HOUSTON — Armed with the sport’s smallest bonus pool and operating without a second-round pick, the Houston Astros prioritized college pitching during Day 2 of the MLB Draft on Monday.
Six of Houston’s eight picks on Monday were college right-handers, an outcome that “just evolved over the course of the day,” according to scouting director Cam Pendino. Teams around the sport insist they do not draft for need, but Houston’s lack of upper-level pitching depth is apparent.
Only two pitchers appeared among Keith Law’s preseason top 10 Astros prospects. One of them, Spencer Arrighetti, has already been thrust into a major-league rotation ravaged by injuries. Jake Bloss, drafted in the third round last year, is also in the rotation out of absolute desperation.
Bloss’ trajectory demonstrates how quickly a college prospect can move, especially with second-year general manager Dana Brown in charge. All nine of the team’s selections this year have been college players, beginning with Sam Houston catcher Walker Janek on Sunday night.
Here is a breakdown of the eight new picks made Monday.
Third round: Ryan Forcucci, RHP, UC San Diego
Earlier this spring, Forcucci emerged as a legitimate contender for Houston’s first-round pick, Pendino said, but an elbow injury limited him to 25 innings. Forcucci did not appear in a game after March 15 and underwent Tommy John surgery in June, which precipitated his fall down draft boards.
Forcucci had a 3.67 ERA and limited opponents to a .216 batting average across 132 1/3 frames in his three-year collegiate career. Twenty-six of his 32 appearances were starts, but he finished six innings just five times. MLB Pipeline ranked Forcucci its 86th-best prospect in the draft.
M3 | Forcucci is dealing! 6️⃣ K’s thru the first three!
📺 https://t.co/Z0uUkU7rxq#GoTritons pic.twitter.com/lKiPUZjPzt
— UC San Diego Baseball (@UCSDbsb) February 17, 2024
“It’s a super explosive fastball that gets on guys at 92-97 (mph) with a hard, power slider and a slot conducive to a good changeup,” Pendino said. “Really athletic. We were really, really excited to get him in the third round where we did.”
Fourth round: Parker Smith, RHP, Rice
Last month, Smith attended one of the Astros’ games against the Detroit Tigers at Minute Maid Park. He passed the team store but stopped himself from purchasing a new jersey or hat.
“I may not be able to wear it again,” he told himself.
Smith’s fears never came to fruition. His hometown Astros selected him with the 131st pick on Monday, completing a full-circle moment for the Houston native and graduate of Bellaire High.
Smith spent the past two seasons as Rice’s Friday night starter. After posting a 2.75 ERA in 85 innings as a sophomore, Smith sported a 4.23 ERA in a team-high 89 1/3 innings this year.
Parker Smith (‘24, Elig) working the tough arm angle and tunneling 3-pitches well, the @RiceBaseball arm cruised in the 89-91 range with the sinking FB and backed it up with a SL in the low-80s and CH 81-83 CNT pic.twitter.com/QK7Fv4iDLE
— PG College Baseball (@PGCollegeBall) June 25, 2023
“I’m a competitor,” he said. “I’m going to go out there and take the ball every five days, go out and compete my butt off. I’m not going to be as flashy as a lot of other guys, but I’m going to get the job done, go at people and make them earn it. That’s what I hang my hat on.”
Smith’s arsenal is predicated around a sinker, slider and changeup along with a cutter he can mix in when needed. Smith said his changeup is his best secondary pitch, but the slider is “right there with it.”
Pendino seemed hopeful the team’s player development department could “polish up” Smith’s slider while refining some of his usage strategies and pitch locations. Smith seemed eager to absorb anything the Astros asked him to adjust — and seemed relieved some of his wardrobe won’t go to waste.
“Now I’ll be able to wear all my (Astros) stuff and be fine,” he said.
Fifth round: Cole Hertzler, RHP, Liberty
Hertzler began his college career as a two-way player and didn’t pitch at all as a freshman. He made 21 relief appearances as a sophomore before becoming Liberty’s Friday night starter as a junior — his first season as a full-time pitcher.
Hertzler, who stands 6-foot-4, led Liberty with a 4.16 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 84 1/3 innings. His fastball hovers around 95-96 mph, according to Pendino, who thinks there could be more velocity and better feel for breaking balls once Hertzler gets into Houston’s system.
