Latest mock draft has Houston taking Tennessee 2B Gavin Kilen. He is one of the highest floor players that might be available at 21 and he’d have the best hit tool in Houston’s system. But he’s a fairly limited player since he’d be a 2B or LF and won’t hit for much power. I still think Houston is hoping that Xavier Neyens is available with Aloy and LaViolette the next most likely picks.
Draft Chase Shores and put his multi inning reliever arm in the backend of the bullpen throwing 100 mph.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...-big-question-intel-nationals-angels-mariners ESPN links Neyens and Tate Southisene to the Astros. Southisene would be similar to Jaworsky, hopefully he would be an under slot signee that would allow them to take another good HS player later in the draft. Astros only have 2 Day 1 picks. Rays and Orioles have 6, Angels and Mariners have 4.
The Astros strength is player talent identification and development - the Astros really need to stop having less 1st day picks than their competition each year, it becomes untenable.
Really really hoping for them to stay under the CBT this season, not sign any QO free agents this offseason, and for them to get a PPI pick for Smith ROY or Brown CYA. That would give them 5 Day 1 picks in the next draft which would be absolutely huge.
Yep, I had accounted for that. So in the best case, they’d get: Their 3 normal picks in rounds 1-3 A pick at the end of the first round as PPI award for Smith winning ROY or Brown finishing top 3 in CYA (teams can get only 1 PPI pick per draft) A pick after round 2 as compensation for Framber rejecting a QO That would be 5 total Day 1 picks: 4 in the top ~75 picks plus their 3rd rounder in the 90s. It would be likely that all 5 of those picks would be prospects that would slot in the top ~12 in their system. An immense haul of talent for an already-contending club.
From the Athletic today: Jace LaViolette. The Astros seem more inclined to take a college hitter here, although they could be one of the buyers on late-rising pitcher Gage Wood, and I know they’re very high on prep hitter Cooper Flemming, who’d be a reach here but won’t get to their next pick at 95.
I don't have access to The Athletic, so I don't know what that says. I heard Chandler say this on the Crush City podcast (or whatever it's called). He said that their was language on the MLB site that was confusing, but this is what it says on the MLB site: Are there limits? Yes. There is a limit of one PPI pick per organization per year, and players can earn only one PPI pick for their clubs. Right there it says one PPI pick per org per year, so I don't know what's confusing about that. Anyone want to paraphrase his explanation from the Athletic.
This is just a person's interpretation on MLB. Until we can see the rules, we won't know. Unfortunately it's not wrriten in the CBA.
The money quote: Though Major League Baseball’s official website says “there is a limit of one PPI pick per organization,” two league sources confirmed this week that language is somewhat unclear. Players themselves can only give their team one PPI pick in their careers, but if both Smith and Brown accomplish the feat this season, Houston will receive two extra picks after the first round of the 2026 draft. So it’s possible Houston could have 5 of the top 75 (6 of the top 100) picks in the 2026 draft.
Smith is currently +150 to win ROY, Brown is +700 to win CY (but of course he only has to finish top 3 for Houston to get a pick). Someone who is badass at math could figure it out better, but I would say there’s currently about a 5% chance of Houston getting 2 picks, and about 40% chance of them getting at least 1 pick.
Unless Brown has a lot more performances like today, he has more than a 50 percent chance of getting top 3 in Cy Young voting. He has a very low chance of winning with Skubal being as dominant as he has been. Cam has to win ROY which is much tougher with Jacob Wilson on track to getting over 200 hits. Now if Wilson gets hurt or has a big slump, then Cam could win it with OPS and defense.
If Brown gets injured then a deep playoff run is pretty much out of the question. I don't want to imagine that. I'm hoping his Verlander style mechanics brings Verlander longevity also. BTW Wilson got hit in the hand yesterday and left the game.
