The Houston Astros sure have been busy over the past 24 hours. First they promote their top prospect, shortstop Carlos Correa, to the big league roster to make his debut Monday night. Now, they’ve promoted their No. 4 prospect, pitcher Vincent Velasquez to the over in the rotation starting this Wednesday.
Last Tuesday, Vincent Velasquez took a no-hitter into 7th for @cchooks. This Wed. he'll make MLB debut with #Astros: http://t.co/4yjX2TmHSr
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) June 8, 2015
This is what the Astros have been patiently waiting for the past few years. They quietly suffered through a league change and years of records well below the .500 mark while they rebuilt a franchise through early round draft picks. They have arguably the best young team in all of baseball, and it has been largely on the shoulders of their youth revolution.
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George Springer was a first round pick. So was Lance McCullers and Carlos Correa. Preston Tucker and Dallas Keuchel were 7th round steals. They are all not only on the Astros big league roster, aside from Correa whose set to make his debut, they are all contributing. Velasquez is the next to get his chance.
Velasquez had a slow start to the season, recovering from a lat strain he suffered at the end of the Arizona Fall League season. Since then, he has been tearing up the Texas League for the Corpus Christi Hooks. His record on the 2015 season, which started one month ago on May 8th, is 3-0 with a 1.37 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP. He has struck out 37 while only walking 9 over his first 26.1 innings.
The 23-year old righty’s most recent outing saw him take a no hitter into the 7th inning. Unfortunately it was broken up by a solo home run, but evidently Velasquez showed enough in that outing. He is now being called upon to replace 34-year old Roberto Hernandez, who accumulated a 2-5 record with a 5.18 ERA over his first 11 starts of the 2015 season.
Velasquez’s promotion is great for baseball. The Astros are great for baseball. If the American League’s current best team makes the playoffs this season, General Manager Jeff Luhnow will not only win Executive of the Year, Houston fans will be calling for a Noble Peace Prize.
Last year, the Royals showed that patience pays off. That World Series team featured Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez, Billy Butler and Alex Gordon. All were Royals draft picks, most were players that people had given up on, considered busts if you would. The Astros are doing the same thing, and thus far are showing the same results.
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It seems like there is no coincidence that Luhnow signed on as GM of the Astros in 2011 after 8 seasons of working in the scouting department for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals have notoriously pumped out homegrown talent at a high level that has contributed to many playoff and World Series appearances, especially over his tenure.
Springer, Correa, Mark Appel, McCullers, Tucker were all drafted under Luhnow’s regime. Even Rio Ruiz was one of Luhnow’s finds. He was part of the trade that brought Evan Gattis to the Astros and despite a slow start, Gattis has been one of the Astros hottest hitters over the past two weeks.
This is an exciting time for the Astros and baseball. It is always more fun to watch a team that nobody expects to succeed excel at a high degree. The Astros are doing that, and are doing it with pieces they have groomed in their own system. Tonight they have the No. 2 and No 5 draft picks, and if this year has shown anything, those picks may be ready to roll in just a year or two.