Nehomar Ochoa and Anthony Huezo hit their first homers of the year in Fayetteville’s 7-2 win over Augusta.
https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/ast...y-2026-season-success?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage Some good notes in there. Sullivan not having big splits is interesting. Should be a quality everyday big leaguer if he can control his k rate. The scouting director is super high on Max Holy. I know the pickings are slim at SS in this system but I just don’t see Holy as more than a fringey utility guy. He cannot hit for power. But he should get to AA soon so we will know then if he’s a real prospect. I’m surprised Brett Gillis wasn’t mentioned.
The Astros' endless need to find anyone with functioning arms brings us to LHP Josh Hendrickson, who signed today. He's been assigned to Sugar Land. Hendrickson, a native of Australia, was picked in the 38th round by the Phillies in the 2019 draft after posting a 6.92 ERA in 12 appearances (10 starts) for the University of San Diego. That was his only year in Division I baseball. Hendrickson has not pitched in affiliated ball since getting released by the Phillies at the end of the 2023 season. He spent most of 2025 with the Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association, where he went 10-5 with a 3.61 ERA in 19 starts. He allowed 46 runs (42 earned) on 94 hits (11 HR allowed), walked 34, and struck out 116 in 104.2 innings. Hendrickson also threw five shutout innings in his lone appearance for the High Point Rockers in the Atlantic League.
Well, Josh Hendrickson just finished five throwing shutout innings with one hit allowed and six strikeouts in the first game of Sugar Land's doubleheader with Salt Lake, which should probably put him in position to take Lance McCullers' spot when they finally decide to pull the plug.
Jason Schiavone just hit his 5th home run of the season for Asheville. The Tourists have not played any home games yet.
Walker Janek's first home run of the year is a grand slam. There have been 3 grand slams in tonight's Corpus Christi/Northwest Arkansas game; the Hooks have two. The other slam belongs to Garrett Guillemette, and that was also his first homer of the season.
In his first game, Forcucci threw 30 pitches. In his second game, he threw 33 pitches. I am betting that he has a strict pitch count limit.
Former Braves 1st rd pick. Is not on the 40 man so this trade is likely cash. Shewmake is a LH bat that doesn’t strike out much but doesn’t hit for power.
Anthony Huezo has 3 RBI for Fayetteville today: he drove in one with a double and then smacked a two-run homer (2).
Before the season I pointed to the AA infield as the weakest unit in the system and the primary reason why Houston's farm is bad. But so far they have fared really well: 1B Will Bush has been mentioned several times in the last couple of weeks but has built a historic season so far. The list of 22 year olds who've posted a >190 wRC+ in AA over the last 20 years is stacked with future MLB stars. He has a monster 27.5% walk rate with 3 HR. He is pulling the ball a lot and getting some batted ball luck but he is an extremely patient hitter with plus power, and his 9% swinging strike rate bodes really well for him. 2B Yamal Encarnacion has a 115 wRC+ with 7 SB and a 8.6% swinging strike rate in 12 games. He has elite speed and plus contact ability; his 4 doubles in the early going show he might have added power or improved his contact quality. SS Pascanel Ferreras has a 119 wRC+ with a 17% bb rate against a 19% k rate. He is using all fields so far so his production looks sustainable. 3B Trevor Austin has a 145 wRC+ with 3 HR and a 8.4% swinging strike rate. He might be getting some ballpark configuration luck but his ISO is a career high so far. He has one of the best contact tools in the system. This has been one of the pleasant surprises in the early going.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Houston called up CJ Alexander to take Trammell’s roster spot. Harris and Matthews can play CF. Alexander can handle all 4 corners and has hit 6 HR already this year. A lefty power bench bat with some defensive versatility. Alexander also has an option year remaining.
Long time reader, first time posting. Snake Diggit, really appreciate your insight over the years. Quick question: where are you seeing the ~18 active FCL guys right now? Is that from a specific site, or more of a transactions/backfields estimate? I’ve tried piecing things together from assignments and a few breadcrumbs, but it’s tough to tell who’s actually “active” vs still on the backfields / development list this time of year. Only thing I feel somewhat confident about is that 5 DSL hitters have come stateside recently (De Leon, Areinamo, Rojas, Quesada, Lebron), but beyond that it gets pretty murky once you factor in backfields, injuries, etc. Would appreciate any insight on how you’re tracking it? Thanks! Either way, we should know a lot more soon with the FCL about 11 days out.
The FCL roster is here: https://www.milb.com/florida-complex/roster/1998 Teams are required to keep all of their rosters updated to document compliance with the 165 man limit. The players promoted from the DSL don’t have to be transferred (and thus officially count against the 165 player limit) until FCL games start in early May. If you saw that Arienamo and LeBron were promoted I would be interested in where you got that info. I was hoping Manzueta was going to be in that group but it makes sense that he does another year in the DSL since he’s still only 17.
Trevor Austin went 2-4 and hit his 4th home run of the season for Corpus as they played an early game today. He scored both Corpus runs; the other run came on Joseph Sullivan’s RBI double. Jackson Nezuh allowed a two-run homer, three other hits, walked one, and struck out five in five innings.
