I’m back with some more Live Looks from the PCL! I got a chance to watch four games of the Round Rock (TEX) vs. Sugar Land (HOU) series and there were some new arms I hadn’t seen and familiar names that stood out. Unfortunately, outfielder Jacob Melton and RHP Emiliano Teodo are hurt currently and did not play in this series. But there were plenty of names that caught my eye and some former big leaguers who I think should get another shot soon. Let’s dive in!

Miguel Ullola, RHP HOU (Triple-A)

Miguel Ullola had been a bit inconsistent to start the season with Sugar Land, but he put it all together in this outing and was dominant, allowing just one hit over five scoreless innings, walking two and punching out five. His fastball is a comfortable 65 grade offering. While it only sits 92-95 at the moment, it plays up significantly due to the carry and ride it has at the top of the zone to get a ton of whiffs and chases. Cristian Javier’s fastball is a good comparison, it’s very similar to his heater the way it doesn’t blow you away with velocity but the carry makes it play like upper 90s. The numbers back it up too, with his heater generating 33% whiffs and an absurd 43% chase rate.

Ullola’s secondary pitches need some refining and his curveball in the mid 80s had the most success in the outing, it was sharp and he was able to command it. His slider has more of a cutter shape without much depth in the high 80s and will touch 90 or 91. The righty will throw the slider in any count and at the moment it’s more of a pitch to get weak contact than a swing and miss pitch. Ullola doesn’t have a great feel for the changeup and that’ll be something he has to develop more to sell me on him being a big league starter. He has messed around with a sweeper a little bit this season, but clearly doesn’t have a great feel for it. If he could develop that to pair with his fastball, we literally could have a Javier clone. As a 22-year-old in Triple-A, he has plenty of time to do that though.

Command has been a struggle for Ullola throughout his minor league career, but at least in this start it was quite good. He was able to hit spots, especially placing his high-ride fastball above the belt just out of the zone to get whiffs. Overall, I came away really impressed with Ullola and look forward to seeing him again next week. The numbers aren’t great, but this is a very young arm for the Triple-A level and some bumps are to be expected. There’s definitely some reliever risk here, but at the very least Ullola is going to be a high leverage bullpen arm. Oh yeah and the Astros signed him for $75k at the “old” age of 18, sounds like a prototype the Astros have had a ton of success with before (Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier). They might have done it again with Ullola.  

Brice Matthews, INF HOU (Triple-A)