Astros: Players and their fantasy baseball draft rankings

It’s that time of the year when fantasy baseball heats up and participants prepare for the draft. Where do the experts rank your favorite Astros players?

Fantasy baseball enthusiasts will soon be sitting at their laptops or gathering at their favorite watering hole to hold their league’s drafts and select the players for their teams. They’ll do their research and analyze players to get ready for the big day. Let’s take a look at a consensus of fantasy baseball experts and where they place the Astros players in the draft rankings.

I’ll be using FantasyPros for the statistical data and draft analysis in this article. I prefer them because they compile the information from experts of five of the top fantasy baseball hosts, including CBS Sports and Yahoo! Sports. I’ll also base this on a typical 12 team league with each round consisting of 12 players.

Astros players tend to be evenly dispersed throughout the draft in each sequential round. The first three rounds have one Houston player taken in each round, two in the fourth round, and one in the fifth and seventh rounds.

As one would expect, Alex Bregman is the first Astro to come off the board with an average draft position (ADP) of 9.6. He came in behind former teammate Gerrit Cole and just barely edged out Jacob deGrom who had an ADP of 9.8 I was a bit surprised at this placing when considering he was runner-up for the AL MVP just behind Mike Trout last season.

They have Bregman’s performance dropping off some in the 2020 projected numbers, even though he has consistently improved every year. His lack of stolen bases is one stat that may drop him into that draft position. But one aspect that I think could be overlooked is the fact that he qualifies for both the SS and 3rd base positions which can be a great asset on any fantasy team.

The next three Astros to come off the board is Zack Greinke, Carlos Correa, and reliever Roberto Osuna. Greinke averaged out as the last pick of the fifth round and the18th starting pitcher. Another Astros starter that I feel should be higher in the draft rankings.

After no Astros were listed in the sixth round, Correa came in as the 82nd player and 10th player of the seventh round. He was ranked as the 14th SS taken in the draft and I can’t help but think his history of injuries contributed heavily in that placement. If someone was willing to take the risk on Correa, he would be a steal at that point or higher in the draft.

Osuna is the next in the draft at 87th and the top-ranked relief pitcher out of Houston. He was fifth among all of the relievers and placed overall in a respectful spot considering relief pitchers tend to get picked later in the draft.

Then you have to go all the way down to #120 and #132 to find Michael Brantley and Yuli Gurriel. Two more players that I think are underrated when looking at their performances last season. To my surprise, Brantley was the 34th outfielder taken and Gurriel the 15th 1st baseman.

Rounding out the outfielders, Kyle Tucker is getting some respect as the 44th outfielder and 152nd overall player in the draft. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Josh Reddick is the 593rd player taken and 159 among outfielders. I’m sure losing playing time to Tucker played a role in that ranking.

Other notable Astros are Jose Urquidy at #219 and Ryan Pressly at #314, 33rd and 51st among relievers, respectively. Brad Peacock came in at 354 and 58. Starting catcher Martin Maldonado was way down the list at #620 overall and the 51st catcher in the draft rankings, not a promising outlook for the Astros at that position.

These draft pick rankings are, of course, speculative on these experts’ projections of their performances in the upcoming season. And we all know too well things don’t always turn out the way they are supposed to. So to all of you fantasy baseball players, beware and pick at your own risk.