Awesome, I'm excited to see if Velasquez can handle the Hangar. I just hope his confidence doesn't get destroyed when (not if) he struggles.
Jeff Luhnow being interviewed by Jason Schwartz on the Lancaster broadcast right now Trying to recap it right now, but I'm only including the Astros-specific talk. On George Springer: A lot of things go into deciding whether to call a player up, and we're not ready to do that yet with George, and maybe not this year. Next year we expect him to be our every day center fielder. On the unprecedented minor league success: We're happy with our scouts and player development people. If playoffs began tonight, we'd have 6 teams in p-offs, so we're happy. Major league club: Even though our major league record is identical to last year and the year before, we really feel like the guys we have up there are ready to turn a corner. We have several pitchers under 25y/o pitching well right now, and we expect some real steps forward from those guys and others next year. Schwartz on the Jethawks: Other broadcasters often mention that the Lancaster Jethawks are difficult to face because every player is solid; no holes in the lineup. (Jeff: exactly, that's the kind of depth we want.) On Kyle Smith (from Maxwell trade): I [Jeff] had some history with Smith because I scouted him back in the day in Florida. We had actually asked for Kyle Smith before from the Royals before, but nothing ever materialized. Finally at the end of the deadline this year they called us up and said "Jeff, we know you like Kyle Smith, and though we don't want to give him up we think that's what it's going to take for Maxwell." I said absolutely, hung up the phone and called Maxwell to tell him he was traded. Kyle's a guy that doesn't wow you in the bullpen but goes out and wows you on the mound. On The Hangar in Lancaster: No, we don't worry that this ballpark is going to be hard on our pitchers. I don't see any reason to avoid sending anybody here. The reality is that there are major league ballparks that are tough to pitch in, including Minute Maid for some pitchers. When you look at any guys who make it to the big leagues, they always played in some tough parks. We want our guys to go through some adversity and succeed in that adversity. When I met with the all the pitchers here this morning, I told them that we aren't looking at their ERAs. I talk to their pitching coaches - I want to know who's leaving the ball up, who's locating their pitches well - and I look at a variety of other metrics. On using stats (like xFIP) to sort out Lancaster success: We actually don't use xFIP because we have our own internal metrics that we've created, and we're very comforftable with them - they're very predictive. We have a lot of data on all minor league players, so we're always comfortable when it comes to evaluating minor league talent. On Joe Scalafani: I'm impressed. Owner of the Tri City Valleycats told me Sclafani was his favorite player. Although eh didn't get drafted high, he has a lot of tools he can use. Sometimes these guys end up in the big leagues and help out because they can do all kinds of little things right. From talking to Morgan Ensberg, it sounds like Joe Sclafani is that kind of guy. [on comparisons to Ben Zobrist]: Yeah, I think Sclafani can run a little more than Zobrist too so he has that going for him. On Appel: I'll see him pitch next in Quad Cities, and then we may give him a start here in Lancaster as well. After that we plan to give him a very long break to rest up and prepare for Spring Training next year. On the 1.1 pick next year: We're going to have a high pick - it's pretty apparent at this point. We're not looking to get the 1.1, but it seems it will end up that way. Mike Elias already has a short list of guys we think may be candidates for 1.1. We'll just have to get out there and see what's out there.
Thought that would be much shorter. After a 1-2-3 half inning, Luhnow agreed to stick around for the next inning which, of course, lasted about 25 minutes as Inland Empire put up 4 runs.
A couple nice outings from forgotten pitching prospects tonight. Joe Musgrove with 3 shutout innings and Chris Lee with a solid 5 . If both of those guys can make it through the end of the season healthy then their prospect status will be somewhat recovered. Musgrove has one of the higher ceilings in the system so it's nice to see him finally put together some innings , even if it is at rookie ball.
Speaking of prospects, Michael Feliz is putting up some outstanding numbers. He's 19 years old at the short season NY Penn League, 6'4" 210 pounds, righty. Throws 95-97!!! Damn. 3-2, 1.69 ERA, 50k's and 7 walks in 45 innings, 1 HR allowed.
We should make that a sticky. There's the honest answer that people have been looking for. Seems like he ain't coming up this year. Cool insight on the Kyle Smith trade. Thanks a lot for recapping that, TP.
It was clear Jeff has been asked that question a lot, but he (Jeff) is really a pretty good interview. He's direct and insightful, and he never seems flustered.
Encouraging, even if the games don't really count. The "Tricky League" is an informal league where the July 2 signees get some game action against guys who are already at the academies. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Wander Franco just raking in the DR Liga Paralela (aka Tricky League) -- 281/439/438 with 9H, 3 2Bs, 1 3B in 32 ABs. 7/5 BB/K.</p>— Oz Ocampo (@OzOcampo) <a href="https://twitter.com/OzOcampo/statuses/368372552772501504">August 16, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Also, I'd like to apologize for my waywardness as of late. I'd like to join reality like the rest of the people my age. With that said.... how about a little trip down memory lane with a compilation of top 10 prospects from 1983-2000, courtesy of BA?
Speaking of reality, how about a little fantasy baseball talk. In this keeper league I am in, I pulled the trigger on trading away Starlin Castro for Pablo Sandoval and Carlos Correa. There is also a salary cap component, as we take each of the player's prior year actual contract, so although Castro is having a down year, getting a potentially stud SS for a cheap contract has a lot of value. As a huge Astros fan and Correa believer, Correa really is the prize of the deal in my opinion. Also, I had the choice of either Correa or Francisco Lindor (top 5 prospect in the game himself). I went with Correa over Lindor because a.) being an Astros fan made the decision easier, and b.) I feel like Correa will have a better offensive future than Lindor (which is all that matter in fantasy baseball anyway, although I will lose out on steals, and Lindor is closer to the Show). What do you guys think, I know the answers will be biased here, but thoughts on Correa over Lindor.
Inconsequential, but with the Tucson Padres moving to El Paso next season, the Pacific Coast League is re-aligning its divisions. OKC bids adieu to Round Rock, New Orleans, and Albuquerque. They'll be in the new American North division alongside Colorado Springs, Omaha, and Iowa.
