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Posted

I hope some of these draftees work out and are good enough to trade for Justin Verlander some day.

 

 

However, it's fun to remember how we got the greatest Astro

 

https://www.lavidabaseball.com/jose-altuve-al-pedrique-scout/

 

 

Meet Al Pedrique, the scout who lied about José Altuve’s height

By César Augusto Márquez

The scouting report, like a thousand others in the history of the game, was straightforward and succinct:

“A batter with the ability to get to the major leagues in five years. Capable of averaging between .270 and .290. A line-drive hitter without much power. Must work on his defense.”

There was no mention of his height. Nor of the size of his heart, for that matter. And that’s how Alfredo “Al” Pedrique — recalling from memory his original evaluation written in the winter of 2006-07 — convinced the Houston Astros to sign 5-foot-6 José Altuve of Puerto Cabello, Venezuela.

“I should’ve kept that scouting report,” said Pedrique, who at the time was the Astros’ Latin American coordinator. “But he surpassed all our expectations. More than his hitting and speed, what I most liked about him was his intelligence and heart, and his drive and absolute faith in himself.”

Pedrique, 57, is a former infielder whose long, varied career in baseball includes being the second Venezuelan to manage in the major leagues. He skippered the Arizona Diamondbacks on an interim basis for 83 games in 2004, the same season Ozzie Guillén took over the Chicago White Sox. From the Astros, Pedrique moved on to managing in the Yankees’ minor league organization. He is now in his first season as the Oakland A’s first base coach.

As for Altuve, well, he has surpassed everyone’s expectations and become a true giant in the game. So good that the Astros recently rewarded him with a five-year contract extension that will pay him an additional $151 million through 2024.

It’s easy to surmise that Altuve, the 2017 AL MVP and three-time batting champ, is a product of the club’s high-tech operation. After all, the Astros are one of the best teams at compiling metrics and applying analytics.

But back then, general manager Jeff Luhnow was working in the St. Louis Cardinals’ scouting department. Pedrique simply used time-honed, old-school techniques when he trusted his instincts and recommended Altuve. He drew on the teachings of the late Andrés Reiner, the legendary major league scout from Venezuela who discovered stars like Bobby Abreu and Johan Santana and founded the country’s first baseball academy.

“I think that Altuve’s signing was made possible because we applied the same tenets taught to us by Andrés Reiner — to never exclude anyone at first glance,” said Pedrique in Spanish in an interview with La Vida Baseball during spring training.

“Some organizations didn’t think highly of Altuve because of his height,” Pedrique added. “But when we scouted him, we allowed him to keep playing in our academy. We kept liking what we saw, and we signed him.”

The man who actually discovered Altuve was the late scout Wolfgang Ramos, who pointed him out to Pablo Torrealba, the Astros’ Venezuelan coordinator, who in turned informed Omar López, who at the time managed the Astros’ Venezuelan summer league team. Their initial reports prompted Pedrique to make the trip to Venezuela and take a look himself.

It was love at first sight. Pedrique recalled telling Ramos, “Don’t lose that enano [runt]. No matter what, we got to sign him.”

Pedrique admitted that he fudged Altuve’s height in the scouting report to avoid any pushback from the front office.

“We wrote 5-foot-7 to ensure it got approved,” Pedrique said.

“When I handed the scouting report to [then] general manager Tim Purpura, he asked me, ‘Al, is this guy who is 5-7 the same guy who was 5-4 two weeks ago?’”

“I personally knew that it would be worth it,” Pedrique added. “I never thought that José would go this far, but I knew that he would become a major leaguer.”

Due to budgetary constraints, the Astros’ almost lost Altuve. Their offer was for only $15,000. Altuve’s father Carlos wasn’t happy at all with the amount. But Altuve, displaying his trademark confidence, overrode his father’s concerns and signed on Mar. 6, 2007.

“It’s all right, Dad,” said Altuve, according to Pedrique. “I’m going to sign for this amount. All I want is the opportunity to play. I’ll take care of the rest.”

In his first season in the now-defunct Venezuelan summer league, Altuve hit .343/.429/.441 with 12 doubles, 36 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Pedrique said that Altuve opened eyes all the way back to Houston.

