I like seeing Misael Tamarez and Julio Robaina in AA. They have a real chance to get noticed a lot more in AA (but also fizzle).
Yeah, Tamarez was the name that popped out as a somewhat aggressive promotion. Also keep an eye on Ullola in Fayetteville. I haven't seen a scouting report on him, but he joined Alimber Santa in making a mid-season jump from the DSL to the GCL, and that tends to be a sign that the Astros really like him. Cristian Gonzalez playing in the small park in Asheville could be exciting.
His last 11 games he had a 35% K rate with a 8.7% Walk Rate. I would consider the promotion to AA that change (specifically the walk rate) may be mostly sustainable.
Initial roster thoughts: AAA: Deep lineup. McKenna is a breakout candidate. Extremely deep rotation. Injured: Whitley, McKee, Hansen, Diaz, Scrubb. Potential stars: Lee, Leon, Brown, Whitley. Potential everyday/rotation: Dubin, Solomon, Matijevic, McKenna, Papierski. AA: Extremely deep lineup although it lacks elite prospects. Diaz, Dirden, Whitcomb are breakout candidates. Deep rotation. Tamarez and Robaina are breakout candidates. Potential stars: none. Potential everyday/rotation: Melendez, Tamarez, Brown, Endersby, Robaina, Berryhill, Diaz, Kessinger, Perez, Barefoot, Dirden, Whitcomb. High A: Deep lineup full of breakout candidates (Gonzalez, Brewer, Daniels, Barber, Sandle). Pitching staff hard to judge. Potential stars: Barber, Gonzalez. Potential everyday/rotation: McDermott, Arrighetti, Taveras, Brewer, Daniels, Sandle. A: Weak lineup for now. Unknown pitching. Whitaker, Cerny, Santa, Santos, Gusto are breakout candidates. Potential stars: Whitaker, Santos. Potential everyday/rotation: Santa, Cerny. Quite a few guys not on rosters who must be hurt or being held back in EST: C: CJ Stubbs, Santander, Jose Alvarez, Hurtado IF: Cruz, Nieves, Balogh, Espinosa, Lorenzo, Yohander Martinez, Nova, Williams, Kato, Urdaneta OF: Rivas, Richi Gonzalez, Machandy, Frank Perez, O Diaz, Schreiber, Guerrero, Giron Plus >30 pitchers.
One new name on the Fayetteville roster is P Jacob Coats. Looks like he’s had an odyssey to get there he’s at. An UDFA but a 6’6” guy throwing 98 is worth watching. https://climbingtalshill.com/2022/01/15/prospect-jacob-coats-adversity-signing-astros/amp/
I'm hoping that Leon is up sooner than later. I have invested waaaaay to much in his baseball cards, and will be ready to turn them after the price spikes.
Here are some key stat goals I’ll be looking at for some of Houston’s higher ceiling position player prospects in the upper levels: 1B JJ Matijevic: <25k% k over 200+ AAA pa probably means he will be a good MLB bat. CF/SS Pedro Leon: <25% k over 200 AAA pa probably means he’s a viable everyday major leaguer. <20% and he’s potentially a star. The power and walks and speed and defense will be there. OF Marty Costes: >.200 ISO over 200 pa. The discipline and contact are there, and we know he won’t have defensive value. The power has to show up if he’s going to be a viable major leaguer. Joe Perez: <27% k. I’m a strong believer in his power, so he just has to keep the K’s down enough to advance. I’ve comped him to JD Davis, and Davis k’ed 26.5% in his full AA season. OF Matthew Barefoot: >10% bb. He has defensive value so the pressure on his bat isn’t the same as on more limited guys like Perez, Costes, or Matijevic. If he can make better swing decisions he will walk more, and the strikeout rate should drop. There are other guys with everyday+ potential (Lee, McKenna, Diaz, Berryhill, Whitcomb, Kessinger), but their development needs to be broad, so generally they can be judged by wRC+; >120 puts them on a path to the majors, >140 projects them as regulars, and anything over 160 projects them as potential stars. Similarly, the high ceiling guys in the lower levels need to show good overall performance.
Looks like Jaxon Hallmark and Cody Orr will be the latest test subjects in the Astros' ongoing "can this outfielder play on the infield" experiment.
Orr played some infield last season. Mascai has played both 1B and OF. Whitaker will evidently get time at 3B. In the upper levels Julks will see some time at 3B. I have long wondered if Marty Costes could play 2B but it looks like the Astros don’t think so. I hope/expect they give Joe Perez time at all 4 corners; his value would have been higher had he been able to stick at catcher.
Context that wasn't provided in my previous tweet: Asheville and Fayetteville are playing an exhibition game Corpus taking on A&M-Corpus Christi:
I can't see Perez playing anywhere up the middle. I hope he can stick at 3rd because of his arm but may end up at first or in the of.
I was thinking Norel could be a firstbase fill in if one is needed. How bad is Jones hurt? If Yuli gets hurt who could be a callup for first base?
If Yuli got hurt, Diaz would play 1B and Goodrum would slide into the utility role. My guess would be they’d roll with 12 position players if Yuli was only out for a short while. If Yuli was injured severely, they’d probably make a trade, but otherwise they’d probably call up Papierski to be a backup 1B. But it wouldn’t really matter because whoever they called up wouldn’t play much. Depends on who in AAA was hot.
