This will be your weekly look at the hottest prospects in the system, highlighting the top performers at the plate and on the mound. Below is the hotlist for Week Ten. Check out the previous week’s hotlist here.
Who’s Hot At The Plate?
Pascanel Ferreras – Ferreras, the last pick of the 2023 draft, got a promotion to Triple-A this week and had a monster debut. Through five games for Sugar Land, Ferreras hit .529 with a double, 2 home runs, 5 runs batted in and 2 stolen baes. He’s hitting .302 overall this season.
Justin Thomas – Thomas was drafted by the Astros in the 11th round pick and is having a nice year, and had a big week. Over six games for Asheville, Thomas hit .391 with 3 doubles, 2 home runs, 11 runs batted in and a 1.345 OPS. Overall this year he is hitting .288 with a .965 OPS.
Kyle Walker – Walker, also a pick from last year’s draft, is putting together a nice season. This week Walker hit .500 (11-for-22) with 4 doubles, 4 runs batted in and 6 walks to 3 strikeouts. He also added 3 stolen bases. He’s hitting .294 with 17 stolen bases this season for Asheville.
Caden Powell – Powell suffered a broken hamate bone last year and started a bit slow, but he has turned it on lately. This week the 22-year-old hit .429 with a double, 3 home runs and 8 runs batted in. He’s also hitting .407 with 7 home runs and 22 runs batted in over 22 games since May 5th.
Anthony Huezo – Huezo is an extra base hit machine, something we asked him about on the podcast, and this week was no different. Over six games for the Woodpeckers, Huezo hit .333 (7-for-21) with 4 doubles and 2 home runs. He has a .858 OPS through 48 games this season.
Nehomar Ochoa – Ochoa got a promotion to Asheville this week and immediately produced for the Tourists. In six games for Asheville, Ochoa hit .333 with 3 doubles, 2 home runs, 10 runs batted in and a stolen base. He has a .836 OPS overall through 42 games this season.
Multiple Astros Prospects Land on Baseball America’s Statcast Leaderboards
Who’s Hot On The Mound?
Javier Perez – Perez has been one of the best pitchers in the system this season and turned in arguably his best outing this week. In one start, the right-hander tossed 7 scoreless innings allowing just 2 hits while striking out 10 batters. Perez has a 2.82 ERA with 9 BB/64 K over 54.1 innings this season.
James Hicks – Hicks has been a bit up and down this week, but his good weeks have been really good. This week he had a strong start striking out 8 over 6.1 innings allowing 1 run. A few more good outings and he could end up pitching in Sugar Land soon.
Ryan Verdugo – Verdugo has put together a nice year so far and had a strong outing this week allowing just 1 hit and 1 run over 5.2 innings while striking out 6. On the season, he’s allowed just 16 hits in 36 innings holding opponents to just a .136 batting average against.
Luis Rodriguez – Rodriguez has been up and down a bit this year but had a nice outing this week for Asheville. In his one outing, the 22-year-old tossed 6 innings allowing just 1 unearned run while striking out 4 batters. He has 34 K in 39.2 innings this season in High-A.
TEAM ERA and OPS:
Sugar Land – From 5.11 ERA to 5.25 ERA – From .673 OPS to .686 OPS
Corpus Christi – From 4.41 ERA to 4.80 ERA – From .675 OPS to .689 OPS
Asheville – From 8.05 ERA to 7.93 ERA – From .782 OPS to .817 OPS
Fayetteville – From 4.66 ERA to 4.65 ERA – From .723 OPS to .7211 OPS
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