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2021 Houston Astros Thread

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Gourmand

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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Pedro León is many things. He’s an explosive, quick-twitch athlete who packs big raw power into a 5-foot-10, 170-pound frame. He’s the Astros’ $4 million man, having landed the largest signing bonus of the 2021 international class. He’s a potential impact major leaguer at a premium defensive position, or maybe even two of them.

There are also plenty of things León is not. He’s not regarded as an elite prospect across the industry, at least not yet. He’s not yet experienced against the caliber of velocity and movement pitchers feature in the upper levels of the minor leagues. And he’s not yet accustomed to the daily grind of being an everyday player over a 120-game minor-league season, which is much more than he ever played as a young professional in Cuba.

Patience is not always a quality exhibited by the prospect-obsessed, but it is required for León as he navigates his first season stateside and his first season of organized baseball of any kind since 2018-19. The 23-year-old outfielder who is working to become an infielder might have the highest ceiling of any position player in the Astros’ minor-league system. But while he has loud tools, he also still has a long way to go.

León has a lot on his plate, which is important context for evaluating his season with Double-A Corpus Christi. He’s in a new country where he doesn’t speak English and he’s learning a new brand of baseball while trying to live up to the expectations and hype associated with his signing bonus. He’s adjusting to the most advanced pitching he’s seen while also being introduced to playing shortstop after being primarily an outfielder in Cuba.

This season has been a mixed bag, mostly because of his offense. He struggled with the bat early, which led to him dropping in the Corpus Christi lineup, before picking it up recently as he began to adapt to the velocity and chase less frequently. There was also the time in early May when he lost focus and made an embarrassing mental mistake that landed him on the bench for a game. His transition to Double A is very much still ongoing.

“He’s a great kid. He’s got amazing tools. It’s been a little challenging for him at the start,” Corpus Christi manager Gregorio Petit said last week. “But he’s also shown some good things and it’s just a matter of time for him to acclimate to this baseball, to understand the game here is a little bit different or maybe a lot different than the one he was playing in Cuba. He’s adapting to it. He’s doing pretty good.”

Given the longer schedule (a season in Cuba is only 96 games) and the differences in aspects such as the diet and the workouts, the adjustment period for Cuban players is such that it can be argued the results from the first season stateside could be discounted. In León’s case, he went from the tryout and showcase process right into the pandemic, which delayed his entry into the Astros’ system by six months. In retrospect, the notion that he might make it to the majors in 2021 was probably unrealistic.

Roughly 40 percent of the way through the Double-A season, León has been about a league-average performer offensively. He entered the week batting .229 with an on-base percentage of .339 and a slugging percentage of .396 in 168 plate appearances across 41 games. He’s parlayed his elite speed into 10 stolen bases in 14 attempts. Curiously, he’s performed dramatically better on the road than at Corpus Christi’s Whataburger Field. Not as curiously, the right-handed hitter has hit lefties better than he has righties.

On the defensive end, the shortstop experiment persists, which reflects the Astros’ player development department’s belief it might actually amount to something. León has played short in 33 games as opposed to only six games in center field.

During his two pro seasons in Cuba (2017-18 and 2018-19), he was solely an outfielder. And in those two seasons in Cuba, when he was 19 and 20, his Baseball-Reference page shows that he played only 32 games and 33 games, respectively.

“It’s very different,” León said in Spanish before a game last week at Whataburger Field. “I’m facing a much longer season here than in Cuba and the most important thing here is the mental and physical preparation, and if there’s something that I’ve focused on, it’s making the adjustments every day and trying to make those adjustments as quickly as possible.”

Converting an infielder to an outfielder is a lot more common than turning an outfielder into an infielder, but León is the second player in the past three years with which the Astros have attempted the latter. With Myles Straw, the experiment lasted the 2019 season. With León, it remains to be seen how far it will go.

A good center fielder is plenty valuable, so there’s a case that the Astros should just stick León at his natural position and let him run with it. Their thinking, however, is if they could open the door for León to play two premium defensive positions, it would add value to his career and optionality to their roster.

The Astros face uncertainty at the major-league level at both positions. At shortstop, Carlos Correa will be a free agent at season’s end and appears headed for a Manny Machado-esque mega-contract. In center field, Straw has improved from earlier in the season but still might profile best as a fourth outfielder.

