I would be happy if he turned out to be another France type pitcher. Gotta work on the control. How has Gordon looked?
Gordon is different because he’s a lefty and doesn’t have good velo (sits low 90s) but he’s similar to France in that he throws a bunch of different pitches. I am not entirely sure what to make of him other than that he’s having relatively steady success and Astros prospects that can survive pitching in the PCL usually do well in the majors.
He has excellent command - the best in the Astros system and that allows him to mix his pitchers really well. He is still fine tuning his command against better hitters - but the writing is on the wall, he is going to be a high command pitcher. He also has a 4 seamer that is released really low and makes it hard for hitters to pick it up. It starts low but can end up at the top of the zone and gets a lot of swings and misses. He possibly can add another tick or two to his fastball but has had success with the pitch around 90-92 through out the minors. He has a sweeper as well and has been working on the change up. He is possibly the Astros best pitcher in the upper minors and there is really no reason he cannot be effective.
How is every team in the league not going after the flat vertical approach angle guys? I get the total trainwrecks like the ChiSox not getting in on them, but even the mid-tier analytics and scouting teams should be going after those guys.
I have wondered the same - and it isn't like it is a huge secret that the Astros are doing this. There are 5-8 teams that look for these types of pitchers (to some degree), but none to the degree the Astros do.
I see Gordon as a #3-5 SP in his current form but if he could get up to 93-95 while maintaining his flat VAA he could be dynamite
@Nook would have more insight into this, but I believe I've also read that Gordon is known for his adaptability and coachability. He should hopefully be a guy who hits his 75+% projections.
Really nice effort down in Fayetteville by Jose Fleury: 5IP, 2H, 0R,1BB, 9K. For the season he is at 84IP, 54H, 33ER, 37BB, 119K, with an ERA of 3.54. That translates to12.75K/9 and 3.96BB/9
A few weeks ago I would have said no shot. But with Abreu hurt/not performing, Singleton not performing, and Diaz possibly needed at other positions it's not a crazy thought IMO. He's lefthanded, trained at first and can fill in at all 3 outfield positions if needed (platoon work with Meyers) Still a longshot...but a path is there.
Minor league clubs really should stick to like 3 cameras angles and not pretend they're an MLB level production.
What a perfect ending to an absolutely piss poor effort against the Mariners. The Astros may not have any respect for the Mariners, but they better start to because the Astros got their asses kicked. Also Singleton getting the last out is so fitting.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/in...rm-systems-prospects-list-2023-kiley-mcdaniel Spoiler Sure, it's nice to have baseball's best farm system -- but the truth is that it's still one degree removed from the thing you actually want. Baseball franchises want to win games -- and if you aren't a winning team, at least a good farm system is a nice consolation. Some teams near the bottom of these farm system rankings are there because they're either winning all the time (often subtracting prospects as often as they're adding them) or have recently graduated a bunch of good young core players and are waiting on the next wave(s). Those are both great outcomes and how this is supposed to work. As you peruse (other than checking in on your favorite team), focus on the teams that don't fit this rubric: losing teams near the bottom of the farm rankings or contenders near the top. These are the two groups where general managers get fired (the former) and the clubs from which their replacements will be chosen (the latter). The Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays are seen as the gold star examples -- perennial contenders with top-tier farm systems that every team is trying to copy. The dollar amounts for each farm system come from projecting what each is expected to do using historical examples. With that, it's pretty easy to project how much they'll be paid in their six-plus cost-controlled years for that projected performance, adjust for time value of money/performance, apply the price teams pay per win on the free agent market for how much that performance is worth, and poof: each player has a dollar value. Then, you simply add up the values for each prospect and have the surplus value of the whole farm system. The latest version of these calculations was done at FanGraphs by Craig Edwards. 1. Baltimore Orioles: $373 million If I've been rolling my eyes at the Dodgers and Rays being player development machines, I should be rolling both eyes at the Orioles right now, too. They've had nearly three uninterrupted years of having both the top prospect and the top farm system in baseball. GM Mike Elias deserves a lot of praise for just the stuff below the big league level: overhauling the staff and its methods while also nailing the actual scouting and development. He's brought the best parts of the Astros' approach (while leaving the odious parts behind). His next challenge is to try to reconfigure the upper minors and big league talent to subtract a few position players and add a few starting pitchers without losing too much value. That said, this issue doesn't have to be solved internally or via trade. Baltimore's payroll is $65 million. That is the benefit of a team full of young players: You can spend the bulk of the payroll on just a few players to complement the core you've created. The Orioles could literally spend $100 million of the 2024 payroll on pitching this winter and still have a payroll that's fourth in the division and well under the luxury tax. Would Orioles fans like to add Aaron Nola, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (a 25-year-old who might be the best pitcher to come over from Japan since Shohei Ohtani), Blake Snell, Josh Hader and Jordan Hicks? Or maybe Ohtani, Snell and Yamamoto? 