2019 Astros Minor League Thread

Wasn't he hurt?

As long as he's healthy now, this is what he should be doing as its a level he previously dominated. If he's more mentally unstable, I don't take much confidence in outings such as this, as he still will have to prove it (mentally) at the higher levels.

He's still very young, and its clear he wasn't ready (either physically or mentally) for AAA this year.

 

He had what was described as a tired shoulder. Still, having that many poor outings will weigh on anyone...especially someone that expected to be in Cleveland right now and not North Carolina in A ball. Sometimes, you just need a reminder that you're good.

 

I understand the logic. I just hope he wasn’t that down mentally that a performance like this was required.

Still remember head case Appel... who at one point did have a dominant AA performance, and everybody was excited with him being back on track.

 

The exception that makes the rule.

 

Before trade:

July 30 Whitley 5IP 1H 0R 0BB 9K, Valdez 7IP 4H 0R 2BB 11K, Javier 3IP 1H 1R 4BB 5K
July 29 Pinales 2IP 0H 0R 2BB 6K
July 28 Austin Hansen 4IP 3H 1R 4BB 7K
July 27 Yohan Ramirez 6IP 1H 1R 1BB 8K (Bielak 7IP 3H 2R 2BB 7K)
July 26 Urquidy 6IP 4H 1R 2BB 6K, JP France 7IP 2H 0R 1BB 9K
July 25 Javier 4IP 0H 0R 2BB 9K (Abreu 5IP 5H 2R 1BB 6K)
July 24 Bukauskas 5IP 1H 0R 1BB 7K, Ivey 2.1IP 1H 0R 2BB 5K, Emanuel 7IP 3H 0R 1BB 5K
July 23 Jojanse Torres 7IP 1H 0R 1BB 8K
July 22 Chad Donato 4.2IP 6H 1R 1BB 3K
July 21 Armenteros 5IP 2H 1R 2BB 6K, Yohan Ramirez 5IP 2H 0R 3BB 4K
July 20 Urquidy 7IP 2H 1R 1BB 9K, Bielak 7IP 1H 0R 2BB 7K
July 19 Abreu 4IP 2H 0R 0BB 7K
July 18 Bukauskas 6IP 7H 1R 2BB 9K, Ivey 3IP 0H 0R 1BB 2K
July 17 Paredes 6IP 3H 0R 2BB 9K
July 16 Sneed 7IP 5H 0R 1BB 7K


After trade:

July 30 Whitley 5IP 1H 0R 0BB 9K, Valdez 7IP 4H 0R 2BB 11K, Javier 3IP 1H 1R 4BB 5K
July 29 Pinales 2IP 0H 0R 2BB 6K
July 28 Austin Hansen 4IP 3H 1R 4BB 7K
July 27 Yohan Ramirez 6IP 1H 1R 1BB 8K (Bielak 7IP 3H 2R 2BB 7K)
July 26 Urquidy 6IP 4H 1R 2BB 6K, JP France 7IP 2H 0R 1BB 9K
July 25 Javier 4IP 0H 0R 2BB 9K (Abreu 5IP 5H 2R 1BB 6K)
July 24 Ivey 2.1IP 1H 0R 2BB 5K, Emanuel 7IP 3H 0R 1BB 5K
July 23 Jojanse Torres 7IP 1H 0R 1BB 8K
July 22 Chad Donato 4.2IP 6H 1R 1BB 3K
July 21 Armenteros 5IP 2H 1R 2BB 6K, Yohan Ramirez 5IP 2H 0R 3BB 4K
July 20 Urquidy 7IP 2H 1R 1BB 9K, Bielak 7IP 1H 0R 2BB 7K
July 19 Abreu 4IP 2H 0R 0BB 7K
July 18 Ivey 3IP 0H 0R 1BB 2K
July 17 Paredes 6IP 3H 0R 2BB 9K
July 16 Sneed 7IP 5H 0R 1BB 7K


In other words, 'decimated', 'depleted', 'impacted' or 'severely weakend' are not terms I would use regarding our farm system for pitching.

 

Jojanse Torres with 6 scoreless, 9k 0 bb. He’s breaking out. Throws 100. Will probably open in AA next season.

