Houston Astros: Why I’m Glad They Didn’t Draft Carlos Rodon

Houston Astros:  Why I’m Glad They Didn’t Draft Carlos Rodon

Maybe I’m just a little squeamish of ‘established college arms’ seeing as how Mark Appel is getting completely demolished in Advanced-A ball, including a 1.1 inning, 10 earned run outing his last start.

Carlos Rodon has decently impressive college stats, much like Appel did. Granted, they’re two different style of pitchers. Rodon does display a more impressive ERA and that’s been consistent throughout his college career, whereas Appel took until his junior year to get his ERA under 3.00.

But it’s not the stats that’s the main deterring factor. Teams draft college players in the hopes that they get to the majors quick. Well, the Astros don’t really need anyone to hop on the fast track to the majors, especially a pitcher. They are backed up as is in the pitching department, and there’s no reason to grab a guy like Rodon when one could get a high school talent like Brady Aiken or Tyler Kolek, both of whom could end up doing far better than Rodon in the long run.

Not only that, but Rodon is going to be the most expensive. The Astros passed on Appel to take Carlos Correa in 2012 mainly due to the price and signability. It doesn’t make sense for them to pursue Rodon given his price-tag, plain and simple. If they pass on the expensive player, they can grab better players later on.

All things considered, there really is no reason why the Astros should nab Rodon.

Luckily, the Astros decided on picking Brady Aiken first.