Astros Fantasy Baseball Draft Primer, where to pick your favorite players

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The fantasy baseball season is upon us, and the Houston Astros have several highly-rated players and knowing how and when to draft them could be the key to your success. Below, I will detail my projections for players and where I think players are over or under-rated and potential rounds they should be drafted in.

However, as always with fantasy, these projects are always subject to the people you draft with, and if there is a run on second basemen, you better believe Jose Altuve could not even make it to your pick.

Hopefully, these projections will help figure out the correct round range to draft each Astros starter.

To kick off Astros fantasy baseball picks, let’s take a look at the top selections.

Jose Altuve

Altuve is ranked 48th according to Yahoo Sports fantasy ranking and will likely be off the board after the first three or four rounds. As the sixth-ranked second baseman and with a trend that typically favors top pitchers and middle infielders first, Altuve could be a steal if he falls to your fifth round.

Alex Bregman

Although he is ranked 51st overall and seventh among third basemen, Bregman could be worth much more this season. I am projecting a comeback, so the fourth round is likely where he falls, where he could be a steal.

Yordan Alvarez

The fourth-ranked outfielder and 20th overall player, Alvarez could be a top-two round pick, as he could be both a first baseman and an outfielder on the roster with high-average production numbers. In a rotisserie league, the lefty could be the second ranked outfielder in MLB.

Kyle Tucker

Tucker could be on a collision course with a bid for an MVP award, if he continues his progression the past two years. The lefty could easily be a 40 home run, 120+ RBI guy, while he will likely be hitting fifth behind Altuve, Bregman and Alvarez.

He will probably be the second Astro off the board and could argue to be first since he is ranked 10th on Yahoo’s rankings.

Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports /

For the Astros, these are your steals in fantasy baseball.

Justin Verlander

Another potential steal in fantasy drafts, Verlander is only ranked 86th and is way down on the list for starters, so he could easily fall to the sixth or the seventh round. He will be a steal at anything above the seventh, and in the 10th round, he could be an amazing deal.

Framber Valdez

Ranked 118th according to Yahoo Fantasy, Valdez will easily be a mid-round steal. The lefty will get plenty of innings with a limited Verlander and injured Lance McCullers Jr. His low 3.00 ERA and low WHIP could make him a big-time steal around round 15, if he makes it that deep.

Lance McCullers Jr.

McCullers could be a steal, if many owners let him drop and if there is no auto draft on. I could easily see him fall to the last few rounds of the draft and be a perfect steal for an injured-reserved pitcher to start the year, but the righty will likely get 15 starts.

Jake Meyers/Chas McCormick

Meyers has to be a late-round sleeper pick, as he will start the season late so he will fall. The centerfielder is probably already ranked a fourth or fifth outfielder for most, but if Meyers plays a good two-thirds of the season, he will have 20 homers and 60 or more RBI.

McCormick would be a great last-round pick for a guy who will play early on and will be a good off the bench guy for your team.

For the Astros, these are a few solid mid-round selections in fantasy baseball.

Michael Brantley

Although he could be aging, Brantley’s statistics will always be decent when it comes to average and runs scored on the high-powered Astros.

Yuli Gurriel

Gurriel will be a great pickup for first base in the middle rounds. After all the big bats at first are taken, he could be a sleeper in a head-to-head league. When he gets hot, the righty hits homers and drives in runs in bunches — great 14th or 15th rounder.

Luis Garcia

Although he is still an unknown, Garcia could shine in the mid rounds as a 13th or 14th round pickup for a guy who might be the third starter in the rotation for the first month or more.

Ryan Pressly

Closers don’t get much love in fantasy and I find them almost useless in head-to-head leagues, but if you are in a rotisserie, Pressly will be a great snag in the middle rounds with a low ERA and WHIP along with a solid amount of save opportunities.

Next. Will Framber Valdez be an All-Star in 2022?. dark

Astros Orbit:

In the latest roster cuts, Enoli Paredes and Peter Solomon were optioned to Triple-A, while Parker Mushinski and Edwin Diaz were reassigned to the minors.

The Astros released 10 minor leaguers — Peter Zimmermann, Ramiro Rodriguez, Colton Shaver, Alex Holderbach, Michael Wielansky, Nate Perry, Kit Scheetz, Elian Rodriguez, Kyle Serrano, Carmen Benedetti and R.J. Freure.

The Mets will honor former Astros minor-league pitcher Johan Santana prior to a game in May for the 10-year anniversary of his no-hitter, they announced.

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Houston Astros Fantasy Baseball Draft Primer