The Houston Astros have one of the deepest farm systems in all of baseball. That means plenty of good players fighting for 25 spots on the Major League roster. Every player wants to get there and the writers here at The Crawfish Boxes cheer on the prospects to reach The Show as well.
However, it's hard not to pick favorites. Certain guys do certain things that make the fan in TCB writers get all giddy with excitement inside. With that being said, this week's Starting Nine question:
Who is your favorite Astros' prospect and why?
Chris Perry
I tried to think of somebody other than Preston Tucker, and failed. See, it's not a silly man-crush thing. My favorite prospects are those who defy the scouts. There's something that appeals to me about people who repeatedly succeed despite legions of snooty armchair observers smugly proclaiming that they are doomed for failure because of body type, lack of athleticism, slow foot speed, whatever. I inherently prefer college hitters in general, but Tucker has been all but dismissed by outside observers at every level of his career, including his record-setting college stint, after which he fell to a late pick. Despite being persona non grata among the scouting community and prospectphiles with their ranked compilations, Tucker, to me, has always looked like and continues to look like a middle-order hitter on a playoff-quality team. That's cool. Runner-up: Conrad Gregor, for similar reasons.
Matthew Hall
I'll go with the Mr. Obvious answer because there is no quirky, out of the box alternative answer that wouldn't make me feel dirty submitting.
It's Correa by a mile. He's the obvious choice for a reason. He has an insanely high ceiling at a premium position and, it seems to me, a relatively good chance of getting at least near his ceiling. If and when the Astros when a championship or two, I'm pretty sure Correa will be one of the main reasons.
And he's an awesome guy. He seems like a truly likeable, very smart leader.
What's not to like?
David Coleman
A sportswriter will always say his favorites are the players who are easy to work with. They qualify as "good guys." My good guys are certainly Brady Rodgers and Tyler Heineman. Rodgers was very easy to talk with for that feature I did earlier this summer and Heineman gave Anthony so much great material over the winter. Both made my list for that alone.
But, if we're talking favorites and I'm wearing my prospector hat instead, I'd have to go with A.J. Reed. Houston's farm system is deep and loaded with talent, but only so much of that talent is high-end. With Reed's power and all-around athleticism (dude won the Golden Spikes award and pretty much every other major collegiate award this season), he's one of the few Astros prospects who could turn into a future MVP candidate. Plus, I dig the long ball and he's got some of the best left-handed power in the system.
Oh, and he bought an Astros hat at a mall or something. I forget the story.
Brian Stevenson
I suppose I should steer away from Correa, as he's the low-hanging fruit...but I won't. I can't. He's my favorite prospect. In fact, he's my favorite prospect ever. There's literally nothing that you can't like about him. People questioned his defense and foot speed coming into this year, and he went out and made ridiculous play after ridiculous play, leaving coaches, scouts and teammates breathless, and was on-pace to go 42-for-50 (84%) in stolen base attempts before his injury. Hush, critics. Hush.
I also love his character. We're less than 24 hours from Whinergate, and we've just seen Aiken conduct himself like a child, and all the earlier silly behavior in the past from guys like Cosart and Folty...I'm so tired of immature, selfish, entitled, self-important pro athletes. I'm tired of guys who make a bare minimum of $500,000 a year whining because someone else is getting something they feel that person didn't earn. I'm tired of guys acting without class and bashing their own employers to the media. I'm just...tired. So tired. Especially since a lot of these guys are supposed to be high-makeup guys. Remember when people were talking about Aiken's intellect and makup? Yeah, guess not. Correa though? Correa is the real deal. Correa was a team leader at 18 years old. Correa has never done or said anything other than he wants to be the greatest. Correa was raised right. Correa's makeup is so awesome that I'm going to stop talking about it, because I cannot even possibly convey how awesome it is.
It's Correa. It has to be. I love A.J. Reed and Tyler Heineman and Aaron West and Brett Phillips and Jason Martin and so many more. But Correa is the future. He is The One. He is Superman. He is The Captain.
That is all.
Curtis Leister
Going to go with a guy who's not the best prospect in the system but was the first who came to mind: Derek Fisher. He has a uniquely high ceiling for a college bat, played in a high profile, power conference (ACC) and would've probably been a top 25 pick had he not broken a bone in his hand in the spring. Also, he's relatively young; he won't turn 21 until August (six days before I do). The tools in Fisher's game that make him different from the Reed/Davis brand of college bat (lot of power, not much defense not that there's anything wrong with that) are definitely worth dreaming on and I believe that the front office buys in too in pairing him up with those guys in the draft. He has some speed and could stick in CF, where his bat can easily play. Only question mark is his arm. Fisher could move through the system quickly; he's tearing it up in Tri-City and would be in Quad Cities by now had his pro career not been delayed by UVA's CWS trip.
Honorable mention: Brett Phillips
Seth Drennan
Tony Kemp. I saw the guy play baseball with my REAL EYES. He has "it." He may not possess every skill known to man and he may be built like Jose Altuve with a tapeworm, but man... does he compete! I remember reading about Tony Kemp after he was drafted by the Astros... that he treated every at bat like "war." I saw this first hand where he fouled off what felt like a dozen pitches to draw a walk in the first inning of the Hooks game I watched in Frisco. In the next at bat, he nearly homered to the opposite field on the second pitch of the at bat. I feel like Tony is the left handed Altuve with plate discipline. I know Altuve has 2nd base wrapped up for the foreseeable future, but I see Tony hitting his way into the lineup somehow and some way. I have a soft spot for undersized, scrappers that just get it done. Don't forget... Tony was SEC Player of the Year in 2013, so his talent has not gone completely unrecognized.
Alex Goodwin
My favorite prospect is Rio Ruiz. He's so good at what he does-which is improve as the season goes on. In QC and now in Lancaster, he's had a meh April, got better in May, then just raked the rest of the season. Supposed attitude problems aside, Rio looks like a guy who could dominate every single level he plays at. He's the only legit 3B prospect who will definitely stick, so seeing him make adjustments like he's doing is just great. And he's only 20. He should be in the majors by the time he's 22.
Perry Mattern
I would go with Teoscar Hernandez. First off, if you haven't read our very own Anthony Boyer's piece on him, you should do that. He's my favorite because he's the kind of guy you can dream on. He has shown every tool that you would like to find in a center fielder plus average to above-average power. I can't say I've seen a lot of video on Hernandez, but he seems to me that he would be the kind of guy who would bring a ton of excitement to Minute Maid Park. Even the statistical comparisons at his current level, Hi-A Lancaster, line up pretty darn well with George Springer. I'll take that.