Houston Astros 2024 Top 30 Prospect Rankings: Insane outfield depth

15. Andrew Taylor - RHP

All of Taylor's pitches play well off his fastball. While not really a velocity guy, hitters can't seem to pick the pitch up, as he gets a lot of swing-and-miss/chasing out of the zone. His slider and changeup lag behind his heater in a vacuum, but his quality pitch tunneling allows them to play up as hitters try to not get beat by his fastball. Some think that, with his frame, the quality of his stuff should tick up with proper adjustments and coaching. If that were to happen, he could end up being a top-five prospect in Houston's system quickly.

14. Alonzo Tredwell - RHP

While Tredwell's stuff and frame make him a fun player to bet on, he just can't stay healthy. He had Tommy John surgery in high school, missed time in college with multiple injuries, and has yet to throw an inning in pro ball. If everything goes right, Tredwell is a 6'8" monster on the mound with a plus fastball, curveball, and slider, each with big time upside. That said, you may want to temper your expectations until he can show he can actually pitch a full season.

13, Michael Knorr - RHP

Knorr primarily uses a fastball/changeup combination, and his first year in pro ball saw him miss plenty of bats with the combo, as he struck out 78 batters in 58.1 innings of work. If Knorr is going to make it as a starter, he needs a real breaking ball, and preferably a power breaking ball at that, as it would fill the velo gap between his fastball and changeup. Not necessarily a high ceiling guy, but he throws enough strikes to have a relatively high floor.

12. Will Wagner - 3B/OF

Wagner was already on folks' radar heading into 2023, and then he went out and posted a .935 OPS despite a wrist injury early in the season. Wagner has seen time in the infield, particularly third base, but probably needs to move to left field. Fortunately, if he keeps hitting like he did last year, where in the field he plays isn't going to matter much, and there is an outside chance that he could get some consideration for big-league playing time sometime in 2024.

11. Rhett Kouba - RHP

Kouba is yet another Astros' pitching prospect that isn't a flamethrower, but he has gotten a lot of mileage from his deceptive mechanics and his ability to mix in his plus changeup exceedingly well. His slider is really effective against righties, but lefties can see the pitch well, so it will be on his changeup to carry the day with his platoon splits. While other Astros pitching prospects get more attention, Kouba is among the closest to actually being ready for the big leagues.