Not sure I’ll ever agree with the 5-round draft structure. I’m hoping it’ll revert back over time. There’s a plethora of Hall of Fame players available that we’ll never know about. Tons of great players have been drafted after the 5th round. I’m hopeful that Click can overcome the hits from the scandal. It still deeply irks me that BOS went unscathed (and a blind eye turned towards everyone else). No one in the BOS investigation was honest and HOU was obviously in the wrong, but at least our players were open and honest in the investigation. Tons of organizations have skeletons in the closet, it’s sickening. Luhnow could have handled things differently but I do not like how he was forced out. I do feel for him.
May as well turn this into the tracker thread too considering there's only four of them to keep track of and all of them probably intend to sign. Undrafted players will probably be a bit tricky since there were guys in the past who announced that they reached a deal with the Astros but never appeared in a game anywhere in the organization. And obviously, with the minor league season pretty much cancelled, we can't verify if they actually did sign. So, I'd take any of that news with multiple grains of salt...
Whitcomb has a weird swing and looks more like a 2B than SS with his arm and range. But despite the swing his bat is productive. There weren’t any realistic options that looked all that appealing to me, so I don’t have a problem with him there.
If the depleted Astros farm system has a strength, it’s on the pitching side. But it still wasn’t a surprise to see them spend their first two picks of this year’s five-round draft on more pitching as opposed to investing early in a position of more dire need like outfield. Teams generally don’t draft for need in the first five rounds, focusing instead on getting the best value. And in a year when the COVID-19 pandemic drastically shortened or altogether wiped out draft prospects’ seasons, analytics-driven teams like the Astros might’ve had more confidence in selecting pitchers based on TrackMan data than hitters, whose stats aren’t as reliable in a small sample. The Astros still nabbed an outfielder and infielder later on, but pitching highlighted the first draft class of the James Click era. Let’s run through their four picks. Alex Santos, RHP, Mount Saint Michael Academy (The Bronx, N.Y.) — second round (compensation), 72nd overall Santos has two traits the Astros love in pitchers: a high spin rate on a four-seam fastball and the ability to spin a good breaking ball. He runs his fastball into the mid-90s and has room for velocity gains. He also has a two-seam fastball, but the Astros generally have their pitchers ditch their two-seamers when they join their system to focus exclusively on the riding four-seamer. There’s the potential of a four-pitch starter’s mix, as Santos has a slider, a curveball and a changeup. Some reports peg him as throwing only one of the two breaking balls, which suggests they tend to blend together. The Astros could have Santos focus on defining one breaking ball or the other or attempt to develop both. As with many young pitchers, the development of his changeup will be pivotal. “Projectable” is a word often used to describe the 6-foot-3 Santos, who compared his body type and delivery to Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty. He basically didn’t have a senior high school season because of the pandemic, but teams were familiar with him from the showcase circuit last summer. The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked him as the 48th-best prospect in the class. Because he’s a high schooler with a college commitment — Santos is committed to the University of Maryland — the Astros might have to go over the slot value of $870,700 when they sign him. For more on Santos, I recommend you read this profile by The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler, who watched him throw a bullpen session last week in New York. Lastly, can we just note the fact the Astros used a pick they were awarded for losing Gerrit Cole to the Yankees on a kid from the Bronx? Tyler Brown, RHP, Vanderbilt — third round, 101st overall Brown was a closer at Vanderbilt, but he wasn’t viewed exclusively as a reliever in the draft. The Astros drafted him with the idea of at least trying to develop him as a starter. He already has more than just a power fastball-slider combo — he also throws a curveball and a changeup — and he’s known for throwing a lot of strikes. “Absolutely,” Astros scouting director Kris Gross said when asked if he thinks there’s a chance Brown can be a