I predicted this when they went down to 165, although I didn’t factor in just how bad it would be exacerbated by the trend to rush prospects and focus on pitcher velo over control. I also think it’s really really bad for the game to have fewer guys have a chance to play in affiliated ball. Making it commonplace to run into a former pro ball player, even somebody who was just drafted in the 40th round, helps the popularity of the game. I was ok with doing away with the short season A ball teams, but only if the complex leagues and lower level full seasons could accomodate the players. Change Id like to see: DSL and FCL rosters expanded to 40; org limits increased to 180 Teams limited to 1 FCL/DSL team each Complex league games expanded to 9 innings and played 5 games per week (no games on Sundays or Mondays) Rule 4 draft expanded to 40 rounds A 10 round international draft in January for all int’l players aged 16-25
I for one am happy with the current 20 rounds. Teams can sign more players via UDFA post draft, if they want. I do like the 180 org limits that you suggested. I can't see a good reason that teams would not want to pay for the extra players.
Juan Fraide with another solid outing at the complex: 5.2 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 9 K The one run came on a solo homer. He's a pitcher who started his career late and is acquitting himself well in his first season stateside, so I expect him to be in Fayetteville hopefully sooner rather than later.
Not sure this would be a problem if it were not the focus on maximum effort from pitchers. MLB requires about 30 more pitchers a season than they did just before COVID to cover all the innings, and a couple hundred more than they needed 15 years ago. From a team perspective, going maximum effort makes sense. From an overall MLB status, maximum effort causes a lot of problems with the game. Pitching is not a healthy activity.
Brutal, but this is an example of why we should be especially skeptical of defensively limited players. Just so much pressure on the bat. Drew Brutcher was promoted to take Baez’s place on the AA roster, with newly signed Jack Moss taking Brutcher’s place in Asheville.
Caden Powell hit his 2nd homer of the year for Asheville. He's hitting .299, but it's a pretty empty .299.
Kevin Alvarez is 2-3 with two doubles for Fayetteville; one of them was an opposite-field line drive down the third base line that drove in a run.
Nezuh has pitched really well over his last 6 starts. I think he will end up in the bullpen but it will not surprise me if he becomes a good leverage RP.
Thru 52 pa, C Jase Mitchell has a 38.5% walk rate in the FCL. That is the highest walk rate of any Astros prospect since 2006 (min 50 pa). In fact, it is the highest walk rate of ANY prospect at ANY level in ANY organization since 2006 (min 50 pa). He has a 24% called strike rate which is extremely high. But his swinging strike rate is a far more reasonable 12%. He’s just not swinging at much of anything and FCL pitchers can’t throw strikes. It’s been productive for him as he’s posted a 143 wRC+, but that extreme of an approach is not gonna play at higher levels.
4 more walks for Jase Mitchell today. He's drawn a walk in 12 of the 15 games he has played, and his walk rate is now 42.1% (24 in 57 plate appearances).
Hard to tell given that FCL pitchers really don't know where the strike zone is, but at the very least, it seems like Mitchell somewhat gets the concept of plate discipline. He'll probably need to start swinging the bat eventually, but a 42% walk rate is amusing and absurd. I want to see if he keeps it over 30% at the end of the year, or have some odd line, like finishing with a .170 average but a 1.000 OPS or something like that.
He’s got a lot more power potential than Fontana. Actually could end up like a more balanced version of Schiavone.
There seems to be a theme in the system of guys who draw walks, demonstrate good strike zone judgment, have big power... and have issues making contact with pitches in the strike zone. To me, and I'm probably off-base, the challenge the development team has here is trying to coax some more swings out of these guys. Jason Schiavone seems to be taking that to heart to start this season.
Yeah - when I saw a lot of him stateside, I just really did not see a pathway for him as a good big leaguer unless he was hitting 35-40 bombs. His body really went south and that slowed his bat down some as well. Scouts started talking about him being a 20-25 homer guy.... but when you don't hit for a high average, and you don't walk a lot, and you are a poor fielder and you have poor fitness habits.... the writing is on the wall. His power is basically all gone against higher level stuff, and he literally does nothing else well. He will get a chance with another organization but he needs to go down to A ball and work on his body and fitness.
I don't mind Brown going after Mitchell. He gave him a lot of bonus money, but he has had a lot of success with finding catchers in the past. Mitchell was the best of a very weak high school baseball scene in the Northeast. He may take a little more time to develop as a result. Very good athlete, strong arm and has naturally good discipline in the batter box.
Schiavone has increased his swing % this season over last season so I think you’re right there. It’s paid off because he’s hit for so much more power and the increase in swinging strike rate has been offset by a decrease in his called strike rate. On the flip side, Walker Janek’s swing rate is up and it’s just resulted in more strikeouts. I am encouraged by the idea that some of these prospects with high strikeout rates seem to be striking out a lot because they’re taking pitches. I might be wrong but I feel like swing decisions are one of the main things that can be developed. It seems like it would be easier to improve that than it would be to improve swing path, exit velocity, barrel rate, and contact ability. I’m encouraged that some of Houston’s highest ceiling prospects (Neyens, Frey, Mitchell) are striking out mostly due to called strikes (which points to passivity). Especially while those guys are in the lower minors, I have a lot of hope that’s something that can be improved upon.
Nick Monistere got transferred to the 60-day IL last week in Fayetteville. Tough news as he was having a pretty solid start to the season. Nehomar Ochoa just got off the IL today.
