Spoiler: Snake Diggit's June Astros Prospect Rankings Rank. Pos Name Grade Opening Day Rank Note CF Jacob Melton (1) 55 Not a breakout year so far but not necessarily disappointing. SS Brice Matthews 50+ (7) Strong comeback from injury; AA sample too small to judge. P Jake Bloss 50 (15) Already called up, they obviously like him. CF Pedro Leon 50 (5) A delayed breakout; k rate <25% and hitting for power. Do not trade him. OF Luis Baez 50 (8) Mildly disappointing season but he's only 20. 3B Zach Dezenzo 50 (4) Finally back from injury, sample too small to really change his outlook. P AJ Blubaugh 50 (HM) Hasn't stayed dominant in AAA but still looks like a solid potential #3 SP. P Miguel Ullola 45+ (17) Very high upside, needs to work on reducing walks. P Colton Gordon 45+ (24) Not a breakout but looks like a future MLB contributor. P Alonzo Tredwell 45+ (18) He's a guy with middling early numbers but who is going to get a long leash and could take awhile. SS Shay Whitcomb 45+ (HM) He's been one of the most productive hitters in all of AAA. IF Will Wagner 45+ (12) still not hitting for a lot of power but rarely strikes out. Too bad he doesn't have much defensive value, future bench bat. SS Chase Jaworsky 45+ (13) Slumped a bit in June but I really like the early returns, not quite a massive breakout, but looks like a legit prospect who just needs the power to develop without losing a step CF Zach Cole 45+ (HM) One of many elite power/speed combo guys in the system, Rough last couple of weeks in AA. CF Kenedy Corona 45+ (6) Very disappointing season so far, power outage, I still have hope P James Hicks 45 (HM) Fast riser right behind Bloss, already in AA P Julio Robaina 45 (HM) probably the prospect I think is most underrated by the pros, he has looked very good this year P Alex Santos II 45 (11) I was super stoked when he was assigned to AA but he's been hit hard, walked too many guys, and has had some bad luck. Still only 22 and I think the stuff is still there so could break out at any time. P Alimber Santa 45 (HM) Huge stuff getting a taste of AA in order to evaluate him prior to deadline and Rule 5 eligibility P Forrest Whitley 45 (25) Always hope, still sitting high 90s OF Nehomar Ochoa Jr. 40+ (14) Super high ceiling and I'm very encouraged that he is holding his own and more in A ball, but being limited to a corner OF he is striking out too much to be a lot higher on this list. IF Jacob Amaya 40+ (NR) He hasn't hit for much power but otherwise his numbers look good and he has value on defense and on the bases IF Jeron Williams 40+ (HM) breakout guy already in AA and has speed, contact skills, and defensive value, with enough power to keep pitchers honest; could rise fast over rest of this season IF Pascanel Ferreras 40+ (NR) outta nowhere dominated high a then hasn't been overmatched in AA; I was probably to hasty to rank him so much higher last month but he's still a legit prospect to watch. CF Kenni Gomez 40+ (20) He might be ranked way too low; big ceiling and I'm encouraged that he's holding his own in A ball, but he is not hitting as well as I hoped he would. P Andrew Taylor 40+ (26) I liked what he was showing in Asheville but then he got hurt; not sure how serious it is. P Jose Fleury 40+ (16) Not striking out enough AA hitters but has been fairly productive and is only 22. P Ethan Pecko 40+ (HM) P Ryan Gusto 40+ (10) Had a great bounceback in June, may have figured something out; rich man's Bielak P Trey Dombroski 40+ (HM) There are 2 dozen pitchers and another dozen position players you could swap in here; I think Dombroski could end up looking way better in AA than he does in High A. Honorable Mention: C: Miguel Palma, Collin Price, Luke Berryhill, Luis Encarnacion, Victor Diaz, Will Bush, John Garcia, Juan Santander, Jancel Villarroel; Price's time is now if ever now that he's in Corpus; big jump for Villarroel and he's looked great so far in A ball. IF: Jesus Bastidas, Yamal Encarnacion, Sandro Pereira, Waner Luciano, Alberto Hernandez, German Ramirez, Camilo Diaz, Ryan Johnson, Alejandro Nunez, Austin Deming; Camilo Diaz could be ranked a lot higher but I don't like the k's even in the complex and he's looking more like a 3B than SS, otherwise a very middling group of guys barely on the radar. OF: Colin Barber, Cesar Hernandez, Quincy Hamilton, Esmil Valencia, Tyler Whitaker, Luis Rives, Logan Cerny, Anthony Huezo, Oliver Carrillo, Cam Fisher; Hamilton is a AAAA player, I really like Valencia but we'll have to wait a year on him and Rives and Huezo, Whitaker/Cerny/Fisher are power/speed/strikeout guys who are striking out too much to get out of High A. P: Bryan King, Luis Angel Rodriguez, Amilcar Chirinos, Logan VanWey, Antony Aparicio, Aaron Brown, Yeriel Santos, Alain Pena, Wilmy Sanchez, Jose Guedez, Joey Mancini, Michael Knorr, Nolan DeVos, Drew Strotman, Ray Gaither, Raimy Rodriguez, Derek True, Luis Contreras, Abel Mercedes, Rhett Kouba, Misael Tamarez, Colby Langford, Alejandro Torres, Blair Henley, Edinson Batista, Jaime Melendez, Cesar Gomez Graduated: Joey Loperfido (2), P Spencer Arrighetti (3) Fell off: OF Colin Barber (9), OF Tyler Whitaker (19), IF Camilo Diaz (21), P Abel Mercedes (22), OF Cesar Hernandez (23), P Jaime Melendez (27), C Will Bush (28), P Drew Strotman (29), C Miguel Palma (30) Next month will likely look way different because of the draft and trade deadline. The AA lineup's July performance will have a big impact on how Houston's farm system looks.
