Houston Astros: Devenski and Kemmer to be honored at banquet

Even after all the recent trades, the Houston Astros still have plenty of quality prospects in the system.

Per a press release from the Corpus Christi Hooks and milb.com, Chris Devenski and Jon Kemmer, are scheduled to be recognized as the team’s Players of the Year on January 14th at the South Texas Baseball Banquet. And this good news comes on the heels of both players receiving non-roster invitations so needless to say that the young 2016 has been good to both players so far on a professional level.

Kemmer, 25 years old and a former 21st round pick, won the Texas League batting title in 2015 after slashing .327/.414/.574 to go with 18 HR and 65 RBI in 364 at-bats. He also posted a wRC+ of 174 and a wOBA of .438 while breaking various Hooks records and finding himself on top of multiple categories across the Texas League leaderboards. In what was essentially his first full season since joining the Astros farm system in 2013, Kemmer helped establish himself as one of the organization’s interesting projects given his level of production and age.

Here is a clip of Kemmer hitting a solo shot back during a May game against the Midland RockHounds:

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Devenski, also 25 years old and a former 25th round pick in 2011, made headlines as one of the Astros breakout pitchers in the minors following the 2015 season. In 24 games, 17 starts, the former White Sox farmhand went 7-4 with a 3.01 ERA/3.74 FIP. He also had one lone start for the Astros AAA affiliate, the Fresno Grizzlies, in the Triple-A championship where the Grizzlies came away triumphant in a 7-0 shutout in part because of his efforts. Thanks to his impressive 2015 season, Devenski finds himself now ranked 16th overall in the Astros top prospects list.

Here is a clip of Devenski from the Triple-A championship striking out his ninth hitter on the night for the Grizzlies:

Both players figure to be part of the Astros future at some point or another. Kemmer is not currently ranked in the Astros top thirty prospects, but if he keeps producing then, his ranking may, in fact, change sooner or later. Devenski is now considered one of the Astros top pitching prospects and may be a dark horse candidate for the rotation at some point in 2017, or even this upcoming season.

Here is an interview with Kemmer at @TalkingStros.

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They are clearly deserving of the recognition they are about to receive at the upcoming banquet next week.

**Statistics provided by Fangraphs**