It is a sinking feeling, toxic enough to sink a career if you let it, and J.D. Davis can’t quite pinpoint when he first felt that pang suggesting he was no longer the man, but rather being pushed to the margins of the Houston Astros organization.

Eventually, the lineup card and the minor-league assignments and an otherworldly force named Alex Bregman told him more than the front office could.

A once-emaciated organization suddenly had a smorgasbord of talent – and not nearly enough major league jobs to go around.

“As the years go by, you kind of learn the business side of it, learn how teams work,” says Davis. “You think that you’re the guy, but at the end of the day, they may have different plans.”

After an offseason trade, Davis now works for the New York Mets, and at 26, is consistently killing the baseball, producing an .893 OPS in his first extended opportunity at the major league level.

It is a chance that never came in Houston, although Davis harbors no ill will toward the organization that made him a third-round pick in 2014.

After all, he is just one of several ex-Astros who at some point felt they were riding a wave created by Houston’s stunning proficiency in drafting, developing and trading for major league talent.

Instead, they nearly got smothered by it.

Oh, Davis got a championship ring for his troubles, thanks to a 25-game stint with the big club in their World Series-winning 2017 season. So, too, did Tyler White, who started three postseason games for the Astros in 2018 but now plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ramon Laureano never did bubble up to Minute Maid Park, but he may eventually have a Gold Glove. The Oakland Athletics center fielder – a 3-win player this year thanks to 21 home runs and occasionally stunning defensive work – only reached Class AA with the Astros before a 2018 trade to Oakland gave him daylight.

Make no mistake: These are not the ones that got away from Houston.

At 77-41, the Astros are running away with their third consecutive American League West title and, by cashing in more prospect capital to acquire pitcher Zack Greinke on July 31, are prohibitive favorites to win the AL pennant.

Along with the Dodgers, they remain the gold standard for organizational efficiency, loaded with depth far beyond the regular lineup that features homegrown All-Stars and MVPs like George Springer, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Bregman, buttressed by savvy transactions for the likes of Michael Brantley, Yuli Gurriel and rookie slugger Yordan Alvarez.

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But championship-caliber players at every position can breed congestion for those who have outgrown the minors, but have no position in Houston.

“When I came up, I shot up through the system,” says White, a first baseman who debuted three years after he was a 33rd-round pick in 2013. “Now, it’s impossible to go anywhere. Everyone gets stuck.

“It’s a blessing and a curse – a really good team and you want to be that next guy.”

That’s a challenge when the Astros organization is like a savings account in which the interest keeps compounding. White was drafted during the Astros’ franchise-worst 111-loss season, their third straight 100-loss campaign as GM Jeff Luhnow famously took several steps back in a significant rebuild.

Davis was a third-round pick during a 92-loss 2014 season and as he assessed the organizational depth chart, saw only journeyman third baseman Matt Dominguez blocking him from a major league job.

Then, a flurry of talent and fate intervened.

A glass ceiling

The Astros’ last lottery ticket for all their 100-loss misery figured to be lefty Brady Aiken, the No. 1 overall pick in 2014. But negotiations broke down after Aiken underwent a physical exam, a saga that left Aiken unsigned and the Astros, per the collective bargaining agreement, awarded a compensatory selection one slot later in the 2015 draft.

Enter Bregman.

The former LSU shortstop needed just 13 months to reach the bigs and never look back, and this March the two-time All-Star signed a $100 million contract extension.

Davis was left to bang down a door that would not budge, posting a .989 OPS over 2017 and ’18 at Class AAA Fresno. He batted .342 there last season while shuttling multiple times to Houston for bench duty.

After earning a September call-up, he received two plate appearances over the next three weeks and even as the Astros readied for a title defense, Davis sensed a change might be best.

That left-out feeling dates to 2016, when Davis got off to a slow start at Class AA Corpus Christi (Texas) and Bregman zoomed by to the majors.

“All of a sudden, you felt like that door was shut, and you’re like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’” says Davis. “From there on out it was basically Alex Bregman. It was tough, but talking to my family, talking to agents, talking to other players, it’s happened a lot.

“The best advice I always got was 'keep playing for the other 29 teams, because somebody’s going to come after you.' The Astros still treated me great; I have no salty feelings for over there. But as a competitor, you don’t want to be beaten out and don’t want your spot taken away.”

