitches thrown): Jaquez and Chaidez just blowing people away. Big jumps for Tamarez and Solomon so far.
So doing a quick comparison of stuff from Brown's game today, his stuff compares very closely with Brandon Woodruff without a sinker. Here's a sampling of Woodruff's pitches which typically have better camera angles than those available for Brown from AAA. 4S https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=2e5a527d-45cd-4f13-884d-08b1716baf72 Change https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=cd5c02ea-8412-42f7-acaa-874f4a218f59 Slider https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=25edb749-8e1f-41d4-9c81-fb0bf9b3c5d2 Curve https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=8cfd50a2-5593-4426-81f1-a1fd55c1225f
Tamarez has his BB% flaring back up again, but guys don't typically last a year in the minors with that swinging strike rate in the upper levels.
One reason I have maintained hope for Matijevic is that while he has always been labeled a bad defensive player, it was always pretty easy to see it wasn’t due to a lack of athleticism. He has speed and looks coordinated; he just always looked unrefined and inconsistent. It looks like he knew this and worked on it. They called him up before he got a big sample but it looked like he took a big step offensively in addition to the defensive improvement mentioned in the tweet. Matijevic as a Kyle Schwarber level player is not outside the realm of possibility and a solid bench bat looks pretty reasonable for a median projection.
Carlos Calderon in relief vs. Kannapolis: 4 IP, 2 H (solo HR), ER, BB, 5 K Solid end to a nice first month of the season for him... should garner some top 20-30 consideration as the season progresses.
Angel Macuare took the loss for Corpus but pitched pretty well: 5.1 IP, 3 H (solo HR allowed), ER, 2 BB, 5 K
After going hitless in 6 straight, Victor Mascai now has a four-game hitting streak that includes two consecutive three-hit games. His slash line went from .077/.242./231 to .263/.408/.500.
The 2 lower level teams cleaned up their online rosters and added players on the IL. Asheville has 9 guys on the IL, Fayetteville has 10. The only 2 position players in roster limbo are C Carlos Hurtado and OF Adonis Giron. There are 8 pitchers in roster limbo: Alex Palmer, Walker Brockhouse, Christian Mejias, Jairo Lopez, Carlos Hiraldo, Elvis Garcia, Kevin Dickey, and Colton Gordon. The FCL "Blue" roster is updated and has 26 players. I noticed that 2019 16th round pick 2B Dexter Jordan, who had previously retired, was reactivated and is on the FCL roster.
Who homered today Korey Lee (3, solo) Yainer Diaz (1, 2-run) Zach Daniels (3, solo) Freddy Guilamo (1, solo) Kenedy Corona (2, solo)
Yo, just for fun with small samples: Who has impressed you the most in the Minors? IF/OF/C/P? At the plate, in the field? Whoever?
Enmanuel Valdez led the organization in homers and RBI last year, but he wasn't really on any prospect radars. Now he's got a 1.131 OPS after the first month, which suggests that he's starting to find a way to get to his power in games more consistently. Could be a power bat off the bench, albeit with significant defensive limitations. As a taller guy, David Hensley was probably gonna have a similar path to the majors as Taylor Jones did and his career really has played out almost the exact same way that Jones's has. However, what Hensley has that Jones doesn't is the ability to competently play every position on the infield, which probably gives him more staying power. He could be a surprise call-up (much like Parker Mushinski) if Goodrum continues to be a nonfactor. I think I'd like to see if he's anywhere close to playable at the corner outfield spots. Carlos Calderon down in Fayetteville looks like he's gonna be leading (or at the forefront of) the next wave of Latin American pitchers in the system's lower levels. Probably a lot bigger than his listed 6-0, 175 now. Allowed just one hit and struck out 7 in his last start last week. Ernesto Jaquez just got moved up to Asheville today, but not before he racked up 29 strikeouts in 18.1 innings to start the year for Fayetteville. He was paired up with Calderon to start the season. So... that outing where Calderon allowed one hit and struck out 7 in 5 innings? Jaquez finished it off by striking out 10 in 4 innings. Jaquez was about to enter some top prospect lists in 2018 (mainly on the strength of going 4-0 with a 0.25 ERA and giving up 10 hits in 36 innings in the DSL) by forcing his way to the US that year... and then he basically lost 2 years to injury and the pandemic. He came back last year in relief but ran up a 7.00 ERA. Now Jaquez looks like he's returned to his pre-injury form. Asheville should be an age-appropriate challenge for him.
Couple of nice starts for the A clubs tonight: Heitor Tokar vs. Winston-Salem: 5 IP, 3 H, ER, 3 BB, 3 K Bryant Salgado vs. Kannapolis: 5 IP, 3 H (solo HR allowed), ER, BB, 5 K
Jose Altuve singled in the first at-bat of his rehab assignment with Sugar Land. Did the same thing in his second at-bat.
