Astros welcome 50 new players to the organization

The 2011 MLB Draft is over and the Astros have drafted 50 players over the past few days. Zachary Levine does a good job of breaking down the Astros selections here. Most Astros fans already know about George Springer, the first round pick for the Astros but what about the other 49? After the jump, I take a look at the rest of the draft for the Houston Astros.

Experience over Potential: The Astros drafted 37 college players compared to 13 high school players and I think this a great plan for the Astros. The farm system is depleted and by drafting college players they have players who in theory should contribute quicker than a high school player. This philosophy is something new for the Astros in comparison to the past three years. Zachary Levine talks about this in this article, where he states they took more high schoolers in the first three rounds since 2008 (10) than the previous eight years (7).

Keeping it close to home: Hopefully the scouting department found some diamonds in the rough around the Houston area but if not they at least give fans in Houston reasons to pay attention to the minor leagues. Eight of their 50 players came from the Houston area and RHP Gandy Stubblefield was the highest drafted, going in the 14th round.

Astros focused on the mound: Almost half, 24, of the Astros 50 picks were pitchers and I couldn’t be happier about this. I believe you can’t have enough arms in the farm system and this is a great start. This year was deep with quality arms and I think the Astros capitalized on this.

For bios of the Astros first 30 picks, they can be found here. All in all, when dealing with the MLB Draft you have to be as lucky as you are good but the Astros had a sound strategy going into the draft. I like what they did and am happy with this years draft. The challenge now becomes to sign these players and hopefully get them to the Astros one day.