The Astros sit 36-26, 4.5 games back in the AL West. Their pitching staff remains elite, but the offense is struggling. Houston has squandered great starts from rookies in back-to-back games against the Blue Jays, scoring three total runs in the last two games.
They'll likely need to acquire a bat at the deadline in an effort to run down the Rangers. The winner of the West will be a top-two seed in the AL and secure a very important first round bye. It's important the Astros can surpass the Rangers to ensure a bye and home field in the ALDS.
If they're going to do such a thing, they'll probably be parting with some prospects. Let's take a look at three Astros prospects that may be playing elsewhere after the trade deadline.
#1 Pedro León
Pedro León appears to finally be finding it at the AAA level. He has homered five times in eight games and has a .956 OPS over his last 25 games while hitting .290.
León remains an enormously "toolsy" prospect, with loud power, a cannon of an arm and great speed on the base paths.
The strikeout is still a huge part of Leon's game, striking out 62 times in 50 games. But if he can make some sembelance of contact, his tools play up.
With the Astros depth in the outfield, and with both Jose Altuve and Mauricio Dubón holding down the fort at second, León doesn't really have anywhere to play. If León wasn't going to come up with Altuve injured, then when would he?
José Siri is another former Astro that had plenty of tools but no path to playing time in Houston. Might a team see what happened with Siri getting everyday playing time and think they could do the same for León? He may not be viewed as highly as he was when he played in the 2021 Futures Game, but León can likely contribute for another big-league club. It wouldn't be stunning to see him in a deal.