The Astros should be in the market for a shortstop in the offseason — it’s a loaded free-agent class — but what if market dynamics lead them to allocate their resources to acquire a center fielder or loading up on relievers instead? Another of the Astros’ best prospects, Jeremy Peña, also plays shortstop, where he is an excellent defender. But what if Peña, who is rehabbing from surgery on his left wrist, doesn’t hit enough to be an everyday player in the majors?

If the León-at-shortstop experiment works, it still might be a couple of years before he’s ready to play it at the major-league level. In that scenario, maybe he could be some sort of Chris Taylor-like hybrid who can play either shortstop or center field, depending on matchups. Or if León’s bat becomes major-league ready before his shortstop defense, center field might just win out after all.

León has been playing center field only about once a week in Double A, but the Astros don’t believe he will all of a sudden forget how to play there because he’s spending so much time at shortstop. Before games, he will field ground balls at shortstop, take batting practice and then head out to center field to shag fly balls. They think he has the athleticism, speed and arm strength to learn one position while maintaining his ability to play the other.

050621_Hooks_CB_14-1-scaled.jpg
 
Pedro León has played most of his games in Double A at shortstop. (Charlie Blalock / Corpus Christi Hooks)

Based on what he’s seen, Astros minor-league fundamentals coordinator Jason Bell said he believes the shortstop experiment could work. The key is seeing how it looks over time, especially with regard to how León handles the nuances of the position and the types of unforeseen, game-speed plays that can’t really be practiced through drills.

“He’s shown enough for me that I believe that he can do it,” Bell said. “Now it’s just about getting him enough experience and all of those games to hopefully see some of those things pop up and even if they are mistakes, teaching off of them. That’s the beauty of playing so many games and trying to see how consistent somebody can do it.”

Petit, who played shortstop at the major-league level, said he’s proud of what León has been able to do at the position.

“Even if he was doing worse than he is doing I would still be proud of him because it ain’t easy when you’ve never played that position before,” Petit said. “Only five months in and he’s doing what he’s doing, so that shows you how good of an athlete he is. Now it’s a matter of learning the position. When the game changes in the middle of a play, are you going to be able to react the right way and read the play the right way and change decisions in a split second of time? That’s going to be the hardest part for him.

“But movement-wise, he’s doing really good. Fielding the ball, he’s doing really good. He’s got a long way to go, I won’t lie. He’s still got a long way to go. But so far, (he’s made) a lot of improvement. I don’t care if this is a tiny improvement or a lot of improvement. In my book, improvement is improvement. A guy who has never played that position and doing what he’s doing, you’ve got to tip your hat to that guy.”

As far back as when he was in Low A and still finding his way in pro ball after signing with the A’s out of Venezuela, Petit knew he wanted to be a manager after he finished playing. His days as a journeyman utility infielder ended in 2019. Less than a year later, he was hired by the Astros, one of the five teams he played for in the majors between 2008 and 2018. The canceled 2020 minor-league season delayed his managerial debut in Double A by a year.

At the start of this season, Petit, 36, told his Corpus Christi players he has only a few rules. Be on time. Respect your teammates and coaches. And respect the game. The team’s season was less than a week old when, on May 8, Petit determined that a player had broken that third rule. León hit a pop fly in front of the plate and didn’t run out of the batter’s box. The ball dropped between San Antonio players in fair territory on the infield grass between home plate and the mound. It was hit high enough to where León should’ve been standing at second base. Instead, he was thrown out at first.

Petit pulled León from the game and benched him the next day, too. “I had to take him out,” Petit said. “I had to send a message to everybody, him and everybody else on the team, that I’m not going to go that way. I’m not going to allow that to happen.” Petit set the tone that day and used León’s blunder as a teachable moment.

“I learned that the most important thing is concentration on the game,” León said in Spanish. “There are a lot of fans that take money out of their salaries to see a game and they want to see a show, not to see things like that happen. Obviously, within a baseball game, a lot of things can happen like that, it’s not like that can’t happen. But you have to be aware of those kinds of things, because that’s what we prepare for and train for, and I learned that you always have to run it out.”

