<\/p>\n
Houston Astros draft prospect Logan Hughes speaks to the media before an MLB baseball game in Houston, Wednesday, July 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Houston Astros draft prospect Jack Radel, right, visits with manager Joe Espada before an MLB baseball game in Houston, Wednesday, July 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Houston Astros draft prospect Jack Radel speaks to the media before an MLB baseball game in Houston, Wednesday, July 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
The Houston Astros<\/a> signed their top two picks in this year\u2019s draft Wednesday, officially adding outfielder Logan Hughes <\/a>and right-handed pitcher Jack Radel to their system.<\/p>\n Hughes, the No. 17 overall pick out of Texas Tech, and Radel, drafted at No. 28 out of Notre Dame, were at Daikin Park to sign and watched batting practice near the dugout before the Astros\u2019 game against the Marlins, meeting manager Joe Espada and some current players.<\/p>\n Hughes received a $3.41 million signing bonus and Radel signed for a $3 million bonus, according to a person with knowledge of the terms. Slot value was $4,868,600 for the No. 17 pick and $3,363,600 for the No. 28 pick this year.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Signing their top two picks to under-slot bonuses would allow the Astros to allocate more resources to trying to sign their four high school draft picks: infielders Keon Johnson (3rd round), Beau Peterson (4th), Jack Beck (13th) and James Tronstein (15th). Teams have until July 27 to sign their draft picks.<\/p>\n Hughes, a left-handed hitter from Deland, Fla., said the start of his professional career \u201cfeels real\u201d after he signed his paperwork Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt went from a dream to reality,\u201d Hughes said in the Daikin Park dugout. \u201cIt went from something that I hope to accomplish to something that I can accomplish and something I hope to achieve rather quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n On draft day, Astros director of amateur scouting Cam Pendino said Houston viewed Hughes as \u201cone of the best bats in the draft.\u201d In two seasons at Texas Tech, the 21-year-old hit 37 home runs and recorded more walks (76) than strikeouts (57).<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Astros brought Hughes to a pre-draft workout at Daikin Park, where Pendino said he \u201cstood out for the bat and his power.\u201d Still, Hughes said his expectations were \u201call over the place\u201d on draft day, which he spent with his parents, younger brother and fianc\u00e9e.<\/p>\n \u201cI was hoping, I was dreaming of the \u2019Stros,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cAnd just to get that call that they\u2019re picking me, I mean, it was exciting, it was a relief, it was awesome. Everything I dreamed of.\u201d<\/p>\n The Astros plan to send their draft class to their minor-league facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., after the signing deadline to begin their entry into the organization. Hughes, who will play outfield and first base initially, said he hopes \u201cto get assigned somewhere and just rake and keep raking and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Radel, a 6-foot-5 right-hander from Sioux Falls, S.D., played three seasons at Notre Dame, which he said was the lone Division I program to offer him a spot out of high school. His strikeout numbers jumped in his junior year, as he posted a 3.29 ERA with 116 strikeouts and 22 walks in 87 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cGoing there, you know you\u2019re going to get good development, good academics,\u201d Radel said. \u201cAnd then I needed to upgrade my arsenal a little bit, add some stuff to it to get more strikeouts, so they definitely helped out a lot with that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Astros were intrigued by Radel\u2019s fastball, which sat 94-95 mph and reached 98 mph, and think they can help improve his secondary pitches, Pendino said this month. Radel said he met with the Astros at the draft combine in June and talked with their area scout last fall but was unsure where he would land.<\/p>\n \u201cOn draft day, I was pacing back and forth in the bedroom with my family,\u201d Radel said. \u201cGetting the call from my agent that I was going to be drafted by the Houston Astros, knowing they\u2019re a winning culture and what they do here and with development, kind of overran with joy.\u201d<\/p>\n Radel, drafted with the prospect promotion incentive pick Houston received due to Hunter Brown\u2019s top-three AL Cy Young finish last year, offered a name that may intrigue Astros fans when asked if there is a pitcher he emulates.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI like to compare myself to being Nolan Ryan\u00a0\u2014 that\u2019s who I want to be when I grow up, when I get older,\u201d Radel said. \u201cHe\u2019s a workhorse, he\u2019s a bulldog on the mound, and that\u2019s kind of how I like to pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n The Astros had four of the first 93 picks in this year\u2019s draft, a consequential opportunity to add to a farm system widely ranked among baseball\u2019s thinnest by outside evaluations. The 22 players Houston drafted included nine pitchers and 13 position players, two of those catchers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston Astros draft prospect Logan Hughes speaks to the media before an MLB baseball game in Houston, Wednesday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2276],"tags":[5,2291,4,1586],"class_list":["post-758874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-draft","tag-baseball","tag-major-league-baseball-draft","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-draft"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116966306887547231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}