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2020 Astros Minor League Thread

Discussion in 'Houston Astros' started by tellitlikeitis, Dec 15, 2019.

  1. Buck Turgidson

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    Or he's the 4/5th OF on a great team?
     
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  2. Joe Joe

    Joe Joe Go Stros!
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    If he regresses, sure. If he continues to get on base nearly 40% of the time, stealing 2nd 20% of the times he's on 1st, and playing good/great defense, he's a starter.

    So far he's been a very patient hitter with elite bat to ball skills (he only strikes out 30% of the time with two strikes). Basically, he forces pitchers to throw strikes or he walks. If they do throw strikes, he forces defenses to make plays against a speedy runner. Only guy last season in majors with a comparable plate discipline and contact skills was Bregman. Not sure if Straw can maintain this as he doesn't have the pop of Bregman.
     
    #182 Joe Joe, Mar 6, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2020
  3. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    Or that
     
  4. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    Astros likely getting Brandon Bailey back from the Orioles, unless another team claims him to their 26 man. Would be really nice to go ahead and get Arauz back too.

    Houston has a real glut of pitchers in the upper levels. Right now I count 42 pitchers who should be slotted in AA or AAA. A handful of those are likely hurt, and their are probably a few fairly obvious release candidates, but there’s at least 10 guys who still have life that they just don’t have room for. Will be interesting to see if they’re able to convert that surplus value.
     
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  5. Nook

    Nook Member

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    The Astros are happy with his power development. Personally I question his feel for hitting like I did Marisnick and I do Tucker... but if Straw starts hitting with more extra base authority he goes from an extra spot player to an all star. I’ll bet on him never hitting well enough but it isn’t absurd to take the over.
     
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  6. Nook

    Nook Member

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    He drives the ball and he will be a hell of a lot more than that... but I’ll believe it when I see it.
     
  7. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    https://www.mlb.com/news/2020-farm-system-rankings

    Astros farm ranked 28th by MLB.com. It seems to now be the consensus that they are firmly in the bottom 10 of the league. I disagree; they certainly lack the elite top end talent of most other farms but their depth is still good and there are probably only a dozen or so other teams that I would trade Houstons farm for, although I wouldn’t argue against Houston being ranked as low as 22, as I think they should rank somewhere in the 14-22 range.
     
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  8. Joe Joe

    Joe Joe Go Stros!
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    Whether 15th or 24th or even 28th...the difference really isn't that big. The difference from 10 to 30 is about 10WAR spread out over a 9-10 year period. Considering the error in prospect grades, all it takes is one guy being an average player for six years to make up the difference. I expect the Astros are a little better than the rankings are showing as Astros tend to have guys they don't like (high floor guys that may not flashy tools that make scouts think they have low ceilings), but a lot of those guys are close to graduating.
     
    #188 Joe Joe, Mar 10, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2020
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  9. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    De La Cruz rapidly moving up sleeper lists. If he can convert his power into HR he will be a really good hitter. Ceiling is limited due to being a corner OF but he has everyday potential if he can become a 20+ HR guy.
     
  10. awc713

    awc713 Member

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    I wonder how the NCAA baseball’s shutdown will affect the draft. Maybe it actually helps HOU’s chances of nabbing some decent players?
     
  11. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    Smaller sample in college season means less certainty of who is better. Potentially granting add’l eligibility means draft might be slightly weakened by some players going back to school.
     
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  12. Joe Joe

    Joe Joe Go Stros!
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    It could mean fewer college pitchers blowing out there arms trying to pitch too many innings if college coaches still do that.
     
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  13. No Worries

    No Worries Contributing Member

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    Additional eligibility will be good for college players but bad for next year’s incoming freshman.
     
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  14. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    It would definitely have a multiyear impact, but overall I think it would be minimal. There would probably be very little impact on the top players. The real difference would be that a lot of NCAA Juniors who might’ve had a chance to move up into the top few rounds might come back to school if they are granted another year of eligibility (essentially making them all RS Soph). This would likely advantage analytical teams like Houston who could identify top college players via small samples of track man data rather than larger NCAA stat lines or in game scouting reports.
     
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  15. Buck Turgidson

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    Is Wayne Graham still at Rice?

    I kid. I was really enjoying watching the UT team this year. Gonna miss the ping.
     
  16. prospecthugger

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    This will probably have the biggest impact on the MLB draft. There are no senior signs, which make up most of the picks after the 10th. It could especially hurt the Astros who might have a harder time going overslot to make up for their low draft position.
     
  17. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Contributing Member

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    no, but his former pitching coach is now Texas’ head coach!
     
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  18. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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  19. Buck Turgidson

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    Didn't see this posted:

    MLB could skip draft; service time big issue

    Major League Baseball is considering skipping its amateur draft this year and putting off the next international signing period as a way to preserve cash while games are affected by the new coronavirus, people familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press.

    Talks between management and the players’ association are ongoing and include the contentious issue of major league service time, which determines eligibility for free agency and salary arbitration. MLB has proposed crediting full service for 130 games or more and proportional service for a shorter season, the people said on condition of anonymity because those details have not been made public.

    The union has taken the position that a full season of service should be credited even if no games are played, one of the people said.

    more here: https://apnews.com/f2b92a64f9d1aaa9737ebafe36c53a10

    and here: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...draft-to-save-money-during-covid-19-shutdown/
     
  20. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    Fangraphs released Tampa’s prospect list. Interesting to me because of Click but also because it’s one of the top farms in the league despite Tampa being consistently competitive.

    The thing that stands out to me is that of their Top 12 prospects, 6 were first round picks, another was a 2nd rounder and another a 3rd rounder (the other 4 are international signees).

    There’s no secret formula here: draft well in the 1st round, don’t trade them away, and get lucky on the international side.

    Houston only has 2 first round picks in their system (Whitley and Lee); their farm has suffered from trades (Bukauskas, Beer) and fast promotions (Bregman, Tucker), and they haven’t had the advantage of being able to trade major leaguers for other teams’ first round picks.

    They’ll need some luck, but the important thing to remember when looking at these system rankings is that the difference between the top system and the bottom system is likely only a dozen or so players, and the difference between a bottom 10 system and a middle 10 system is probably only 2-3 players.
     

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