The Astros culture is real - from the MLB draft perspective

The Astros have been a winning franchise for so long that they really have not had a shot at many of the higher draft picks in a long time. On many other teams these players would likely be ignored for higher picks and may never have had a chance to become the players they are for the Astros.
It is one of the things that makes following the Astros minors a little more interesting.

 

It’s definitely a great thing to have contributors from the mid and lower rounds. Especially if you get some star level players like Pena and Brown.

But as mentioned in other threads it’s really noticeable the lack of high round picks and hitting prospects on the big league club.

I’m hoping brown manages to upgrade the hitting scouting and development side without giving up any of the incredible pitching side drafting and development.

 

Since 2015 the Astros 1st round picks have been:

Forrest Whitley, traded for cash
JB Bukauskas and Seth Beer, traded for Greinke
Korey Lee, traded for Graveman
No first rounder in 2020 and 2021
Drew Gilbert, traded for Verlander
Brice Matthews, kicking ass in AAA
Walker Janek, doing well in High A

So they’ve traded away all of their 1st round picks since Bregman/Tucker except for their 2 mosf recent ones, and either of them could be traded this year. They could’ve hung on to any of them and continued trying for a better outcome. One thing the front office seems to be good at is knowing when to cut bait.

I also think a part of Houston’s recent success from later picks came from necessity, as those guys get more attention/opportunity when there aren’t more highly drafted guys in front of them. But the reality of the draft is that there is a ton of luck involved. Houston basically banks on one player from each draft panning out into a really good player. If Brown hadn’t panned out as a 5th rounder, the Astros would have gotten basically nothing from their 2019 draft; same for Pena and the 2018 draft. There’s a lot of risk/luck in that outcome.

 

Exactly.

The Stros have the ability to figure out to keep Brown/Pena and trade the Bukauskus/Beer/Lee's for talent that gives them the chance to win championships. Kinda like when they held onto Bregs/Tucker instead of trading them.

Out of the current group of prospects I would guess that Janek/Gomes/Alvarez would be the next line of do not trade guys, although I think that Matthew will be a very solid long time starting infielder, his strikeout rates would put him on the tradable list if I were in Dana's shoes. I'm sure Dana sees Matthews differently than I do.

 

It’s all about value. Maybe if Greinke isn’t available at that deadline, Beer or Bukauskas or Martin pan out differently with Houston. Maybe Gilbert develops differently with Houston if Verlander isn’t available.

I’d have a pretty high price on Matthews. I wouldn’t want to see him traded for anyone that wasn’t a controllable star player. If I had to pick one player still in Houston’s farm system to be a good major league player, it would be Matthews. I’d also be very hesitant to trade Kevin Alvarez. Janek and Sullivan are good prospects but I’d be fine trading them for a decent big league player.

 

Seen a lot of discourse about the Astros whiffing on their first round picks this last decade, but Pena and Brown would both likely go top 5 in a redraft.

 

paying dividends

 

Speaking of dezenzo, what's his injury again?

 

his fingers hurt

 

Well now his backs gonna hurt cause he’s just pulled landscaping duty