Houston Astros: Three players who need to be protected on the 40 man roster
By T.A. Mock
Riley Ferrell, RHP, #17 prospect
The Houston Astros selected Riley Ferrell in the 3rd round of the 2015 draft out of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. Ferrell was one of the most dominant pitchers in all of collegiate baseball while at TCU, managing a 1.72 ERA and 32 saves, a school-record, during his three years there.
Coming out of college, Ferrell looked like a shoo-in to be one of the first, if not the first guy to reach the big leagues from the 2015 draft class. Elite college relievers tend to not have as much of a learning curve in the minors and their stuff translates well.
However, Ferrell had to have surgery in 2016 to remove an aneurysm from his throwing shoulder and that caused him to miss the rest of the season, thus derailing his timeline. Fortunately, he was able to bounce back in short order in 2017 to have a dominant season for the AA Hooks.
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Ferrell started the season in AA but was promoted to AAA about halfway through the season after a dominant start. He wasn’t ever able to capture his command to pair with his powerful pitches while throwing for the Grizzlies but that doesn’t change his outlook.
He has a fastball that resides in the upper 90s to go with a wicked slider that has the potential to make even the most elite hitters look silly. If he could add a halfway decent power curveball to shake stuff up and improve his command, Ferrell has the stuff to be an elite closer. o
That alone is enough to place him on the 40 man roster. When a player’s potential is that high, you do everything you can to keep him. If he’s available in the Rule 5 Draft, he won’t make it far before getting selected and the Houston Astros shouldn’t let that happen.
Next. Three prospects the Astros should give up in a trade. dark
These three guys should get protected from the Rule 5 Draft, the Houston Astros may try to do the same to fellow top 30 prospect Jonathan Arauz but he’s less likely and less important to the organization, especially if they want to leave some spots open for any potential acquisitions.