The crazy thing is that I believe Lee (considered better defensively) has hit well but not done well throwing out runners in the Spring. Diaz (considered better offensively) hasn’t hit as well as Lee but has done well cutting down runners on the bases. It will definitely be interesting to see who they go with as the backup.
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I agree with you about Abreu, with the notable asterisk of Hunter Brown. If he struggles or is injured, there aren’t too many great options to replace him in the rotation. I could easily Abreu being stretched out in that scenario (hence, my TBD). Of course, I also could be very wrong about that.
It looks like Hunter resumed baseball activities today, so it was only a few day hiccup.
Man, it would drive me crazy to hiccup for a few days.
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Simpsons did it.
On that note I’ll share this trick to get rid of hiccups, which has worked immediately for me every time. This guy is kinda quack-adjacent but the method is good:
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Some notes on Andrew Taylor’s latest outing. The 20” IVB (induced vertical break, basically measuring “ride” on a 4-seam) is notable—per BA, “anything over 19 is considered elite.”
Thanks for posting that. I’m excited about him. If I recall correctly, Taylor had some of the best spin rates in last year’s draft and several folks said he could be the next Hunter Brown for the Astros.
Look at that 8th pitch changeup. Yikes. That 11th pitch 92-94 FB must look like 100 after seeing that change from the on deck circle. Edited to add: he sure looks free and easy out there, too.
My advice is to not worry about it. The Astros are several steps ahead of us.
Could be a big year for Santa, who’s always had a good arm but lost almost all of last season to injury and has thrown just 23 innings over his two years in the system.
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Kyle Bodie had this reply to the tweet about Dirden having a chance to make the club:
He followed that up with:
Great stuff, @Duman
I feel like I’ve said this a thousand times, but the Astros are the best organization at developing unheralded prospects into useful MLB players.
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For more context - here are the # of NDFA signed from the 2020 draft year that only had 5 rounds in descending order. Because this was also during the time MLB was downsizing the minors, I am including the number of domestic short season teams each team had in 2019 to see if the downsizing might have impacted strategy.
14 Red Sox (2)
11 Reds (3)
10 Philies (3), Rangers (2)
9 Astros (2) , Cubs (3), Nationals (2), Yankees (4)
8 Cardinals (3), O’s (2), Tigers (3)
7 Padres (3), Royals (3)
6 A’s (3), Braves (2), Giants (3), Mets (3)
5 -
4- Brewers (3), Indians (3), Mariners (2)
3 - Blue Jays (3), Marlins (2), Rockies (2), Twins (2)
2- DBacks (3), Pirates (3), White Sox (2)
1 - Dodgers (3)
0 - Angels (2) & Rays (3)
I know the odds of making the majors goes down significantly after the first couple of rounds but to be okay with bringing less than 10 players in a year seems negligent to me.
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That’s really interesting—especially seeing LAD & TB down at the bottom of the list.
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Sure seems that way. For quite a while it was the Cards, but I just don’t follow the NL much anymore.
Jimmy Price (Twitter: @astrosfuture) just released his 2023 Top 30 Prospects:
He’s not quite as in depth as some others out there, but he does follow the system pretty closely. Well worth a read.
Nice piece from Down on the Farm about breakout prospect Colin Barber.
Can’t remember where I read it, but there’s some chatter that Barber may have the best power in the entire system.
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That’s interesting if true. Dirden had a pretty good camp himself this year and I’m excited to see what kind of season he has in the Minors. It seems the Astros have been stocking up on LH hitting OFers.
Let’s not forget their #1 last year, Gilbert, is another LH hitting OFer. These are assets as LH hitting OFers are always of interest at the trade deadline.
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