Another midseason analysis, this time from Keith Law:
The Astros, long one of the worst farm systems in baseball, started to improve with some significant trades last season, but took a huge leap forward with their draft class this year, landing four of the top 51 talents in the class, including shortstop (future third baseman) Carlos Correa and hard-throwing right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. They've also seen a solid step forward this season from Jonathan Singleton; a good (although slightly whiffy) debut from George Springer; bounce-back years from 2010 first-rounders Delino DeShields, Jr. and Mike Foltyniewicz; and a major velocity uptick from 2011 fifth-rounder Nick Tropeano, who was just promoted to the more age-appropriate Cal League.
They don't have a lot of major league assets to potentially convert into prospects this month -- Jed Lowrie would have been an ideal candidate until he hit the disabled list -- but even without that they probably have had the biggest six-month improvement of any farm system in the game.
