ANGRY MIKE
2025 SEASON REVIEW
Colin Houck was the Mets 2023 first round pick, and was considered a huge steal, having dropped considerably lower than his 12th overall ranking. Houck was a 2-sport star in high school, turning down multiple D-1 scholarships for football to begin his professional baseball career.
Houck has had mixed results across his first two professional seasons, but showed considerable progress during the 2025 season, flashing the 5-tool upside that made him such a highly ranked prospect on the 2023 Draft Board. Houck has one thing going for him that separates him from Kevin Parada, his youth and he showed the ability to make in-season adjustments during the 2025 season.
2024 Houck was assigned to St. Lucie like many other recent high profile high school draft picks, it was an aggressive assignment that did not yield the same type of results other recent draft picks produced.
Pre-draft scouting reports specifically highlighted Houck might need a longer runaway to harness his raw talent and convert it onto the baseball diamond, unlike McLean, who was also a 2-sport star, he spent considerably more time developing himself as a potential D-1 QB. That’s a lot of time spent away from baseball, which immediately put him at a disadvantage compared to other high school draft picks, which is why it’s not surprising he struggled during his assignment to a full-season league.
2025 started off the same as 2024, but than Houck started to tap into his considerable raw talent and started producing consistent numbers across the board. He started to hit for power, started drawing more walks, and flashed all 5-tools. Like many young prospects, Houck produced much better numbers when he attacked pitches ahead of the count.
2025 “Ahead of the Count” -> Split Stats: 118 AB | 170 PA
.305 BA | .514 OBP | .980 OPS | 31% BB-Rate | 13% K-Rate
What impressed me most about Houck was his ability to keep grinding despite struggling, which is why I believe it is still far too early to give up on him or label him as a bust. Yes, the K-Rates are alarming, but a lot of that can be equating to the Mets challenging him with aggressive assignments, when it might have been more prudent to be more conservative.
His best months as a professional came in May and June, which prompted a quick promotion to Brooklyn, where he struggled again, but he finished off the season with decent numbers in August.
MAY 2025 STATS
.261 BA | .374 OBP | .840 OPS | 15% BB-Rate | 26% K-Rate
JUNE 2025 STATS
.286 BA | .368 OBP | .820 OPS | 12% BB-Rate | 32% K-Rate
AUGUST 2025 STATS
.267 BA | .360 OBP | .773 OPS | 13% BB-Rate | 37% K-Rate
2025 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:
24 Games -> Multi-hit games
15 Multi-hit games -> May & June
45 Games -> On-base multiple times
7 Triples -> shows off his considerable speed
2025 set career highs -> in every offensive category
2026 SEASON OUTLOOK:
Houck should spend the entire year in High-A Brooklyn and we should see Houck start moving through the minors one level at a time, which still puts him on track for potential MLB reps before he turns 24. There is a lot that needs to happen for Houck to drastically improve his prospect profile, none more important than Houck improving his swing decisions and his K-Rate.
It’ll be challenging as pitchers only get better at exposing hitters’ weaknesses in the higher levels, but Houck flashed the ability to improve as the season goes on in 2025, which is what I am hoping he taps into for the 2026 season. Houck should have considerable more talent hitting around him in Brooklyn, which should provide better pitches to hit and more opportunities to hit with runners on base.
Best case scenario for 2026 is Houck becomes more patient at the plate, works himself into better counts, thus creating more chances to attack pitches in the zone with regularity. Of course it’s easy for us to simply state what he needs to do, the pitching talent he’ll face while playing for Brooklyn, is no joke, and he needs to establish early that he’s willing to take walks.
Bryce Harper once stated how improving his ability to take walks was the key to him putting up numbers and avoiding prolonged slumps. We saw that last April, when Pete Alonso put up career numbers when he also started drawing a career high number in walks. How well Houck will be able to implement a more patient approach at the plate will ultimately dictate whether he is able to unlock his prodigious talent or quickly fizzle out in the upper levels.
Houck has some of the most exciting tools in the system, some days he looks like a legit 5-tool impact bat and on other days he looks completely overmatched. How well Houck is able to find consistency is his performance will dictate how quickly he advances and if he can truly unlock the best version of himself, which up to this point we have only seen in short bursts. He’s a humble young man, with a great work ethic, you kinda have to be, in order to dominate multiple sports at the high school level.
I have Houck unleashing his best numbers this season, with Trey Snyder and Mitch Voit hitting in front of him, Ronald Guzman penciled in behind him, Brooklyn should have very little trouble scoring runs, and that’s even before Elian Pena joins the party hopefully for the second half.
2 comments:
Houck’s 37% K in August 2025 is concerning, frankly. But as you note, he was raw coming out of HS. Big year needed in 2026 to push into the Mets’ top 30. When I did my series on my top 50 prospects back in the fall, I have Colin Houck at #42.
For a #1 pick he has really been under the radar these past two seasons. I would like to see him get off to a good start this year and start to push the competition ahead of him.
Post a Comment