2. Chicago Cubs: $287 million Somewhat like with the White Sox, I wasn't sure if the Cubs reload/rebuild was going well entering this season. They spent money in free agency and made moves at the trade deadline, but it wasn't clear if the high upside sort of players they had acquired in the teardown were progressing. Now the big league team is competing a bit ahead of schedule. Pete Crow-Armstrong, a somewhat divisive player who was the return for Javier Baez, continues to tick up. Ben Brown, one of last year's trade deadline adds, is on the verge of being a big league factor, and last year's surprise first round pick, Cade Horton, might be on track to be the best pitching prospect in baseball by this time next year. We're getting close to the point where it could be tricky to fit everyone on the 40-man roster without blocking a prospect in Triple-A, while still staying competitive at the big league level. That's a nice problem to have. 3. Pittsburgh Pirates: $273 million Pittsburgh's hot start didn't last, but the Pirates are now also reaching a critical mass of young talent. But it might not be that way for much longer. The Pirates' system has been successful recently. Pittsburgh's four through nine hitters graduated in the past 12 months, as did six other players who are currently on IL. Eight of the team's 13 active pitchers also graduated with the past year. Paul Skenes, the top pick in the 2023 draft, will likely be a part of that group as soon as Opening Day next season. Termarr Johnson, Bubba Chandler, Jared Jones, Thomas Harrington, and Anthony Solometo are all potential core pieces who are outside that group but could also be in Triple-A by next season. It's just a total mess of young players with the potential to be difference makers -- all currently in the big leagues, or having just been or about to be. Sorting this group into a coherent big league roster, while still improving the talent, will dictate if this regime is seen as a success. 4. Texas Rangers: $270 million One of the most underrated stories in baseball this year is that as big-market clubs like the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox either publicly or privately state their desire to follow in the footsteps of the Dodgers and Rays and have a sustainable contending big league team with a perennially top-10 ten farm system, the Rangers very quietly appear to have done just that. They grabbed my top prospect in the draft at the fourth pick in Wyatt Langford and have the second-most exciting recent international signee (behind Ethan Salas) in Sebastian Walcott. Evan Carter could be an impact big leaguer next season, and there's about a dozen prospects behind those three who project to be at least solid big leaguers. 5. Milwaukee Brewers: $269 million The Brewers' farm is cresting, as Jackson Chourio has settled in as a top-five prospect in the sport, Sal Frelick still qualifies despite having a WAR over 1.0 in the big leagues, Abner Uribe also qualifies and is hitting 100.7 mph out of the big league bullpen, and Jeferson Quero, Tyler Black and Jacob Misiorowski are all Top 100 types. Those players could all graduate in the next 12 months, but the Brewers have been garnering acclaim in the industry for their last two drafts, particularly their late round flurry of local prep players this season. 6. Los Angeles Dodgers: $260 million As mentioned, the Dodgers are one of only a few teams who are regularly constructing multiple waves of talent, only occasionally falling out of the top 10 in farm rankings if a bunch of those players all graduate at the same time. The Dodgers had an incredible group of pitchers open the season in the Double-A rotation (Nick Nastrini, Kyle Hurt, River Ryan, Nick Frasso, Emmet Sheehan, Landon Knack) and there might be three more big leaguers on that staff that I didn't name. Nastrini went to the White Sox along in the Lance Lynn/Joe Kelly package. Sheehan showed flashes in the big leagues and the others seem to be options for next season. Meanwhile, the Triple-A staff included Bobby Miller (their second-best big league starter this season) along with two more Top 100-150 types in Gavin Stone and Ryan Pepiot. Oh, and at least their top two current prospects are position players along with three of their top five prospects that graduated this season (¯\_(ツ)_/¯). 7. Washington Nationals: $258 million 8. Tampa Bay Rays: $245 million 9. Minnesota Twins: $243 million 10. San Diego Padres: $238 million 11. Detroit Tigers: $237 million 12. Cincinnati Reds: $234 million 13. Chicago White Sox: $230 million 14. Boston Red Sox: $218 million 15. New York Yankees: $216 million 16. New York Mets: $215 million 17. San Francisco Giants: $203 million 18. Colorado Rockies: $192 million 19. Philadelphia Phillies: $191 million 20. Oakland Athletics: $182 million 21. Cleveland Guardians: $180 million 22. St. Louis Cardinals: $172 million 23. Seattle Mariners: $168 million 24. Arizona Diamondbacks: $154 million 25. Toronto Blue Jays: $153 million 26. Kansas City Royals: $107 million 27. Miami Marlins: $95 million 28. Los Angeles Angels: $87 million 29. Atlanta Braves: $79 million 30. Houston Astros: $70 million It's interesting (and maybe only interesting?) that the bottom three farm systems in baseball belong to Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos and his two former lieutenants who have moved on to run other clubs: Dana Brown in Houston and Perry Minasian with the Angels. It's not by accident that all three teams are going for it this year, and the strategy is nothing new to the Braves and Astros.
