The Astros started off the second day of the 2011 MLB Draft by going heavy on pitching. They selected four straight arms from the second round on, finally breaking that up in the sixth round. Here's what we have on their first four picks of the day:
2-69: Oklahoma HS RHP Adrian Houser, an Oklahoma University commit.
MLB Bonus Baby says he's got a solid curveball and No. 3 starter upside. David Coleman put up a very long profile of him already at The Crawfish Boxes. There's also plenty of video of him available at that last link. The short of it is that Houser is a projectable high school arm with a good body and fairly clean mechanics.
3-99: Vanderbilt RHP Jack Armstrong
We already did a post on his backflips and relative lack of control. His dad, Jack Sr., was a MLB pitcher for seven years. He brings the heat, and has been clocked as high as 99 miles an hour. It comes down to harnessing the stuff and staying healthy, which he didn't really do with the Commodores last season. If he can't get better command of his stuff, he'll wash out quickly. If he can, then watch out. Keith Law adds that he has a plus curveball.
4-130: Santa Fe CC LHP Christopher Lee
Unfortunately, there's not much out there on this guy. I'm guessing he fits the typical Astros mold of velocity and build, because his statistics at Santa Fe were good but not mindblowing in the slightest.
5-160: Stony Brook RHP Nick Tropeano
Tropeano dominated in Stony Brook, posting a 1.84 ERA in 93 innings, while striking out 119. Unfortunately, it's not exactly a power conference. Law mentioned that he had a below average fastball in his chat today.
Other players picked by the Astros so far:
6-190: San Diego St. LF Jamon Meredith
7-220: Florida HS CF Javaris Reynolds
8-250: North Carolina HS RHP Brandon Culbreth
9-280: Creighton RHP Jonas Dufek
10-310: Kent State LHP Kyle Hallok
11-340: Minnesota OF Justin Gominsky
12-370: Mississippi C Miles Hamblin
13-400: Clemson 2B John Hinson
14-430: Texas (Lufkin) HS RHP Horace Stubblefield
15-460: Oklahoma St. 1B Zach Johnson
16-490: Scottsdale CC LHP Scott Zuloaga
17-520: Fresno City College RHP Tyson Perez
18-550: California RHP Kevin Miller
19-580: Arizona St. LHB Mitchell Lampson
20-610: Tennessee 3B Matt Duffy
21-640: Jacksonville SS Jimmy Howick
22-670: Cal-State Northridge CF Drew Muren
23-700: Oklahoma 2B Ruben Sosa
24-730: North Carolina 1B Jesse Wierzbicki
25-760: California HS OF Billy Flamion
26-790: Washington HS RHP Jared Fisher
27-820: Sonoma St. SS Alex Todd
28-850: Oklahoma LHP Jordan John
29-880: California HS OF Wallace Gonzalez
30-910: Penn State 3B Jordan Steranaka
For more detailed up-to-the-minute posts on most of these guys, I'd suggest checking out Astros County, which is doing yeoman's work on the draft today.