 

Updated post deadline 2020 opening day roster projections:

MLB:
C: TBD, TBD
IF: Gurriel, Altuve, Correa, Bregman, Diaz
OF: Tucker, Reddick, Springer, Brantley, Marisnick
DH: Alvarez
SP: Verlander, Greinke, McCullers, Sanchez, Peacock
RP: TBD, TBD, Valdez, Biagini, Devenski, James, Pressly, Osuna
DFA: Rodgers, Guduan, Deetz

AAA:
C: Stubbs*, Quintana, TBD
IF: Jones, Tanielu, Mayfield*, Toro*, De Goti
OF: Wrenn, Straw*, Matijevic, Ferguson, McCormick
SP: Whitley, Urquidy*, Martes*, Bielak, Perez*, Sneed*, Armenteros*
RP: Hartman, Emanuel, G Valdez, McKee, R Ferrell, E Paredes*
Extras: Ritchie, Goetzman, Bostick, Scheetz, Garza, McCurry, Blanco, J Ferrell, H Martin, Duncan, LaRue

AA:
C: Papierski, Shaver, Canelon
IF: Adams, Arauz, Pena, A Sierra, Duarte
OF: Julks, R Dawson, Stevenson, De La Cruz, Meyers
SP: Ivey, Javier*, Bailey*, Abreu*, Adcock, Donato, Conine, Y Ramirez
RP: N Rodriguez, Collado, N Hernandez, E Pinales, Scrubb*
Extras: Robinson, Angarita, Benedetti, Figueroa, Bermudez, Sanabria, DeJuneas, Henderson

High A:
C: Salazar, Manea
IF: Schreiber, M Sierra, Nova, Valdez, Wielansky, Dennis
OF: Taylor, Adolph, McKenna, R Rodriguez, Costes
P: Torres, Deason, Hansen, Dubin, Daniels, Ruppenthal, L Garcia, France, Mushinski, Castellanos, Rivera, Tejada, Freure
DL: Solomon
Extras: Castro, Marquez, Saldana, Rosado, Ceballos, J Gonzalez, Billingsly, Cabral, L Rodriguez

A:
C: K Lee, Perry
IF: A Lee, Biermann, Kessinger, J Perez, L Santana, D Carrasco
OF: Guerrero, Brewer, W Abreu, Barefoot, Stubbs
P: Solis, M Ramirez, Brown, Macuare, Bellozo, Lopez, Henley, Schroeder, Battenfield, Robaina, Bravo, Gayle, West
Extras: Campos, Holderbach, Hensley, T Dawson, Machado, Arias, Conn, Moclair, J Paulino, Pavlica, Reese, J Ramirez, Barry, McDonald, Cody, Serrano, Palmer, Casey, Horrell, De Paula, Chavez, House, Drennan

Notables in EST:
C: N Rodriguez, J Alvarez, Krabbe, Palma, Santander
IF: Cueta, Jordan, Y Martinez, C Gonzalez, Mascai, Lorenzo
OF: Barber, Nix, Cortabarria, Uceta, Rivas, Carrillo, Giron
P: Tokar, Dickey, Gusto, Lopez, Holcomb, Nodal, Jaquez, Jimenez, Subero

 

He's going to rake with the MLB ball.

 

July 31 Torres 6IP 3H 0R 0BB 9K, Emanuel 5IP 4H 0R 2BB 6K
July 30 Whitley 5IP 1H 0R 0BB 9K, Valdez 7IP 4H 0R 2BB 11K, Javier 3IP 1H 1R 4BB 5K
July 29 Pinales 2IP 0H 0R 2BB 6K
July 28 Hansen 4IP 3H 1R 4BB 7K
July 27 Y Ramirez 6IP 1H 1R 1BB 8K (Bielak 7IP 3H 2R 2BB 7K)
July 26 Urquidy 6IP 4H 1R 2BB 6K, JP France 7IP 2H 0R 1BB 9K
July 25 Javier 4IP 0H 0R 2BB 9K (Abreu 5IP 5H 2R 1BB 6K)
July 24 Ivey 2.1IP 1H 0R 2BB 5K, Emanuel 7IP 3H 0R 1BB 5K
July 23 Torres 7IP 1H 0R 1BB 8K
July 22 Donato 4.2IP 6H 1R 1BB 3K
July 21 Armenteros 5IP 2H 1R 2BB 6K, Y Ramirez 5IP 2H 0R 3BB 4K
July 20 Urquidy 7IP 2H 1R 1BB 9K, Bielak 7IP 1H 0R 2BB 7K
July 19 Abreu 4IP 2H 0R 0BB 7K
July 18 Ivey 3IP 0H 0R 1BB 2K
July 17 Paredes 6IP 3H 0R 2BB 9K
July 16 Sneed 7IP 5H 0R 1BB 7K

 

Where are the following guys?:

Dauri Lorenzo: I thought he was a "50" on MLB.com. That should put him firmly in the Astros' top 5 prospects.

