2018 Astros Minor League Thread

Yuli's eventual replacement might be Yordan Alvarez.

 

I thought we were no longer with Fresno, but had switched back to Round Rock?

 

The Express’ pdc with the Rangers runs through next season and it’s widely expected they’ll sign with Houston when it expires.

 

Haven’t done a reranking in awhile and will post more thoughts and sleeper picks later, but really agree with your picks.

Breakout position players: Nova, Toro, Celestino
Breakout pitchers: Martin, Solis, Bukauskas

Make or break year: Stubbs, M Sierra, A Sierra, Bostick, F Valdez

 

On breakout, Alvarez and Celestino.

On make or break, almost all the guys that made majors last year and ones tellit listed. Moran, White, and Davis all look like guys that possibly could stick as a 2nd division starter, but are going to have tough time getting PAs in Houston. Moran being the most interesting as bat to ball guys that get ball in the air sometimes are better in the majors.

Armenteros is the out of Top 10 guy that caught my eye. Looks like a guy that can help in emergency situations this year. Whitley is the Top 10 guy that just wowed me last year.

 

Riley Ferrell is a very interesting one. Getting further away from the the injury, down the stretch last season he finally started dominating like the prospect we thought we drafted.

Seems like he could be a bullpen option fairly early in the season if he picks up where he left off.

 

I am interested in seeing what Joe Perez will do in 2018. The disparity in how much more the Astros valued him in last year's draft above where he was projected has me very curious to find out who was right. My money is on the Astros.

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/eri...-chat-open-the-pod-bay-doors-please-trackman/

Who would you pick as the NL and AL Rookie of the years next year?

Eric A Longenhagen: I’ll say Robles aaaaaandd Forrest Whitley

 

Really want to see Dean Deetz turn the corner. Fastball at 95-97 in the pen with a super wicked slider. Check it out on youtube, it's insane. Needs to make the fulltime transition to the pen and hopefully get his command in line. Could be a mid season callup if some gets hurt and he stays consistent

Hopefully Ronnie Dawson puts it together this year as well. Slow starter with raw tools and a decent contact rate. I think he may be a guy to watch if he gets off to a good start.

 

Tucker has really slowed down.

 

Fangraphs has Kevin Comer listed as one of the best minor league free agent pitchers available. I was mildly surprised he wasn’t traded this year to a rebuilding team wanting to put him on their 40 man and give him a shot in their bullpen. I think he will get a shot with another team.

 

http://www.chron.com/sports/astros/...cision-to-make-on-prospect-Ramon-12360930.php

Short version:
Cionel Perez to 40-man
Laureano, tough call
Deetz, Kemmer also subject to Rule V if not on 40 man.

The V instead of the 5 is just there to get the blood flowing in the OCD people here.

 

Would expect a consolidation trade of some sort to open up some spots on the 40 (Fiers, Stassi, Kemp, P. Tucker, etc. all viable possibilities).

 

Interesting they didn’t mention Martin or McCurry, although both of those guys have blemishes that make them much lower risk to be drafted than Cionel Perez and Deetz. Kemmer is extremely unlikely to ever get a shot with Houston so it’d be fine with me if he was drafted.

 

Smart choice for him. Tigers will look almost like the Astros circa 2012(maybe not as bad given Cabrera and Fulmer). He should get an opportunity on that kind of club.

 

Good luck Kevin Comer!

 

Here is my preseason Top 30 and system comments. Grading is my own using the 40-80 mlb.com scale. There are several players on the major league roster who have still not reached their prime but are no longer considered prospects; my grades for them:

Correa 75
Bregman 70
McCullers 65
Fisher 55
Martes 55
Musgrove 55
Feliz 50
Reed 50

Top 30:
1. OF Kyle Tucker 65
2. SP Forrest Whitley 65
3. SP J.B. Bukauskas 55
4. OF/1B Yordan Alvarez 55
5. 3B Colin Moran 55
6. SP David Paulino 55
7. SS Freudis Nova 50
8. 3B JD Davis 50
9. 3B Joe Perez 50
10. SP Cionel Perez 50
11. OF Gilberto Celestino 50
12. SP Corbin Martin 50
13. SP Hector Perez 50
14. SP Dean Deetz 50
15. SP Rogelio Armenteros 50
16. 2B JJ Matijevic 50
17. OF Jason Martin 50
18. SP Jairo Solis 50
19. C/3B Abraham Toro-Hernandez 45
20. C Garrett Stubbs 45
21. SS Miguelangel Sierra 45
22. OF Ramon Laureano 45
23. SS Yorbin Cueta 45
24. SP Yoanys Quiala 45
25. SS Jonathan Arauz 45
26. SP Cristian Javier 45
27. SP Jorge Alcala 45
28. RP Riley Ferrell 45
29. OF Myles Straw 45
30. OF Ronnie Dawson 45

Other grade 45:
IF: Nathan Perry, Deury Carrasco, Chuckie Robinson, Josh Rojas, Mike Papierski, Enmanuel Valdez
OF: Drew Ferguson, Jon Kemmer, Carmen Benedetti, Stephen Wrenn, Carlos Machado, Juan Ramirez, Ramiro Rodriguez
SP: Framber Valdez, Akeem Bostick, Brandon Bielek, Elian Rodriguez, Angel Macuare, Elieser Hernandez, Brett Adcock, Patrick Sandoval, Trent Thornton, Josh James, Tyler Ivey, Peter Solomon, Kyle Serrano, Kit Scheetz, Carson LaRue, Chad Donato, Gabriel Valdez, Javier Navas
RP: Reymin Guduan, Jandel Gustave, Brendan McCurry

Still an above average system and the early returns from the 2017 draft are strong. Pitching depth is 2nd to none. Very good outfield in both top end talent and depth. The middle infield and catcher positions are very weak in the upper minors.

This front offices ability to develop prospects makes it extremely difficult to pick sleepers. Looking at the projected minor league full season rosters for next year there really isn’t any position where they don’t have a prospect that has major league potential. If I had to choose 1 sleeper (guy not in most org Top 10s) for each position it would be:

C: Toro
1B: Jake Adams
2B: Matijevic
SS: Nova
3B: J Perez
OF: Wrenn, Celestino, Dawson
SP: E Hernandez, Bielek, P Sandoval, C Martin, J Solis
RP: McCurry, Jesus Balaguer, R Ferrell

I don’t want to see Houston trade any more prospects away except for maybe from their AAA depth, but overall this system is still deep, if not as top heavy as it was 2 years ago.