No single person does, but Taubmann is the closest but his duties are not exactly the same as what Elias had. Luhnow's style is very radical when it comes to roles and assignments.
The Astros would like a starting pitcher in round one........ but they will not reach. As someone else said......... BPA.
Agreed... but it was clear in the last few years that the draft/signings were Elias' responsibility. I could easily see Luhnow employing a merit-based system, where you have to earn the title before getting it. But I would also hope that he doesn't try to still micro-manage all of the minor-leauge/draft process himself (as he did when first arriving)... unless the major league team is now truly on auto-pilot (it sort of is), and he's bored and wants to get back to the aspects of baseball management that may excite him even more than MLB success (prospect speculation, undervalued assets, developing draft signability strategies based on slot money adjustments).
I like that my interest in the draft is minimal this year. Hope Astros draft someone great. I expect either a pitcher with high spin, high velocity, an athletic position player with contact and moderate, but developable power, or the always popular...who?
MLB.com updated their draft Top 100: http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2019?list=draft At this point we have to assume Keuchel won’t sign before the draft which is a major bummer since it means no extra 2nd round pick for the Astros this year. A quick jfff mock: Round 1, Pick 32: SS Logan Davidson, Clemson Round 2, Pick 68: 2B Cameron Cannon, Arizona Round 3, Pick 106: OF Thomas Dillard, Mississippi Round 4, Pick 136: C Jaxx Groshans, Kansas Round 5, Pick 166: LHP Mitchell Stone, Ok St Round 6, Pick 196: RHP Tyler Baum, UNC Round 7, Pick 226: OF Jake Mangum, Mississippi Round 8, Pick 256: RHP Mason Studstill, FGCU Round 9, Pick 286: RHP Drake Fellows, Vanderbilt Round 10, Pick 316: RHP Darius Vines, CSU Bakersfield
Carter Stewart would be fun if they aren't worried about his medicals. Looking at fangraphs boards, Graham Ashcraft seems like he might profile as a Peter Solomon esque sleeper.
Remind me again why the Astros don’t pick until 32nd. Is it because they signed Brantley? If so, why 32 and not later?
Teams get a comp pick 1 slot lower in the next draft if they fail to sign their first round pick, there happen to be 3 teams this season with comp picks. It's how we landed Bregman and Tucker a few years back.
2080 Baseball recently released their first mock and they have Josh Wolf, a RHP from St. Thomas High School, staying home.
I like Goss better than Wolf, but I like Leiter most among the HS pitchers who are likely to be available at #32. Espino would be good too. But I’m all in on Logan Davidson if he is still available.
Fangraphs has suggested that Leiter is looking for ~$4 million to sign, which is probably not possible given the Astros smaller pool. Espino is a little scary with the history of really hard throwing HS pitchers not being great healthwise (Kolek, Greene, Pint as recent examples). Ideally they could follow last year's blueprint with a college bat first, especially if they can go underslot a bit, and grap a prep projection arm later.
