Enmanuel Valdez, Shay Whitcomb and Tyler Whitaker among the best and worst hitters in the minors this season.
Note that wRC+ is not park adjusted.
I went to Fangraphs Roster Resource.
They have organizations top 10 prospects listed on the page.
They have Gilbert listed #5 and Clifford #7.
If you look elsewhere on FG you can see where other draftees slot in…
Melton #14
Knorr #17
Taylor #31
Price #32
Blubaugh #37
Borden #38
That previous Top 33 Prospects list is now a Top 40 Prospects list.
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This seems really impressive but I am completely unqualified to know for sure.
People love the shiny new things. I’m not going to read much into it until these guys play against some pros.
While looking for something else, i ran across Tyler Brown’s story (#3rd round draft choice, 2020 draft) and haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.
(From 2020 Draft Thread)
Imagine the challenge of being a father of a special needs daughter while in the minor leagues.
Hope someone encouraged him to bank his bonus.
- The milb game log revealed that during April & May he pitched in 8 games, 5 as a starter and 3 in relief. His WHIP was 1.63 in April & 2.52 in May.
- Per BA game log, he threw 88, 78, 82, 79, & 92 pitches starting and 45, 60, & 55 in relief; averaging 60% strikes.
- From 24 May to 11 July he disappeared.
- He came out of development throwing 70% strikes…
- And he got his first win last night.
Is he projecting as a starter now?
And BA has updated their Top 100 once again with Brown moving up to #42.
Two names on the Baseball America Hot Sheet this week…
Hunter Brown came in at #13 with BA posting this nugget:
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And there are few pitchers in the minors who can come close to matching Brown’s stuff. Brown’s slider this year has sat at 91-92 mph. It’s hard for a slider that hard to not be effective. The only big leaguers whose sliders sit 90-plus mph this year are Emmanuel Clase, Edwin Diaz, Zack Wheeler, Brusdar Graterol and Michael Fulmer. That’s a great group of sliders to be compared with.
At #19 is CC righthander Adrian Chaidez. Here’s what they said about the ex UCLA pitcher with significant control issues:
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…has some of the best stuff in the Astros system with a four-seam fastball that sits 93-94 mph with ride, touching 97 mph at peak. He has two distinctive breaking ball shapes and a changeup that he can land for strikes and generate chases with.
So BA with another update to their Astros Top 30 list. This would be the post draft/post trade deadline version…
- RHP Hunter Brown (1)
- C Yainer Diaz (2)
- OF Drew Gilbert (NR)
- OF Jacob Melton (NR)
- OF/SS Pedro Leon (3)
- C Korey Lee (4)
- RHP Spencer Arrighetti (7)
- 3B Joe Perez (5)
- OF Justin Dirden (10)
- RHP Jaime Melendez (8)
- UTIL David Hensley (14)
- OF Tyler Whitaker (9)
- OF Ryan Clifford (NR)
- RHP Alex Santos (11)
- RHP Forrest Whitley (13)
- OF Colin Barber (15)
- RHP Misael Tamarez (16)
- RHP Jayden Murray (NR)
- RHP Peter Solomon (17)
- LHP Trey Dombroski (NR)
- 2B/3B Will Wagner (19)
- 1B JJ Matijevic (20)
- RHP Alimber Santa (22)
- RHP Michael Knorr (NR)
- RHP Andrew Taylor (NR)
- SS Christian Gonzalez (23)
- OF Jordan Brewer (24)
- RHP Adrian Chaidez (25)
- RHP Jimmy Endersby (26)
- OF Matthew Barefoot (27)
Dropped off the BA list:
6. RHP Chayce McDermott (traded)
12. 2B/3B Enmanuel Valdez (traded)
18. SS/3B Grae Kessinger (relative underperformance)
21. OF Wilyer Abreu (traded)
28. OF Alex McKenna (relative underperformance)
29. RHP JP France (relative underperformance)
30. LHP Julio Robaina (relative underperformance)
Numbers in bold are where they were on the previous BA ranking
They forgot deGrom.
The 6’6" former 26th rounder has started 15 games at 1B, 17 games at 2B, 23 games at 3B, 27 games at SS and 6 games in LF this season. According to Baseball America Hensley was not among the top 40 prospects in the org prior to the season but was at #11 in their most recent update issued today.
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Yes – He is an interesting and unexpected development. He was mostly used in the OF at San Diego State (with some time at 3B) before switching to full-time SS his senior year. At Quad City in 2018, he played more or less equally at 2B/3B/SS and struggled some at the plate (.209/.300/.325; 4 HR & 79 K IN 268 PA). In 2019 he returned to QC, mostly at 1B & 3B, before an August promotion to Fayetteville, where he mostly appeared at 3B. Combined, he slashed .260/.319/.379 with 6 hR & 95 K in 429 PA, but he did seem to become more patient (albeit with less HR power) at the end of the season – .826 OPS; 0 HR, 11 BB & 23 K in 111 PA at Fayetteville. This might have been the point at which he turned the corner. In 2021 at Corpus Christi he slashed .293/.369/.439 with 9 HR, 46 BB & 104 K in 445 PA while playing every IF position. As noted above, his versatility continues this year at Sugar Land, and he has also continued to develop both his power and plate discipline, slashing .288/.409/.471 with 10 HR, 70 BB & 96 K in 418 PA. He has also stolen a career-high 18 bases (72% success rate). He is always going to strike out, but with his versatility and apparent growth as a hitter, he will likely see a Diaz/Dubon type role somewhere in MLB.
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It’s been an horrendous season for him but August has been kinder for Shay Whitcomb and he made the recent MLB Pipeline Prospect Team of the Week. .325/.400/.600 in 11 games this month…
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Brown is #71 on the newly-updated MLB Pipeline Top 100 with his CB rated #1 overall.
And MLB Pipeline out with their post draft/post deadline Top 30 rankings. Numbers in parentheses are where BA has them ranked.
- RHP Hunter Brown (1)
- OF Drew Gilbert (3)
- C/1B Yainer Diaz (2)
- OF Pedro León (5)
- OF Colin Barber (16)
- OF Jacob Melton (4)
- C Korey Lee (6)
- OF Ryan Clifford (13)
- INF Joe Perez (8)
- RHP Forrest Whitley (15)
- UTIL David Hensley (11)
- OF Justin Dirden (9)
- RHP Jayden Murray (18)
- RHP Jaime Melendez (10)
- RHP Alex Santos (14)
- RHP Spencer Arrighetti (7)
- RHP Andrew Taylor (25)
- SS Cristian Gonzalez (26)
- RHP Misael Tamarez (17)
- RHP Miguel Ullola (NR)
- RHP Shawn Dubin (NR)
- OF Logan Cerny (NR)
- OF Luis Baez (NR)
- OF Kenni Gomez (NR)
- OF Tyler Whitaker (12)
- RHP Alimber Santa (23)
- RHP Michael Knorr (24)
- RHP Peter Solomon (19)
- OF Quincy Hamilton (NR)
- OF Zach Daniels (NR)
Interesting that Corey Lee is listed as a 1B. Or is that a typo Walt?
Typo – fixed.
Korey Lee; Corey Julks.
Rehab status on a pair of players…
From a couple of days ago, BA’s weekly prospect hot sheet included Miguel Ullola, Korey Lee and Yainer Diaz. In addition to Ullola’s stats for the week (8 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 6 BB, 19 K) they noted his 60 whiffs in 33.2 innings over the last 2 months.