Astros Prospects: Talking Stros w/ JJ Cooper, Defends Martes over Bregman

Chatting About Astros Prospects with JJ Cooper of Baseball America.

This is the season for the top Houston Astros prospects lists to be generated by all the experts around the country. While many people are offering their opinions on who are the Astros top prospects, there are several big wigs in the market. While some may not agree with every ranking they do, the top names in the prospects game are MLB Pipeline, Prospects 360, and Baseball America. I think that Baseball America does a good job ranking the players with other aspects other than just the stats and they know their stuff.

One of the people behind the prospects lists is the Managing Editor JJ Cooper, who really knows his stuff whether it’s who the Astros should protect in Rule V draft, what a specific hitter is capable of, and what pitches puts a particular pitcher to the top of the list. He was one of the people who were shocked that the Astros didn’t protect Michael Feliz at first from the Rule V draft, who was later added to the 40-man roster later that evening. He is a good follow if you don’t already follow him, @jjcoop36, but he joined @TalkingStros this past Tuesday.

The latest prospect list came out recently with Baseball America releasing theirs first, followed by MLB Pipeline later on. The two publications had different opinions on the order of the top three prospects. Baseball America has A.J. Reed, Francis Martes, and Alex Bregman in that order while MLB Pipeline has them listed in the top-100 with Bregman, Reed, and Martes. While MLB Pipeline has not released the Astros top-30 list, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the order.

Most fans agree with Bregman being number one, so they were surprised when Baseball America had him third. JJ Cooper addressed this on Talking Stros.

Next: Why Martes over Bregman?