Baseball America was nice enough to publish a list of the youngest players in each league, including the majors on down through the Gulf Coast League and the Venezuelan Summer League. For all the flak Houston has caught in the past for moving prospects along slowly, they're sure represented well on this list.
↵For instance, Jordan Lyles is the youngest player in the major leagues right now. He's a full seven months younger than the second-yougest, Chicago Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro. Any time you think about Lyles lack of dominance, remember that fact. He's doing this at a younger age than almost anyone right now. That will matter in a year or two.
↵Moving on, there are two Astro prospects on the Texas League list, as Jonathan Villar is the second-youngest player. He's just three months older than the youngest, Angels uber-prospect Mike Trout, who might be the best prospect in the minor leagues (with apologies to Bryce Harper).
↵Also making an appearance on that list is fan favorite, diminutive second baseman Jose Altuve, who is the 10th-youngest player in the Texas League. That speaks highly of his .362/.388/.574 line in 31 games now at Corpus Christi. Altuve doesn't have enough games to qualify for the league leaderboard, but if he did, he'd easily be in line for the batting title. As it is, teammate J.D. Martinez is bidding for his third straight league batting title.
↵Also making appearances on the list are Delino DeShields, Jr. (4th in the South Atlantic League), Ydarqui Marte (4th in the New York-Penn League, though he's likely just there as a roster move since he's on the DL), Ariel Ovando (youngest in the Appalachian League), Juan Santana (7th in Dominican Summer League) and Michael Feliz (7th in Gulf Coast League).
↵