I thought they might be more aggressive with Jairo Solis, but I guess he & Whitley are going to get to know each other a bit better in Florida.
Initial thoughts: AAA: overall a good roster and no huge surprises. A lineup built around Tucker, Reed, White, Kemp, and Kemmer should score plenty. Rotation of Martes, Paulino, Armenteros, Thornton, and Emanuel should be better than most. The bullpen is fairly weak but will be a lot stronger once Gustave, Hoyt, and Deetz return. AA: also a decent overall roster. Alvarez is the only top prospect but Straw, Birk, Tanielu, Wrenn, and Benedetti all have breakout potential. Pinales is a surprise so he’s one to watch. Rotation will obviously get a big boost when Whitley returns, but Quiala, Bostick, Dykxhoorn, James, Perez, and Valdez are all upside guys. I’d expect Ferrell to get promoted to AAA fairly quickly. MIA: Ryan Thompson, Nick Hernandez, Angel Heredia, Eduardo De Oleo High A: pretty weak lineup. Dawson, Sieber, and Toro are the only 3 guys I expect to have immediate offensive success. Toro could make a big jump in stock. Their rotation should be dominant; Martin, Alcala, Perez, Bielak, Adcock, and Bailey are all breakout candidates. Belaguer could be a very good reliever and move up fast. MIA: Gabriel Valdez, Jose Hernandez A: potential very weak lineup. Arauz and Matijevic are the only real prospects, although I like Papierski quite a bit and Julks and Meyers have upside. Disappointed MiguelAngel Sierra didn’t make the cut. The rotation will be stellar; tons up upside in the staff top to bottom, led by Bukauskas. Good to see Solomon assigned to full season. MIA: Kyle Davis, Colton Shaver, Kyle Serrano, Hunter Martin, Alex House, Matt Ruppenthal, Juan Robles, Enoli Paredes, Ed Sandoval, Brendan Feldman, Ian Hardman To me the most remarkable thing is how much talent is staying in Florida: C: Perry, Castro, Campos IF: Sierra, Nova, E Valdez, Sanchez-Galan, Matute, J Perez, Carrasco, Davis OF: Machado, Celestino, H Martinez, R Rodriguez, J Ramirez, Rafael, Santana, Abreu, LaCroix P: Solis, Serrano, Ruppenthal, Hernandez They should be able to take a higher measure of risk in the June draft since the short season rosters would be pretty good even if they didn’t add anyone.
I'm pretty sure Nick Hernandez got injured. Given the praise Ruppenthal got, I was surprised to see him missing, and suspect that might be injury related as well. Overall the Astros stick true to form of not being very aggressive with opening day assignments, with Benedetti, Toro, and Mathis being the only guys really on my radar that surprised me by their advanced placement. Bukauskas, Bailey, and Ferrell are all a level below what I expected, and I thought Dawson had a shot at Corpus as well. I expect you could see some pitchers move up levels pretty early in the season.
Draft picks not listed on any full season roster: 2014: 19: C Ruben Castro 23: RHP Ryan Thompson 2016: 1: RHP Forrest Whitley (suspended) 8: RHP Nick Hernandez (likely hurt) 11: RHP Chad Donato (injured last year) 36: RHP Ian Hardman 2017: 2: 3B Joe Perez (young; injured last year) 5: C Nate Perry (young) 10: RHP Kyle Serrano (injured last year) 12: OF Jon LaCroix 14: OF Carlos Diaz (young) 15: IF Kyle Davis 17: RHP Matt Ruppenthal (likely hurt) 18: LHP Tim Hardy 20: RHP Hunter Martin 24: RHP Alex House 29: OF Andres Santana (young) 34: LHP Noel Pinto 37: RHP Matt Merrill (young) 39: IF Colton Shaver
The 2015 draft sure sorted itself out pretty quickly. Only 10 guys remain in the system. One in the majors (Bregman), 4 in AAA, 4 in AA, and 1 in A ball (P Sandoval).
My guess at everyday lineups: AAA: 2B Kemp C Stubbs RF Tucker 1B Reed 3B White DH Kemmer SS Mayfield CF Ferguson LF Garcia Bench: Federowicz, Nunez Pretty stacked. When Gurriel comes back Garcia will move to the bench and be replaced by Davis or Fisher. AA: CF Straw 2B Birk DH Alvarez LF Benedetti 3B Tanielu RF Wrenn 1B Jones C Ritchie SS DeGoti Bench: Quintana, Cesar, Michelena I like it. Not high on Jones or DeGoti but every other spot looks solid to me. High A: SS Duarte 2B Rojas 3B Toro LF Dawson 1B Sieber C Robinson DH Mathis CF McCormick RF Payano Bench: Sierra, Trompiz, Canelon I like this roster more after seeing it like this. If one of the SS breaks out at leadoff it will really deepen the lineup. Still, significant downside here. A: CF Julks SS Arauz LF Matijevic C Papierski 1B Adams RF De La Cruz 3B Tovalin DH Garcia 2B Almonte Bench: Bohanek, Meyers, Bracamonte Again, I like this roster more after looking at how the batting order might shake out. Wide range of upside/downside.
Alvarez in AA is understated. He could go bonkers and deserve an MLB shot like Bregman. Tucker being near MLB has overshadowed him. I wouldn't expect it though it is possible. As I'm not a big Gattis, I can hope though.
Buies Creek has the most interesting pitching staff to me. So much upside between Adcock, Bielak, Martin, Perez, LaRue, etc. Should be fun to track.
Minor League Opening Day is tomorrow! Here are the Opening Day starters for each club: Fresno: Mike Hauschild @ Reno, 8:35 CT Corpus: Framber Valdez @ Northwest Arkansas, 6:25 CT Buies Creek: Jorge Alcala @ Salem, 6:05 CT Quad Cities: Patrick Sandoval vs. Cedar Rapids, 6:35 CT
Starters set so far: Fresno: Hauschild Thornton Martes Armenteros (presumably Paulino, but that's not been announced) Corpus: Valdez Dykxhoorn Quiala Bostick Perez Buies Creek: Alcala Perez LaRue Bailey Martin Saldana Alcala Bielak LaRue Quad Cities: Sandoval Ivey Ramirez Javier Bukauskas
I'll use the following link Thursday to follow the minor league games. http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?cid=&lid=&org=117&sc=&sid=milb&t=affiliate&ymd=20180405 Any other links as good?
MLBFarm.com http://mlbfarm.com/index.php?team=HOU new look: https://www.mlb.com/astros/prospects/stats/affiliates
Baseball America has their top tools in the minors list. Bukauskas was given the #2 breaking ball, Whitley the #5 Changeup, and Stubbs was mentioned for catcher defense, but wasn't top 5.
He's on DL, but is close to starting to throw off a mound. Rehab should take him to midsummer before back on a team.