“Initially we thought that because of his height, he would have difficulty getting promoted,” Pedrique said. “When a player isn’t considered a prospect, he must pave his own way. And that’s what Altuve did.”

The Astros promoted Altuve slowly and deliberately, from rookie league through Double-A. When he hit .408 at high Single-A and .361 in Double-A in the early summer of 2011, the Astros brought him up to The Show, one year ahead of Pedrique’s prediction. In his debut on July 20, Altuve got a hit on his fifth and last at-bat, a sharp single to right field. The rest, as we all know, is history.

There’s a postscript to the story. In December 2015 — the winter after Altuve collected 200 hits for the second straight season — Pedrique sat in the manager’s office in the visitors’ clubhouse at José Pérez Colmenares Stadium in Maracay, Venezuela, filling out the lineup for a game between his team, Leones de Caracas, and Tigres de Aragua.

There was a knock on the door. The security guard leaned in.

“Mr. Perique, José Altuve is outside asking for you. Do I let him in?” the guard asked.

“I said, ‘How the heck can you not let Altuve in?’” Pedrique recalled with a chuckle.

Altuve entered the room with a new glove, embroidered with the Venezuelan flag and his name.

“Señor Alfredo, I’m here to bring you this gift in appreciation for all that you have done for me,” said Altuve, according to Pedrique.

“José is one of my biggest achievements of my career, in this case, as a scout,” Pedrique said. “He’s like a son for me and that gesture at that moment meant everything for me. In my studio, where I keep all my sports memorabilia, I keep that glove in a very special place.”

The only thing missing is that original scouting report.

 

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Posted

love it ....

 

BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU outfielder/designated hitter Ethan Frey was selected No. 95 overall Sunday night in the third round of the MLB Draft by the Houston Astros.

Rounds 1-3 of the draft are being conducted Sunday evening in Atlanta. Rounds 4-20 will be held starting at 10:30 a.m. CT Monday, and the draft may be viewed at MLB.com.

Frey was the fourth LSU player selected on Sunday, joining left-hander Kade Anderson (1st round, No. 3) by the Seattle Mariners; right-hander Chase Shores (2nd round, No. 47) by the Los Angeles Angels; and right-hander Anthony Eyanson (3rd round, No. 87) by the Boston Red Sox.

Frey, a junior from Rosepine, La., batted .331 this season with 15 doubles, one triple, 13 homers, 50 RBI and 43 runs. He scored a team-high six runs in the 2025 College World Series, posting a .391 on-base percentage in the CWS that included two doubles and four walks.

Frey delivered an RBI double for LSU’s first run in Game 2 of the College World Series Finals versus Coastal Carolina, as the Tigers went on to a 5-3 victory to claim the NCAA National Championship.

 

Posted

The Miami Marlins may look to move numerous pieces before the MLB trade deadline, and the Houston Astros could comprise a perfect trade partner for them.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic has proposed a trade in which the Marlins would send pitcher Edward Cabrera and outfielder Jesus Sanchez to the Astros in exchange for infielder Brice Matthews, pitcher AJ Blubaugh and outfielder Jacob Melton.

Of course, the recent news concerning Cabrera could throw a wrench into this potential trade, as the right-hander left his Friday start against the Baltimore Orioles as a result of elbow discomfort.

But assuming the 27-year-old ends up alright (Miami manager Clayton McCullough said the team is "optimistic"), this would obviously represent a major haul for Houston, as it would land arguably the top pitcher on the trade market and a decent outfielder to bolster its depth.

That being said, the Astros aren't exactly in dire need of an outfielder at the moment, thanks much in part to Jose Altuve's hot streak. While none of Houston's starting outfielders have an OPS of .800 or better, they are all between .774 and .788, all of which are better than Sanchez's mark of .721.

 
Posted
17 hours ago, runthebone said:

Man, I would kill for 2023 Abreu right now.

 

Screenshot 2025-07-13 at 3.41.34 PM.png

With a negative WAR, wouldn't fewer games and plate appearances be better? 

Posted

 

It’s possible we’ll look back at this first round and realize that the Astros got the best power hitter in the class. At times, Neyens has looked like an elite hitter who’d easily get to that pop, and at times the swing-and-miss tendencies concerned scouts, which is why he didn’t end up closer to the top of the first round. He was announced as a shortstop, but his size (6-foot-4) and his arm will profile best at third base. More »

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSTON -- Growing up on a farm about an hour north of Seattle, Xavier Neyens cheered for the Mariners and is very aware of how the Astros have dominated the American League West division in the last decade.

