Astros Minor League Depth - First Base

[4/13/14 UPDATE: Jesse Wierzbicki, Chase Davidson and Victor Tavarez are no longer in the organization. Brandon Meredith has been converted to first base; his 2013 stats can be found in the left field post.]

It's time to take a look at the Astros minor league depth, position by position, as we approach Spring Training. Today, we will look at first base.

I have split the players into two camps, those who finished the season at Advanced A Lancaster or higher and those who finished the season at Quad Cities A or lower. The embedded charts show first basemen in the organization ranked from high to low in terms of OPS. I am not including players who spent time at the major league level in 2013. The age shown is the player's current age.



First, let's look at the players who ended the season at the higher levels. Japhet Amador obviously leads the list with a very healthy OPS, but most of his 2013 play occurred in the Mexican League. He only played in a handful of games at Oklahoma City at the end of the season following his signing. He (arguably) did well in the Arizona Fall League, but his one walk to 17 strikeouts in 18 games is of some concern. After the AFL, Amador played in the Mexican Pacific winter league and all of his numbers were down, but he did at least draw a few more walks.

Jon Singleton's numbers for 2013 did not live up to Jon Singleton's standards, but I see zero cause for alarm. In this video interview from the Rookie Career Development Program, Singleton notes that due to the suspension and jumping up to AAA from AA, he spent most of his season making adjustments and never really felt comfortable at the plate. Fast forward to winter ball in Puerto Rico ... Singleton put up a .933 OPS. Last week, Jonathan Mayo anointed him the top first base prospect in all of baseball.

Jon Singleton - June 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Erik Castro showed that his power at Lancaster was not a fluke with his 28 doubles and 18 home runs at Corpus Christi. Telvin Nash's season was abbreviated due to injury, and he still struggled with strikeouts (although he didn't strike out at quite the rate he did in 2012). Nash will only be 23 in February so he still has time to mature as a hitter. Jesse Wierzbicki spent the final 25 games of the season at Lancaster and his numbers dropped off slightly over those games.

That leaves us with unsung hero M.P. Cokinos. Cokinos was, up until this season, a catcher, and he still caught on occasion in his time at Lancaster in 2013. But Rodney Linares wanted Cokinos' bat in the lineup on a regular basis so he split his season, for the most part, between first base and DH (with a few outfield appearances as well). He boasts a very healthy OBP and a very low strikeout rate, only whiffing 41 times in 109 games.



Yonathan Mejia leads the list in OPS from the lower levels, thanks in large part to excellent numbers in the Gulf Coast League which led to his promotion to Tri-City for the final three games of the regular season. He only turned 21 in September.

Conrad Gregor (fourth round pick out of Vanderbilt) and Chase McDonald (12th round pick out of East Carolina University in North Carolina) are next on the list, each putting up solid numbers in their first seasons as professionals. They have each established a good foundation on which to build.

Chase McDonald - August 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Hector Roa had a .423 slugging percentage with the Dominican Summer League team, leading to his promotion to the Gulf Coast League for the final six games of the season where, coincidentally, he played in the outfield rather than at first base. He turns 19 in March. Victor Tavarez barely got his feet wet and spent more time as DH (16 games) than he did at first base. He is also currently 18.

Chase Davidson only played in 10 games, all at DH, before disappearing for the rest of the year after the game on April 23rd, presumably due to an injury of some kind. He just turned 24 last week. Bobby Borchering had been at AA in 2012, but did not make it out of Quad Cities in 2013. Considering his age and what he should have done in Low A ball, it's hard to be very encouraged about the former first round pick.

Next Up: Third Base