Houston Astros top prospects: Hunter Brown leads list of minor leaguers ready to keep the Astros baseball's most dangerous team

The Houston Astros are baseball's most dangerous team. They have a deep and loaded offense but their true strength is in pitching. They boast arguably the deepest rotation in the MLB and that's after losing Justin Verlander.

Their bullpen is also very deep, which is why they've become the most feared team over the last six years. What helps them even more is that they have a great mix of veterans and young players. Young stars Jeremy Pena (who won the World Series MVP) and Yordan Alvarez (who was an AL MVP candidate) helped the team immensely.

Veterans like Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve are still amongst the tops at their positions. What should truly frighten the baseball world is that the Astros have the prospects to keep their team deadly for years and years to come.

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Houston Astros prospects should make the baseball world frightened

Here's Keith Law's ranking of the Astros' farm system, per Sports Illustrated:

1. Hunter Brown, RHP
2. Yainer Diaz, C/1B
3. Drew Gilbert, OF
4. Colin Barber, OF
5. Jacob Melton, OF
6. Korey Lee, C
7. Forest Whitley, RHP
8. Pedro Leon, 2B/OF
9. Justin Dirden, OF
10. Logan Cerny, OF
11. Will Wagner, OF
12. Miguel Ullola, RHP
13. Joe Perez, 3B/1B
14. Luis Santana, IF
15. Spencer Arrighetti, RHP
16. Zach Daniels, OF
17. Ryan Clifford, OF
18. Misael Tamarez, RHP
19. Trey Dombrowski, LHP
20. Luis Baez, SS

Hunter Brown is almost assured of joining the rotation this season after Verlander fled to the New York Mets.

Brown is easily their top prospect and their most MLB-ready player, but it wouldn't be a surprise if Yainer Diaz joins the ranks soon, either.

Could Yainer Diaz join the Houston Astros?

He could fight the offensively-challenged Martin Maldonado for catching duties sooner or later. He could also be the team's backup first baseman behind veteran Jose Abreu.

They have loads of outfield talent waiting in the minors. The Astros have a good outfield in Alvarez (who mostly DHs), Michael Brantley, Kyle Tucker and Chas McCormick, but Alvarez could be a full-time DH and Brantley is not likely to play much longer.

The Houston Astros are currently the most feared team in baseball by a pretty wide margin. Their farm system indicates that that won't change any time soon.