Houston Astros: Top Four Players to Protect in Rule V Draft

Astros 18th top prospect

Chris Devenski

You might remember the name Devenski from somewhere; he was the prospect that the Astros traded country singer Brett Myers for to the Chicago White Sox. He was drafted in the 25th round of the 2011 draft as a reliever out of California State University Fullerton, but in his second season before the trade to the Astros was converted from a reliever to the starting rotation. A spot start led to Devenski becoming a starting pitcher with his three-pitch repertoire.

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I did an interview with Chris towards the end of the season, and he offered some insight on why he became a starter. You can read it here: Keeping up with the Astros Prospects: RHP Chris Devenski, he offers a funny story on what his minor league manager told him after his first start. Devenski spent most of 2015 at Double-A Corpus Christi, where he was a fan favorite.

Devenski took a big step forward in 2015, even earning a playoff start for the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies in the National Championship game. In that game, he took a perfect game into the sixth inning in that start but settled with seven innings of one-hit baseball. He got the start in the playoff game because Dan Straily was called up to the Astros. He topped off at 96-mph while striking out three hitters to earn the Championship MVP for the Grizzlies.

Stats from Baseball-Reference: 7-4/ 3.01 ERA/ 104 strikeouts in 119 1/3 innings.

Verdict: Protect

Next: Astros 17th top prospect