Astros: 1 trade to make and 1 prospect to promote to boost playoff odds

The Astros do not have many MLB-ready pitching prospects, but Austin Hansen could get the call.

Like their big-league roster, the Astros top pitching prospects have suffered some serious injuries which will keep them off the mound for a while.

Houston’s No.1 overall prospect and MLB’s No.68 Forrest Whitley became the latest victim of Tommy John surgery during spring training. Joining the right-hander in major injuries were No.9 Tyler Ivey and No.8 Jairo Solis who is expected to miss a few more months following elbow surgery.

While those three options would have been the likely choices to join the big-league roster, one prospect who could get the call will be the team’s No.21 prospect Austin Hansen.

The right-hander went into this season not as highly regarded as the young arms listed above, but Hansen has still performed well at Triple-A this season. Hansen has posted a 3.68 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, and 12.3 K/9 across 7.1 innings thus far. His three outings are a relatively small sample size, but the Astros could make the call depending on how much help they need on the mound.

There aren’t too many effective options available on the farm at the moment for Houston. If they’re going to address their biggest area of weakness correctly, it will have to come in the form of a trade for a big-league ready pitcher.