Houston Astros: Top Four Players to Protect in Rule V Draft

Astros 16th top prospect

Reymin Guduan

Despite being in the Astros organization for six years now, I really haven’t heard much about him before. What I do is that he is a left-handed pitcher who can throw in the upper 90’s. What Guduan offers is a pitcher who can throw hard (100 mph), but is still raw regarding control in general. He racks up many strikeouts, 245 strikeouts in 197 1/3 innings in the minors. He’s also very prone to walk batters, 162 of them, which is 7.4 walks every nine innings.

The Astros realized that he probably would struggle too much with command as a starter, so the wanted to see how he did out of the bullpen. Even though his 5.02 career ERA would not scare hitters, the fact that he could throw 100 mph with a hint of he has no clue where the ball is going, would give him the extra edge on the hitters over shorter spans.

While he seems like someone who would not be worth saving based on his stats, however, he is a left-handed flame-thrower that the Astros could use. Maybe working with Brent Strom, perhaps Guduan can learn to harness his stuff. If the Astros can’t re-sign Tony Sipp, Guaduan could be needed in the bigs soon being a left-hander. This might be someone that Luhnow gambles on not protecting with his high walk and ERA.

2015 Stats from Baseball-Reference: 4-6/ 5.52 ERA/ 59 strikeouts in 45 2/3 innings.

Verdict: I’m on the fence, but someone who throws that hard could be swept up.

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