NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: Lame superheroes, new video games and Hybrids
Aug 1, 2019, 6:56 am
ART BY JESUS RODRIGUEZ
Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
Hey Nerds! It's August! Let's start this month strong!!
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
Make sure to get over to The West Bar and Grill on August 4th. They are supporting 13yr old Kobee Cohen, who having previously defeated Rhabdomayosarcoma recently suffered a return of the disease and now it is in his brain. Looking towards hospice care, the family needs financial aid and support during this difficult time. There will be a raffle and donations for the raffle are still being accepted, everyone is welcome to attend and I'm encouraging them to do so!
SOME INDIEGOGO LOVE
So as I've entered the world of Indy comic creators, I've come across a lot of cool projects and one worth discussing is Luke Stone's Hybrids. Right now he's crowdfunding the third issue on Indiegogo and could use some love, so check him out. It's a cool series with some spectacular art, and some really interesting characters. I particularly love the big guy they call Trashman, I love the codename, because he takes out the trash, get it? There are some cool characters and they conversation is believable, it flows nicely, this is a good team book worth picking up. Hybrids #3 is being crowdfunded right now!!
MEMORIES
So one of my favorite nerd websites did a thing about the worst X Men ever and nearly all of them come from the era where I was reading comic books, Maggot, Marrow, Joseph, Nate Grey and Adam X in particular. These were just absolutely terrible characters to be fair, but they were the characters in the comic book as I was in my teenage years and these were the characters that I remember as being part of this really cool X Men line up. Now fast forward 15ish years and honestly, yes they are all terrible characters but they were awesome back then, I swear! It's funny how awful our tastes used to be and how we only remember them as these great things.
NEW GAME SEASON
We're coming up on the 2k20 round of games over the next two months and while I'm always excited about this time, I'm also a little uneasy about this time. Usually you're just getting the games for the updated rosters, you're not even getting that many new or great features, which is disappointing. I hope they make enough changes year to year to justify buying a new game every year but the truth is, they probably didn't. Not only didn't they make enough changes, they probably also weren't able to fix all the bugs in the game, as every year you find some weird glitch that screws up the great team you were building. One year in Madden it was having too many created players, another year in NBA 2K it was having contracts that decreased in value over time and in 2K18 it was having too many overseas players held on your roster, all of these would crash your season and ruin your night.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
When I don't sleep well I develop a cough that takes me forever to get rid of and I have it right now and it drives me freaking crazy. I hate this damn cough more than anything I ever see or deal with health wise. It takes literally two or three weeks to get totally over this cough and it's so aggravating. Anyway, I'm done complaining, I have to go cough.
Feel free to check out my brand new comic book Another Day at the Office or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
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Late fireworks flip the script in thrilling All-Star showdown
Jul 16, 2025, 10:57 am
The Houston Astros entered the 2025 MLB Draft with limited capital but a clear objective: find talent that can help sustain their winning ways without needing a full organizational reboot. With just under $7.2 million in bonus pool money and two forfeited picks, lost when they signed slugger Christian Walker, the Astros needed to be smart, aggressive, and a little bold. They were all three.
A swing on star power
With the 21st overall pick, Houston selected Xavier Neyens, a powerful left-handed high school bat from Mt. Vernon, Washington. At 6-foot-4, Neyens is raw but loaded with tools, a slugger with plus power and the kind of bat speed that turns heads.
He’s the Astros’ first high school position player taken in the first round in a decade.
If Neyens develops as expected, he could be the next cornerstone in the post-Altuve/Bregman era. Via: MLB.com:
It’s possible we’ll look back at this first round and realize that the Astros got the best power hitter in the class. At times, Neyens has looked like an elite hitter who’d easily get to that pop, and at times the swing-and-miss tendencies concerned scouts, which is why he didn’t end up closer to the top of the first round. He was announced as a shortstop, but his size (6-foot-4) and his arm will profile best at third base.
Their next big swing came in the third round with Ethan Frey, an outfielder/DH from LSU who was one of the most imposing college hitters in the country.
He blasted 13 home runs in the SEC and helped lead the Tigers to a championship.
Filling the middle
In the fourth round, the Astros grabbed Nick Monistere, an infielder/outfielder out of Southern Miss who won Sun Belt Player of the Year honors.
If Kendall likes the pick, I like the pick. https://t.co/NQKqEHFxtV
— Jeremy Branham (@JeremyBranham) July 14, 2025
He doesn’t jump off the page with tools, but he rakes, hitting .323 with 21 home runs this past season, and plays with a chip on his shoulder.
They followed that up with Nick Potter, a right-handed reliever from Wichita State. He projects as a fast-moving bullpen piece, already showing a mature approach and a “fastball that was regularly clocked in the upper-90s and touched 100 miles per hour.”
From there, Houston doubled down on pitching depth and versatility. They took Gabel Pentecost, a Division II flamethrower, Jase Mitchell, a high school catcher with upside, and a host of college arms, all in hopes of finding the next Spencer Arrighetti or Hunter Brown.
Strategy in motion
Missing multiple picks, Houston leaned into two things: ceiling and speed to the majors. Neyens brings the first, Frey and Monistere the second. And as they’ve shown in recent years, the Astros can develop arms with late-round pedigree into major league contributors.
The Astros didn’t walk away with flashy headlines, they weren’t drafting in the top 10. But they leave the 2025 draft with a clear direction: keep the farm alive with bats that can produce and arms that can fill in the gaps, especially with the club managing injuries and an aging core.
If Neyens becomes the slugger they hope, and if Frey or Monistere climbs fast, this draft could be another example of Houston turning limited resources into lasting impact.
You can see the full draft tracker here.
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