A Full Breakdown of the Houston Astros prospects headed to the Arizona Fall League

The Arizona Fall League rosters have been released this week with a lot of intriguing prospects on each team. There are six teams full of prospects from Major League teams that will play starting October 6th. I’ll be writing an article and making Twitter posts about each team’s roster. This will cover the prospects on the Houston Astros who will be on the Scottsdale Scorpions this fall. The team will consist of players from the San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, Washington Nationals, and the Detroit Tigers as well.

Houston Astros:

Anderson Brito RHP: Signed out of Venezuela in 2023 he looked great in 53.2 innings of work between the Dominican Summer League, Complex League, and Low-A with a 1.51 ERA and 38.9% strikeout rate. This season he was again dominating up in High-A in his first 12 starts throwing 49.1 innings to a 3.28 ERA and 2.91 FIP with a 31.1% strikeout rate before being put on the injured list and missing the rest of the season with an unspecified injury. Already at 20 years old he’s grown into his arm and he already sits in the mid 90s and tops out at 99 mph with his fastball. It can get some big misses at the top of the zone. He’s still searching for a great secondary even though he’s been trying a slider, curveball, and splitter. His slider can vary in velocity but has big horizontal movement which makes it hard to tunnel off his fastball that seems to rise. He’s tried a curveball that he’s able to drop in over the top and can land in spots but hasn’t gotten the swing and miss you’d expect off of it. His splitter is not great and still needs some changes as it sits in the upper 80s. With a very repeatable delivery Brito is a tweak away from being a demon in the bullpen at the very worst but could continue to develop as a starter with some more work on his secondaries. 

Brett Gillis RHP: The 9th round pick out of the University of Portland has barely pitched in the Astros system. After the draft he made 2 appearances each in the Complex League and Low-A and was ready to start his first professional season but after 2 clean innings in Low-A during the 2023 season he was put on the injured list. He tried to make a return in May but never made an in-game appearance and was put back on the injured list for the rest of 2023. He again missed all of the 2024 season not pitching a single game. This season he was finally back and in mostly a starting role making 12 appearances through mid June before again being put on the injured list and missing the rest of the season. In those 46.2 innings in High-A Gillis looked great with a 2.70 ERA and 3.50 FIP. He was striking out 26.4% of the batters he faced and his walk rate was down to 7.6%. Even though his ERA didn’t reflect it every season Gillis dominated strikeout wise at the University of Portland striking out 115 in 84.1 innings his last season. He looked like he was getting back to those ways striking out more than a batter an inning on the season. There is no public data of what Gillis is throwing; the High-A video doesn’t show velocity so not sure where he sits with any of his pitches but it seems he has a nasty changeup to go along with a fastball likely in the mid 90s. He is an underrated arm in a system that needs them now.

James Hicks RHP: Being drafted in the 13th round in 2023 Hicks was solid throughout his first professional season pitching as a swingman for Low-A, High-A, and AA for 106 total innings by the end of the year to a 3.82 ERA and 3.91 FIP. This season he pitched 17 bad innings in AA before an injury kept him out from the end of April until early August. He pitched 29.2 innings after coming back to a 4.55 ERA while striking out about a batter an inning. Hicks throws from a low slot which makes his low 90s fastball hard to make solid contact on. His best pitches though are his secondaries starting with a slider that went from a traditional one in college to basically a sweeper so far in the minors. He adds to that a changeup in the mid 80s that has some fade and depth as well as an upper 70s curveball. Hicks has shown some of the best command in the Astros system, only walking 6.3% in 2024 and 6.8% this season. At times he can struggle with his command like a game on August 29th where he walked 5 in 4 innings or he can struggle to get whiffs and strikeouts which can be bad like in a game on August 16th where he only struckout 1 and gave up 9 hits. Hicks still has a lot to work on but could be a great swingman for the Astros in the future. 

