Astros counting down to system relaunch
The management upheaval the Houston Astros experienced late last summer certainly will continue to change the face of the team on the Major League level this season. While it's still uncertain how the parent club will fare in 2008, one thing seems reasonably obvious -- there won't be much help coming from down below.
The Astros have some quality players in their system, but none are the game-breaking, gotta-have-them, impact kind of guys who have opposing general managers swooning. The top of Houston's draft last season was rattled by the fact the club couldn't sign its top two picks, which were third- and fourth-rounders to begin with, leaving a depleted farm system even shorter on talent.
Houston then traded a handful of prospects to Baltimore for Miguel Tejada in a move that has drawn more criticism than praise. So where do the Astros turn? Well, there's this year's draft and the continued mining of Latin America for non-drafted prospects. Mix in a little patience and just sit back and wait.
Brian Bogusevic, LHP
There were many folks who believed the Astros got the better of the two Tulane pitchers when they chose Bogusevic in the first round in 2005. His former teammate, Micah Owings, went in the third round to the Diamondbacks and contributed to Arizona's playoff run last year. Bogusevic continued to deal with consistency issues but finally made a start in Double-A. He's 12-15 with a 4.89 ERA in 60 Minor League games (47 starts), so this could be a pivotal year.
Bogusevic spent his first season at Tri-City as a reliever and had little success, posting a 7.59 ERA over 21 innings. A long season at Tulane and a trip to the College World Series likely left him with little energy, but his work as a starter in the two seasons since has been unspectacular. Opponents hit nearly .300 off him last year and for his career, they are hitting almost .290. He's not overpowering, though his fastball consistently sits in the low 90s.
Audio: Bogusevic stays perfect through five
Mitch Einertson, OF
We chose the former fifth-rounder as our organizational player of the year last fall after he re-established himself following two poor seasons in the Sally League. Einertson combined to hit .305 with 11 homers and 87 RBIs for Salem of the Carolina League. He's now sandwiched great seasons in the Appalachian League (2004) and Carolina League around those two subpar seasons in Lexington, leading to the question -- which Einertson will show up this year in Corpus Christi?
| ON THE VERGE A few players to keep your eye on who are on the brink of breaking into the Major Leagues: |
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• J.R. Towles, C -- The 2004 20th-round pick made a slow and steady climb toward Houston, playing at four levels last season and combining to hit .296 with 12 homers and 74 RBIs. • Felipe Paulino, RHP -- The hard-throwing Paulino tasted life in the big leagues last year, going 2-1 with a 7.11 ERA over 19 innings. That came on the heels of going 6-9 with a 3.62 ERA in the Texas League. He hits triple digits on the gun and, at 6-3 and 245 pounds, has the size to back up that speed. "He's going to be in the mix and compete for the fifth spot," assistant general manager Ricky Bennett said. "It depends on how things shake out. But there's a good chance he'll go to Triple-A. He's probably the top prospect in our entire system in terms of potential. He's got a great arm and a great, durable body. He just needs more experience."
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Audio: Einertson homers, triples for Salem
Eli Iorg, OF
Iorg has the pedigree to succeed in the game, and prior to tearing an elbow ligament last spring, he showed the talent as well. The former first-rounder from Tennessee was hitting .296 with five homers and 24 RBIs through 162 at-bats for Salem before going down. He'll more than likely begin this season at Corpus Christi.
Iorg is still another year away from the big leagues, but it seems inevitable that he'll be contributing in Houston before long. He stole 42 bases in 2006 and had 14 when he was hurt last season. It's just a matter of seeing how well he can recover from the surgery and whether losing most of 2007 to injury will prove more of a setback than losing three months' worth of at-bats.
Iorg, who'll be 25 in March, has been working out for several months and attended the club's mini-camp in January, so his elbow won't be an issue. And neither will his age.
"When we drafted him, we knew he was a little older," Bennett said. "I personally try not to pay a whole lot of attention to age. He's an older guy who knows how to play the game. He'll start at Double-A and the rest will be up to him. But I think that some day he will play in the big leagues. We just want to be sure he's ready to play when his name is called."
Audio: Iorg clears left-field fence
Brad James, RHP
James began to come on in 2006 and again in the early part of 2007, going 15-4 with a 1.72 ERA in 33 appearances (30 starts) at Lexington and Salem. But when he got bumped up to Corpus Christi last year, he ran into trouble more often than not. He made nine starts for the Hooks and ran the gamut, looking either very good, very bad or run-of-the-mill. In five of those starts, he allowed three earned runs, yielding one earned run or less three times.
But James recorded a 7.57 ERA in his final four starts, despite seven shutout innings against Midland. His career strikeout-to-walk ratio (214-to-131) is not extraordinary, but he seemed to struggle against the better hitters in the Texas League, walking 20 while fanning 22 over 47 innings and allowing a .294 batting average. The club learned of a fracture in his right foot over the winter, but James had surgery to correct the problem and it won't impact his Spring Training.
Audio: James notches another K for Avalanche
Josh Flores, OF
The 2005 fourth-rounder also seemed perplexed in Corpus Christi after a scintillating first half in Salem. Flores was tearing up the Carolina League, hitting .325 with 30 RBIs and a .392 OBP through 63 games (246 ABs) when Houston decided it was time to send him to the Texas League. Once arriving on the Gulf Coast, however, his numbers plummeted.
Flores hit .219 with a .284 OBP in 192 at-bats. He struck out nearly as many times (40 vs. 47) in 54 fewer at-bats. He is quick, though, having stolen 39 bases last year and 91 over three professional seasons. Flores needs to find a measure of consistency, which may not prove easy against the experienced pitchers he'll face when he returns to Corpus Christi to begin this season.