Tredwell is the definition of a late-bloomer prospect. He's already surpassed his career high in innings pitched. i think it's probably better for his ultimate development to fly under the radar for as long as possible. He's got the kind of stuff where when it clicks, he'll move fast. So for now he just needs to get his innings in and work on as much stuff as he can.
Imagine having a disappointing season because you are 11th in your league in OPS while being younger than the 10 guys ahead of you (granted one is only a month older). The lack of walks does suck though.
I assume you’re talking about Baez, and the question would be how many of the guys in front of him are limited to corner OF or 1B? Baez being very limited in how much defensive value he will have means he has to absolutely crush minor league pitching to project as a good everyday big leaguer.
My Astros prospect ranking: 1. Matthews 2. Dezenzo 3. Bloss 4. Baez 5. Ullola 6. Whitcomb 7. Wagner 8. Melton 9. Leon 10. Blubaugh 11. Jaworsky 12. Ochoa 13. Gordon 14. Cole 15. Santa Next 5: Hicks, Jeron Williams, Tredwell, Kenni Gomez, Pecko I used to be high on Kenedy Corona but I've lost hope for him.
He's been a monster at the plate for the past month. Not walking enough, but destroying the baseball. Hoping the poor BB:K ratio this season is only temporary. Conditioning is a big long-term concern, but I'm very happy overall with his season.
Don’t get me wrong, I like him (he is 5th on the list I posted above), but coming into the season I was hopeful he would have a major breakout and post absolute monster numbers in Asheville, to the point where he’d be a consensus mlb top 100 type of prospect and project as a cornerstone type of player. He hasn’t done that, but he is still a valuable prospect. He is actually outhitting what Yordan did in High A: High A wRC+ for bat-only prospects who panned out: Vlad Guerrero Jr.: 179 (age 18) Yordan Alvarez 102 (age 20) Matt Olson 145 (age 20) Brandon Belt 180 (age 22) Kyle Schwarber 166 (age 21) Pete Alonso 157 (age 22) Marcell Ozuna 127 (age 21) Baez is at 129 (age 20). Actually after looking at this, Marcell Ozuna might be a great optimist’s projection for Baez.
Jancel Villarroel (age 19) will cross the 50 pa threshold this week; he has a 12% k rate and a 187 wRC+ going into today. Here is the list of teenage catchers in A ball with a <20% k rate and >120 wRC+, since 2006: Francisco Alvarez Wil Myers Jesus Montero Chance Cisco Gabriel Moreno Travis D’Arnaud Hank Conger Keibert Ruiz Bryan Anderson Edgar Quero (fangraphs #63 overall) Moises Ballesteros (fangraphs #77 overall) Josue Briceno (FG Detroit #12) Edward Duran (FG Toronto HM) If you bump it up to a wRC+ of 150, you only get Alvarez, Myers, and Quero.
Juan Sierra with a walk-off blast for the DSL Blue team this morning: https://www.instagram.com/stories/d...ig_story_item_share&igsh=MTR3ZGk4aWs2YnVqaA== (it's an Instagram story) Sierra now has 4 home runs this season, which matches his total from last year. He's taken a big leap forward offensively, which should be good enough for him to come stateside next season.
If Chas can be an everyday LF then I'm not worried about Baez. He's got a good arm too. LF in MMP should be easy, fo Baez to master.
You’re probably right, but at only 19 and already weighing 10 lbs more than Stubbs, I am optimistic he can hit for a lot more power than Stubbs; Villarroel’s babip’s in the minors have been pretty high which might indicate he’s hitting balls hard, something Stubbs doesn’t/didnt do.
Jancel Villoreal with another 3-4 day with a double and a walk. I see that he's only 5-8, but his hitting profile is crazy good so far.
Why is that? I know absolutely nothing about him other than being short, but Stubbs never hit like this, not even close. Is he a complete zero athlete or something?
That's it? I would think Astros fans would know better than anybody to cap a guys potential just because of size. Dunno what his future holds, but the offensive results are sexy AF right now. A 19 year old with more walks than Ks and hitting for extra bases.
