CLUB HAS FOUR PICKS IN FIRST 75 IN DRAFT.
With four selections in the top 75, it gives team an opportunity to restock system
Seven weeks ahead of a pivotal July 31 trade deadline, the best team in baseball has a unique opportunity to beef up an already strong farm system.
The Astros own five of the top 91 picks of this week’s MLB draft, which means that much more inventory in the prospect well. They have four selections in Monday’s first and second rounds: their first at No. 15, their second at No. 53 and the Nos. 56 and 75 picks they received from the St. Louis Cardinals as restitution for the hacking scandal.
This year’s draft class has generally not been viewed as particularly strong, though it certainly is unique in that it features several two-way players at the top. Vanderbilt righthander Kyle Wright, two-way Southern California high schooler Hunter Greene, and Louisville first baseman/lefthander Brendan McKay headline the class.
The draft, held at MLB Network’s studios in Secaucus, N.J., begins Monday at 6 p.m. It continues with the third through 10th rounds Tuesday starting at noon.
“I think you always hear mixed things about the strength of a draft class, and at the time it never feels sensational,” said Astros assistant general manager Mike Elias, who run the team’s draft. “But then you look back in a few years and there was always some pretty good players somewhere in the draft. We’ve just got to find them.
“I actually think this is a pretty good class. I’m glad we have the picks. There’s a lot of players we like with those picks, and we’re going to get to grab five of them in the first 100.”
Elias, in his sixth draft with the Astros, said as of Friday the team had a list of more than 20 players it was considering for its first selection at No. 15. All of the Astros’ amateur scouts arrived in Houston on Friday, and their amateur scouting department was set to meet through the weekend to build the team’s draft board.
Healthy bonus pool
In Elias’ opinion, this year’s class is “pretty evenly spread” among the player demographics and player types. The Astros won’t go in with a particular positional emphasis.
“I hope that we’re able to grab some pitchers just because every year you need to restock,” he said. “But we’ll take five position players if that’s who we feel like are the best players.”
The Astros, who also have the 91st overall pick in Tuesday’s third round, have the 11th-largest bonus pool ($9,039,600) because of the money attached to the two picks they added from St. Louis. The extra pool money affords them the ability to be creative if they feel they can derive more value.
“We’re not going to force it if we don’t feel like it’s going to do anything for us,” Elias said. “But if we get in a situation where we feel the better option on our board is a player who happens to be significantly more signable and maybe a less expensive sign than another guy, then we will view that as a bonus, and then we’ll try to redeploy any extra funds that we save elsewhere in the draft.
“Or the reverse might happen where there’s an expensive talent remaining on the board and you take him and then you’ve got to make up some ground later by picking some seniors. So we’ll just see what is available and work around it.”
The 56th overall pick the Astros received from the Cardinals didn’t create much extra work for their scouting staff because they will consider the same group of players they look at for the 53rd selection.
The 75th pick is the one that ensured another pocket of prospects to scout more heavily.
Lining up their options
The Astros recently held regional workouts for draft prospects in Atlanta, Los Angeles, at their new spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. and at Minute Maid Park.
Elias will run the war room at the team’s Union Station offices. It’s expected the Astros will make their first selection Mon- day at approximately 7:25 p.m.
“We expect to line up a list of players that will take us all the way through the picks of the first evening, and then we’ll see what’s left on the board and reorganize for day two,” Elias said.