Houston Astros: The minor league touchables and untouchables in a trade

Kyle Tucker – Untouchable

Kyle Tucker has had a pretty illustrious minor league career that led to his inclusion on the Futures game roster this summer as a starter alongside fellow stand out Astros outfield prospect Derek Fisher.

If the Astros want to make a deal for a top tier starting pitcher, either Kyle Tucker or Derek Fisher will have to be included. And if I had to send one, I would send Fisher. I’ll explain why when the Fisher slide comes up, so let’s just talk about why Kyle Tucker is a non-starter in any trade conversation.

First of all his upside is much higher than Fisher’s. He is that special five tools player that is hard to replicate. With the way he plays and the way he profiles, we could basically have a George Springer clone playing alongside George Springer as Tucker is also a center fielder with good defensive prowess. Tucker didn’t hit for a lot of power previous to this year as evidenced by his 12 home runs in his first two years of professional baseball.

This year however, he’s started to tap into that power with 17 home runs over 84 games. His speed has been a constant throughout his minor league career as he has stolen 69 bases, including a 32 steal season last year to go along with 19 so far this year.

If the Astros want to make a deal for a top tier starting pitcher, either Kyle Tucker or Derek Fisher will have to be included.

His all around game and consistent numbers in the minors is why I like Tucker over Fisher. While Tucker still has to prove himself at higher levels, he seems to be a better hitter with a better eye than Fisher (although this year Fisher has been phenomenal at lowering his strikeouts, walking more, and hitting off lefties well.)

It’s a tough decision to go with Tucker over Fisher here, but Tucker has a slight edge defensively, speed wise, and his ability to hit for average with the potential for 20 homer power from center field position makes me want to keep him over Fisher.

It’s obviously close though. Now that we’ve mentioned Fisher…