Is the Orange team considered the more advanced team or are they equal and players are assigned to teams each year (possibly different ones like Trujillo was)?
I have not seen any correlation in how those rosters as assigned. I assume there is some logic involved (evening out the talent, balancing new vs old, matching players with coaches skill sets, etc.), but I don’t know exactly what it is.
Carlos Espinosa had a nice start for the FCL squad, going 4.2 IP, 4H 1R/ER, 0 BB 6Ks. Gives him 10 strikeouts to 1 walk over 7.2 innings over his first two games of the season.
Currently who are the 5 highest ceiling arms in your estimation? I have Solis, Dombrowski, Pena, Temple, & Gordan but my confidence is not high that any will reach their ceilings. I am looking at pitchers in the first two rounds of the upcoming draft.
Jancel Villarroel, Trujillo's counterpart on the other side, drove in all four of the Orange team's runs with a three-run homer and an RBI single. Villarroel was also one of the last players in the 2022 IFA class to join the Astros; he signed August 3 and was put on the Orange team's roster the next day. He's walked eight times and only struck out twice in the early going this season.
Arrighetti, DeVos, and Knorr would be my top 3 pitchers at the moment. In terms of upside... 1. Spencer Arrighetti 2. Michael Knorr 3. Jairo Solis (just surviving in AAA after going 5 years without appearing in a game is crazy) 4. Andrew Taylor 5. Nolan DeVos 6. Alimber Santa
What's the logic behind this list? Austin Temple was an UDFA senior sign that the Astros kept in complex ball until last week. Gordan and Dombrowski are lefties who throw low 90s. I guess they might start throwing harder. Is that Alain Peña? The 5'11" 20 year old with ~40 professional innings? What does he even throw? I don't doubt that these guys could potentially be great pitchers, it's just a strange list for highest upside prospects. This is a pretty solid list IMO. I'm a little down on Solis, he's currently a 2 pitch pitcher, and neither of those look special. I'd probably not quit on Whitley quite yet, and like Ullola's fastball enough to put him up there even with his struggles. I also think Enoli Paredes has some of the best stuff in the system, but have basically no hope that he'll throw strikes at this point.
He has drastically changed his body over the last year. He has gained 20-30 lbs and has seen his bat speed increase by a decent amount. Defensively it has slowed him down a little. He is a little older, but in the past it has taken him a little longer to adjust than most people. Ideally he is in AAA at the end of the season, but he is house money at this point so let's just wait and see. I don't see superstardom but I could see a Bill Spiers type career from a production standpoint - which is very good. I will wait and see on him. I am happy for his success, but I have a lot of players in front of him. He was hurt a lot by COVID and injuries. He is just really solid. He needs to stay healthy and get at bats. I think he is defensively limited, likely will be a 3rd baseman. Not a lot of power as he has moved up the system, but he really has improved his contact rate - and I suspect they will work on the launch angle down the road. Yeah - had a slow start, no doubt he was miffed not making the team out of spring training. Very hard worker, even if he rubs some the wrong way. I think the strikeout rate will be bad in the majors, but the question is will it just be bad or Zunino bad? He has some value - I would actually look at moving him at the deadline for the right type of player or players. Very, very gifted. Another guy that has worked hard on his body and now is making progress. The power is coming out and he is really good with the glove. High risk/reward candidate. Just a professional hitter - he will figure it out. He is an underrated guy with the legs and arm. If he works hard to add the right kind of weight, I think he can remain a competent fielder at a corner spot. Approach reminds me of Klesko, but Clifford is more serious with his craft. He needs to be in the big leagues soon. The situation in Cuba, followed by COVID and then the Astros putting him at SS really hurt his development. It is about time to see what he can do. He is a very high end athlete with very loud skills. Exceptional bat speed, rare arm and can run circles around other players. I question his fitness routine looking at his body, he really should be yolked by now. His success will hinge on making contact. If he stays healthy and hits 250 in the big leagues, he is likely a starter - he hits 275 and he is an all sta. The international system is extremely strong, this last class was exceptional.... the 2021 class had some surprises as well. There are so few top of the rotation pitchers - If I had to name some I would say that Jose Fluery has that potential if his control improves. He has a good combo of pitches to build off of. Let's see what they do in AAA. Arms tend to get stale for some reason.
Quincy Hamilton just hit a grand slam, so five of his six hits since joining Sugar Land have been home runs. Hamilton now has 11 homers this season.
A.J. Blubaugh @ Winston-Salem: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, BB, 6 K One run scored on a passed ball and the other run came on a groundout.
This was what Fangraphs had to say about Hamilton, who was not even in their top 38 prospects list: Hamilton was another older college draft pick in the same year as Loperfido. He’s a slash-and-dash all-fields type who doesn’t have the feel for center field. This is the takeaway blurb from MLB.com’s write up on him: Hamilton has one of the best approaches among Astros farmhands, controlling the strike zone while making consistent contact and drawing a healthy amount of walks. His left-handed swing is geared more for hitting line drives than launching balls, but he has enough bat speed and strength to generate 12-15 homers per season. He handles same-side pitchers well, adding to his usefulness as a potential fourth outfielder. So obviously nobody expected him to be a guy who is likely to hit 20+ HR per year, even in the minors. I have admittedly been pretty meh on Hamilton to now. I liked him as 40ish grade prospect who had a decent shot to be a 4th OF. And I’m not ready to go go way higher on him than that just yet, but I will say to me it looks like his body has changed significantly since he was drafted; I think it may have happened mostly during the 2021-2022 offseason and I am just now noticing it. But to me now he looks a lot more like a guy who you hope stays agile enough to play LF and keep some baserunning value but expect to hit for power, more than a guy you hope adds enough strength to hit double digit home runs. His time in AAA will be meaningful. If he can show enough power (to get to say, 25 HR total on the year across both AA and AAA), then to me his ceiling takes a jump as does his overall value. He is not a Corey Julks type of prospect, with a big swing and miss component that can’t be fixed; if Hamilton hits for power, it means he can be an everyday caliber bat because he’s already proven he’s got the contact ability for it. At that point it’s just about how good he still is defensively. Maybe a Jason Martin comp?
Drew Gilbert's last RBIs came on May 21. Since then, he's 7-54. Might be time to IL him if his elbow's still bothering him.
Shay Whitcomb hit his 16th HR of the year; now that he’s in the PCL, he could reach 30 HR this season if things go well. Unlike Hamilton, his strikeout tendencies limit his value a bit; he is more like Julks in that way, but he has a much higher ceiling than Julks given he can play SS/3B/2B.
