Jeron Williams will be starting his rehab in the FCL today. Williams, the Astros' 9th-round pick from Toledo in 2023, made it to Corpus in his first full season last year, but he ended it on the 60-day IL.
Great news. I was really really excited about him coming into the season; I didn’t know his injury was that serious. Low k rate, elite speed, defensive value, enough power to be a threat (with body type to potentially develop more). There’s a pretty big ceiling there.
Luis Baez is playing 1B in the FCL game today. It is his first game as a pro playing somewhere besides the OF. I have wondered if a position switch was the reason he has not played in AA since there was no injury reported. Houston doesn’t have a real 1B prospect so this would be a welcome change in my eyes. Baez was not going to be a good defensive OF with his body type. Hopefully when he gets back to AA he hits hits hits.
Funny thing is that a lot of baseball scouts believed he was destined to be a CF. I always found that weird looking at his body and coordination. He looked and still looks like a bat only guy to me. I know the organization talked to him about the importance of diet and muscle building. I think at this point he is really dependent on producing extra base hits, and that is a lot of stress on a player's profile. He doesn't walk - he doesn't hit for average, he doesn't play the field well and he doesn't have much speed. He does have good instincts though. I think he is going to have to really play up the power or learn to draw walks.
He is still only 21 so I have some hope he can improve his discipline and recognition and get more walks. And he’s not a terrible athlete so I think he could be viable defensively at 1B and at least not be a pure DH. But yeah his value is going to come from his ability to hit HR and doubles.
He went 2-4 with an RBI single and scored a run. German Ramirez also went 2-4 with an RBI single and scored two runs, one of which came on a steal of home.
Another signing I missed... LHP Matt Mikulski was the Giants' 2nd-round pick (50th overall) out of Fordham in 2021. The Giants released him on March 27, and the Astros signed him last Saturday, May 24. Mikulski spent the last two seasons in High-A, where he's had a tough go of it. In 37 relief appearances last year, he went 1-4 with 2 saves and a 5.58 ERA. In 59.2 innings, Mikulski allowed 39 runs (37 earned) on 56 hits (9 HR allowed), walked 41, and struck out 55.
Brett Gillis @ Rome: 5 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K Gillis, the Astros' 9th-round pick out of the University of Portland in 2022, has done very well in his return to action after missing two full seasons. Would like to see him get an age-appropriate challenge in Corpus soon, but the time he's missed is a huge red flag.
I've been calling for Baez to play 1B for a year now. His bat is only going to improve as he gets more AB's and his eye improves. From what I've read he makes hard contact. If his batting eye improves he can become like Christian Wlker without the defense. IMHO
From fangraphs 2022 write up on Mikulski: Mikulski returned for his senior year at Fordham to begin the 2021 season and saw his velocity go from average to excellent while dominating against lesser competition (a 46.8% K rate); he ultimately went to the Giants in the second round. Once topping out at 94 mph, Mikulski now sits there and above, with a 93-96 mph fastball that consistently gets into the upper-90s. He has two breaking balls but his mid-80s slider will have far greater professional utility than his slow, looping curveball, which will likely see reduced usage as his development progresses. Despite the ability to overpower hitters with the hard stuff, Mikulski also has confidence in a solid changeup that drops off the table at times. It’s an intriguing package, but with it comes fringy control and command and some questions about a delivery that features a sizable head whack and plenty of off-line momentum, leaving scouts mixed on his future role. Mid-rotation duty and high-leverage relief work are equally likely down the road, but this is a nice piece of clay to hand to San Francisco’s player dev group.
Can we all pitch in to get these minor league teams better cameras to work with? I have higher quality footage of my little league games from the 80s taken on a jvc camcorder.
No- we can't have good cameras in the minors, the more grainy the better. Ideal would look like UFO or Bigfoot photo's or videos. Minor league baseball is supposed to have an hazy sense of mystery and intrigue to it. That way it's much easier to hope and dream on a guy you've never seen before- fixing the cameras would make that all worse.
Will Bush has been crushing it. Since May 2nd, he's slashing .309/.443/.618 (175 wRC+) with 5 HRs, only one of which has come at the hitter friendly Asheville stadium. He's walking a ton and his strikeout and contact rates have improved from last year. I'm not sure if he's a good catcher, he's only caught about 10% of runners, and at 6'4" he's taller than most catchers. He does only have one passed ball in the 15 games he's caught this season. Don't think he'll ever be a top prospect, but I could see him developing into a Caratini type of offensively oriented backup catcher.
Almost posted this exact thing this morning. He’s only 21 too. If he gets to AA this season and has success he will be a real prospect. Hard to know for sure his defensive profile but from what I’ve seen/read I think he is viable back there, with solid framing, blocking, and gamecalling potential but likely a weaker arm. I think his offensive ceiling is very high and could be good enough to carry him even if he ends up at 1B.
Our catcher can literally have a prosthetic arm for all the difference it would make with our pitchers dgaf on baserunners.