Thoughts from the last week in the minors: Nice to see Loperfido off to a good start in AAA. Nice to see Miguel Palma pick up hitting well after coming back from injury. Breakout candidate for next season if he starts out as the primary C in AA. Alberto Hernandez seems to be having an underrated season. FCL stats are usually not very meaningful but he has had a very well rounded stat line; definitly one to watch if he's assigned to Fayetteville to start 2024. Same for Juan Santander. Zach Dezenzo's k rate has steadily trended up and is now sitting at 27%; not a good development and he probably needs to start 2024 back in Corpus. Very nice small sample start for Jeron Williams in A ball. Breakout candidate next season. I'm also encouraged by the early returns on Garret Gillemette, Nehomar Ochoa, Chase Jaworsky, and Will Bush. Bummed that Cristian Gonzalez won't get meaningful time in full season ball. If he is assigned to Corpus to start next season I will have him as a major breakout candidate. I'm very encouraged by Rhett Kouba and Ryan Gusto. The AA pitching coach seems to have done a great job as lots of guys have had success there this season (Macuare, Gordon, Arrighetti, Gusto, Kouba, Robaina, Aaron Brown, Henley). Stock pointing up over the last couple weeks: Gusto, Alex Santos II, Tyler Guilfoil, Sandy Mejia, Blair Henley, Raimy Rodriguez, Michael Knorr, Manuel Urias, Luis Angel Rodriguez, Trey Dombroski Stock pointing down over the last couple weeks: Carlos Espinosa, Andrew Taylor
I am really anxious to see how many current FCL kids are assigned to Fayetteville to start next season (and how many 2023 draftees are then bumped up to Asheville). Luciano, Alberto Hernandez, Antonio Nunez, Chase Jaworsky, Nehomar Ochoa, Kenni Gomez, Anthony Huezo, Juan Santander, Will Bush, Richi Gonzalez, Fernando Caldera, and Xavier Casserilla are all relatively high ceiling prospects who have not at all been overmatched in the complex. Whichever of those guys are placed in full season ball in April will be big time breakout candidates.
That sounds like a great idea. AFL candidates: Miguel Palma Cristian Gonzalez Tim Borden Logan Cerny Jacob Melton Zach Cole Zach Daniels
Those guys are pretty good possibilities on the position player side. Daniels would probably be one of my picks. I can see Cerny going to see if he can salvage anything from a rough 2023, and Cole to see if he's for real, or at least less fake. Quincy Hamilton would've been a solid candidate, but he's done for the year. Could also throw in Tommy Sacco as a possible candidate too. Teams have been a little less reluctant to send top prospects lately, so Melton definitely fits here. The AFL would be better for Gonzalez because he's if he's thinking about playing winter ball in the Dominican, good luck with that because he's probably only gonna play once or twice if he's lucky. I forgot that everyone in the system is eligible now. As far as pitchers, you could probably send some of the Corpus guys and call it a day. Aaron Brown Julio Robaina Ryan Gusto Cole McDonald Tyler Brown Blair Henley Colton Gordon has already doubled his innings total from last season so I think they'll get him some time off. They could also send one of the 2022 arms (Blubaugh, Guilfoil, Dombroski, DeVos, Taylor) but those guys have gotten plenty of work in their first full seasons. Alimber Santa might be an interesting choice as a reliever; he's been pretty solid coming out of the bullpen for Fayetteville this year. So... I'm thinking the Astros might send these guys (I'll probably go 0-7 here): Zach Daniels Miguel Palma Cristian Gonzalez (Borden or Sacco also works here IMO) Julio Robaina Ryan Gusto Aaron Brown Blair Henley
