Walker Janek, Houston's first-round pick in 2024, is among the non-roster players invited to the Astros' major league spring training camp.

"Headlined by the same pitcher who actually idolized Verlander, Hunter Brown, the rest of the rotation will be built up of some combination of Cristian Javier, Tatsuya Imai, Lance McCullers Jr., Mike Burrows, and Ryan Weiss," Crespo wrote. "For a team that continues to make moves to try to remain competitive, that rotation is everything but.

Former Houston Astros pitcher Ryan Pressly announced his retirement this week. Pressly played 13 years in the MLB, representing the Minnesota Twins, Astros and Chicago Cubs.

There is no doubt in Christian Roa’s mind. The greatest baseball game ever played was Game 5 of the 2017 World Series. That’s when Alex Bregman ended a 10-inning thriller with a walk-off single to beat the Dodgers,

ESPN has the Astros projected for 86 wins with a 54% chance at the playoffs. That's assuming the rotation performs near its pessimistic projections. If the starters can just be league-average behind Brown, Houston should get back to October comfortably.​

The Astros are set to acquire Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mike Burrows in a three-team trade also involving the Tampa Bay Rays, according to The Athletic’s Chandler Rome and Ken Rosenthal. Houston will send outfield prospect Jacob Melton and right-handed pitching prospect Anderson Brito to Tampa Bay in the deal.

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The Boston Red Sox have signed a free agent right-hander who spent last year in the Houston Astros pitching development system.

The Houston Astros, like the rest of MLB, has set its spring training reporting dates for its pitchers, catchers and position players.