The memory of that play entered Petit’s mind last Tuesday when León didn’t run full speed out of the box on a ground ball. Amarillo third baseman Buddy Kennedy bobbled it before recovering quickly and firing to first. León picked up his pace about halfway down the line and almost beat the play. The next batter, Korey Lee, launched a solo home run.

León was pulled from the game again, but this time was a little different. As it turned out, he had been bothered by a right leg issue. He felt good enough to be back in the lineup Wednesday, but Petit still met with León in his office that afternoon to make sure they were on the same page.

“You can say, ‘Well, it could be a combination of both’ (a benching and a precautionary injury removal), but it was more a little concern about his leg, about his foot, than anything else,” Petit said. “He almost beat it anyway. He almost beat that throw. But I also spoke to him about it. ‘Hey, make sure you’re running.’ He’s cool with it. He knows. He understands. It’s got to be hard for a guy like him, knowing that everybody’s expecting him to do good and all that and not doing as good as he probably believes he should be doing. That brings a lot of pressure to himself and it’s going to be hard sometimes to stay focused on the game and (he’ll) make those types of mistakes.”

Guiding León through his first season in the minors is a big part of Petit’s job, and Petit’s background suggests an ideal fit for it. As a recently retired player, he knows what it takes to play at the highest level. He also knows how to play shortstop. From a communication standpoint, Spanish is Petit’s first language, so there’s no language barrier between him and León. And though it’s only his first season as a manager, Petit has been around his share of touted young players in his two decades in pro ball.

“I’m very confident that at the end of the year, he’s going to be where we believe he should be numbers-wise,” Petit said. “I think he’s got the talent and he’s got the tools and he’s definitely got the brain to adjust and get it done. I don’t doubt it.”

 

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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 19560

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1 hour ago, Gourmand said:

A tale of two months though. Check his splits:

May: .173/.271/.293 20 G 75 AB 7 BB 33 K

June: .290/.410/.507 21 G 69 AB 12 BB 24 K

Yep. Nothing wrong with a 300/400/500 slash line your second month in AA, well younger than the league, playing a premium position. He’s at least a major league regular. At best he’s a fringe All Star. 
If he’s replacing Straw and turning him into the 4th OF he should be I will strip off all my clothes and run the bases naked with a sparkler shoved up my ass (otherwise known as Thursday in some of you degenerates houses) while if he’s taking over for Correa as he just enters his prime I will listen to grunge and start cutting myself. 
So, that’s a pretty big difference in outcomes. 

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IDIOTsavant

IDIOTsavant 8673

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28 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Yep. Nothing wrong with a 300/400/500 slash line your second month in AA, well younger than the league, playing a premium position. He’s at least a major league regular. At best he’s a fringe All Star. 
If he’s replacing Straw and turning him into the 4th OF he should be I will strip off all my clothes and run the bases naked with a sparkler shoved up my ass (otherwise known as Thursday in some of you degenerates houses) while if he’s taking over for Correa as he just enters his prime I will listen to grunge and start cutting myself. 
So, that’s a pretty big difference in outcomes. 

Pretty much agree with everything you said except this. Think making adjustments this quickly show a fairly strong aptitude for it that will be huge at the big league level. His tools are elite. If his ability to adjust is really above average, then I think he has a lot higher ceiling than fringe all star. Other than that, it's spot the fuck on in my opinion....also the sparkler thing is Wednesday. I'm a man of routine, and I don't want to give up that to watch football during the fall.

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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 19560

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16 minutes ago, IDIOTsavant said:

Pretty much agree with everything you said except this. Think making adjustments this quickly show a fairly strong aptitude for it that will be huge at the big league level. His tools are elite. If his ability to adjust is really above average, then I think he has a lot higher ceiling than fringe all star. Other than that, it's spot the fuck on in my opinion....also the sparkler thing is Wednesday. I'm a man of routine, and I don't want to give up that to watch football during the fall.

So- George Springer was a fringe all star in my characterization. I don’t think he started any all star games and he went what- 2 times in his 7 years here. My reason for saying that is his ceiling is he’s 24. That’s too old to be a generational player or an all star regular every year imo. The best of the best are already garnering MVP votes and making all star games at 24 years old. If your eta in the majors is 25 your upside is George Springer which is an awesome result. If you want to characterize that as more than fringe all star I’m fine with that. I doubt we are in disagreement if Intel you his ceiling is Springer. 

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