Astros set to pick No. 1 in MLB draft
NEW YORK — The Houston Astros are confident they’ll get an impact player with the top pick in the baseball draft.
But without a clear-cut No. 1 prospect, it’s anyone’s guess as to whose name will be called first Monday night.
“At the end of the day, this draft is filled with a number of players that are going to play in the big leagues for a long time,” Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow said, “and we need to do our best to try to figure out which ones we want to be wearing Astros uniforms.”
The Astros have the No. 1 pick for the first time since taking Phil Nevin in 1992 — one of five teams to pass on a young shortstop named Derek Jeter, selected sixth overall by the New York Yankees.
Nevin played in 18 games for Houston before being traded to Detroit and playing for five other teams during a 12-year major league career. This time, the Astros hope to get a franchise-changing player.
“In an ideal world, you’d have a player pick themselves like that, one that was obviously separated like Alex Rodriguez or Ken Griffey, or more recently with Harper and Strasburg,” said Astros scouting director and assistant general manager Bobby Heck. “But the positive that comes out of it is that we have options, we have choices.”
