Is this the year the Astros prospects push the team to the playoffs, or will fans have to wait until next year? The Astros decided at the deadline to pass on the market and bet on their farm system. The second half of the season, we have seen a slough of players make their way to the big leagues - including Alex Bregman, Joe Musgrove, A.J. Reed, Teoscar Hernandez, Tony Kemp, and Jandel Gustave. Each has shown their youth, but each has a ton of upside. Bregman started his MLB career extremely slow but has begun to show he can hit Major League pitching- his average has climbed to .169. When you watch him, he just seems like a ball player. He has the look and has made a smooth transition over to third after playing shortstop in the minors. Joe Musgrove, has wasted no time performing, posting an ERA of 1.47 over his first 18 1/3 innings with 21 strikeouts. He has shown he has the potential to be a front line starter. Musgrove will start his third game for the Astros on Thursday against the Orioles. With Gomez DFA'd the Astros brought up AAA center fielder Teoscar Hernandez. In his first at bat, Hernandez blasted a solo home run.
The Astros will look for more of this as Hernandez gets his opportunity to show his ability.
The Astros are 7.5 games back in the division and 4 in the wild card with only 44 games left in their season. I like the talent in the Astros' farm, but I think the hill is too steep for the MLB team to climb this year. I am glad Astros GM Jeff Luhnow brought up these young players, and I think it will pay off in the 2017 season. I will be looking for big things from the young prospects next year and hope they will push us to the playoffs.