Rising Houston Astros Pitching Prospect Having ‘Effectively Wild’ Season

The Houston Astros have a pitcher in Miguel Ullola who continues to rise up prospect rankings.

The latest is Baseball America, which updated its Top 30 prospects list for each team recently. Ullola was listed among the risers, and all three were pitchers, along with Colton Gordon and Jose Fleury.

Gordon started for the Astros on Friday, the result of a number of injuries they’re dealing with in the starting rotation. Fleury is at Double-A Corpus Christi, but is on the injured list.

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Ullola is at Triple-A Sugar Land where he’s put together a fine season for the Space Cowboys. But, in the publication’s scouting report on Ullola, it had a creative way of describing his season.

Houston Astros Prospect Miguel Ullola’s 2025 Season So Far

After 10 starts this season he is 3-2 with a 3.08 ERA. That builds on the campaign he had in 2024, during which he went 5-9 with a 4.28 ERA in combined time with Corpus Christi and Sugar Land. He’s on pace to have the best ERA and the best win total of his five-year professional career.

Through 38 innings he has 52 strikeouts and 24 walks. It’s the walk total that led the scouts at Baseball America to describe Ullola’s season as “effectively wild.”

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In other words, somehow he makes it work. He made it work well enough for the publication to move him up to No. 3 in its Top 30 prospect rankings, behind only outfielder Jacob Melton and shortstop Brice Matthews. Melton made his MLB debut earlier this week and Matthews is a teammate at Sugar Land.

“Despite high walk rates, he has successfully navigated the difficult Pacific Coast League,” their scouts wrote.

Baseball America praised the high ride on Ullola’s four-seam fastball and his ability to use his cut-slider effectively, which can drop into the low 80s. The publication believes he can be a starter or a reliever down the line. But, Houston may have more need for a starter.

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Just in the past two weeks, Houston lost Hayden Wesneski and Ronel Blanco to Tommy John surgery. Another starter, Spencer Arrighetti, is building up again after breaking his thumb in April and there is no official timeline for his return.

Ullola, a 22-year-old from the Dominican Republic, has developed slowly since he signed with the Astros as an international free agent in 2021. For his pro career he is 14-23 with a 4.33 ERA in 95 games (63 starts). He has 497 strikeouts and 240 walks in 355.1 innings. Notably, batters have hit just .187 against him for his entire career.  

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