The 4 Biggest Busts in Astros History

Not every high-draft pick lives up to the hype

The MLB Draft is probably one of, if not the biggest, crapshoots in sports. Throughout the years, the Astros have had many amazing late-round picks that made their GMs seem like borderline geniuses.

This article unfortunately is not about those picks. This article will be about the four biggest busts in Astros history, and an attempt to explain why they went wrong.

This is not an ordered list by ranking, but rather a chronological order.

A few rules: if the player did not sign with the Astros out of the draft, that does not count. I want these busts to be players who played for the Astros (or more like the Astros minor leagues) and just did not perform.

Also, there must be a few talented players in the same round because you can’t really wonder what could have been if there isn’t any decent talent within range of the player.

Without further ado, let’s get into it. 

Alex Barrett

The first-ever draft pick in Astros history was not a good one. With the 4th overall pick in the 1965 draft, the Astros chose shortstop Alex Barrett out of Atwater High School in Atwater, California.

Barrett, to put it lightly, was not good in the minor leagues for the Astros. In his first minor league season, he spent time between the Florida Rookie League and Single-A. He hit a paltry .175 in 69 games in 1965. His overall OPS was .532 and he failed to hit a single home run that season. Probably one of the most disappointing minor league seasons ever.

Barrett spent the entirety of 1966 in Single-A, where he wouldn’t improve, batting .178 with a .272 On Base Percentage and .231 Slugging Percentage in 86 games. His OPS was a mere .503. He was able to hit two home runs that season though.

He’d spend 1967 in Single-A as well and he’d improve to a still poor .223 batting average with a .683 OPS.

Barrett would climb up the minor league levels in 1968 batting .260 in 15 games in Single-A, and despite hitting only .222 with a sub .600 OPS in Double-A, the Astros still promoted him to Triple-A.

He spent 78 games there in 1968 where he hit .205 with a .634 OPS. He began 1969 in Triple-A, but a .207 batting average and .548 OPS got him sent back down to Double-A where he was a decent .252 batter.

Barrett’s final season with the Astros organization is Triple-A, Double-A, and Single-A. In 43 games split between those three leagues, he continued to struggle at the plate, hitting .192.

Barrett went on to spend time in the Twins and White Sox organization in 1971, but he was not good enough to make the majors and his pro baseball career would end before his 25th birthday.

According to BR Bullpen, he served in the Vietnam War at some point. He’s still alive today and is 77 years old.

The Astros first-ever draft pick was a terrible miss. The best players drafted after him in the same round were All-Stars Ray Fosse and Jim Spencer, along with Bernie Carbo who had an 18.5 WAR in his career, and Billy Conigliaro. 

Martin Cott

A few years after Alex Barrett, Martin Cott looked to set the new, early record for the biggest Astros bust.

The catcher out of Hutchinson Central Tech High School in Buffalo, New York only played three minor league seasons.

Cott played 45 games in three minor leagues in 1968. He played 22 games in Rookie Ball and hit .265. After getting promoted to Single-A, he’d hit .212. He saw the field in two games in Triple-A where he went 0/4.

He spent all of 1969 in Low A where he hit a below-average .237 with a .662 OPS. Lastly, in 1970 he split time between Low A and Single A. He’d hit a decent .259 with a .782 OPS in Low A. This got him promoted to High A, where he hit a poor .143 batting average with a low .451 OPS.

Cott’s major league career ended soon after. 

The talent behind Cott was notable. Two very good players, Gary Matthews and Greg Luzinski were chosen after him.

However, the most notable player chosen was one pick after Cott and it was Thurman Munson, a future MVP whose career was tragically cut too short.

Safe to say the Astros made a big mistake with this pick, as they both played the same position at catcher. 

Willie Ansley

Willie Ansley was the 7th overall pick for the Astros in 1988 from Plainview High School in Plainview, Texas.

Six players drafted after him were All-Stars: Robin Ventura, Tino Martinez, Royce Clayton, Charles Nagy, Ed Sprague, and Brian Jordan.

You’ve probably never heard of Ansley before which shows you how good he was. Ansley turned down a football scholarship to Oklahoma to sign with the Astros. He should’ve taken that scholarship as he’d never make majors.

Ansley wasn’t terrible like Alex Barrett was. Splitting time between Double-A and Single-A in 1989, he hit a neat .295 with a .807 OPS.

In 1990 he played 120 games in Double A, hitting .255 with a .718 OPS. His production would wane in the coming years, hitting .208 in Double-A and High-A in 1991. Despite hitting a decent .271 in 1992, and .262 in 1993, the Astros would release him and after a few years in Independent Ball, his major league dreams would come to an end. 

Ansley began working at a Pharmacy in 2006, and also became a hitting instructor. "When you don't make it, it makes you more passionate about getting other kids to places you didn't get to, and helping them fulfill that lifelong dream," Ansley told The Avalanche-Journal. "I love working with kids." 

Source: http://www.greatest21days.com/2011/05/willie-ansley-more-passionate-810.html?m=1

Mark Appel

Easily the most famous bust in Astros History and probably MLB History, the Astros chose Mark Appel No. 1 over future All-Stars such as Kris Bryant, Jon Gray, Austin Meadows, Tim Anderson, Aaron Judge, and Michael Lorenzen. I will give the Astros some slack for not thinking of Judge #1 overall. You’d take him in a redraft but he wasn’t seen as a can’t-miss prospect by any means.

Also, the idea of Judge in an Astros uniform is nauseating. 

Anyways, Appel was decent in 10 starts in 2010. He went 3-1 with a 3.79 ERA. striking out 33 batters and walking nine through 38 innings. In 2014, Appel got lit up in High-A Ball. He went 2-5 with a 9.74 ERA. Despite these poor stats, he was actually promoted to Double-A Corpus Christi.

The Astros plan had been to promote him no matter how he pitched in High-A and cited Lancaster being a “pitcher’s hell,” as to why he performed so badly. He did admittedly perform better in Double-A, going 1-2 with a 3.69 ERA. 

Appel’s final season in the Astros organization was in 2015. He went 5-1 with a 4.26 ERA in 13 starts and later got promoted to Triple A. There, Appel’s stats were similar in Fresno than in Corpus Christi. He went 5-2 with a 4.48 ERA in 12 starts. 

Appel later got traded to the Phillies (along with Thomas Eshelman and Harold Arauz for Ken “100 Miles” Giles).

So while Appel never pitched for the Astros, they did end up getting Giles who was a big piece for that 2017 World Series-winning team.

Mark’s struggles continued in Philadelphia. He would end up stepping away from baseball for a few years but was able to make a minor league comeback in 2021.

This story also has a happy ending for Appel as after many years in the minors, and many years of trials and tribulations, Appel’s Major League dream was finally realized in 2022 for the Phillies. He pitched six games to the tune of a 1.74 ERA.

Although he never became an All-Star pitcher, and his career only lasted a month, Mark Appel achieved one of the greatest comebacks in Major League History, and no one will ever be able to take that away from him. 

Conclusion

So those are in my opinion, the four biggest busts in Astros history.  Also honorable mention to Brady Aiken. He was #1 overall in 2014 and was a pretty bad minor leaguer, but I couldn’t count him since he never actually signed with the Astros. He’d end up being drafted and signed by Cleveland the following season. 

What do you think about these players? Was there a bust that I missed? Let us know in the comments below or tweet your answers to us at Astronomic1 on Twitter.