“I know they whip the Mariners every year in the AL West, so that’s what I know most about the Astros,” he said. “I've been to quite a few Mariners-Astros games. I watched a bit of it on TV, but I just know they always run the West.”

Neyens, taken by Houston with the No. 21 overall pick in Sunday’s MLB Draft out of Mount Vernon (Wash.) high school, hopes to one day add to the Mariners’ misery as a member of the Astros. He’s a 6-foot-4 shortstop who has an advanced approach at the plate, big-time power potential from the left side and a strong arm.

I'm a dirtbag; I'm a baseball player,” Neyens said. “I'm going to do whatever it takes to win all the time. … I’ve always been an elite hitter from the left side, and in the past year or so I’ve added quite a bit of strength and I've worked on some bat-path stuff, so I'm able to hit the ball in the air a little bit more. That's kind of where my power comes into play.”

In the third round (95th overall), the Astros took 6-foot-6 LSU outfielder Ethan Frey, who was one of the biggest power threats on the Tigers’ College World Series championship club. The Astros anticipate they’re going to sign him and will start him off in the outfield.

“We think he’s got a chance to be a decent outfielder,” Astros scouting director Cam Pendino said. “He actually worked out for us at Daikin [Park] about 10 days ago or so, and he’s a better athlete than [he's] given credit for. We’re going to give him every chance to roam around there in the outfield."

 

MLB Pipeline’s No. 25 prospect and the 10th-best high school position player, Neyens features some of the best raw power of any hitter in this Draft, especially among high school players. MLB Pipeline gives Neyens a 65 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale, one of the top power grades in this year’s Draft class.

Neyens, who said he plans to forgo his commitment to Oregon State and sign with the Astros, compares his offensive game to Bryce Harper of the Phillies and his defensive game to Corey Seager of the Rangers, who’s also a bigger shortstop.

Pendino said the club scouted Neyens extensively since last summer and saw him a ton this spring. Pendino, senior scouting director Deric Ladnier, assistant general manager Charles Cook and West Coast crosschecker Jamie Lehman traveled to the Pacific Northwest to see Neyens in support of scout Tim Costic.

Neyens also came to Daikin Park for a pre-Draft workout a few weeks ago, where he hit in front of general manager Dana Brown.

“He put on a show,” Pendino said. “He did his thing. It was pretty impressive what he was able to do, and we were fired up to get him.”

Neyens led his high school team to a state title this season, hitting .456 with eight home runs, 10 doubles, 27 RBIs and 49 runs scored in 28 games. There are some swing-and-miss concerns with Neyens, but Pipeline cites an “outstanding approach” that helped lead him to hit with power to all fields as a high schooler, which is where he’s improved the most.

“Just being able to hammer those offspeed pitches that are left up in the zone, that are mistakes, hammer them out to left-center field, right-center field, wherever it is, and just really capitalize on those mistakes that are left in the zone,” Neyens said.

The Astros plan to give him every opportunity to play shortstop because of his strong arm -- he was throwing 95 mph off the mound as a pitcher -- and fluid field actions. Neyens played mostly shortstop in high school and said he’s most comfortable there.

“We see that as a strong potential there, but if not, third base would be an obvious fallback, and we think he could be a really, really good third baseman because of the actions in the arm,” Pendino said. “We’re giving him every chance to stick at shortstop until he proves us wrong. We think he is a shortstop, and we’re excited about that.”

Here is a deeper look at the other pick the Astros made on Day 1 of the Draft:

 

 

 

Posted
1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

It’s possible we’ll look back at this first round and realize that the Astros got the best power hitter in the class. At times, Neyens has looked like an elite hitter who’d easily get to that pop, and at times the swing-and-miss tendencies concerned scouts, which is why he didn’t end up closer to the top of the first round. He was announced as a shortstop, but his size (6-foot-4) and his arm will profile best at third base. More »

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSTON -- Growing up on a farm about an hour north of Seattle, Xavier Neyens cheered for the Mariners and is very aware of how the Astros have dominated the American League West division in the last decade.

