Fantasy Baseball: Top 5 Houston Astros for 2010

The Astros are the next NL Central team in the Top 5 series. The Astros have some decent hitters for fantasy owners to focus on, even though they are a bad team.

Let's take a look at the Top 5 Houston Astros for 2010:

1. Carlos Lee-in several mock drafts I have participated in recently, he is lasting till the 6th round. He's a steal in the 6th round, as he should give fantasy owners his usual 30-100-.300 season in 2010. Bill James projects Lee to go 29-107-.293-.351-.503 in 2010. I think fantasy owners will take that for a 5th-6th round pick.

2. Lance Berkman-can he rebound from a mediocre, for him, 2009 season? I think he can. Berkman's lackluster 2009 campaign saw him go 25-80-7-.274-.399-.509 when most fantasy owners were looking for him to go 30-100-.300. Bill James sees him returning to the 30-100 crowd with a 31-104-8-.283-.406-.518 projection in 2010. I just worry if age is catching up to him. Was 2009 the start of his falloff?

3. Hunter Pence-Pence had a pretty decent 2009 season going 25-72-14-.282-.346-.472. If he would only learn to hit the ball in the air, Pence could be a regular 30 HR guy, as he hit the ball on the ground around 50% of his at bats in 2009. I am sure fantasy owners would like to see him join the 20-20 club as well.

4. Michael Bourn-if you want some speed, Bourn is your guy. Bourn broke out in 2009 with 61 SBs, 97 runs scored and a .285 BA. For 2010, James projects Bourn to steal 54 bases, score 91 runs and hit .271. I think it is reasonable to expect a slight dropoff in performance after a break out season.

5. Wandy Rodriguez-Wandy-Rod had a terrific 2009 season where he won 14 games with a 3.02 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP, but he benefited from a LOB%, or strand rate, of 79.4%, which is difficult to repeat as the league average is around 70-72%. He struck out 193 batters for a 8.45 K/9 and an excellent K/BB ratio of 3.06. James projects a big drop in ERA to 4.12, along with 11 wins and a WHIP of 1.36 in 2010. Fantasy owners are hoping for a repeat of 2009, and I think he can beat James projection.

Sleeper Alert: Jason Castro-Castro was drafted in the first round of the 2008 draft and may be the Astros starting catching come Opening Day 2010. Castro hit 10 HRs, drove in 73 and hit .300-.380-.446-.826 between High-A and AA last season. He also sported a nice 76/55 K/BB ratio in 2009. The Astros are rushing him to the majors, and fantasy owners hope he doesn't turn into the next JR Towles.