I would have thought Berryhill would have been on there.
Chandler Rome with some reporting on a number of players…
Signed for $75K two years ago at age 16, Santa reached the FCL last year. Furthermore…
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…his pure stuff is perhaps some of the nastiest in camp. General manager James Click, farm director Sara Goodrum, manager Dusty Baker and major league pitching coaches Bill Murphy and Josh Miller sat among a large crowd watching Santa’s first live batting practice session Wednesday. Most left impressed with what they saw. Santa sat 96-97 mph with his four-seam fastball, threw a few changeups in the high 80s and showed feel for both his big, bending curveball and a new slider he added in instructional league last year.
Papierski was on the taxi squad for last year’s postseason and with Garrett Stubbs traded to Philly might be the catcher called up this season if injuries occur to Maldonado or Castro. Article doesn’t say much other than what we knew: good defense except when it comes to throwing out runners, good plate discipline but lacks pop.
Cerny (acquired for Stubbs) played catcher in HS before moving to OF while at Troy. Rome reports…
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He fits the projection of many Astros outfield prospects: tooled up, raw and with some pop. Cerny turned heads in minicamp with some of his exit velocities and aggression on the basepath. Cerny is listed, generously, at 6-1, 185 lbs. One look at him suggests the weight is far lower — a fact the Astros intend to change. “They want to put some pounds on me,” Cerny said. “I’m a little skinny, but I’ve got some good tools. They’ve been just pushing me to gain weight, eat a lot."
I wasn’t surprised because my understanding is he’s not considered a good defensive catcher. And if he moves off the position then he’s a first baseman. And while the bat is certainly good it’s not the elite level that’s really going to turn heads as a 1B prospect. Hopefully the defense improves dramatically this year and he proves the prospect gurus wrong.
This. From what I’ve read, his value going forward is more of a utility role, which as you’ve noted is an emerging theme in the Astros’ player development.
BA came out with their full list including an additional 10 players:
- OF Logan Cerny
- RHP Jose Alberto Rivera
- RHP Joe Record
- RHP Jonathan Sprinkle
- RHP Misael Tamarez
- OF Justin Dirden
- OF Corey Julks
- RHP Alimber Santa
- 1B JJ Matijevic
- C Scott Manea
Santa slays…
MLB Pipeline came out with their Astros Top 30 Prospects list today. Using the Baseball America list, the numbers in bold are where players fell on the MLB Pipeline list:
- C Korey Lee (2)
- SS Jeremy Pena (1)
- RHP Hunter Brown (3)
- OF/SS Pedro Leon (4)
- 3B Joe Perez (9)
- RHP Alex Santos (10)
- RHP Tyler Ivey (20)
- RHP Jaime Melendez (15)
- OF Tyler Whitaker (11)
- RHP Peter Solomon (7)
- RHP Shawn Dubin (8)
- SS/3B Grae Kessinger (24)
- RHP Forrest Whitley (5)
- OF Matthew Barefoot (23)
- SS Christian Gonzalez (12)
- C Yainer Diaz (16)
- OF Alex McKenna (22)
- RHP Chayce McDermott (13)
- OF Colin Barber (6)
- OF Jordan Brewer (21)
- SS Dauri Lorenzo (NR)
- OF Zach Daniels (NR)
- RHP Jimmy Endersby (25)
- RHP Jojanse Torres (NR)
- RHP Brett Conine (NR)
- SS Shay Whitcomb (17)
- LHP Jonathan Bermudez (19)
- RHP Seth Martinez (NR)
- RHP Jairo Solis (NR)
- RHP Tyler Brown (NR)
- OF Logan Cerny (26)
- RHP Jose Alberto Rivera
- RHP Joe Record
- RHP Jonathan Sprinkle
- RHP Misael Tamarez (18)
- OF Justin Dirden
- OF Corey Julks (28)
- RHP Alimber Santa
- 1B JJ Matijevic
- C Scott Manea
Not on the BA list:
14. OF Jose Siri
27. C/1B Luke Berryhill
29. OF Luis Baez (IFA signed for $1.3MM in the most recent signing period)
30. RHP Spencer Arrighetti
Tamarez and Arrighetti have shown up on at least one preseason top prospect list. The other three have not but might be candidates when the midseason updates come out. According to a preliminary roster I saw, Tamarez and Robaina are being assigned to CC while Arrighetti, Chaidez and Gaither will head to Asheville.
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BA’s report on prospects impressing scouts in spring training includes this rave on Hunter Brown:
“He’s looked much improved. Much improved. I always had command and feel concerns with him and whether he was going to be a reliever with just two pitches, but he’s commanding 3-4 pitches pretty well. Just last September, he wasn’t doing that. It used to be just his fastball and a big nasty curve and fastball command was questionable. But now it’s all working. He’s added a little slider that’s very functional and his changeup is pretty good too. Something has clicked or seems to be clicking. That’s a great arsenal and he’s commanding it. If he can command it as well as he’s commanded it this spring, it’s a front-of-the-rotation starter. Before I thought he might just be a reliever with a fastball up in the zone, power curveball and that’s it. He’s a better pitcher now.”
