This makes tons of sense, though I hope its not because if Altuve. It does not have to be. Salazar has just rotted on the bench. On pace for 27 games and 40 PA despite on the roster all year? He was a wasted roster spot. Kessinger at least adds some value and versatility. It does close the book on using Diaz at DH but that wasn't happening anyway. I view it as Diaz finally winning Dusty over and now will start 25% (hopefully more during the dog days) of the remaining games at catcher.
Using your backup catcher at DH isn't the risk people make it out to be, worst case scenario the starter gets hurt early and you have to use the pitcher for 4 PA, 2-3 of which can be covered by a PH or double switch(remember those) But I agree, Dusty wasn't using him to DH anyway, hard to see this helping in that regard.
Pitchers making the jump from DSL to FCL: Dawil Almonte, 21 YO RHP, 5'9" 168, 40.1 IP 2.68 ERA 25.6% K% 6.3%BB Angelo Martinez, 22 YO RHP, 6'1" 155, 12.1 IP 9.49 ERA 30.8% K% 23.1%BB He's older than most and wasn't great in the DSL, so they must see something. Carlos Mateo, 19 YO RHP, 6'1" 164, 27.1 IP 2.63 ERA 28.9% K% 11.4%BB Sandy Mejia, 19 YO RHP, 6'0" 160, 40.2 IP 4.20 ERA 24.3% K% 16.0%BB Abel Mercedes, 20 YO RHP, 6'1" 185, 37 IP 5.35 ERA 34.5% K% 14.5%BB Alain Pena, 20 YO RHP, 5'1" 155, 38.1 IP 3.29 ERA 23.5% K% 12.0%BB Leomar Rosario, 19 YO RHP, 6'6" 217, 28 IP 6.43 ERA 22.7% K% 21.1%BB Didn't pitch well in the DSL, but stands out for his size and is pretty young. Wilmy Sanchez, 19 YO RHP, 5'9" 193, 34 IP 2.12 ERA 33.8% K% 10.3%BB Yeriel Santos, 19 YO RHP, 6'0" 165, 39.2 IP 2.27 ERA 24.7% K% 14.5%BB Luis Victorino, 20 YO RHP, 6'0" 167, 34.1 IP 2.88 ERA 27.7% K% 10.2%BB Hitters making the jump from DSL to FCL: Victor Diaz, 21 YO C, 5'10" 175, Yainer's brother had been cut by the Phillies and Dodgers, but hit well for the Astros. Alberto Hernandez, 19 YO SS, 6'0" 169, large bonus Cuban signee was a little below average hitter in the DSL. Good strikeout and walk rates, though. Waner Luciano, 18 YO 3B, 6'1" 170, performed pretty well in the DSL with 6HRs and solid strikeout and walk rates as a pretty young player. Alejandro Nunez, 18 YO INF, 5'10" 179, unheralded Cuban signed just before the season started hit well as a young LHH in the DSL and stole 20 bags. Luis Baez, 19 YO OF, 6'1" 205, big bonus prospect lauded for his exit velo in the DSL and hit 9 HRs Rabel Colon, 19 YO OF, 6'0" 175, struck out the most of the players coming stateside, but stole 20 bags and had more triples (8) than doubles (6) Kenni Gomez, 18 YO OF, 5'11" 185, the youngest player on the FCL roster is arguably the best prospect. He signed for a significant bonus out of Cuba and slashed .294/.402/.500 in the DSL, bringing a bit of everything to the table.
Germán Ramirez, who signed for $1.2 million on January 15, tripled in his first plate appearance as a pro.
Juan Sierra hit his first pro homer for the DSL Blue team. Sierra, a 17-year-old from the Dominican Republic, signed for $67,500 and was singled out by Ben Badler as the sleeper of this year's IFA class. Sierra doesn't have a premium position player projection, but his in-game hitting ability stood out. He has the arm strength to handle right field.
