Baseball America releases 2017 Astros top 10 prospects

Top 10 prospects lists were the only positive news for the Houston Astros for the early part of the decade. But the story has changed a bit as the team has graduated uber-prospect after uber-prospect to the major league.

But the Astros are still stacked in the minors and Baseball America has released their 2017 ranks for the Houston Farm System.

1. Francis Martes, righthander
2. Kyle Tucker, outfielder
3. David Paulino, righthander
4. Franklin Perez, righthander
5. A.J. Reed, first baseman
6. Forrest Whitley, righthander
7. Teoscar Hernandez, outfielder
8. Yulieski Gurriel, third baseman/first baseman
9. Derek Fisher, outfielder
10. Garrett Stubbs, catcher

Of course, the first thing that stands out Yulieski Gurriel, he remains a prospect as his rookie status remains intact for the 2017 season. BA also noted that Albert Abreu was No. 10 on the list before the Astros traded him to New York for Brian McCann.

BA writer perfectly describes the Astros rebuild in his ranking article:

And like the Cubs and the Royals, the Astros are now bearing the fruits from a complete teardown. General manager Jeff Luhnow and his staff took over the same offseason as Epstein took over the Cubs. Houston had further to go because of a thinner farm system and less big league talent. But like Chicago, Houston signaled that the long rebuild had reached a new stage with a playoff appearance in 2015.

But while Chicago took a further step forward in 2016, leaping from wild card team to the best record in baseball, the Astros took a step back. After winning 86 games in 2015, Houston slid back to 84 wins. A full season from shortstop Carlos Correa and an outstanding year by second baseman Jose Altuve was not enough to make up for a nearly complete collapse by Astros outfielders, a revolving door of ineffective first basemen and a rotation that regressed dramatically.

Read the remaining vast portion of the article here.