Houston Astros 2024 MLB Draft Review

Draft Theme: Small-School College Players

The Astros had an extremely college-heavy draft, with just two high school players selected among 19 picks. They also picked players mostly from smaller programs. Inside the first 10 rounds, Houston didn’t draft a single power-five conference player and instead opted for smaller school prospects like C Walker Janek (Conference USA), RHP Ryan Forcucci (Big West), RHP Parker Rice (American Athletic), RHP Cole Hertzler (Conference USA), SS Caden Powell (Juco), OF Joseph Sullivan (Sun Belt), RHP Dylan Howard (Big South), RHP Ryan Smith (Missouri Valley) and RHP Ramsey David (NAIA). Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but it was notable as more and more drafted players seem to come from conferences like the SEC and ACC. 

Most Interesting Day 2 Pick: RHP Parker Smith, 4th round

Smith is a 6-foot-4, 230-pound righthander who has anchored Rice’s rotation for multiple years and been a strong strike-thrower for three seasons. He owns a career 3.96 ERA over 220.1 innings and 40 starts with just an 18.9% strikeout rate but an impressive 6.8% walk rate. Smith works from an up-tempo delivery and throws with a loose and whippy arm action and low three-quarters slot. He sits in the 90-94 mph range with his fastball and will top out at 96 with sink and running life that makes the pitch more of a groundball-inducing pitch than a real bat-misser. As expected from his walk rate, he does a nice job establishing the fastball in the zone to set up a solid duo of secondaries, which includes a solid 80-85 mph slider that he lands to his glove side and a firm, upper-80s changeup that he locates down and to the arm side. The slider was his best swing-and-miss pitch this spring, though his changeup’s tumble and fading life could make it his best secondary in the long run. Smith uses the slider more against righties and the changeup more against lefties but has impressive feel for both. Smith’s lack of strikeouts and power caps his ceiling a bit, but he has a solid back-of-the-rotation starter profile.

Most Interesting Day 3 Pick: RHP Ryan Verdugo, 12th round

Verdugo helped his Bishop Amat High School team win four straight conference championships before heading to Cal State Bakersfield, where he pitched as a reliever as a freshman in 2022 before transitioning to a full-time starter. He had a career year in 2024 when he posted a 2.72 ERA over 89.1 innings and 14 starts, with a 24.5% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate. A 6-foot-2, 205-pound righthander, Verdugo mostly pitches off of a fastball/slider combination and sits in the 89-92 mph range with the fastball that will touch 95. His 78-82 mph slider is a high-spin, slurvy pitch that features decent glove-side sweeping action at times but will blend into more of a curveball look with three-quarter shape at times. He’ll occasionally mix in a mid-80s changeup to lefties but that pitch isn’t a huge part of his arsenal at the moment.