There is a lot of potential with this group - they are so young and low in the organization that they could all fade or we could get several all starts out of the group. Kenni Gomez physically changed a lot after signing with the Astros. They expect him to be over 6'0" and 210-220 LBS when he is old enough to drink in the USA. He also is an exceptional fielder because of excellent natural reflexes and jumps on the ball. He is expected to develop power when he fills out and has a high contact bat. Luis Baez is someone that a lot of teams wanted, he got a big bonus, but he would have gotten one even higher if he wasn't projected as a left fielder/1st baseman because of his size and build. He had an overall strong first season and his power will translate, fast bat with a lot of lift. The only red flags are contact and health. Kenni Gomez and Luis Baez were 2 of the 3 top hitters in DSL when it came to exit velocity and barrel rate - Gomez was #1 and Baez #3. There is no single measure to predict future success, but exit velocity has been the best measure for players that young. Waner Luciano is another player that the Astros think could be a regular with continued reasonable improvement. On the pitching side - good luck. The Astros usually complete scrap what 17-18 year olds are doing and develop long term plans that sometimes take years to come to fruition. A player can struggle through A/AA and still be someone the Astros are high on - and then click in AAA. Pitchers that have listened to the Astros (Valdez/Javier/Urquidy/Abreu) have had success, players that think they know best (Martes/Whitley) learn the hard way (Forest.... Brown is now the third GM that has tried to get you to submit to proper changes... maybe listen?).
Players to keep an eye on: Camilo Diaz: top signee in the class with superstar tools. Eduardo Perez: large bonus OF nicknamed "Aaron Judge" is 6'4" 215 as a 16 year old. Juan Sierra: under the radar OF BA named as a sleeper. Listed at 6'1" 208. Cristopfer Gonzalez: Guaranteed to mess with your auto correct, Cristian Gonzalez's little bro is 6'5" 167. German Ramirez: another large bonus signee is a twitchy SS listed at 6'0" 179 Email Valencia: bat first large bonus signee MLB ranked 21st in the class. Darwin de Leon: hit 5HRs last season in 31 DSL games after signing in late June. Raimy Rodriguez: pitched well in the DSL last year as one of the youngest pitchers on the team. Jorge Geraldo: missed 2022 with a steroid suspension, but missed bats in 2021 as a 6'6" 19 year old. There were quite a few solid pitching performers from last year's DSL that are repeating the level.
Yeah, this certainly seems to have been one of the better groups of hitters to come out of the Astros DSL teams in a while. Gaston skipped over the FCL completely, though he's struggling in A ball. Considering 3 DSL pitchers (Joses Fluery and Guedez, Amilcar Chirinos) made their 2023 debut in A ball, the pitching side might be nearly as good.
And remarkably had his first multi-walk game of his career. Last year, Baez had 2 walks in the entire month of June.
That’s amazing in low level ball. There ar root here that legit can’t hit the broad side of a barn at times where it’s almost impossible not to walk.
Alain Peña had some traffic in the 5th but he got out of it to turn in a scoreless start down in the FCL. 5 IP, 2 H, BB, 5 K
It would not surprise me if Whitcomb showed quite well in AAA since his power might play up in that league. I wonder who will be the primary SS for Corpus now; Stevens is a non-prospect while Nieves is playing way above the appropriate level. Dezenzo is the only other player with meaningful SS experience unless they still think Correa can play there.
Looks like they signed Luis Aviles as a depth move and assigned him to Corpus. He got released by the Padres' AA team a couple weeks ago and was about to head to the Mexican League before they got to him. Aviles, 28, was a 30th-round pick of the Brewers out of Southwest Miami High School in 2013. He was in their system up until 2021, when he signed with the Angels. Last year, he played in the Marlins' system. Jackson Loftin went back to Fayetteville and Rolando Espinosa went to Asheville, so I guess Stevens is SS1 at the moment. Correa was horrendous to start the year but is starting to show some signs of waking up; hopefully he doesn't get Peter principled in Corpus.
