ICYMI this profile today on Hunter Brown…
The catcher played thru this last season (managing to hit .295/.413/.562 at 3 different levels despite it) and ended up having offseason surgery to fix…
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Berryhill first dislocated his left shoulder diving into a base during college. It came out again during the first week of last season. Berryhill tore his labrum and suffered “five or six” subluxations. He played 73 games despite it, receiving a poignant — if not painful — lesson in plate discipline. “It would hurt whenever I got long and took a bad swing or swung at a bad pitch. It made me conscious of staying tight and swinging at good pitches,” Berryhill said. “I really carried that over through the offseason when I started hitting again and into spring training now. That and just simplifying everything, simplifying different moves with my hands, trying to be as quiet and compact as possible.”
I remember the fish tacos at Berryhill’s being pretty damn good
Did you, perhaps, suffer some sort of injury affecting your memory, or taste buds?
The original in the River Oaks area, 20 years ago, was pretty good. It’s not like there was an excess of fish tacos in Houston at that time.
Yes, there are much better tacos in much better geographic locations.
Baseball America released their full Top 30 Prospects list today. Here it is and where the players ranked in their previous list (mid-season 2021):
- C Korey Lee (1)
- SS Jeremy Pena (2)
- RHP Hunter Brown (4)
- OF/SS Pedro Leon (3)
- 3B Joe Perez (6)
- RHP Alex Santos (7)
- RHP Tyler Ivey (10)
- RHP Jaime Melendez (9)
- OF Tyler Whitaker (11)
- RHP Peter Solomon (19)
- RHP Shawn Dubin (13)
- SS/3B Grae Kessinger (12)
- RHP Forrest Whitley (5)
- OF Matthew Barefoot (16)
- SS Christian Gonzalez (NR)
- C Yainer Diaz (NR)
- OF Alex McKenna (17)
- RHP Chayce McDermott (18)
- OF Colin Barber (20)
- OF Jordan Brewer (15)
- SS Dauri Lorenzo (21)
- OF Zach Daniels (22)
- RHP Jimmy Endersby (26)
- RHP Jojanse Torres (23)
- RHP Brett Conine (24)
- SS Shay Whitcomb (NR)
- LHP Jonathan Bermudez (NR)
- RHP Seth Martinez (NR)
- RHP Jairo Solis (14)
- RHP Tyler Brown (29)
Random notes:
- Players who dropped off include OF Jake Meyers (graduated), RHP Spencer Arrighetti, SS Freudis Nova, LHP Brayan De Paula and RHP Michael Horrell
- I don’t know what the record is but this is Forever Frustrating Forrest’s 6th year on BA’s preseason Top 30 list
- Freudis Nova by the way was on the list for 5 years in a row before dropping off this year
- BA does have a supplemental list per usual of players who just missed the Top 30. I haven’t seen it but based on an article BA published called Sleeper Prospects for 2022 Corey Julks is at #37 on that list
- Comparing this to the list Keith Law put together neither Misael Tamarez (#8) nor Wilyer Abreu (#19) made the BA list (they may of course have made that supplemental list)
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.