Astros Prospects: The Forgotten Few, Volume 2

I wrote Volume 1 of this a couple of weeks ago. You can go back there to read the in-depth explanation on what makes up the main elements of this new series. Here's a brief explanation for the new people who do not want to go back and read. The Astros minor league system is considered one of the deepest systems in baseball. This article attempts to track the progress and recognize great performances of those prospects who do not make the top prospect lists.

In Volume 1, I used a combination of MLB.com and John Sickel's top 20 prospect lists as my guidelines for the who will not be featured in these articles. However, I am going to change that from this week forward to the Crawfishboxes Top 30 that we developed earlier this year. Here is that list:

My Volume 1 picks fall within these new parameters also (thank goodness).

Without further ado, here is this editions's Forgotten Few

Mott Hyde, Short Stop, Quad Cities RiverBandits

Mott is a fantastic name. I am a huge fan of 1 syllable, unique names. Mott fits that bill. Then you wrap it up with another 1 syllable last name. Mott Hyde just sounds like a short stop. Mott was a 26th round selection from the 2014 draft out of Georgia Tech. He has played around 80% of his games in the Astros system at short stop, so they must believe that he has a future at that position. There hasn't been a much hotter hitter over the past couple of week than Mott. Since April 22, he's slashed .395/.511/.605. Now, this is propped up with a .441 BABIP, but even heavily regressed, those numbers would be fantastic for a short stop. Over the same time period, he's only struck out 4 times and walked 9.

Here are a couple of doubles from Mott:

The "Forgotten Few" is not the only one to recognize this hot streak that Mott is on. He was named Midwest League Player of the week.

Congratulations to #RiverBandits infielder Mott Hyde, the April 27-May 3 Midwest League Player of the Week! http://t.co/BtPcIpJ84r

— QC River Bandits (@QCRiverBandits) May 4, 2015

Chris Devenski, Right Handed Starting Pitcher, Corpus Christi Hooks

Devenski has yet to give up a run in 19.1 innings pitched. He's also created some buzz carrying a no hitter into the 7th inning before being pulled for pitch count purposes. He's only allowed a .160 BABIP so far this season, and we know that will come up. We also know Chris won't finish the season with a 0.00 ERA, but I like what I've seen from Devenski.

Devenski was a 25th round pick in the 2011 draft by the Chicago White Sox from Cal State Fullerton. He came to the Astros in the Brett Myers trade 2 seasons ago. Chris pitched in 10 games for the Hooks last year and has started this year with them also. I saw him pitch live last year versus the RoughRiders and I came away impressed with his pitchability.

Here's a quote from my article I wrote last summer after watching the Hooks live last year.

I watched Devenski warm up in the bullpen and I was impressed with what I saw. A fastball, curve, and change that were hard to pick up many differences between.

He seemed to be decently utilizing "pitch tunneling" to make his lackluster 4 seam fastball (90-92 mph) play up a little. He got a ton of bad swings early on in this game that resulted in some Ks and a lot of weak contact. He even broke Joey Gallo's bat as he hit a little weak liner back to Devenski.

Here's a nice video clip of Devenski striking out Rangers super stud power hitting prospect, Joey Gallo. It's funny to watch Chris seems to be grinning trying to talk Rodney Linares into letting him stay out, but development trumps "no hitters."

Brock Dykxhoorn, Right Handed Pitcher, Quad Cities River Bandits

Brock Dykxhoorn pic.twitter.com/iGiTaQ9Zq5

— RGuill (@QCBanditPhotog) April 20, 2015

Brock is a behemoth. He's 6-8, but he does not rely on pumping gas to get folks out. Brock has put up an ERA of 1.45 in 18.2 IP. He's struck out 17 and walked 7 during this time. Brock is fairly young at a shade blow 21 years old.

Brock is an interesting story. He started off playing club hockey as a defender, and only played baseball to have something to do over the summer. He eventually was cut by his club hockey team his sophomore year in high school at which that point he decided to devote his time to baseball. He pitched at West Virginia for a year, then transferred to a junior college in Arizona. This made him draft eligible and the Astros nabbed him in the 2014 draft in round 6.