“I know they whip the Mariners every year in the AL West, so that’s what I know most about the Astros,” he said. “I've been to quite a few Mariners-Astros games. I watched a bit of it on TV, but I just know they always run the West.”

Neyens, taken by Houston with the No. 21 overall pick in Sunday’s MLB Draft out of Mount Vernon (Wash.) high school, hopes to one day add to the Mariners’ misery as a member of the Astros. He’s a 6-foot-4 shortstop who has an advanced approach at the plate, big-time power potential from the left side and a strong arm.

 

I'm a mudbag; I'm a baseball player,” Neyens said. “I'm going to do whatever it takes to win all the time. … I’ve always been an elite hitter from the left side, and in the past year or so I’ve added quite a bit of strength and I've worked on some bat-path stuff, so I'm able to hit the ball in the air a little bit more. That's kind of where my power comes into play.”

In the third round (95th overall), the Astros took 6-foot-6 LSU outfielder Ethan Frey, who was one of the biggest power threats on the Tigers’ College World Series championship club. The Astros anticipate they’re going to sign him and will start him off in the outfield.

“We think he’s got a chance to be a decent outfielder,” Astros scouting director Cam Pendino said. “He actually worked out for us at Daikin [Park] about 10 days ago or so, and he’s a better athlete than [he's] given credit for. We’re going to give him every chance to roam around there in the outfield."

 

 

MLB Pipeline’s No. 25 prospect and the 10th-best high school position player, Neyens features some of the best raw power of any hitter in this Draft, especially among high school players. MLB Pipeline gives Neyens a 65 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale, one of the top power grades in this year’s Draft class.

Neyens, who said he plans to forgo his commitment to Oregon State and sign with the Astros, compares his offensive game to Bryce Harper of the Phillies and his defensive game to Corey Seager of the Rangers, who’s also a bigger shortstop.

Pendino said the club scouted Neyens extensively since last summer and saw him a ton this spring. Pendino, senior scouting director Deric Ladnier, assistant general manager Charles Cook and West Coast crosschecker Jamie Lehman traveled to the Pacific Northwest to see Neyens in support of scout Tim Costic.

Neyens also came to Daikin Park for a pre-Draft workout a few weeks ago, where he hit in front of general manager Dana Brown.

“He put on a show,” Pendino said. “He did his thing. It was pretty impressive what he was able to do, and we were fired up to get him.”

Neyens led his high school team to a state title this season, hitting .456 with eight home runs, 10 doubles, 27 RBIs and 49 runs scored in 28 games. There are some swing-and-miss concerns with Neyens, but Pipeline cites an “outstanding approach” that helped lead him to hit with power to all fields as a high schooler, which is where he’s improved the most.

 

“Just being able to hammer those offspeed pitches that are left up in the zone, that are mistakes, hammer them out to left-center field, right-center field, wherever it is, and just really capitalize on those mistakes that are left in the zone,” Neyens said.

The Astros plan to give him every opportunity to play shortstop because of his strong arm -- he was throwing 95 mph off the mound as a pitcher -- and fluid field actions. Neyens played mostly shortstop in high school and said he’s most comfortable there.

 

“We see that as a strong potential there, but if not, third base would be an obvious fallback, and we think he could be a really, really good third baseman because of the actions in the arm,” Pendino said. “We’re giving him every chance to stick at shortstop until he proves us wrong. We think he is a shortstop, and we’re excited about that.”

Here is a deeper look at the other pick the Astros made on Day 1 of the Draft:

 

 

 

Fixed it,  he might be from one of the very few places in the continental US that is damper than Houston and someone will need to make sure he realizes that big bright ball in the sky is the sun.

Wife has family up around Anacortes and they are damn near translucent.  

Posted
10 minutes ago, PGFrog said:

Fixed it,  he might be from one of the very few places in the continental US that is damper than Houston and someone will need to make sure he realizes that big bright ball in the sky is the sun.

Wife has family up around Anacortes and they are damn near translucent.  

 

so the batter eyes are darker up there ??

 

Shocked Family Matters GIF

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Posted

Joe Ryan mic'd up signing autos and mlb network guys interviewing him.

"You own Cal Raleigh"

Joe "Thank God Yordan's not here because that's my arch nemesis"



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