Baseball America's Jim Callis posted his mock draft today, and had this to say about where the Astros may be leaning, one month out from the June draft:
Houston is focusing on Buxton, Zunino and the three best college pitchers (Stanford's Mark Appel, Louisiana State's Kevin Gausman and San Francisco's Kyle Zimmer). Scouting director Bobby Heck has taken an up-the-middle position player with his top pick in each of his four drafts, and he and his staff are believed to favor Buxton, a five-tool center fielder. Rumors persist that the Astros' higher-ups—new owner Jim Crane and new general manager Jeff Luhnow—prefer an arm who could help soon and fit at the front of their rotation.
Still, they project Appel as the 1-1 pick.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
