Most notable pick from the school, not from Stevenson.
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Quick quotes from Cam Pendino about the draftees, plus other notes, including the following on Powell:
The third and final day starts in an hour. There’s still a huge amount of high school talent on the board, and while some of the higher-profile guys may go in the 11th round to other teams, don’t expect any of them to land with the Astros. That’s not to say they won’t grab an overslot guy in the 11th/12th—they may have grabbed some savings in the later rounds yesterday—but it’s likely to be more like Nehomar Ochoa/Anthony Huezo from 2023 ($300-400k) than Ryan Clifford in 2022 ($1.25m).
ETA: Before the draft, Baseball America had connected the Astros to high school shortstop Mikey Ryan (average rank: 165). I wonder if there’d be enough money for him. Not counting on it, but I have no idea what his dollar figure would be one way or the other.
Round eleven: Jason Schiavone, C, James Madison University
College junior, not on any public boards. So probably not an over-slot guy. Not a whole lot of teams took obvious over-slot candidates in the eleventh round.
Round twelve: Ryan Verdugo, RHP, Cal State Bakersfield
Average rank 350, Baseball America ranked him 460:
Verdugo helped his Bishop Amat High School team win four straight conference championships before heading to Cal State Bakersfield, where he pitched as a reliever as a freshman in 2022 before transitioning to a full-time starter. He had a career year in 2024 when he posted a 2.72 ERA over 89.1 innings and 14 starts, with a 24.5% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate. A 6-foot-2, 205-pound righthander, Verdugo mostly pitches off of a fastball/slider combination and sits in the 89-92 mph range with the fastball that will touch 95. His 78-82 mph slider is a high-spin, slurvy pitch that features decent glove-side sweeping action at times but will blend into more of a curveball look with three-quarter shape at times. He’ll occasionally mix in a mid-80s changeup to lefties but that pitch isn’t a huge part of his arsenal at the moment.
Round thirteen: Bryce Boettcher, OF, Oregon
Looks like a fun pick. Two-sport athlete who might blossom focusing solely on baseball. Ranked 345 by Future Stars:
Boettcher is an interesting story as he was recruited to Oregon as a strong safety on the football field and eventually added enough weight to transition to linebacker during his time on campus. He was a regular for the football team in 2023 posting 37 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble. Despite his size, strength, and lack of training time, Boettcher was the Ducks starting centerfielder in 2023 playing 54 games and enjoying a breakout on the offensive end. Not only was he the team’s primary centerfielder, he won a Rawlings Gold Glove Award for Division 1 baseball this season. It’s a legit glove. He’s very clearly an above average runner who could get a bit quicker in pro ball if he drops ten pounds and trains for baseball full-time. Boettcher does some things on the offensive side of the ball very well. He has above average bat-to-ball skills and rarely ever whiffs on swings at pitches inside the strike zone. He is an aggressive hitter and will expand the zone at times, but who is to say that won’t improve over time once he gives up football entirely? Despite his 12 homers in 2024, Boettcher possesses just solid average raw power and isn’t naturally a big bat speed guy despite his size. That may tick up with proper training, but for now he’s more of a hitter than a slugger. At this stage Boettcher is something of an unknown and a lottery ticket. He’s very clearly quite physical, and he possesses the prerequisite hand-eye coordination to be a hitter at the next level. But what’s left in his development? Can he blossom into a slugging outfielder thanks to his natural strength? Can he become more dynamic with a more narrow training focus? Hard to say. But he stood out at the Combine and should hear his name called toward the end of day two or on day three. Boettcher is already 22 years old.
Round fourteen: Ryan Mathiesen, RHP, The Master’s University
Guy I’ve never heard of from a school I’ve never heard of. Pitched in relief his whole college career and in the Alaska Summer League. Did a fair amount of hitting, too, but was called as a pitcher.
Round fifteen: Drew Vogel, SS, Murray State University
4y senior, bats right/throws right. I don’t have anything on him—hit .342/.449/.667 with 10 HR and 10 steals.
Round sixteen: Bryce Mayer, RHP, Mizzou
Another senior, this time an Appy League guy! @Duman he even played for Greeneville!
“Named All-Appalachian League and Appy League Pitcher of the Year in 2021 after posting a 2.15 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 37.2 innings while helping Greeneville to the league title.”
Round seventeen: Ethan Wagner, OF, P27 Academy (SC)
A high schooler! Not on any public boards. May just be a “get to know you” pick, like Andrew Duncan in the 19th round last year. (Edit: yeah, he’s a Tennessee commit, so probably not signing.) He turns 19 in three weeks, so definitely on the older side for a high schooler, but the Astros don’t seem as averse to old-for-their-class hitters as they used to be (Jaworsky was almost exactly the same age last year when they drafted him).
