So! Baseball America posted their breakdown of Eddie's Farm. It's well worth your read, but here's how they see the Astros' Top 10:
1. Jordan Lyles
2. Delino DeShields
3. Jonathan Villar
4. Mike Foltynewicz
5. Jiovanni Mier
6. J.D. Martinez
7. Jimmy Paredes
8. Tanner Bushue
9. Austin Wates
10. Ariel Ovando
There are the usual rankings of best pitches, tools, etc, and here's your money quote:
The Astros still have much more work to do with their farm system, which Baseball America ranks as the 26th-best in the game, and the major league club, which has had three losing seasons in the last four years after only one sub-.500 record in the previous 15. A rotation built around veterans Brett Myers and Wandy Rodriguez and younger arms Happ and Bud Norris holds promise, but the bullpen needs help and the offense ranked 28th in the majors in scoring and 29th in home runs last year.
Now. We have never been in the business of trying to project players (mainly because we haven't seen them), aside from looking at statistical evidence. And even in that role, we don't feel qualified to make any hard decisions. But that can't stop us from listing a few players we really like, and want to keep an eye on. So allow us to provide a supplementary list of prospects for your perusing pleasure (in no particular order):
A) Dallas Keuchel
B) Grant Hogue
C) Jack Shuck
D) Ben Heath
E) Jose Altuve
F) Luis Cruz
G) Bryce Lane
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