The Astros did right by him in January, shipping him to New York in a deal involving five minor-leaguers. And as Davis slowly gained a grip on an everyday spot in the lineup, he’s done right by the Mets.

He’s batting .307 with 14 home runs and reaching base at a .372 clip, and since June 15 has been on a tear, posting a 1.051 OPS over 135 plate appearances.

“I think he just needed that chance at the major-league level," Mets manager Mickey Callaway said after Davis hit a 450-foot home run last week. “He’s always performed in the minor leagues, limited time in the majors before this year. I think that’s one of the reasons we wanted to go get him, because we knew he’d perform at the major-league level.”

Credit the A’s for seeing what few could have imagined in Laureano, who batted .227 in a full season at Corpus Christi when the A’s acquired him in November 2017 in a very off-the-radar deal.

Since his August 2018 debut, Laureano has been Mr. Statcast, gunning out runners with throws clocked as fast as 96 mph. Oh, he hits, too: 26 homers in 536 career at-bats, with a .285/.341/.506 slash line.

“It shows how much depth they really had when a guy like Ramon gets away, really for nothing,” says fellow A’s outfielder and former Astro Robbie Grossman. “And he’s a starting center fielder for another team, right away. But give a lot of credit to the guys they have there because they have some really good players.

“There are only so many spots, and there are other teams and we’re thankful to have him here.”

Indeed, there’s no scenario where Laureano unseats Springer in Houston. So he’s grateful a career opportunity knocked.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” he says of getting traded to Oakland, “but any time that you get a chance with any other team, it’s really good. You get a chance to show what you have for the rest of the teams, too.

“Just blessed that you have the chance to play the game every day.”

Laureano, currently on the injured list with a shin injury, is one of several ex-Astros who now find themselves in a pennant race; the A’s are 1 ½ games out of an AL wild-card position.

The next wave

Infielder-outfielder Tony Kemp, beloved by teammates and fans alike in Houston, is now with the first-place Chicago Cubs after Houston designated him for assignment last month. While playing time will be scarce there, as well, Kemp, 27, posted a .351 on-base percentage in 2018, the only year he received more than 200 at-bats.

White may find himself on the other end of the 2017 World Series matchup should he work his way into the Dodgers’ ever-evolving platoon mix.

Meanwhile, speedy outfielder Derek Fisher, forever a part of Astros lore after scoring the winning run on Bregman’s single in Game 5 of the ’17 World Series, is hoping for a Davis-like bump, himself, after he was traded last month to Toronto. He has nothing to prove at Class AAA – he posted a .401 OBP there this year – but never received more than 166 plate appearances over three seasons in Houston.

And the Astros’ most recent loss came when Orioles third baseman Rio Ruiz – one of the early draftees of the Luhnow era – hit a walk-off home run at Camden Yards on Sunday.

On the farm, outfielder Kyle Tucker remains in a holding pattern – ripping 32 home runs and posting a .932 OPS, but not about to unseat Brantley or veteran Josh Reddick.

Tucker – who has seen starts at first base recently – was the Astros’ No. 3 prospect as far back as 2015, and it’s startling to look at how that group, topped by Bregman, turned out.

Eighteen of their top 30 prospects that year made the big leagues. Three of them – Colin Moran, Joe Musgrove and Jason Martin – were packaged for All-Star starter Gerrit Cole in a deal with Pittsburgh. Daz Cameron, an outfielder who has yet to reach the majors, was a key part of the trade with Detroit that landed future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander in August 2017.

Well, they can’t all be Astros.

“It’s good for us and our development system to see our guys flourish,” says Astros manager A.J Hinch. “Even if it’s not in our uniform, they’ve helped us get somebody who ultimately has helped us in our uniform.

“We’ve got a good thing going right now from top to bottom.”

Even those no longer a part of it would agree. And those currently blocked in the minors should know by now that just because you’re not playing right now, doesn’t mean you can’t play.

“There’s so many guys like J.D., like Ramon – Ramon never even got an opportunity, and now he’s just killing it – it’s just getting to prove what you can do,” says White.

“I would never say anything bad about them. But it’s hard to prove yourself.”