No event signaled the start of the Crane/Luhnow era (with all apologies to the Bo Porter announcement) as much as the 2012 draft. With the team already in sell-mode by 2010, the Astros’ farm system was not so bad when Luhnow took over. Especially the Pence trade, which netted Cosart, Singleton, and Domingo Santana, rejuvinated the system. Still, the team was coming off its first 100 loss season after 2011, and there were few young, MLB-ready, controllable pieces who looked like they would be part of a winning core three years down the road.
Bobby Heck liked to exaggerate the contrast between college (safe, high ceiling) and high school (risky, high ceiling) players.