Hudson Leach RHP: Signed as a non drafted free agent after the 2023 draft Leach has had two solid full seasons. In 2024 he was promoted twice ending the season in High-A throwing a combined 38.2 innings to a 3.26 ERA and 4.56 FIP. In 2025 he again started in High-A and after throwing 10.2 innings to a 1.69 ERA out of the bullpen he missed about two months with an injury and returned to High-A throwing 9.2 innings to a 6.52 ERA ending his High-A season with a 3.98 ERA but 2.51 FIP. He was promoted to AA and only pitched in 9.2 innings out of the bullpen but showed the same things he did in High-A throwing to a 3.72 ERA. He was finally promoted to AAA throwing 5.2 innings to a 12.71 ERA. Leach is known for his strikeouts and even with the struggles in AAA he still showed that off with a combined 36.6% strikeout rate this season. He struggled with command though walking 14% of batters and not throwing many strikes at times. Leach has big stuff though starting with a fastball in the mid 90s that tops out at 99 mph with great spin and ride but he struggles to throw it for a strike like all his pitches. He also throws a cutter in the high 80s and potentially a sinker in the mid 90s but some of his fastballs might have been categorized wrong. His cutter is really good and he’s able to throw it against both handed hitters. His secondaries are a curveball in the low 80s with some great depth and a low-mid 80s slider with 11” of horizontal break and great spin. Leach could be a problem out of the Astros bullpen as soon as next year if he can knock his walk rate down a bit. 

Nate Wohlgemuth RHP: After starting his career at Arkansas he transferred to Division II Rogers State spending his last two seasons there. After going undrafted he signed with the Evansville Otters in the frontier league throwing 8 innings out of the bullpen before the Astros picked him up this June. After initially starting in the Complex League Wohlgemuth was promoted to High-A. He dominated the Complex throwing 12 innings to a 1.50 ERA while stringing out 40% of batters. In High-A he struggled throwing 11 innings to a 4.91 ERA. He wasn’t able to get the strikeouts he had been getting in the past at a 22.4% rate and his walk rate jumped to 14.2%. His ERA was so high mainly due to a 5 earned run performance on August 8th but in his last 7 innings after that he had a 1.29 ERA while striking out 6 and only walking 2. His fastball sits in the mid 90s that touches the upper 90s and he has three secondaries: a changeup, slider, and curveball at least he did back in college. It’ll be interesting to see what Wohlgemuth has been working on as he could easily be a top reliever prospect for the Astros next year.

Walker Janek C: The Astros’ first round pick in last season's draft Janek has spent his entire career so far in High-A. After 25 really bad games there after the draft he played in 92 games this season and performed way better. Janek hit .263/.333/.433 for a 112 wRC+. He added 12 homers and even though he’s a catcher also stole 30 bases. He has around average to plus raw power due to great bat speed and strong arms. He tends to expand his zone though and chase leading to his 26.6% strikeout rate this season and he doesn’t have the best bat to balls skills just yet with a 70.4% contact rate. Janek is known for his abilities behind the plate though with an insane arm and great pop time that has allowed him to throw out that’s allowed him to throw out almost 45% of runners since starting in High-A after the draft last year. He’s very athletic and has started to become a better framer and blocker. He could become an elite defensive catcher and the Astros are hoping he can continue to hit like he did this season and become an elite catcher. 

Jeron Williams SS: Drafted out of Toledo in the 9th round of the 2024 draft Williams was great to start his first full professional season with 21 games in High-A hitting .310/.366/.552 for a 140 wRC+. He was promoted to AA and struggled though hitting .204/.266/.352 for a 77 wRC+ in 40 games his season was cut short though after a shoulder injury in August. Since he had to get surgery on that his 2025 season was delayed as he was recovering. He spent the first weeks rehabbing in the Complex League and returned to AA in mid June. He struggled again in AA improving slightly by hitting .250/.312/.342 for a 88 wRC+. He had a great month of August though where he hit .314/.398/.429. He hit less homers and stole less bases in only 7 less games than he played in 2024 though. Williams has above average contact skills and will swing a good amount leading to a lower strikeout rate but low walk rate too. He needs to make better swing decisions to grow in the system. Williams also is able to play multiple positions in the infield with games at third and second but mainly played short this season. 

Zach Cole OF: The 10th rounder of the 2022 draft made his MLB debut this season playing 15 games in the last month of the season. Cole is a very toolsy prospect who has shown off his plus raw power and realized some of it this year hitting 19 homers between AA and AAA and 4 in his 15 games in MLB with some high exit velocities. In 97 games this season in the minors he hit .279/.377/.539 for a 151 wRC+. Cole had a great eye for the zone with a 12.5% walk rate but continued his strikeout with a 35.1% rate. He struggles to make contact in the zone mostly and will chase a decent amount 29.2% in the bigs but can crush balls when making contact. He has the speed and length to play center while having the arm to play right. Not sure if Cole will ever be a Major League starter because of his whiff and strikeout rates but has the chance to be a great bench bat and outfielder whenever he’s needed.

Thank you for reading for shorter breakdowns check out my Twitter @drew-durstock. Each day I'll release a new team's prospect breakdown.