The Houston Astros have made it clear they want to extend second baseman Jose Altuve and make him an Astro for his entire career.
Baseball America took that to heart as it created its projected Astros lineup for 2027.
The publication released its Top 10 prospects for 2024, and as part of it the site also released what it believes could be the Astros’ batting order, pitching rotation and closer for 2027.
Good news — Altuve, who will be in his age 37 season by then, was on the list.
Altuve is coming off another impressive season, in spite of missing nearly the first two months with an injury he suffered in the World Baseball Classic. Along the way, he became the third Astros player to notch 2,000 hits for his career and hit for the cycle against the Boston Red Sox.
There are some familiar names in the batting order.
Catcher Yainer Diaz and shortstop Jeremy Peña, who will still be under 30 in 2027, made the team. Both will be in their arbitration years by then, but still under team control.
The same can’t be said for outfielder Kyle Tucker. He is under team control for now and eligible for arbitration. But the publication believes that the Astros and Tucker will get a deal done to keep him in Houston.
Designated hitter Yordan Alvarez already has a deal that carries him through 2028.
The rest of the projected lineup is made up of prospects that are in the Astros’ system but haven’t filtered up to Houston.
Zach Dezenzo is projected as the first baseman. What’s notable here is that Jose Abreu’s three-year deal expires after 2025. Dezenzo is the Astros’ No. 5 prospect.
Brice Matthews, who was drafted in the first round in 2023, is the projected third baseman. That would mean that fan favorite Alex Bregman, who is a free agent after this season, would no longer be in Houston. Matthews is the Astros’ No. 4 prospect.
Luis Baez and Jacob Melton would join Tucker in the outfield. Melton and Baez are the Top 2 prospects in the Astros’ organization.
The projected starting rotation only includes two familiar starters — Cristian Javier and Hunter Brown. In this scenario, Framber Valdez — who has two more years of team control — along with Luis Garcia, Lance McCullers Jr. and Justin Verlander would no longer be in Houston.
Replacing them would be three starters in the Astros’ minor league system right now — Spencer Arrighetti, Alonzo Tredwell and Andrew Taylor.
The closer, in this projection, would be current set-up man Bryan Abreu.
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