Cole Hertzler with six strikeouts! He has pitched three straight scoreless innings. pic.twitter.com/OV8YaLxoxt
— Liberty Baseball (@LibertyBaseball) May 23, 2023
“We’ll give him every chance to be a starter, but I think there’s a real bullpen fallback,” Pendino said. “There may be some more velo here. He’s young. He was a two-way guy. He’s got some athleticism. Good fastball, good changeup and we think we can help him with the breaking ball. We think there’s a lot of upside with Cole.”
Sixth round: Caden Powell, SS, Seminole State (Okla.)
Powell is verbally committed to play at Oklahoma State next season after slashing .502/.561/1.088 — yes, you read that right — in 217 at-bats at Seminole State. Unsurprisingly, he won NJCAA DI Baseball Player of the Year honors.
Powell began his collegiate career at Oklahoma before transferring to Seminole State for his sophomore year. His junior college numbers are outlandish — 32 home runs, 29 walks, 28 strikeouts and 104 RBIs in 55 games — but whether they would translate to Division I pitching is a legitimate question.
.502 batting average. 1.088 slugging percentage. 109 hits. 104 RBI. 32 homeruns. 17 doubles. 7 triples. 🤯
Seminole State’s Caden Powell has been selected as the 2024 #NJCAABaseball DI 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫! 🏆
Full Release | https://t.co/Btkn4PdIzX pic.twitter.com/hYTAeTRJRj
— NJCAA Baseball (@NJCAABaseball) June 24, 2024
It may never get answered. Teams rarely select players within the first 10 rounds without already agreeing to terms, and Pendino said the team foresees no signability issues with Powell, who came to one of the Astros’ pre-draft workouts at Minute Maid Park at the behest of longtime scout Jim Stevenson.
“He was hitting baseballs very, very hard off the signs in left field,” Pendino said. “He’s a really physical kid. … We knew the performance was strong, but the level of athlete Caden is in tandem with the performance, with real power and a chance to stick on the dirt, it was a pretty attractive package.”
None of Houston’s other picks Monday profiled as the type of players who will require the team to spend over slot value. Signing some of them to under-slot deals could save money for Powell, whose pick at No. 193 holds a $307,600 slot value. He stands to get more than that.
Seventh round: Joseph Sullivan, OF, South Alabama
Sullivan’s surname is synonymous with Southeastern Conference football. His grandfather, Pat Sullivan, won the 1971 Heisman Trophy as Auburn’s starting quarterback before playing five seasons in the NFL. His father, Patrick, played quarterback at Auburn and TCU.
Patrick Joseph Sullivan III chose baseball. He slugged .528 with a .436 on-base percentage and 45 stolen bases across three seasons at South Alabama, where he played primarily left field.
Sully to the Stars 🌟
Congratulations to Joseph Sullivan for being selected by the Houston Astros in the 2024 MLB Draft. pic.twitter.com/fOIcClj6xb
— South Alabama Baseball (@SouthAlabamaBSB) July 15, 2024
Pendino said the team plans to play Sullivan in center field with the understanding he can easily slide over to a corner. A hamate bone injury interrupted Sullivan’s spring season, Pendino said, but he still managed to slug .531 with 15 extra-base hits in 128 at-bats.
Eighth, ninth and 10th rounds: Dylan Howard, RHP, Radford; Ryan Smith, RHP, University of Illinois-Chicago; Ramsey David, RHP, Southeastern University (Fla.)
Houston spent its final three picks on small-college right-handers, prolonging an organizational trend that’s paid dividends. Bloss and Hunter Brown are two obvious examples. So is Futures Game participant A.J. Blubaugh, who is on the precipice of major-league readiness after attending the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“It’s a testament to our scouting staff for really going to ballparks outside of the famous SEC, ACC parks,” Pendino said. “I think we’ve had success organizationally with taking guys from smaller schools and they become valuable prospects or big leaguers.”
Howard lowered his ERA from 6.99 in 67 frames as a freshman to 4.78 in 69 2/3 innings as a sophomore. David struck out 87 and limited opponents to a .209 batting average across 61 1/3 innings this season.
Smith — who was one of Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s high school receivers — started his season late while recovering from elbow surgery but has a fastball and athletic movement down the mound that forms a “template” for the Astros’ player development staff to tinker with.
“Every arm that we take, we are taking because we believe that we are primed to improve them developmentally with whatever their relative deficiency is,” Pendino said. “There’s some really attractive traits to each of these different arms we took today.”
(Photo of Parker Smith pitching at Minute Maid Park against Texas Tech on March 3, 2023: Brian Westerholt / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)
