Houston Astros: The minor league touchables and untouchables in a trade

6 of 6

HOUSTON,TX – APRIL 20: A baseball with the Astros 50th Anniversary logo sits in the grass during the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros on April 20, 2012 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.(Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

Franklin Perez – Touchable

This is another situation where having a wealth of talent in your farm system including comparable talent at the same position and same level makes it easier to lose a promising prospect.

Franklin Perez is at the same level and age as Forrest Whitley and putting up comparable numbers, but Whitley has the better pitcher body and the upside of an ace. This is not to discount the talent potential of Franklin Perez. Here is a quote from the scouting report on him from mlb.com’s 2017 Houston Astros prospect list:

"Perez already demonstrates feel for four offerings. His most consistent pitch right now is his lively fastball, which sits at 92-94 mph, peaks at 96 and could add more velocity once he physically matures. His downer curveball projects as a future plus pitch, his fading changeup shows similar upside and his slider is developing nicely."

Having a feel for four pitches at a young age is very impressive. Most pitchers at this stage of development have a feel for two pitches and are working on that third offering (generally their change up).

Perez could be seen as a high risk high reward prospect because there’s a lot of room for growth, both physically and displaying better command of all of his pitches. Remember Francis Martes was considered a pip squeak before filling out and finding a way to hit the upper 90’s on the gun.

More from House of Houston

But when it comes down to it, Whitley has that big pitcher frame and at the moment is unfazed by his promotion as evidenced by his three starts that were mentioned in the previous slide.

This is all to say that we don’t want to lose any of these prospects with potential all-star futures, but you have to give talent to get talent. And the Astros need to think about who they can lose short term without sacrificing too much long term.

With the future of the team set for the next year and a half as Dallas Keuchel doesn’t hit free agency until 2019, Lance McCullers Jr. still being years away from leaving, and other than left field their entire roster set at each position until 2020 when Jose Altuve hits the market, they can afford to set free their major league ready prospects in return for another ace pitcher, one they would potentially have control over for multiple years such as a Sonny Gray (who’s been on fire lately with a 1.33 ERA in his last four starts) or Gerrit Cole.

Martes, Fisher, or Perez could easily headline a package for a frontline starter that we have cheap team control over and holding onto Tucker and Whitley would still give us two blue chip prospects to look forward to.

Next: 10 best wins of first half of 2017

I don’t know what Jeff Luhnow thinks of each of these five, but if I were in the front office, especially with starting pitcher J.B. Bukauskas coming on board who is 21 years old and could move up the ladder quickly being a recent college pitcher, I would feel comfortable losing Martes, Fisher and/or Perez. But only time will tell, and we’ll see what ends up happening as a trade looms in the future.

Home/Houston Astros