I wonder how they handle extended spring. There are enough guys there (~70) to field 2 teams, so I’m guessing they have daily intrasquad games? Could essentially be a 2 month tryout prior to the draft. They could field very competitive TC and GCL rosters just with the guys in extended. I’m thinking they may focus on super advanced college guys in the draft and place them straight in QC (like they did with a handful of 2018 draftees: Beer, Taylor, Schreiber, Salazar, McKenna, Costes, Dawson, Hensley, Mattix, France). I am beginning to think there may be a competitive advantage to be had by doing away with the short season A team and adding a 2nd AA or full season A team. Now that they’ve established a glut of players worthy of full season assignments, it would allow them to retain and evaluate more players whose outcomes are more predictable.
Not fun for fans, but it would not surprise me to see Astros shrinking a short season team without adding another team. Travel has to eat up development time while at the same time little guarantee that you can get better position prospects to face better pitching prospects and vice versa.
I was thinking they could grab some moderate bonus high school bats to fill out the GCL. With much of the pool busting IFA class either moving to Tri-city or not worth worrying about, and not very many intriguing bats graduating from the DSL, that would seem to be a bit of a soft spot in the system. I'm not sure if they have the infrastructure in place to effectively pull that off, given the changes in the scouting department. They could also grab some injury risks early on, not expecting anything this year from them.
Agree. Right now there projects to be a big hole in the GCL infield. Plenty of arms coming up from DSL. So I could see the draft being a mix of advanced college position players ready for full season, hs/juco infielders who will fill out the GCL roster, injured college arms who won’t play until 2020, and college position players who they want to convert to pitching.
Bit of a stretch to think that Straw could learn to competently play 3B, SS, 2B, and 1B out of no where. Gaining some versatility would be nice for Straw but he will never replicate Marwin’s role. At this point in Straw’s career, I’d be ecstatic to get him playable at 1 IF position. More than that is really pushing it. His ideal role is a more versatile Marisnick if anything.
Agreed. I don't think he would need that much versatility though. If he could just add MI to his repertoire, that would be a huge bonus.
Agree. Being a capable backup SS in addition to being an elite defender at all 3 OF spots is plenty. If he could do that would really boost his value.
https://therunnersports.com/myles-f...from-the-astros-myles-straw-now-an-infielder/ For the Straw fans
This is the same front office that had Tyler White play 31 games at SS... They really don't have anything to lose
They have a logjam in the AAA OF with Ferguson back so this is just another way to get them all ABs, and it's not like he's blocking a prospect or anything by getting starts at SS.
He couldn't have done that when there were 3 Jose Hernandezes in the system? Somewhat noteworthy: JP France is slated to start game 2 for Buies Creek, so apparently the Astros will give him a chance as a starter despite him only being used in relief last season.
Anyone wanting to listen to RR games this year (like tonight when there's no Stros game) can get them at AM1300TheZone.com and apparently through iHeartRadio as well. Had a fluff piece in the Austin Statesman this morning, looking forward to some expanded local coverage this year. They've been hyping the Astros return pretty heavily.
There were four players named Jose Hernandez in the system at one point; he's the last one standing. Jose Abel (I think he was Teoscar's brother) Jose Antonio Jose Luis Jose Miguel
