Gotcha. What are "early picks"? Couldn't that change soon given who's in the upper minors? Have they traded any "non-early picks" recently for actual players? I guess INTL signees don't count as "picks"? Please don't feel obligated to answer, I've decided I just don't care that much about this pissant minutiae. I want ball to start, and I want to watch it, that's all that matters to me.
And they haven't exactly batted a 1.000 with the early picks, either, going 1-3 on first overall picks - with the obvious caveat of Aiken landing Bregman. Still, it looks like they WERE wrong on Aiken and REALLY wrong on Appel. Luck is just as important as being good...
All of MLB was wrong on Aiken and Appel. There's a bigass long list of comparable guys who flamed out. It happens. Bryant would be ludicrously fun on this team though. That's who I wanted them to draft, I think juicystream was on that as well.
Hated the Appel pick but sadly I was way off still. I wanted Kohl Stewart (4th pick) over the 3 that were generally considered for the top pick.
I swear there was a 3rd guy who I was all OK with: Appel, Bryant and ??? I thought Bryant could be a 3B for a long while at least...that's why I wanted him.
True but Luhnow has acquired some valuable talent with those picks..Verlander, Cole, McCann, Gattis, Giles, Fiers, etc. Whitley is a prime candidate next season to replace either Keuchel or Morton in the 2019 rotation. While the Astros will likely resign one of those two or another free agent. I feel certain atleast one of Martes, Bukauskas, Paulino, C. Perez, H. Perez (several have the floor of atleast being dominant bullpen arms) will be ready to replace either Verlander or Cole after the 2019 season but I can’t rule out the Astros re-upping Verlander on a 1-2 yr deal or Cole for 3-4 years if incorporating more of his breaking stuff (as Fangraphs suggests he should do) will be what returns him to Cy Young contention. AJ Reed, JD Davis, Yordan Alvarez, Fisher (if K Tucker is ready for 2019) should get a shot at DH to replace Gattis but signing a vet on a 1-2 yr deal is likely. Reed and Davis’ window to make the team is closing and they likely could be the next Colin Moran-type in a deal.
First round picks through early second. Traded some lower picks, but usually not for much or as third piece in a package.
If you count all the picks then the Astros are the best drafting team of the past 7-8 years. Our superstars (Altuve Correa Bregman Springer) are all homegrown so I'm not sure there's any point in making the distinction.
Current regime has depended on high picks in first and playing with extra slot money to acquire talent in draft. Those days are over. IFA looks to be getting more competitive. Tougher for Astros to trade for prospects when they are in win mode.
So really we're talking about 3 drafts...2012-2014. I don't expect lower picks made in the last 3 years to be up and making a significant impact generally. I'd be interested in a comparison of how many other non-early picks have made it to the MLB as significant contributors in that timeframe. Also why is "early 2nd" the cutoff as opposed to just "2nd"? That seems like it's artificially trying to credit other teams just because the Astros have picked early in the 2nd round. As for Astros examples, Fontana, Ruiz, and Phillips are in the majors. Mengden has seen some success (on and off). I wonder if those count relative to guys you'd list for others teams.
The organization realized this and made a concerted effort to load up on the international market of prospects in 2016-2017. Finally, they realized that position players have more longevity than pitchers, so with at least a few of their superstars likely to stay through the early 2020’s they decided to load up on high ceiling high risk pitchers in the 2017 draft. Of position players in that draft probably only Joe Perez has the potential to break out into an all-star but plenty of the pitchers have that potential. Strategy is shifting with the situation, and I trust this administration to hit on prospects more than most other clubs.
The 2018 Astros has a chance to be the best team in Houston sports history. They are replacing their mediocre players with better talent while the core gets more seasoned and starts to hit their prime. What a time to be a fan. Shoutout to those who were in the game day threads in '11-'14.
