Fangraphs said he was sitting low 90s last year, so this could be a significant leap for him if he can maintain it. Of course striking out hitters has never been his problem...
Someone here posted a video of Ullola last year. In that video his giddyup was high 90s. He might dial it back if he is starting and trying to get to 100 pitches :shrug:
Hey, a big velo spike and some of those errant pitches out of the zone that would have been spat on previously are gonna get whiffed at instead.
Wait, the Astros cut Dauri Lorenzo?! Wasn't he a high-dollar international signing just a couple of years ago?
Yeah,and he sucked. Our international scouting has yielded very, very little fruit on the hitting side since Luhnow took over. Like, it's been astoundingly bad given how good everything else in the organization has been. We have made a few awesome trades for latin hitters.
You are mostly correct, but factoring what a small % of those guys hit anyway, and factoring in Gurriel it's not terrible. I will say, I am very optimistic about the current international guys in complex and low A.
More transactions: 60-day IL: Brett Gillis, Reimy Beltre, Cristian Gonzalez, Euris Martich Full season IL: Leomar Rosario, Danny Subero Released: Deylon Miley, Jose Nodal, Elvis Garcia That sucks that Cristian Gonzalez is still hurt. He was a high ceiling guy with some hype prior to that injury.
Some VERY aggressive placements all around and I take that as a very good sign. Off the cuff thoughts: Final bench spot in Houston is between Kessinger and Julks. Injured pitchers: Dubin, Contreras, Scott, Mushinski, Gordon, Whitley, DeVos, Chaidez, Matthews, Brockhouse, Kilkenny, Vega, Murray, Solis, Gillis Injured position players: Arias, Dezenzo, Cole, Adolph, Gittens, Machado, Nerio Rodriguez, Roilan Machandy, Hector Nieves, Cristian Gonzalez AAA thoughts: Lineup should be very good. Pitching staff very suspect but Arrighetti, Tamarez, Gusto, Coleman, and Strotman have 98+ stuff. Daniels is the only promoted position player and he may not get a lot of run with Loperfido, Hamilton, and Leon all likely in front of him. Some very surprising AA pitchers getting moved up so they should be watched closely. AA thoughts: Lineup will be weak as they only really have 2 big time prospects in Melton and Corona. Dezenzo being hurt is a blow. Their infield looks terrible. But there’s some VERY encouraging promotions on that pitching staff; Santos, Ullola, Fleury, and Knorr all have high ceilings. Keep an eye on Melendez too. High A thoughts: I really like their lineup and Matthews, Fisher, Baez, and Whitaker all have a chance to make huge leaps forward and become elite prospects. The pitching staff should be ok; Taylor, Bloss, Bellozo, and Guedez will need to carry their rotation. Foggo throws heat. A thoughts: This lineup has me super duper excited. Basically every prospect outside of Encarnacion, Sherwin, and Perez has enough ceiling to be a real prospect. Jaworsky, Luciano, Hernandez, Bush, Gomez, Carrillo, and Ochoa all are among my favorites. I predict at least one of those guys will be a consensus Top 100 guy by September. The pitching staff is very similar; they were very aggressive in their placements and several of those FCL guys have top level stuff (Mercedes). Overall I’m very very excited by these rosters outside of the AA lineup. I am sad about the number of apparent injuries. Should be another fun year.
What is the deal with Alonzo Tredwell? Not seeing him on any of the MiLB rosters or in your list of injured pitchers. Does this guy even exist?
I have zero insider knowledge but IMHO there's no rush to get this guy on a mound in full season ball. He's never pitched above 47 IP in a collegiate season. They can send him to EST for a few weeks (heck months) to work on pitch mechanics, general conditioning, etc... and still have plenty of time to get him an appropriate amount of innings. Totally spit balling here, but 80-100 IP and/or 16-20 starts would be a successful season for him. The A-ball leagues are 132 game seasons (~26 starts on a 5man rotation), so they can afford to give him some extra time in EST.