Cal Stevenson: Received from the Blue Jays today, he was listed as a "45" in Toronto's top-30 earlier today. Surprised he's not in the top 20 for Houston now.

Rainer Rivas / Raider Uceta: Received from the Angels today, these are a couple of 18-year-olds. They were not on the Angels' top-30, so I think it's safe to assume they are not going to register here. Still, a couple of lottery tickets for a guy (Max Stassi) who wasn't long for the major leagues isn't too shabby.

 

Why would you worry about them before next spring?

 

Our prospect organizational ranking is gonna take a hit this season, but our 4 best prospects coming into the year were Whitley, Tucker, James and Alvarez. We still have all 4 if them.

That's pretty damn big IMO.

 

It is. Graduation was expected to hit the farm ranking Hard this season. The only hope was that several prospects would step up into that top tier. Beer was really the only one who did, although I would argue Toro is underrated. Nova didn’t hit quite enough, McKenna had kind of a lost year, and most of the pedigreed pitching prospects (Abreu, Ivey, Schroeder, etc.) struggled or were injured. They were also dealt a mild blow when Keuchel wasn’t signed prior to the draft, as they lost a 2nd round pick.

The depth of this system is still really good, probably Top 10 in the league. But the top end talent is all but gone. Other than Tucker and Toro, I don’t see a single position player prospect I would peg as on track to be an everyday player. And although there are tons of potential good big league pitchers, other than Whitley I wouldn’t bet on any of them to be better than #4s or closers.

The good news is they are essentially in the same spot going into next season as they were this season. Lee, Nova, Pena, Kessinger, Toro, J Perez, Brewer, Barber, Bielak, Ivey, Abreu, Donato, Torres, Garcia, Rivera, and Solis all will be in position to end next year as Top 100 prospects if they build on 2019 with a great 2020 season.

We know there are no Correa/Bregman/Cole/Verlander level prospects in this system (aside from Tucker and Whitley). But there are probably quite a few Urquidy/Straw level guys there.

 

We didn't have an Alvarez until we had an Alvarez. Did he even make it to a top 100 list before he became Rookie of the Year?

 

We didn’t have a guy who was hitting .318 with 20 homers in AAA playing multiple positions and coveted by multiple teams in our top 30 either. It’s not about potential, it’s about performance, and many of our unranked prospects are performing, also witnessed by the surge in wins in the farm system lately.

Traditional ranking systems are predominantly based on performance prior to acquisition, much less on their development since. The Astros are all about the latter. This is why our farm teams keep winning and team stats keep leading while our prospect rankings may drop.

Most ranking systems never acknowledged Rojas as even a prospect, but other teams sure did.

 

I disagree with this. I think depth is the reason Houston’s farm teams have a high winning %. Top 100 and Top 30 lists don’t pick up on 3rd tier depth: the volume of 35-45 grade guys that won’t be in an org’s Top 30 but will make up the majority of everyday players on full season rosters. This is where Houston still has an advantage over most other farms.

I suspect other orgs pick up on guys like Rojas before the ranking systems because they have more resources to do so, so there is a lag, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Rojas was traded shortly after he started showing up on all the lists.

 

Guys like Rojas and Beer typically have not been traded by Astros this early as I expect other teams aren't as quick to adapt as Astros, the past few years (i.e., ranking systems aren't the only ones that have had lag historically). Beer and Rojas being in this trade makes me think more teams (well at least Arizona) are adjusting quickly which isn't good in the long run for the Astros.

 

Beer was a 1st rd pick. That along with his numbers would have teams looking closely at him since he was drafted.

And Rojas had stellar numbers in the upper minors. Any player who hits well in AAA is going to be on everybody’s radar.

It’s the Urquidy’s and Abreu’s that are Houston’s competitive advantage. Guys whose statistics and pedigree would not indicate they are a top prospect. If there are position players like that, it’s guys like Taylor Jones, Bryan De La Cruz, and Jake Meyers (although Jones is known commodity now that he’s raking in AAA).