That’s a pretty aggressive prediction. I think it’s only 50/50 that he starts next season in AA. Even Alex Bregman had 178 PA in High A followed by 285 in AA and 78 in AAA. If Beer starts in AA AND dominates AND they need a bat in Houston, he could be up in July of next year. But I expect him to start in AA next year, moving up to AAA in July, then to the majors sometime between August 2019 and July 2020, depending mostly on Houston’s needs. I actually don’t expect him in the majors until June 2020 (unless he’s traded).
Miguelangel Sierra hit his 11th HR tonight. Houston has 3 SS prospects with 10+ HR on the season (Mayfield, De Goti, M Sierra), plus Freudis Nova, who has 5 HR in only 35 GCL games. Jonathan Arauz has 7 HR, while Anibal Sierra has 6. So while SS is a relatively weak position in the farm, there is some ceiling there in guys who have average or better power.
JD Davis with a two homer night. Jamie Ritchie also added a homer, could he become a legit catching prospect? Brady Rodgers lit up yet again, 4.2 IP/9 H/6 R (all ER)/1 BB/7 K, ERA now up to 7.71. Time to DFA him. Also curious as to why they let go of Boshers, he had been doing pretty well IIRC. Def would have been worth keeping over Rodgers.
Brady Rodgers is coming back from Tommy John Surgery. He deserves a chance, he has been good at every level, with a respectable era at each level. Next Year I think he will be back in form. I think he is trying to trust his arm more, maybe trying to be more careful, not going all out. Be patient, Give him time and opportunity. The offseason full proper everyday workouts will be a huge comeback form for him. Francis Martes will be the same scenario with an unfortunate injury.
We'll see. Rodgers is the most expendable AAA pitcher IMO. Not to sound negative but I wrote this game off as a loss before it even started since he was the SP. Tough to see him having a future here with our pitching stacked at both the MLB level and in the minors.
At this point Boshers wasn't gonna be used in our pen this season. There is at least some reason to believe that Rodgers still may be able to develop into an adequate starter for us next season when he's fully recovered. Our starting pitching isn't quite as deep next year, so our fringe guys may be called upon. Granted he is probably next on the 40 man chopping block, but with 2 spots open there's really no need at the moment.
It's really 3 open spots because Gustave could be 60 dayed with no consequence. A 7 to 1 K to BB ratio is actually pretty encouraging I thought. The runs aren't great, but Fresno's defense isn't great, so I wouldn't worry about ERA, much less for a guy who has made something like 5 starts now since TJ. Case in point, 2 of his runs scored because Andrew Aplin doubled on a pop up to the 2B.
If he has good defensive ability and works well with pitchers, then he's on track to becoming a legit catching prospect. Hopefully he can, would be nice to get some catching depth out of our system.
http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=657739#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL His minor league career slash line is: .282 / .406 / .393 / .799 OBP is impressive. Walking is likely his only plus tool.
I have always compared Ritchie to Nolan Fontana. A guy who walks a TON and plays an up the middle position, but who simply doesn’t hit for any power whatsoever. Through 64 PA in AAA he is slugging .585, and obviously if he can keep that up he will be a big leaguer regardless of his defense. But with catchers defense is just so important. I suspect his defense is at least passable since they’ve continued to let him catch in the upper levels. For now he’s still a non prospect; 150 or so more AAA ABs will give a better idea of if he’s made some kind of improvement or if he’s just been lucky. He’s a fine 2nd catcher to have in AAA and should continue to get an opportunity, but I wouldn’t include him in any long term plans just yet.
Would be nice if there was publicly available trackman data for MiLB so we could learn how these guys perform at pitch framing, which appears to be the most valuable skill for catchers.