Unheralded Houston Astros Starter Continues Impressive Arizona Fall League Stint

The Houston Astros hired Dana Brown as their general manager largely to rebuild their depleted farm system that was never revitalized after their golden era of prospects reaching the Majors.

When it was clear the Astros were perennial contenders every year, former front offices threw caution to the wind and sent out several rising stars to add established pieces that could help them win right now.

While that resulted in a modern American League dynasty and two World Series titles, the bill for not having young, MLB-ready prospects looks like it’s about to expire.

Houston can thwart that by continuing to develop their minor leaguers at an elite rate and hope they can surpass the projections originally placed on them, and based on what takes place in the Arizona Fall League this year, it could happen with one of their starting pitchers.

Joe Trezza of MLB.com highlighted the top players from Week 5 in the AFL and he listed Alex Santos II as one who turned heads with three no-hit innings and four strikeouts.

“The 22-year-old righty has been one of the more consistent arms in Arizona this fall, and he once again earned a spot on this list with another breezy outing, logging three perfect innings in his Nov. 5 start against Peoria. Santos has 20 strikeouts across 14 1/3 innings in his five Fall League outings, three of which were starts,” he writes.

That’s huge for the Astros.

Santos isn’t ranked in the top 30 in Houston’s pipeline, and so far he hasn’t shown a whole lot of promise during his minor league career.

The former 72nd overall pick in the 2020 draft has a 6.06 ERA across his 66 outings and 38 starts, struggling to find the strike zone a ridiculous 145 times in 230.1 innings. While his strikeout number stands at 268, his WHIP is 1.64.

Injuries limited him to just six outings last year, so it’s a good sign to see him perform well in the AFL while facing so many talented prospects from other farm systems around the league.

Santos may never be a top-of-the-line starter for the Astros during his career, but if he can build off of this performance he’s putting up, then he could be an option in their rotation or bullpen at some point.