Why I'm The High Man On Marek Houston
“We’ve had a lot of good shortstops here, and he’s the best one we’ve had.”
Well, it’s been a while.
The last time I wrote to you in this newsletter I was in the midst of a hectic Prospect Handbook production cycle and looking forward to some downtime and the holidays. Now, more than a month later and in a new year, I’ve booked some early season college baseball travel and am eagerly anticipating some real, live, actual baseball.
Between this newsletter and the last a lot has happened:
We’ve rolled out the annual Top 100 Prospects list at Baseball America.
We lost good friend and co-draft writer Peter Flaherty to the Nationals as an area scout.
We’re in the process of hiring a new writer to fill Peter’s role.
We’ve redesigned and re-sized our magazine and produced an entire college preview issue.
And Andruw Jones was inducted to the Hall of Fame.
Those who have followed my work or online presence for a while know that I have long been a proponent of Andruw Jones being a Hall of Famer, and it’s nice to see him inducted. Congrats to him and Carlos Beltran, both of whom I view as clear and obvious entrants into the Hall.
Today I wanted to write about being the high man in the office on Twins shortstop Marek Houston.
When we begin the Top 100 process, each writer on our staff creates their own personal top 150 ranking. Those rankings are then turned into a composite list, which is then vetted, crosschecked, discussed and sent to the industry to solicit feedback.
Among the nine writers who submitted 150s, just four had Houston listed. Of that group, I was the only writer who viewed Houston as a Top 100 prospect right now. He checked in at No. 88 on my list in between shortstops Johnny Level (No. 87) and Arjun Nimmala (No. 102).
Houston ranked as a top-15 prospect in the 2025 draft class with the following tool grades:
Hit: 55
Power: 40
Run: 55
Field: 65
Arm: 60
After the PHB process his grades were tweaked slightly, but not significantly. We now have him as a 50-grade hitter and 70-grade defender.
If those grades are accurate, it’s hard for me to not see a case for him being a Top 100 prospect in the game. He’s an elite defensive shortstop, and my opinion of his defensive ability has only increased after seeing how he handled the pro game. I would struggle to list many shortstops who are better glovemen, and believe he has the upside to challenge for multiple Gold Glove awards.
No one really doubts Houston’s fielding ability. It’s obvious to whoever watches him field a baseball or talks with any coach or scout who has seen him. Where he becomes polarizing is where it really matters: in the box.
Those most skeptical seem to view him as a modest pure hitter at best with very little power to speak of and little reason to dream of more coming. I think he has the contact skills to be an above-average pure hitter, and I’m also encouraged with the strength gains he showed as a junior and the year-over-year improvement he managed offensively throughout college.
His pro debut was solid. He crushed Low-A in 12 games (.370/.424/.444) before slowing down after a promotion to High-A in 12 more games (.152/.220/.239). His contact skills and swing decisions were rock solid, which I would have expected, and his exit velocity data was more underwhelming—though his max EVs and aforementioned strength gains still give me some confidence in this area.
At the end of the day, Houston is just one of those players who does everything with such ease and has an ability to slow the game down in a way that I find both rare and telling.
I’m happy to bet on that profile now and be proven wrong later if the bat just doesn’t provide as much as I think it can.
Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.
Writing
Scouting Drew Burress: A Tooled-Up College Bat Challenging First-Round Norms
Redrafting The 2021 MLB Draft: Jackson Merrill, James Wood Top The Class
Redrafting The 2011 MLB Draft: Fifth-Round Find Mookie Betts Goes First Overall
Plotting Power, Contact & Chase Rates For Top 2026 College Hitters
Baseball Scouts Voice Concerns With MLB’s New Data & Technology Regulations For Amateur Players
Podcasting/Video
Future Projection Episode 150: Where Would Roch Cholowsky Rank On The Top 100?
Future Projection Episode 151: AL West Farm Systems
Future Projection Episode 152: Who Are Breakout DSL Candidates?
Future Projection Episode 153: How MLB Teams Develop Pitching With Paul Davis
Future Projection Episode 154: Why The 2026 Prep Pitching Class Is Incredibly Strong
Future Projection Episode 155: Mailbag—How Do Prep Players Change Their Stock In The Spring?
Future Projection Episode 156: Breaking Down All 30 MLB International Signing Classes
Draft Podcast: Excitement For The 2026 Class & A Farewell To Peter
College Podcast: New NCAA Postseason Umpire Selection Process, Roch Talk
Draft Podcast: Drafting The Best College Tools In The Class