MLB Rumors: Teams uncertain about Houston Astros’ plans with no. 1 pick
By Hayden Kane
The Houston Astros plan to keep people guessing until they actually make their selection with the no. 1 overall pick in next month’s MLB Draft.
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If the Astros want to go with a pitcher, many people presume that they will select top prospect Carlos Rodon. If they would rather go with a position player, an option regarded to be the safer route by some people around baseball, they are thought to be interested in high school outfielder Alex Jackson.
With that said, the other teams around the league generally agree on one thing: they have no idea what the Astros are going to do. According to the great Peter Gammons:
"“No one knows what the Astros are going to do with the first pick,” says one executive from a club with one of the top six picks. “They keep things close to the vest, and they are meticulous (Jeff Luhnow currently is in Japan, in fact). What they eventually do will be very well thought out, within the context of their entire allotted pool and what they may or may not be able to do lower in the draft.”"
Gammons also spoke to one scout who believes that there are people within the Houston front office who do not like the risk of taking a pitcher with the top pick, something the team did with Stanford pitcher Mark Appel in 2013:
"“Many of the Astros people believe that picking a pitcher at the top is a gamble because of the historical predictability of pitchers,” says another club official friendly with the Houston front office."
Whatever they do, this is the next step in Houston’s exaggerated rebuilding plan, a philosophy that bothers some people around the league. Popular or not, the Astros are adding a lot of young talent, something they will continue doing in next month’s draft.