This draft begins the dawn of a new era for the Astros.  This is the first draft in many years headed by a new General Manager.  Tim Purpura takes the reigns and will put his first stamp on the long-term health of the organization.  The Astros also have a new Scouting Director, Paul Ricciarini.  Together, they will attempt to add quality players to a minor league system that has seen a number of bad drafts in the past 5 years.

As has been noted on numerous occasions this is the first draft in 3 years that the Astros have a pick in the first round.  Because of the Jeff Kent signing (2003) and the Andy Pettitte signing (2004) the Astros forfeited their first round picks in the indicated draft year.  Despite that those 2 year’s drafts appear to be promising.  So, the outlook for this year’s draft was quite optimistic.
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Your Minor Opinions staff presents to you the 2005 Astros Top 10 list.  Among other variables, we considered age, talent, production, and the combination of those factors to determine who belonged and who didn’t.  We have also included information on players who were considered for the list and rejected.  Finally you will find a list of players who did not merit consideration for the top 10 list but in our opinion are players to watch for a variety of reasons.
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The Astros 2004 draft class was marked by a number of draftees making a strong debut in the system and leading their respective teams to a league title (Greeneville) and a league final and runner-up (Tri-City).  Hitting, both for power and average, and strong pitching were the hallmarks of this draft class’s first season.  We begin our 2004 Draftee Round-up with the outfield.
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Editor’s Note: Regular Minor Opinion’s columnists Greg D and Michael N have once again suckered Jacksonian into spending every waking hour over the past week researching and writing the Draft Recap. Jacksonian, the check’s in the mail. Ha!
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May 10, 2004
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January 28, 2004
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