By: Joshua Reese
Spring Training for the Houston Astros this year, won't be filled with many hotly contested position battles. Most of the jobs going into Spring Training are locked up by either returning starters or big-named veterans brought in by Jeff Luhnow and his staff during the offseason.
While it doesn't look like there is much room for a non-roster invitee to come in a wow A.J. Hinch and win a job, he does know he might need some help down the line.
"I'm looking forward to (Francis) Martes," A.J. Hinch said during the team's annual luncheon. "Just because I know over the course of the entire season and the development track that he's been on there's an opportunity he may help us at some point, similar to how (Lance) McCullers or similar how (Chris) Devenski did last year."
Baseball America rated Francis Martes as the 15th best prospect in all of baseball and the Astros best overall prospect.
At 21 years old Martes has really come on to the seen for the Astros over the past two years and just last year at double-A he posted a 3.30 ERA in 22 starts.
During the offseason, it was rumored that teams were calling and checking in on Martes, including the Chicago White Sox who were willing to trade Jose Quintana for a package that included him but the Astros turned it down.
Martes seems to clearly be a part of the teams future, depending on how impressive he is this Spring, he could be making an impact on the team sooner than expected.
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