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It looks like MLB Pipeline did a top 100 update.
Jeremy Pena graduated from prospect status but. . .
Hunter Brown is now in top 100 at #100.
BA is now revising their Top 30 prospect list monthly. So their current list (numbers in bold where BA had them ranked entering the season):
- RHP Hunter Brown (3)
- C Korey Lee (1)
- OF/SS Pedro Leon (4)
- RHP Alex Santos (6)
- 3B Joe Perez (5)
- C Yainer Diaz (16)
- OF Tyler Whitaker (9)
- RHP Peter Solomon (10)
- RHP Chayce McDermott (18)
- RHP Jaime Melendez (8)
- SS/3B Grae Kessinger (12)
- RHP Forrest Whitley (13)
- 2B/3B Will Wagner (NR)
- RHP Spencer Arrighetti (NR)
- OF Colin Barber (19)
- 3B David Hensley (NR)
- 1B JJ Matijevic (39)
- SS Christian Gonzalez (15)
- OF Jordan Brewer (19)
- OF Justin Dirden (36)
- RHP Misael Tamarez (35)
- 2B/3B Enmanuel Valdez (NR)
- RHP Adrian Chaidez (NR)
- RHP Jimmy Endersby (23)
- OF Matthew Barefoot (14)
- OF Alex McKenna (17)
- RHP Seth Martinez (28)
- LHP Jonathan Bermudez (27)
- RHP Brett Conine (25)
- OF Zach Daniels (22)
Dropped off the BA list:
2. SS Jeremy Pena (graduated)
7. RHP Tyler Ivey (relative underperformance)
11. RHP Shawn Dubin (relative underperformance)
21. SS Dauri Lorenzo (other)
24. RHP Jojanse Torres (relative underperformance)
26. SS Shay Whitcomb (relative underperformance)
29. RHP Jairo Solis (injured)
30. RHP Tyler Brown (relative underperformance)
glad to see will moving up. Billy’s son, correct? Never liked heavy metal or opera, but billy came in with a heavy metal song. No idea what it is. But he was a monster.
Tyler is also now on the Restricted List – Anyone know the story on that?
When was the last time the team had 2 catchers in their top 10 of a national prospect ranking list?
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MLB Pipeline made a couple of adjustments to their preseason Astros Top 30 Prospects list. Back in April they added Wilyer Abreu after Jose Siri graduated. And in May they added JJ Matijevic with the graduation of Jeremy Pena. So Abreu and Matijevic currently show up at 29 and 30 respectively.
Baseball America out with their Hot Sheet today and for the first time this year (I believe) a pair of Astros are on it. No surprise that at #1 is Colin Barber (check the Asheville thread where I posted what Barber has been doing recently).
At #9 is Wilyer Abreu. No surprise if you’ve been following the 22 year old outfielder’s breakout season for the Hooks and his recent performance (.320/.493/.560 over his last 13 games for example with 17 walks versus 13 strikeouts). If you’re unaware of what the Hot Sheet is for BA describes it as a list that “simply recognizes what the hottest prospects in the minors did in the past week”. The key word there that i highlighted is “prospects”. If a 29 year old AAAA guy has a great week he’s not going to show up BA’s list because of course he’s not considered a prospect. So that must mean BA considers Abreu a prospect right? Well yes and no. Obviously he made the Hot Sheet so yes. But no if you look at BA’s Astros Top 30 Prospects list where Abreu is nowhere to be seen! Even though they updated it a mere two weeks ago!! Abreu does show up on both the MLB Pipeline Astros prospect list and Keith Law’s Astros prospect list.
A few notes on Abreu:
- His 52 walks (versus 50 strikeouts) ranks 2nd in all of affiliated baseball both majors and minors
- His 14 steals this season ranks 16th in the minors and has yet to be thrown out
- Defensively MLB Pipeline describes him as “more of a corner outfielder” while BA pegs him as a “fringy center fielder who can play both corners, with enough arm for right field”. For Law he’s a “plus defender in right with a tremendous throwing arm”.
For context, he was 10 for 21 in Stolen bases last year and had just 38 walks all of the season last year. That shows significant development.
Second week in a row two players on the Hot Sheet…
Hunter Brown is at #6.
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With a fastball that is sitting at 96 mph and touching 100, a curveball and slider that are both annihilating hitters and vastly improved control, it’s only a matter of time before he gets the call for his major league debut.
OF Logan Cerny is at #14.
Like Wilyer Abreu last week, Cerny is not on BA’s Top 30 Astros Prospects list. Currently anyway.