It has been known for some time that the Houston Astros have one of the weakest farm systems in baseball. This despite the fact that they continue to find talent in the minors to make an impact on the big league club year after year.

Once again this year, the Astros are at the bottom of the rankings for farm systems and that is reflected in the lack of prospects on baseball’s top 100 lists for this season. That includes MLB’s Top 100, Baseball America, FanGraphs and Keith Law’s list from The Athletic. For most, the Astros rank second to last or last in farm system rankings.

The rankings for individual teams have not been released yet. That will happen this spring, but players like Brice Matthews, Miguel Ullola and Walter Janek, who will likely be at the top of the Astros list, didn’t make it into baseball’s top 100.

In fact, the Astros are the only team that doesn’t put one player on any list, which is pretty remarkable considering the sheer number of players they have brought up to the majors to play a role for the team including Spencer Arighetti, Cam Smith, Zach Cole, and numerous others over the past five years.

Still, GM Dana Brown was hired, at least in part, for his acumen when it comes to building through the draft. The Astros will draft 17th in the first round of this year’s draft and should pick again around 28th, a compensatory pick they received when Hunter Brown finished in the top three in voting for the AL Cy Young Award. That should help, but they will need to build both via the draft and through trades as the team that won two World Series begins its inevitable path towards rebuilding, though they did move a pair of prospects including Jacob Melton for additional pitching this offseason.

Owner Jim Crane says the Astros will always be in contention as long as he is owner, but that only means they are unlikely to take on another complete franchise overhaul as they did when he bought the team. And with a work stoppage likely after the 2026 season, this may finally be the year we see the Astros become more aggressive in replenishing a farm system decimated by years of pumping up the big league roster (and with good reason).

This article appears in Private: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2026.

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