Houston Astros Baseball

Help Is On The Way, The Draft Is Here!

Wednesday June 4

Tomorrow The Astros along with all thirty other MLB teams will begin the Amateur Draft. As most of you know, The Astros farm system is in particular bad shape. The Astros rank 29 of 30 in farm strength. Ironically, our poor performance last year is going to directly effect that same farm system in what hopes to be a very productive draft. For those of you who don't know The Astros have several picks in the first couple rounds and six overall picks in the first one hundred twenty-two.

Here is our draft positions:

Round 1
10) Astros

Supplemental Round 1
38) (Losing Miller)

Round 2
56) Astros

Round 3
88) Astros

Supplemental Round 2
109) (Not signing Dietrich)

Round 4
122) Astros



This years draft has me captivated considering the overall number of early selections we have, the completely transformed scouting system which will be looking to make a good impression, and hopefully some slack from Owner Drayton McClane on paying what's needed to sign these picks.

How The Draft Works, Or Doesn't Work

If you aren't familiar with the reasoning behind players being drafted not signing to a team let me explain. There are a few reasons why a player drafted may chose to not sign with a team. The most common are when a player being drafted out of high school or early in college decides he would rather continue on to college. For instance Astros CF Michael Bourn was selected by The Astros out of high school but decided to go onto The University of Houston instead. The next common way to lose a pick is what has really hurt The Astros in recent years. After a player is picked, that player, his agent and the team who selected him have to agree on monetary terms. To these players the yearly salary isn't nearly as important as the signing bonus. Now some players can demand very high dollars and are then less likely to be signed by teams with lower team salaries. For example, recent team signing bonuses.

2007
1)Orioles $7.7 Mil
**Astros $0.5 Mil

2006
1)Cubs $9.3 Mil
**Astros $3.1 Mil

2005
1)D-Backs $9.5 Mil
**Astros $4.1 Mil

As you can see, The Astros are going crazy with handing out money to draftees. Also know that in 2007 we were not able to a sign a player until the 5th round and that had alot to do with signing bonuses, or lack of.

To confront this issue and unfairness from team to team, MLB Commish Bud Selig put in place a "slotting" system. This was basically a cap on how much a player drafted from a certain position should be paid. The HUGE problem with this however, is that this was a guideline and not a rule. Because of this, The Astros were one of only two teams in all of baseball to actually follow these guidelines. For those wondering, The Pirates where the other. However, don't expect them to fallow this year. Their GM recently stated that the bank is open.

What gives me hope this year is that with The Astros recent AWFUL drafts and the emergence or prospect Hunter Pence Uncle Drayton may be a little more willing to spend. Now, Selig has put new men in charge of the slotting system this year and has changed some of the policies trying to make the system more effective, time will only tell if it is.


Now For The Good Stuff, Astros Draft Buzz

So who will Astros be signing?



The truth is, no one really knows. This years draft class is extremely muddled and to supplement that with Astros Scouting Director Bobby Heck's tight lipped style, we won't know until tomorrow. However, we can speculate and there are tons of mock drafts already out there. Unfortunately, those mocks are all SO different it's pretty hard to gauge who really gets who.

From what I have read, the players who are higher on The Astros list for the #10 overall pick are:

Yonder Alonso 1B Bio

Kyle Skipworth C Bio

Justin Smoak 1B Bio

Aaron Crow RHP Bio

Shooter Hunt RHP Bio

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