Cole’s ops is over 1000 since May 1. I assume they’ll make him stay in Fayetteville until his k rate comes down, but at that level of production it’s hard to justify not promoting him.
Luke Berryhill hit his 5th HR of the season for Sugar Land tonight. He’s shown some signs of life with a 910 ops in June. Still striking out too much but I could see him getting some time as a backup in the big leagues (very likely with another team).
GCL/FCL Astros players with 6+ home runs, all-time: Wes Clements, 1980 (Orange team) Glenn Davis, 1981 (Orange team) Paulino Garcia, 1982 Eric Anthony (10), 1987 Roberto Alleyne (7), 1996 [The Astros suspended their GCL team until 2009] Jose Solano, 2013 Freudis Nova, 2018 Rolando Espinosa, 2022 (Orange team) Luis Baez, 2023 - today is his 10th game at the level, so he's probably on pace for 35 homers if he stays there for the rest of the summer
Well, one thread has to be the sane space in this section. Jacob Melton and Ryan Clifford both hit solo shots in the 9th to break a 2-2 tie in Asheville's favor. They both hit their 9th home runs. Miguel Ullola walked three and struck out five over five hitless innings to get the win.
Jacob Melton batting stance is similar to Luis Gonzalez Former Astro. Luis Gonzalez has hit 50 Home Runs for the Diamondbacks in a Career Season
Dubin seemed pretty solid his last appearance. Up to 96 on his fb and only gave up 3 hard hit balls on 62 pitches. For a long time I thought Dubin could be an elite reliever like a righty Josh Hader. I have come down off that since he got hurt and hasn’t recovered all of his velo and has had very middling results, but I still think he can be a solid low leverage reliever or spot starter.
Pretty sure Gonzo and Cammi used the same formula for their post Astro batting success. Maybe even the same syringe at times.
Nolan DeVos vs. Columbia: 4.2 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 8 K Zach Cole hit his 10th home run of the season. Cole has probably done enough in his 350 plate appearances there to warrant a move up to Asheville, but he's also been the Fayetteville offense for most of this season, so he might be stuck there until after the draft, or if they think Luis Baez is ready after 10 FCL games.
Bat looks kinda slow there. He has good speed and obviously has some power. But I’m skeptical he will keep up with upper level or big league pitching.
Fayetteville’s offense has started to wake up. In addition to Cole, who has hit from the beginning, 6 other guys have an ops over 700 this month: Garrett McGowan, Dauri Lorenzo, Luis Encarnacion, Ricardo Balogh, Narbe Cruz, and Jackson Loftin. Sandro Gaston is really the only guy who I think is obviously overmatched; he should probably be sent back to the complex. But Lorenzo, Encarnacion, Balogh, and Cruz are interesting prospects worth tracking to see if they’ve adjusted.
Lefty Batters CF Drew Gilbert OF Jacob Melton OF 1B Ryan Clifford OF Zach Cole Special Players, Dana Brown better not Trade Them, I would rather lose out the Season instead of trading Astros Future Prospects.
It is interesting how many of Houston’s best position player prospects are lefty hitters: Gilbert, Melton, Clifford, Loperfido, Barber, Dirden, Kenny Gomez, Will Wagner, and Quincy Hamilton are all among Houston’s top 30 prospects; of course, all except Wagner are primarily outfielders.
