Cristian Javier *, RHP, HOU

Let’s meet the Houston Astros Minor League Pitcher of the Year, shall we?

• Born: March 26, 1997
• B/T: Right/Right
• 6’1″, 204-lbs
• Signed by the Houston Astros in 2015 out of the Dominican Republic.

His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year and then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:

It’s not all green, but it’s all steady as she goes. It’s like the organization lines up batters for Cristian to face, and all he does is keep them to a low WHIP, strikes out bunches, and walks too many (but never enough to hurt his WHIP).

No matter what level.
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No matter who he faces.

Nobody hit him well, in any case. The only ugly WHIP was against lefties in Class A Advanced, but that’s just 9 innings. In any larger sample size, he came out of the battle with fine ERAs and WHIPs.

Not much of a difference in pull vs opposite field power against him, is there?
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Looking in the BaseballHQ.com Minor League Baseball Analyst book, we see that Javier has four pitches in his arsenal:

Javier doesn’t have the fastest of fastballs, but it’s a riding pitch that is almost impossible for hitters to get their barrels on. He had a ridiculous .130 oppBA in 2019.

His slider is a real weapon, a true plus pitch. His changeup is coming along and improving but needs more work. But then he also has a curve. This is what you want to see in a starter’s arsenal, and he already has three very usable (if not plus) pitches.
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He’s already reached AAA, so he’s not far off.

• Rotowire: #380 in their Top 400.
• BaseballHQ: Not in their Top 100.
• Fangraphs: Not in their Top 120.
• Fantasy Six Pack: #720 on their dynasty list.
• Prospects365: Not on Ray Butler’s Top 200.
• Imaginary Brick Wall: #212 of the Top 487.

He needs better control of his pitches. Batters couldn’t do a thing against him, but he still walked more than 10% of the batters he faced. He can only hurt himself until he gets better control.
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He needs to improve his command of his fastball to give him two plus weapons along with his slider.

He led all of the minor leagues in ERA last year.

He led all of the minor leagues in strikeout rate (K/9) last year.

He led all of the minor leagues in oppBA last year.

All while climbing from High-A to Triple-A.

Any questions?
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Didn’t think so.