Audio: Flores laces two-run triple
Max Sapp, C
The Astros' top pick in 2006 struggled through hip and back injuries last season, which ended in the second week of August. He closed out his year by hitting .111 in his last 36 at-bats, a dismal end to a disappointing season. Overall, he batted .241, which was buoyed by the fact that he hit .337 in May.
Sapp turned 20 earlier this month, so there's still plenty of time for him to get better. Add in the fact that J.R. Towles provides the organization with some stability behind the plate, and that takes some pressure off Sapp. He needs to work on his defense, and while he's doing that the club is hoping he'll develop some power and find consistency.
Audio: Sapp's two-run homer in the 10th
Sam Gervacio, RHP
Houston added the 23-year-old native of the Dominican Republic to the 40-man roster last fall and it's easy to see why. He's 20-16 with 55 saves and a 2.27 ERA in 178 appearances (301 innings) over five seasons, including his time in the Dominican Summer League. Gervacio split time last season between the Carolina and Texas leagues, going 4-5 with a 2.31 ERA. He also limited opponents to a .202 batting average, surrendering only two homers.
He's not a big man, standing only 6 feet and no more than 180 pounds soaking wet. But he's averaged more than a strikeout per inning in his career and has been effective to dominant everywhere he's been. He'll be at Round Rock sometime this year and could even wind up in Houston before season's end.
"He's got great numbers and good stuff," Bennett said. "He can throw three pitches for strikes and they are all average to plus pitches. And he competes, so he has a bright future. If he keeps throwing strikes he has a chance to move [this season]."
Audio: Gervacio gets K with a slider
Bud Norris, RHP
The 2006 sixth-rounder from Cal Poly had a perplexing 2007 season, going 2-8 with a 4.75 ERA in 22 starts for Lexington. Though opponents hit only .233 against him and he posted a nearly 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, he really had just one exceptional month, posting a 2.45 ERA in May. Even then, it was only an 11-inning stretch, which made his ERA for the remainder of the season 5.04.
Norris ran into trouble was when he had men on base. Opponents hit .323 against him with runners in scoring position, collecting 10 extra-base hits in 96 at-bats. He also won his only Carolina League start but caught the eye of the front office when he went to Hawaiian Winter Baseball, pitching to a 3.65 ERA over 24 2/3 innings. Granted, that number would have been more impressive in the Arizona Fall League, where the hitters are a bit more polished.
"He's got a power arm and a fastball that, at times, reaches the upper 90s," Bennett said. "He's a tough guy to hit, but he's not at a point where he can command it. That's probably why his numbers were a little higher than you would think. But in terms of arm strength, he has it to go along with a nice breaking ball and changeup for three quality pitches."
Audio: Norris overpowers another batter
Matt Cusick, 2B
So you think USC is all about football and basketball? Well, there's still baseball there, too, as evidenced by Cusick's performance last summer after the Astros grabbed him in the 10th round. He displayed a good eye and an ability to get on base at Southern Cal, and it was no different when he arrived at Tri-City of the New York-Penn League. Cusick had a .422 on-base percentage and more walks (38) than strikeouts (25), proving to be one of the more polished players on the short-season circuit.
Cusick hit .306 and drove in 35 runs. He also stole five bases, so he is a useful player. He led NYPL second baseman with a .985 fielding percentage, demonstrating he won't be a defensive detriment. He projects to be the scrappy kind of anonymous player who simply puts up solid numbers every season, eventually becoming difficult to ignore.
"He came out of the gate hitting last year," Bennett said. "The kid can fall out of bed and hit. He's a very instinctive player. He can swing the bat and plays adequate defense. The one area in which he has to improve is lateral defense. He'll catch the ball, but we'd like to see more range out of him."
Audio: Cusick crushes first professional homer
Jordan Parraz, OF
Parraz, a 2004 third-round pick from the Community College of Southern Nevada, continued to develop last season at Lexington, hitting 14 homers and driving in 76 runs. He also batted .281 while stealing 33 bases after hitting .336 and stealing 23 bases in 2006 at Tri-City.
Parraz really had just one bad month last season, hitting .180 in June. But he rebounded by batting .317 in July and August, collecting five homers and 32 RBIs.
"He's starting to figure things out," Bennett said. "Two years ago, he was in extended spring and he wasn't happy about it. But we challenged him to prove us wrong and he did. He followed that with another solid year last year. He's starting to understand his swing. He's a young kid who has a lot of raw athletic ability and is now understanding how to use it."
Audio: Parraz hits for the cycle
Audio: Parraz clubs three-run homer
Tommy Manzella, SS
Like Bogusevic, the former Tulane star rode the Green Wave's spectacular season to a prominent position in the draft. He's done nothing to diminish himself in the eyes of the organizational brass since, but he hasn't jumped out and overwhelmed anyone, either. He's simply a steady, reliable player whose future became a bit clouded when Houston acquired Tejada in December. Manzella got bumped up to Double-A for half a season last year and hit .289 (28 points higher than his career average). He can quietly go about his business in Round Rock this season and perhaps contribute as a September callup.
Audio: Manzella's winning hit for Salem
Audio: Manzella clubs first homer for Hooks
Koby Clemens, C
The last name alone should keep him out of this category. But the club has moved him to catcher this season in hopes it will provide a spark. The move alone should keep him off everyone's radar screens for a while. The kid appears to have some pop, but hitting 15 homers in his second Sally League season doesn't give the impression that he'll be a big home run hitter. He also struck out once every 3.7 at-bats last year, so he'll have to work on his discipline at the plate while learning how to play behind it.
"We're not asking him to go back to Rookie ball and learn how to catch," Bennett said. "He's got a good feel for the game, good instincts, his bat is coming on and he's going to hit in the Carolina League while learning to catch at the same time."
Audio: Clemens goes deep twice for Legends