Round eighteen: Grant Burleson, RHP, Western Kentucky
Back to collegians. FSS ranked him 306th in the class:
Burleson is a heavy supinator with most everything moving hard away from right-handed hitters. The fastball has been up to 94 but is more commonly 90-91 with extreme cutter shape. He gets next to zero arm-side run on his heater, but can struggle to generate the necessary cut-ride through the zone to make his fastball a true weapon. It’s performed very well in 2024 with whiff rates approaching 25 percent, but there’s more in the tank in terms of pitch efficiency. Burleson’s sweeper is his real gem; a low-80s breaker with borderline elite lateral action and top-shelf spin rates. It’s been a hellish pitch against right-handed hitters this season and projects every bit that of a ‘plus’ weapon at the next level, especially if he can creep closer to the 88 mph peak he’s teased with that pitch. Burleson throws a slightly lighter curveball with more depth and an upper-80s cutter that comes out easy. If he can find a way to add a splitter or circle change in pro ball to get some action going back the other direction he’s got rotation upside. As it stands, he’s awfully attractive from a metric and uniqueness perspective. It’s a reasonably smooth operation with deliberate tempo and plenty of strikes. The frame can add more muscle and his delivery could stand to move a bit quicker. There’s low-hanging fruit.
Round nineteen: Twine Palmer, RHP, Connors State JC (OK)
Another Jim Stevenson juco guy. NJCAA All-American. Not finding anything about a transfer commitment.
Round twenty: Ky McGary, OF, Sandra Day O’Connor HS (AZ)
Arizona state commit, highly ranked prospect, another probable get-to-know-you pick where you hope you’ve built a good relationship to draft him again in three years.
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Maybe a late bloomer on offense–made a big jump from 2023 (.224/.311/.453) to 2024 (.284/.400/.620). Defensively, he cut down 23 runners, as compared to 43 stolen bases allowed. Pretty good!
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And that’s a draft. No real eye-popping picks today, but you can always find talent in the later rounds. They may have money to throw at one of the two high schoolers (Wagner more likely than McGary, imo)—I’d be a little surprised if they burned two picks just for relationship-building.
Otherwise, day three went a lot like day two. A few college arms, a couple interesting position players, and one Oklahoma juco guy. Signing news will no doubt be coming soon. The Astros will have just a touch over $6M to spend, assuming they max out, since they can go up to 5% over slot and just pay penalties on the overage without more substantive penalties.
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Thanks for tracking this and all the scouting reports!
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I echo the thanks for tracking like this. It is really helpful and appreciated!
Re: Wagner UT-K message boards are counting him as never making it to campus saying he will sign with the Astros
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Pendino says they expect to sign him. Nice.
My pleasure. I love obsessing over the draft each year—I’m digging up all this crap for myself one way or the other, so might as well post it in the bus ride. Plus it’s a fantastic distraction from work emails. Happy to hear other folks find it worthwhile.
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You did a mind-boggling job.
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BP says Janek will slot in at 4 or 5 in the system, with Forcucci right with him if his stuff returns to pre-TJS levels.
I haven’t seen any draftee signings reported yet, but a couple other updates:
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Outfielder Bryce Boettcher (13th round, Oregon) will temporarily head back to school and play another season as an inside linebacker for the Ducks before taking the field in the Astros system in 2025.
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The Astros have added four undrafted free agents already, per Baseball America:
- Danny Trehey, RHP, Florida Atlantic
- Justin Trimble, 3B, UC Santa Barbara
- Max Holy, SS, Central Missouri
- Lucas Spence, OF, SIU-Edwardsville
Interesting tidbit on Boettcher. I saw inside LB and that he was an OF and thought, huh? Then I re-read the report you provided, that he started as strong safety and then added some weight to spin down to ILB, and still has legit speed and can drop some weight after football ends.
Anyways, thanks for the continued updates.
Amazing job @moriarty !!
FYI, I read something interesting re: Twine Palmer, the 19th rounder with an amazing name. He was something like 6’3" and 165lbs his senior of high school. After his first year of JC he was 6’5" and 200lbs. That’s a hell of a conditioning program.
Keystone Light works wonders.
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We used to buy cases of Busch for $9.99 at the grocery store near campus. It certainly helped me become the man I am today.
No surprises here, Astros announced the first batch of draft/UDFA signees:
ETA: I’m a damn fool, ignore the edit. I missed that Wagner was on the announcement list. That’s a big one.
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That’s what I say.
Another kid from Crane’s alma mater
Former Mules picked/Signed in the last decade by the Astros:
Jonathan Sprinkle (2020 UDFA)
Lucas Williams (2016 40th round)
Zach Davis (2015 25th round)
Kyle Gehrs (2014 UDFA)
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