Astros hope two top 5 selections this year will be last for a while
Progress leads to lower spot, but they still have pick of talent
They’re good now, and good teams don’t get good draft picks.
If the Astros’ plan goes the way it should, this is the last time they will be picking even close to the top of the draft for a long time.
“I talked to the guys: Now that the team is performing better at the major league level, the pressure on the amateur scouting department actually increases, because in order to maintain prospects coming through, you’re picking (at Nos.) 25-30 instead of 1-5,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said. “And you’re having to find those hidden gems throughout the draft, and this group is well set up to do that.
“But really, the pressure’s on, because to maintain a healthy pipeline when you’re not picking at the top of the draft is not only critical, but it’s difficult to do, and I think these guys are up for the challenge.”
Issue for another year
They can worry about it next year. On Monday, the Astros have the second and fifth picks in the draft, and they are in the process of solidifying their draft board — their preferred order of players.
“We have spent the last several days as a staff compiling our draft board, and at this point, we have players grouped into rounds — buckets, so to speak,” amateur scouting director Mike Elias said. “We have not yet ranked players within those rounds. We’re going to do that today and tomorrow, and that’ll take us up to the fin- ish line.”
The Astros had the first overall pick in the draft the past three years but this year have to wait on another team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, to make their choice before they can make their own.
“It’s different than the last three years, because when you’re picking first, you don’t have to wait for anybody,” Luhnow said. “But when you’re picking second and fifth, you react to what other clubs are doing. Certainly, other clubs are not tipping their hands and should they. Nor do we. But what we’ve done under Mike’s guidance is a lot of scenario planning: What if this happens, what’s our plan?”
The type of player the Astros take at No. 2 isn’t going to influence the type of player at No. 5, Elias said. He said he could see it being a tiebreaker, if anything, if the team has already drafted, say, a shortstop, and were choosing between another shortstop and a player of a different position of roughly equal talent. Best player available
The likelihood is the Astros will get at least one college player, and there’s a lesser chance they’d choose someone who could help out the team this year if needed.
“We’re going to take the best player regardless of how quickly they can get here,” Luhnow said. “You see examples of (pitcher Brandon) Finnegan getting to the Royals last year, and that’s certainly attractive, and there are some players out there that you could envision helping as soon as September of this year potentially.
“At the same time, you look at our farm system, and we’ve got a lot of guys in Triple-A and Double-A that could help contribute as well. And so that would lead you towards, maybe take a younger guy that might need more baking time. Because there’s a lot of talent at the top of our system. There’s pros and cons both ways. I think we’ll probably stick with taking the best available player, and if it happens to be a quick riser, so be it.”