HOUSTON -- The Astros were trailblazers in signing players out of Venezuela in the 1990s, a group that included Johan Santana, Bobby Abreu, Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen, Melvin Mora and Richard Hidalgo, though most of those players wound up flourishing with other clubs. The best international signing in club history

Right now, all baseball fans can do is look ahead to the future. We decided to take that to the extreme by looking two years down the road at which prospects we expect to be big names in 2022. The fact that 14 of the Top 20 players on MLB

Reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander looked just fine in his spring debut for the Astros, but don’t sleep on the performance by two other prospects looking to crack Houston‘s 2020 rotation. Jose Urquidy has his sights set on the Astros’ No. 4 spot behind Verlander, Zack

The Astros farm system has played a large role in the club's recent success, which includes a World Series championship, two pennants and an MLB-best 311 victories during the last three seasons. While the big league club remains strong, the organization needs to replenish its Minor League talent.

Jeremy Pena was the Astros’ third-round pick in the 2018 Draft out of the University of Maine. The son of former big leaguer Geronimo Pena, he hit .303/.385/.440 across two levels of A-ball during his first full season, then went to the Arizona Fall League. He was invited to big

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- For a number of years, the Astros boasted one of the best farm systems in baseball. Since 2015, MLB Pipeline has put out Top 10 organization rankings, both preseason and midseason (it was Top 15 for the 2019 midseason ranking), and the Astros landed on

Feel to spin. Deception. Missing bats. Generating weak contact. These are all terms used in describing pitchers’ secondary stuff. Whether it’s a curveball, slider, changeup or occasionally something like a splitter or cutter, these are the offerings a pitcher often uses to put away hitters. And a lot of pitching

The 2019 Major League season will be remembered as the Year of the Home Run after players across baseball combined to hit a record 6,776 homers -- up from 5,585 in 2018 -- and 14 different teams set a new franchise record. National League Rookie of the Year Pete Alonso

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Right-hander Cristian Javier, last year’s Astros Minor League Pitcher of the Year, will start the team’s Grapefruit League opener on Saturday night against the Nationals at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, manager Dusty Baker said Thursday. The Nationals will start Max Scherzer in a

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s not often you see players report to Spring Training enthusiastic about gaining 40 pounds from where they were a couple of years earlier. Tired of running out of gas midseason, Astros pitching prospect Forrest Whitley came to camp packing 230 pounds on his 6-foot-7

Perhaps nothing gets a ballpark buzzing more than a long home run or a sizzling fastball. Scoreboards display velocity so fans can marvel at how hard flamethrowers deliver their heat. The current king of big league fastballers is Jordan Hicks, who threw the 23 fastest pitches in MLB last year

The Astros might have discovered their next Cuban star. The club is the front-runner to sign Cuban outfielder Pedro Manuel Leon, 21, to a deal that is expected to be in the $4 million range, according to industry sources. Leon, who defected from Cuba in 2019, was declared a free

Major League Baseball doled out the penalties for the Houston Astros on Monday as a result of the team’s illegal sign-stealing. Some of them will be felt immediately, like the suspension of manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow, which led to their dismissal by the organization. But the

The Astros have gone all-in to win during the last three seasons, and it's impossible to argue with the results. They won their first World Series championship, two pennants and an MLB-best 311 games, becoming the sixth team to post 100 or more victories in three consecutive years. Houston's farm

HOUSTON -- The Astros added four players to their 40-man roster on Wednesday, several hours ahead of the 7 p.m. CT deadline to protect players from exposure to the Rule 5 Draft. Right-handed pitchers Cristian Javier, Enoli Paredes and Nivaldo Rodriguez as well as infielder Taylor Jones join the roster,

Seven Astros prospects are playing for the Peoria Javelinas in the 2019 Arizona Fall League: Right-hander Forrest Whitley (No. 1, MLB No. 16), shortstop Jeremy Pena (No. 8), first baseman J.J. Matijevic (No. 17), right-hander Cody Deason, right-hander Carlos Sanabria, catcher Colton Shaver and right-hander Jojanse Torres.

Forrest Whitley began 2018 as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball and figured to end his season by helping the Astros try to win another World Series. Instead, he wound up in the Arizona Fall League. Similarly, Whitley started 2019 as one of the best pitching prospects in

MESA, Ariz. -- Pete Alonso played here last year. So did Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Two years ago, Ronald Acuña Jr. tore up the Arizona Fall League. There have been close to 3,000 former AFL players make it to the Major Leagues, a list that includes 296 All-Stars, 19 Most Valuable

MESA, Ariz. -- If Astros prospect J.J. Matijevic looks comfortable playing under the bright lights and hot sun in Arizona, it’s because he is. The former University of Arizona star is off to a strong start in Arizona Fall League play and on Friday, his hot bat led to a

HOUSTON -- Neither infielder Abraham Toro nor right-handed pitcher Cristian Javier were considered to be among the elite Astros prospects to begin the season, but their 2019 performances -- coupled with injuries at the big league level and other prospects being dealt away in trades -- opened the door for

HOUSTON -- Has rookie right-hander Jose Urquidy put himself on the map for a possible spot in the Astros' postseason bullpen? Considering the struggles of some of Houston's other relief pitchers, Urquidy's crisp outing Wednesday might force him into the conversation. Urquidy, pitching for the first time since throwing four

TORONTO -- The calendar has flipped to September, which means rosters around the Majors are expanding beyond the 25-player limit. Astros manager AJ Hinch said the team’s September call-ups will come in waves -- but the first wave hasn’t hit just yet. “We’ll have a couple guys tomorrow [in Milwaukee],

HOUSTON -- Astros rookie infielder Abraham Toro will return home to Canada with a souvenir. Toro, who was called up from Triple-A Round Rock a week ago, slugged his first career homer in the ninth inning of the Astros’ 9-8 loss to the Rays on Thursday afternoon at Minute Maid

HOUSTON – This weekend’s series against the Blue Jays will be a homecoming of sorts for Astros rookie infielder Abraham Toro, who was born in a suburb of Montreal. His parents moved to Canada from Venezuela shortly before he was born. He can speak French, Spanish and English. Toro, who

HOUSTON -- Speaking to the media for the first time since he left the Astros’ game Monday with a stiff lower back, shortstop Carlos Correa said Thursday he believes he’ll be back on the field within the next couple of weeks and be a driving force in Houston’s quest for