It was business as usual for the Astros in 2023. They won their sixth American League West title in the last seven seasons and reached the Championship Series for the seventh consecutive year, a record for an AL club. Their farm system once again languished near the bottom of every media ranking yet continued to churn out talent and produced a player who received a Rookie of the Year vote for the fifth straight round of balloting, this time Yainer Diaz.

Hunter Brown, J.P. France and Corey Julks also contributed as rookies last year, and Houston parlayed Top 100 Prospects Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford into a midseason trade for Justin Verlander. The Astros open 2024 without anyone on our latest Top 100 list -- outfielder Jacob Melton didn't miss by much -- but have prospects such as right-hander Spencer Arrighetti and outfielder Joey Loperfido ready to help as needed this season.

• MLB Pipeline | Top 100 prospects | Prospect video

The Astros haven't picked higher than 28th in the last six Drafts and lost their top two choices in both 2021 and '22 as part of the penalties for their sign-stealing scandal, yet they keep developing mostly unheralded players who help them perpetuate their winning ways. They do an excellent job of finding guys with traits they covet (such as high exit velocities for hitters, low release heights and extension for pitchers) and helping them maximize their ability.

Here's a look at the Astros' top prospects:

1. Jacob Melton, OF
2. Luis Baez, OF
3. Spencer Arrighetti, RHP
4. Brice Matthews, SS
5. Zach Dezenzo, 3B/2B
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Biggest jump/fall

Here are the players whose ranks changed the most from the 2023 preseason list to the 2024 preseason list.

Jump: Zach Dezenzo, 3B/2B (2023: NR | 2024: 5) -- The 12th-round pick in 2022 produces some of the highest exit velocities in the Minors and slashed .304/.383/.531 in his first full pro season.

Fall: Justin Dirden, OF (2023: 9 | 2024: NR) -- His strikeout rate jumped from 24 percent in 2022 to 30 percent last year, and he slumped terribly after a midseason hamstring injury.

Top 30s
NLE: ATL | MIA | NYM | PHI | WSH
ALE: BAL | BOS | NYY | TB | TOR
NLC: CIN | CHC | MIL | PIT | STL
ALC: CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN
NLW: AZ | COL | LAD | SD | SF
ALW: HOU | LAA | OAK | SEA | TEX

Best tools

Players are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale for future tools -- 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average. Players in parentheses have the same grade.

Hit: 55 -- Will Wagner (Esmil Valencia)
Power: 60 -- Luis Baez
Run: 65 -- Jacob Melton (Zach Cole, Pedro Le¨®n)
Arm: 70 -- Pedro Le¨®n (Zach Cole)
Defense: 65 -- Kenedy Corona
Fastball: 70 -- Miguel Ullola
Curveball: 55 -- Spencer Arrighetti (Jake Bloss)
Slider: 60 -- Spencer Arrighetti
Changeup: 65 -- Jose Fleury
Control: 55 -- Rhett Kouba (Trey Dombroski)

How they were built
Draft: 18 | International: 11 | Trade: 1

Breakdown by ETA
2024: 8 | 2025: 8 | 2026: 8 | 2027: 3 | 2028: 2 | 2029: 1

Breakdown by position
C: 1 | 3B: 3 | SS: 3 | OF: 10 | RHP: 11 | LHP: 2