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The face of the Houston Astros has changed in just one season from cellar dwellers with a bright future to American League West power house. The reason for that change has been prospects, so it was no surprise when Astros littered the top ten prospect list over the past few seasons. It is still a pleasant surprise that Astros done topping prospect lists as is the case with A.J. Reed and MLBPipeline.com's top 10 first base prospects.
Reed has been ranked by Jim Callis and his staff as the number one first baseman prospect in baseball.
Here are #MLB's Top 10 1B Prospects, led by @Astros' Reed, @Pirates' Bell & @Mets' Smith: https://t.co/AYBLWmaG6P pic.twitter.com/tpK6y0IJfA
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) January 22, 2016
Reed finished ahead of Josh Bell (Pirates), Dominic Smith (Mets), Bobby Bradley (Indians), Matt Olson (Athletics), Cody Bellinger (Dodgers), Jake Bauers (Rays), Josh Naylor (Marlins), Casey Gillaspie (Rays), and Sam Travis (Red Sox).
Reed led the minors in runs (113), home runs (34), RBIs (127), total bases (320), slugging (.612) and OPS (1.044) on the way to winning the Class A Advanced California League Most Valuable Player award.
Reed split last season between Class A Advanced Lancaster and Double Corpus Christi, posting a combined .340 (178x523) batting average with 30 doubles, five triples, 34 homers, 127 RBI and a 1.044 OPS (.432 OBP/.612 SLG).
He was named Baseball America 2015 Minor League Player of the Year, becoming the first player in Astros history to win the award. He was also named MiLB.com Offensive Player of the Year, ESPN.com’s Prospect of the Year and a Baseball America Minor League All-Star in addition to being a finalist for the USA Today 2015 Minor League Player of the Year award.