These Houston Astros Could Win Rookie of the Year

The Houston Astros have three players contending for Rookie of the Year after their strong showings this season.

The Houston Astros' pipeline might not be ranked highly by MLB.com, but when their prospects get called up, they are good players more often than not at the major league level.

They've had seven top-five finishers in the Rookie of the Year voting in the last eight years. That includes two winners during this time period in Carlos Correa and Yordan Alvarez.

The Astros' current rookies will try to keep this streak alive in 2023 with their continued strong performances.

There are three players who have put themselves in the Rookie of the Year conversation. Hunter Brown, J.P. France and Yainer Diaz have impressed this season with Brown and Diaz both making the opening day roster.

Brian McTaggart of MLB.com laid out his case for each of the Houston rookies.

France probably has the best chance to win out of the Astros' rookies. He has a WAR of 2.4 according to Baseball Reference compared to the favorite Gunnar Henderson's 3.5.

"France entered Tuesday tied with Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee for the most rookie wins in the AL with nine, to go along with a 2.74 ERA in 103 innings. He’s 7-0 with a 1.85 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in his last eight games (seven starts) and is currently the Astros’ most consistent starter." - McTaggart

Diaz probably is second on the list of most likely for Houston despite not playing much early in the season. Position players normally get the edge over pitchers when it comes to this market and his hot form of play could trigger some recency bias for the voters.

"Entering Tuesday, he led AL rookies in slugging percentage (.512), was fifth in batting average (.274), home runs and OPS (.804) and sixth in extra-base hits (30). He also has thrown out 11 runners attempting to steal, which ranked tied for seventh in the AL." - McTaggart

There was major excitement surrounding former no. 1 prospect Brown entering this season. He was getting a lot of looks to win Rookie of the Year before the year started. His 1.4 bWAR probably isn't good enough to win it as a pitcher, but with quality starts down the stretch he could contend.

"He’s had a solid, though up-and-down, rookie year. He led AL rookie pitchers in innings (123 1/3) and strikeouts (137) entering Tuesday, with a 4.23 ERA." - McTaggart

The chance to win Rookie of the Year comes down to if Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles begins to struggle. He would have one of the lowest batting averages to ever win the award, which keeps the door open for now.

If Diaz continues to hit a hot bat down the stretch, he could be a major contender to win this award.