starter. “He’s got four pitches to work with. He’s touching 97. He has a pretty low-effort delivery. I think the kid believes he’s a starter as well. They’ve got a pretty good program there at Vanderbilt, and I think he’d be a starter at a lot of the colleges across the country. But we’re optimistic Tyler can toe the slab every fifth day.” As a reliever, the 6-foot-4 Brown sat at 93-94 mph with his fastball, which suggests he might hover in the low 90s as a starter. Brown started in high school before he blew out his elbow and required Tommy John surgery. He’s been thrown an extraordinary amount of adversity for any person, let alone a 21-year-old. As detailed in this 2019 story in The Tennessean, Brown lost his mom to cancer when he was 13 and has a daughter with Down syndrome who was born when he was a college freshman. Law ranked Brown as the 87th-best prospect in the class. Zach Daniels, outfielder, Tennessee — fourth round, 131st overall Daniels has the tools to succeed but is very raw and didn’t perform in the Cape Cod League or at Tennessee save for a small sample in 2020 before the pandemic prematurely ended the season. In that small sample — 56 at-bats in 17 games — the junior batted .357/.478/.750. Compare that to his sophomore year — .200/.262/.417 in 60 at-bats over 31 games — and it’s difficult to know which player the Astros will get. A right-handed hitter, Daniels has a ton of power potential. He runs really well, too, and has played all three outfield positions. He’s the type of player whom teams might’ve learned a lot about if he had been able to play a full junior season. But the lack of a track record makes him a high-risk, potentially high-reward selection. Shay Whitcomb, shortstop, UC San Diego — fifth round, 160th overall Whitcomb is a bat-first infielder who performed well in the Cape Cod League but is more likely to end up at second base than shortstop. In 81 at-bats over 20 games this season, he batted .333/.440/.558. His selection marked the second consecutive draft in which the Astros spent their fifth-round pick on a player from a Division II school. Last June it was right-hander Hunter Brown from Wayne State, who a year later looks like he might be the best prospect from their 2019 class.
Zach, Tyler, and Alex. All Characters in the show 13 reasons why not. Zach has a career ending leg injury, and leaves the other team's star player for dead on a pier. Alex pushes the other teams pitcher into a river, where he drowns, and murders him. Tyler always has a camera and lens, perfect for the Astros, but is a stalker and gets raped in the school bathroom by the baseball team. But on the bright side, there is no Shay, lol. A feature film is in the works. And to put this in perspective, Gary Sinese is in this. I don't know how. but he's in it.
Doesnt sound like they expect to sign many. With the uncertainty of this season, the uncertainty in how minor leagues will be structured and how many teams there will be, combined with only being able to offer $20k and ncaa granting all players another year, it doesn’t seem like there will be much activity.
With a cut to the minor leagues and most prospects not getting a legit season this year at all, probably not a lot of reason to sign a lot of low end prospects
I'm very skeptical of Brown. He had a shoulder blow out earlier in his youth. I thought it was kind of an unspoken rule not to draft relievers that high.
I’ll give Click the benefit of the doubt for now. Brown was drafted on par with his overall draft rating/consensus...not like we really reached for him. Hopefully we can turn him into a starter. He has the physical build and arsenal. Every 4th or so round pick us going to have warts. If he doesn’t pan out as a SP, I’ll take his chances as a RHP...he has strong success as a closer for a top end SEC program...not too shabby. He could be another Ferrell (TCU closer...?) but time will tell. His backstory is really interesting; I’m cheering for him.
I actually think Brown is the most likely of all these guys to make it. I’m not expecting anything major out of him, but I think he’s a big league reliever. I know they want him to start, and I think he can do that, but I am more confident that he’ll come out of the pen sometime in the next couple of years.
The Astros draft was solid. I know they are happy with it. They think Whitcomb and Brown are safe picks that have high floors. Those picks let them gamble on Zach Daniels (all about bat speed) who is very unproven. Santos was high on the Astros list, in large part because his fastball spin rate was the highest in the draft and is sitting 95-96 as a teenager.
