Astros Top Prospects: MLB Pipeline Top 30 (Part 1)

Mar 6, 2015; Jupiter, FL, USA; Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow (right) laughs with television analyst Peter Gammons (center) and Astros manager

(left) prior to a spring training baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

With the latest Astros top prospects list released on Wednesday by MLBPipeline.com, they looked at the top-30 Astros prospects for the 2015 season and beyond. For readers familiar with the list, you might be used to the top-20 prospects. The good news is that this will allow casual Astros fans to have better access to more names in the Astros system.

This post will look at how the 2015 Astros top prospects rank compares to their 2014 prospect rankings. We will also use the MLB estimated time of arrival for each prospect, and look at which current Astros prospect or player could potentially block that prospect. We will also link prospect interviews by Eric Huysman and Kennon Riley and Astros prospect profiles by Jason Burke.

The Astros prospects that I have interviewed have said that they don’t really pay attention to the rankings, it’s a popularity contest, and it does not interfere with the way they play.

This is part one of the three-part series. It’s pretty obvious which players are the Astros top prospects, so we will begin at the last five prospects according to MLB.com.

Next: Astros top prospects: 30-26