With the first overall pick in the fantasy draft the Houston Astros select...Mike Stanton. Entering his third season the Miami slugger will only be 22. There are lots of options here. Houston needs offense so they could have taken the best hitter in the game, Albert Pujols, but that isn't really a fit for them. Pujols is on the wrong side of 30 and the Astros are a long way away from contention. They finished with a league worst record 56-106. With no immediate help from the farm and having traded star outfielder Hunter Pence, 2012 could possibly be worse. Who knows how many games they will lose? It will not be pretty. Therefore drafting even young stars like Evan Longoria and Troy Tulowitzki does not make sense. They will probably be in their 30's by this team even has a remote shot at being relative. The Astros need someone who will still be young by the time young prospects Jordan Lyles, George Springer, and Jonathan Singleton will have developed into quality major-leaguers.
In the early 2000's the Killer B's (Beltran, Bagwell, Biggio, and Berkman) made Houston's lineup into one of the most feared in baseball. Now Houston lacks a single masher on their lineup. Carlos Lee put up respectable numbers as he hit .275 with 18 home runs, but the rest of the lineup was dismal. Even as a 21 year old, Stanton would have been significantly better than anyone in Houston lineup. The young slugger hit 34 home runs, good for fourth best in the National League. Stanton has already hit 56 home runs in his first two seasons, but that is not anywhere near his ceiling. Scouts consider Stanton's raw power far and away better then body in major league baseball. With a couple seasons under his belt he should become one of baseball's premiere sluggers. I would be surprised if he did not hit 50 home runs at least once in his career. His raw power is that good. He should regularly contend for home run crowns.
