Series: Houston Astros Top 5 Starting Pitcher Lottery Tickets

Feb 21, 2014; Tampa, FL, USA; Houston Astros pitcher Mike Foltynewicz (73) poses for a picture during photo day at Osceola County Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

1. Carlos Rodon Michael Foltynewicz

This spot may one day be occupied by the player most Astros fans have ordained as savior of the organization, Carlos Rodon, but until draft day 2014 roles around Folty is my pick for the top pitching prospect in the system.

The right handed flame thrower was drafted by the Ed Wade regime in the first round of the 2010 draft. He boasts what most believe to be the best fastball in the system and he can rush it up to 100 mph if the occasion calls for it. And let me tell ya, the occasion calls for it regularly.

The thing that makes Folty unique in the Astros organization is that he has both the electric stuff, and the track record to back it up. Since entering the system he has improved on his numbers every year as he has figured out how to harness that Zeus-like right arm he throws his lightning bolts with. In 2013 he split the season between Single-A Lancaster and Double-A Corpus, accruing a resume that consists of a 3.06 ERA in 129 innings while striking out 124 batters. He maintained a K/9 of about 9 and BB/9 of about 4.5, so there is still some room for improvement of course.

He participated in spring training with the big club and performed admirably in 10 innings, striking out 7 and allowing only 2 earned runs. When I watched one of his outings there are some things that definitely jump out at the viewer. First that fastball is fast. It doesn’t have a killer amount of movement but batters struggled to keep up with it all game. The problem was that he wasn’t placing his curveball well at all so it was a laborious few innings for Folty. The curve seemed to break pretty shallow like a slurve, and it didn’t get more than a flinch from the batter usually if it was out of the zone. Outside of the fastball he was not very impressive but I’m not willing to let a sample size of 4 innings wash out the body of work, so you use that info how you please.

Folty will probably spend time between Oklahoma City and Corpus and then possibly get a stint in the bullpen with the big league club.

Conclusion

I am very anxious to lay eyes on this group of 5 young aces in the making. The future is very deep, and Luhnow has done a nice job literally snatching up every lottery ticket that floats by him. Overall there doesn’t seem to be an extremely large amount of high upside pitchers making their way through the system so a lot of emphasis is placed on the guys at the top.

Over the next couple years, Astros fans have a lot to look forward to. Their is talent worth mentioning at every position on the field and at almost every level of the organization. Pitching prospects can be fickle and for the most part all we can do it hope for the best. So peel the cellophane off that bad boy, yank the reclining arm, and turn on the tv, because I think they’re about to call out tonight’s Powerball.