Astros appear to be circling top college hitting prospect if latest mock draft is close to correct

We're now within a month of the MLB Draft, with the action kicking off on July 11. We have a bit more clarity as a result, though happenings during the College Baseball World Series and high school state tournaments will cause some movement. With that said, we have a new mock draft from MLB Pipeline's Jonathan Mayo to consider, and it's one that should make Houston Astros fans very happy.

Mayo has the Astros selecting University of Virginia outfielder AJ Gracia. His thinking is simple: outside of last season's first-round pick, Xavier Neyens, the thinking seems to be that Houston is looking at college bats, as had previously been Dana Brown's M.O., selecting those sorts of players in Brice Matthews and Walker Janek in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Virginia was eliminated in the Hattiesburg Regional, putting a bow on Gracia's season and his decorated career, which culminated in a Second Team All-ACC selection. His final line for the year is a sizzling .354/.489/.632 with 14 homers and 47 walks against just 38 strikeouts.

With a sweet-but-powerful lefty swing and advanced feel at the plate, Gracia is someone who we previously identified as the ideal Astros draft pick, so the idea of this coming to fruition has us giddy for several reasons.

AJ Gracia could be the fast-riser the Astros desperately need if he is indeed their first-round pick

The state of the Astros requires that they find both high-end young talent and fast-moving prospects. Gracia's immense talent and three years of high-end collegiate experience could check both of those boxes.

Houston would be wise not to rush him to the same degree that they rushed Cam Smith, but still, they could find that Gracia could be able to help them faster than some recent draft picks, like the equally talented but much more raw Neyens.

Most experts have Gracia pegged in the 15-20 range of their big boards, but FanGraphs ranked him as the second-best prospect in the class, citing his immense power to all fields and well-rounded skill set on both sides of the ball.

That signals that Houston could wind up with an uncommon talent at this point in the draft, which would be a huge boost to a farm system that lacks both depth and high-end talent.

With all of that in consideration, the Astros would be sitting pretty with Gracia, who could prove in short order to be a franchise cornerstone for a club whose future direction is very much in question.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow