The Astros had a plethora of draft capital, picking up the #28 pick from Hunter Brown's third place Cy Young finish as well as the #133 pick as compensation for losing Framber Valdez. They used that money to bring in a haul, and did so by moving money around with many of their picks. First rounder Logan Hughes signed nearly a million and a half under slot value, while PPI pick Jack Radel gave them another $363,600 in savings and ninth and tenth rounders Ryan Pruitt and Tazwell Butler received just a paltry $2,500 each to create about another $400,000 in savings. Houston deployed that money with a big $2 million bonus on third rounder Keon Johnson as well as a massive $3 million bonus on fourth round compensatory pick Beau Peterson, matching Radel's bonus over one hundred picks earlier. In all, I think dollar for dollar the talent brought in was fairly underwhelming, though that's not to say I'm not a big fan of several of these guys. Much hinges on the two high school bats, Johnson and Peterson, and both come with questions. Similarly, Hughes and Peterson are both tremendous bats with major positional questions. This is a hitter-heavy class but when it came to arms, Houston focused more on floor than upside and should find several starters to fill out the back of their future rotation.
Full index of team reviews here. Full rankings here.
Note that the number before a player's name indicates their draft position. For example, "2-50" would indicate that a player was taken in the second round with the fiftieth overall pick.
1-17: OF Logan Hughes, Texas Tech
Slot value: $4.87 million. Signing bonus: $3.41 million ($1.46 million below slot value).
My rank: #35. MLB Pipeline: #42. ESPN: #29.
The Astros almost always target a college bat with strong data with their first pick, so Logan Hughes is absolutely true to form. Six of the Astros' past seven first round picks, save for Xavier Neyens in 2025, have been college bats, though none have become impact players in Houston. Hughes hopes to buck that trend and do it while bringing massive savings to Houston, signing for just over the value of the #28 pick here at #17. He played one year at Stetson near his hometown in Central Florida, where he parlayed a successful freshman season into an opportunity to transfer to Texas Tech. He took Lubbock by storm hitting .327/.411/.697 with 19 home runs as a sophomore in 2025, then exploded for a .375/.510/.735 line with 18 home runs as a junior in 2026 to steadily push his name up boards. Hughes can hit, period. He is an extremely professional hitter that ran an excellent 12.9% strikeout rate in 2026 while walking nearly 20% of the time, consistently controlling his at bats no matter the competition. Even in Big 12 play against the conference's best weekend arms, he still kept his strikeout rate at just 12%, showing strong bat to ball to go with his excellent approach. While he's not huge at 5'11", he packs plenty of strength into his shorter frame evidenced by 37 home runs in two seasons. The exit velocity data backs it up as well, with the Orlando-area product profiling for above average power in pro ball that could produce 20-25 home runs per season to go along with high on-base percentages. He rarely tries to do too much, instead using the whole field effectively without sacrificing that power. Nearly all of Hughes' value is tied up in his bat, as he is a below average runner with an arm to match, profiling as a fringy left fielder in the best case scenario if he doesn't have to move to first base eventually. At 5'11", he's relatively short for a first baseman as well, so there is a non-zero chance that he winds up a long term DH. His bat alone would put him in the first round, but the discount comes with the lack of defensive value.
PPI-28: RHP Jack Radel, Notre Dame
Slot value: $3.36 million. Signing bonus: $3 million ($363,600 below slot value).
My rank: #42. MLB Pipeline: #44. ESPN: #33.
The Astros picked up an extra first round pick due to Hunter Brown's third place finish in the 2025 AL Cy Young voting, using it on Notre Dame righty Jack Radel. Radel is a good old fashioned country hard baller with a traditional profile that checks all the boxes analytically as well. He has spent three years in the rotation at Notre Dame and tossed 211 innings, improving each year including an excellent 2026 that pushed him quickly up draft boards. The fastball sits in the low to mid 90's and touches 98 with ride, effectively blowing past bats even in hitter-friendly college baseball conditions. He throws a very effective slider with late downer action to miss bats, while his hard cutter splits the difference to tie things together. Radel also shows a solid average curveball and changeup, giving him a full arsenal which he deploys effectively. The 6'5", 250 pound righty has plenty of size, looking the part of a future big league innings eater that should have no difficulty pitching deep into games and holding up over a long season. He commands his full arsenal well with an easy, repeatable delivery and can continue to carve up a lineup on his third and fourth time through. Radel's lack of a true plus pitch probably caps his ceiling short of that of an ace, but he's as high likelihood of a back-end starter as you'll find in this class with a good shot to become a #3. The Sioux Falls, South Dakota native should stick in big league rotations for a long time with the power fastball, full arsenal, size, and command requisite to handle the heavy workload of a major league starting pitcher.
2-57: LHP Wes Mendes, Florida State
Slot value: $1.68 million. Signing bonus: $1.64 million ($39,700 below slot value).
My rank: #69. MLB Pipeline: #51. ESPN: #83.
Houston makes it back to back high probability starters by bringing in Wes Mendes. Mendes began his career at Ole Miss, where he showed promise as a freshman reliever even if the results were more pedestrian. Transferring closer to home at Florida State, he jumped into the rotation as a sophomore (again to pedestrian results with promising peripherals) before breaking out in 2026, dropping his ERA more than two and a half runs while finishing thirteenth in the nation with 125 strikeouts. Despite the gaudy swing and miss numbers, Mendes is more of a floor guy than a ceiling guy. His fastball sits in the low 90's and touches 96 at peak, showing some riding action but sneaking past bats perhaps more often that you'd expect. He has a pair of decent breaking balls in a short slider in the mid to upper 80's that can look like a cutter at times as well as a deeper curveball in the upper 70's, effectively changing speeds on hitters and keeping them off balance even if neither is a wipeout. The Tampa native's best pitch is a plus changeup with tremendous fade, a pitch he sells extremely well and gets hitters flailing more often than they're on time. College hitters have struggled to come up with an answer to the cambio, though of course in pro ball it will be imperative that he finds another gear with one or two of his other pitches to keep hitters from sitting on it. Like Jack Radel, he has a simple, repeatable delivery that helps him fill up the strike zone, though Radel is more over the top while Mendes is three quarters. The 6'1" lefty figures to work his way up as a #4 starter who could develop into more with an extra tick or two on his fastball or a sharper breaking ball. Houston loves the positive trend, growing from volatile freshman with sneaky stuff to reliable starting pitcher with a real weapon in two years' time.
3-93: SS Keon Johnson, First Presbyterian HS [GA]
Slot value: $846,900. Signing bonus: $2 million ($1.15 million above slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: #119. ESPN: #99.
After building up over $1.8 million in savings over across their first three picks, Houston unloaded more than half of those savings on Keon Johnson, a bit of a sleeper prospect who didn't rank as highly on draft boards as the money might indicate. Taken here at pick #93, his $2 million signing bonus steering him away from a Vanderbilt commitment is higher than that of Wes Mendes above him and roughly the value of the #50 pick, so he has some real believers in Space City. Johnson has long been a famous name in the 2026 high school class, winning the Georgia Gatorade Player of the Year in 2025 as a junior in one of the more competitive states in the country. He's a ballplayer, plain and simple. He takes strong at bats and uses the whole field effectively, bringing a swagger to the batters' box that exudes confidence with the results to back it up. He has tacked on power in recent years and now projects for home run totals in the teens, which will pair nicely with high on-base percentages driven by his patient approach. The operation centers around strong hips, which get the hands going and can even pull the back leg off the ground when he coils up. It's possible the Astros will look to streamline things a little bit to get him more direct to the ball, which could add to the well-rounded offensive profile. The Macon native is a reliable defender on the dirt, showing well at shortstop with clean actions and solid arm strength that should keep him at the six. If he moves to third base, he should be above average there with solid instincts and feel. He's more of a fringy runner but does enough things well that that shouldn't be an issue. While Johnson lacks a standout tool, the Astros are confident in the broader skill set and believe the ballplayer will continue to add up to more than the sum of his tools, taking to pro ball quickly with an advanced all-around game.
4-121: SS Kam Durnin, Missouri
Slot value: $638,800. Signing bonus: $636,300 ($2,500 below slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. ESPN: unranked.
This is a real sleeper for Houston, one who could provide significant impact despite going unranked on most major boards and falling outside the top 300 at Baseball America. Kam Durnin spent two years at Wichita State, where he posted modest offensive numbers but held down a starting role with strong defense. After exploding for a huge summer in the Appalachian League in 2025 and winning its player of the year award, he caught the attention of his home state Missouri Tigers and transferred. Despite the jump in competition, he took to SEC pitching extremely well and slashed .329/.438/.570, way up from the .251/.352/.372 he posted in 2025 against inferior competition at Wichita State. Durnin grades out really well under the hood, which backs up the 2026 breakout and points to continued gains in pro ball. He is a very patient hitter which served him well in his transition to the SEC, taking strong at bats and attacking hittable pitches when he gets them. His modest nine home runs in 2026 matched his 2024 and 2025 totals combined, but he gets great torque in his operation and the exit velocity data is solid, pointing to potentially average power at the next level. It's a solid all-around offensive profile, aided significantly by a strong defensive profile as well. He's smooth in the dirt with clean actions, solid range, and enough arm strength to make it work, making for a high likelihood shortstop projection going forward. This is a profile that plays much closer to the fourth round selection than it does to the poor showing on public rankings.
4C-133: IF Beau Peterson, Mill Valley HS [KS]
Slot value: $569,600. Signing bonus: $3 million ($2.43 million above slot value).
My rank: #102. MLB Pipeline: #97. ESPN: #126.
With one of the largest over slot bonuses of the entire draft, the Astros poured much of their savings and their permitted overage into Beau Peterson, one of the better high school bats in the class even if he came with some questions. The $3 million bonus was roughly the value of the #33 pick, pulling him away from a Texas commitment if only to a slightly different destination in the Lone Star State. He is actually a very similar draft prospect to Logan Hughes, with all the added ceiling (and risk) of coming from the high school ranks. Peterson is listed at 6'3", 195 pounds, already coming with big league size as a teenager and showing an ideal power hitter's frame that looks primed to continue to add strength. Right now, he is a hit-over-power type by choice even if he's likely to be a power hitter in time. He's a disciplined hitter that deploys a clean left handed swing that doesn't try to do too much, naturally lofting the ball to all fields for extra bases. As he gets stronger and starts to swing with more intent, that power should grow into at least above average if not plus, meaning he could be an above average hitter with plus power at ceiling. Peterson shares similarities to Hughes not just in the box but in the field as well, where he is a below average runner with heavy feet at third base. His plus arm (he's been up to 94 on the mound) gives him a shot to stick at third base if he can improve his footwork and range a little bit, though first base or right field may be in his future. The Kansas City-area product is slightly old for the class and turned 19 shortly after the draft, but the Astros think his bat is so advanced and his ceiling so high that the age won't work against him. He could find himself hitting back to back with Hughes in the middle of that Houston order in just a few years.
5-153: RHP Gavin Eddy, California
Slot value: $467,700. Signing bonus: $297,500 ($170,200 below slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. ESPN: unranked.
After the big splash on Beau Peterson, the Astros went right back to saving and got fifth rounder Gavin Eddy for seventh round money. Eddy sat out his freshman season and then worked as an oft-used swingman as a redshirt freshman in 2025, though his 5.74 ERA and sub-20% strikeout rate did not scream future pro. However, he took a big step forward as a redshirt sophomore in 2026, slashing his ERA to 2.87 while pushing his strikeout rate to 26.9% as a full time starter. The fastball sits in the low 90's and touches 94, unremarkable velocity, but sneaks by bats with some late hop. His best pitch is a short, tight, downer slider in the low 80's that gets most of his strikeouts, though his changeup is behind and mainly focuses on the first two. The 6'5" righty is plenty physical, clocking in at a solid 225 pounds with the look of a durable big league starting pitcher. His smooth, simple delivery lends itself to above average command, further helping him project as a back-end starter. Eddy's next order of business is adding a changeup, and from there, it's a smooth path to a #5 spot in the rotation.
16-481: C Rashawn Galloway, Texas State
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: $50,000.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. ESPN: unranked.
The Astros drafted three players out of DFW in Ryan Pruitt (Trophy Club -> USF), Peyton Fiene (McKinney -> Odessa JC), and Ben Tryon (Southlake -> Dallas Baptist), with Rashawn Galloway the only representative from the southern half of the state. A native of Boerne just outside of San Antonio, he spent four years at nearby Texas State but the first three were wholly unremarkable with just three home runs across 84 games. He found his stroke as a senior in 2026 with a massive breakout season, slashing .318/.368/.580 with 12 home runs and a Texas State record 27 doubles, smashing the old Bobcats record of 22 with nearly a month left in the season. Galloway has a whippy, powerful right handed swing and the ball jumps off his bat with impressive force, helping him tap power to all fields and regularly drive the ball into the gaps with some mustard. He makes a ton of contact and ran an elite 8.1% strikeout rate in 2026, though his excellent bat to ball also makes it hard to draw walks as he clocked in at just 6.3%. Galloway's contact/power combination is envious even as a right handed hitting mid major bat who was nearly 23 on draft day, and some tweaks to his approach could get him moving through the system in a hurry. Drafted as a catcher, he has seen time all over the field but was used mostly in right field for Texas State. Houston would love to get him back behind the plate where his offensive profile would really stand out and make him a steal at just $50,000 in the sixteenth round. If he stays in the outfield, a right/right corner profile is tough to overcome especially now that he has turned 23 barely into his pro career, but he could surprise people.
