Starting Nine: Astros MiLB Bold Prediction

We are now less than a month away from Opening Day, which means it’s the perfect time to make predictions. I posed the following question to the minor league writers here at TCB:

What is your bold prediction for the Astros minor league season?

Here are the answers.

Jason Marbach

A couple predictions:

1. Myles Straw becomes a consensus top 30 prospect for us this year.

2. Yordan Alvarez becomes a consensus top 30 prospect for us this year.

3. Franklin Perez cracks well into the Top 100 prospects in baseball this year.

4. Derek Fisher puts it all together this year and rakes, forcing his way onto a Major League roster by the trade deadline.

I'll be pretty stoked if I'm right about even one of those.

Joshua Cookson

My bold prediction:

Ramon Laureano continues to display the hitting prowess from last season and he's the Astros #1 prospect going in to 2018.

Brian Stevenson

Alright, here's one for you; at season's end, Trent Thornton will be one of the top three pitching prospects in the system. Anyone else see him come in, wearing #99 with no name on his jersey, after Devo got lit up yesterday and put out the fire? Yep.

Martes and Paulino will both graduate, Whitley and Franklin Perez will be 1 and 2 (in some order). Thornton posted a 2.35 ERA and 7.0 K/BB in Double-A in his first full pro season. He’s going to start the year in Double-A again, rip it up for a couple of months, then move to Triple-A. If he continues the success there, his stock shoots to the top of the system. Top 10 prospect in our system, and one of the three best starters. Book it. Boom.

FYI Jason, since he seems to be your boy/crush now, Myles Straw wins "fastest baserunner" in our system this year from BA. And Martes wins all three of best fastball, curveball, and changeup.

Patrick Brennan

I got a big one here. Kyle Tucker is a top three prospect in baseball by the end of the year.

I also think Jandel Gustave will be pitching some meaningful innings for this team down the stretch.

Stephen Sydnor

Johnny Sewald plays so well at Corpus that he skips Fresno, and then replaces Tony Kemp on the roster. His speed helps the Astros win the world series when he steals home against former Sun Devil pitcher Ryan Kellog, who made it to the majors after going 40 strait innings in the minors without giving up a run.

Spencer Morris

Kyle Tucker records a major league plate appearance.

Nathan Reck

Derek Fisher goes 30/30 with roughly 10/10 coming in the majors over the second half. If he can just find a way to hit .250, he could play a huge role down the stretch in September and October.

Astros Future

J.D. Davis finishes his season with 30+ homers for Fresno. The Texas League isn’t necessarily known as a hitter’s league but Davis still managed to have 34 doubles and 23 homers. In a hitter friendly PCL, I think Davis will hit 30+ HR this season.

Anibal Sierra will have at bats in Corpus Christi this season. Sierra played exclusively for the DSL Astros last season but he is already 23. Due to his advanced glove, and approach at the plate, I think the Astros will be aggressive with him when he gets stateside. There aren’t many shortstop prospects in front of him that would slow his progression.

Yordan Alavarez crushes the ball in full season and becomes a top 100 prospects prior to the 2018 season.

What do you think? What are your MiLB predictions?