Astros Get ‘Finest Pure Excessive College Hitter’ in Newest MLB Mock Draft

For all of the turnover the Houston Astros skilled this offseason, getting Isaac Paredes was definitely helpful.

Paredes was a part of the Kyle Tucker commerce. He, together with pitcher Hayden Wesneski and outfielder Cam Smith, joined the Astros for the slugger.

Tucker has produced like an MVP in Chicago. Paredes not solely had that shadow to cope with, but additionally needed to substitute Alex Bregman at third base, who bolted for the Boston Crimson Sox as a free agent.

Thus far, Paredes has been simply tremendous. In his first 61 video games in Houston, the 26-year-old slashed .252/.347/.474 with an .812 OPS, with 14 dwelling runs and 37 RBI. His profession highs in dwelling runs and RBI had been 31 and 98 in 2023. There’s a superb probability he might go a type of milestones this season.

Paredes is below staff management till 2028. That was a part of the rationale the Astros wished him.

So, who would possibly substitute him? Nicely, it’s doable the Astros might discover that alternative in July’s MLB draft.

In MLB.com’s most up-to-date first-round mock draft, Jonathan Mayo had the Astros choosing Gavin Fien, a 3rd baseman out of Nice Oak, Calif.

That’s an intriguing place to attempt to lock up now. He wouldn’t should be prepared for a couple of years, which provides him time to develop. Sure, he’s a highschool participant and that comes with a unique set of expectations in relation to improvement. However Mayo made it clear why some staff will take him within the first spherical.

“… many thought-about him to be the most effective pure highschool hitter on the summer season showcase circuit,” he wrote.

The Astros chosen Sam Houston catcher Walker Janek within the first spherical of final yr’s draft. He’s the beginning catcher at Excessive-A Asheville with the hopes of shifting as much as Double-A Corpus Christi later this yr.

Houston’s 2023 first-round decide was Brice Matthews, a Houston native who performed his school baseball at Nebraska. He has already ascended to Triple-A Sugar Land and is seen as a participant that might make their MLB debut this yr.

The Astros chosen outfielder Drew Gilbert out of Tennessee within the first spherical of the 2022 draft. Gilbert was included within the Justin Verlander commerce with the New York Mets in 2023.

Houston didn’t have first-round picks within the 2020 and 2021 MLB drafts, which had been surrendered as a result of digital sign-stealing scandal that emerged after the Astros’ World Sequence victory in 2017.

The 2025 MLB draft might be held Sunday and Monday, July 13-14, throughout All-Star Weekend in Atlanta.