There is simply no way to know what Jeff Luhnow will do come draft day, especially now that Mike Elias is gone, so I’m going for what I think their system needs. Hayden Dunhurst may not be a first round pick in many mocks right now, but he makes a lot of sense for the analytically minded Astros. Dunhurst is probably my 2nd favorite catcher in this class behind Rutschman. He has a solid catchers frame at 5-11 210 and sneaky athleticism for a catcher. He has one of the best arms behind the plate, flashing a 1.81 second pop (97.42 percentile for the class per perfect game) and consistently in the 1.9 second range. He is agile behind the plate and has made major strides blocking and framing in the last two years. He has a wide batting stance that generates easy elite bat speed. His max Barrell speed, impact momentum and max acceleration all ranked in the 97.25, 96.39 and 98.91 percentile for the class respectively per Perfect Game. The end result was 98 MPH exit velos that ranked right at the top of the class. In addition to the trackman data loving him, he is elite at repeating his sound mechanics on both offense and defense and is very polished overall. He flashes surprising speed with what would be a 50 speed tool by Fangraphs scale and a quick 1.62 10 yard split. The risk in his profile comes in that he is a Mississippi prep bat and a prep catcher, both of which have poor track records. But I believe in what I see on film and it’s backed up by excellent trackman data. He’s known as a good kid with leadership skills and has the tools to fall back on as a 1B/RF and maybe even 3B should he fail as a catcher. I truly love this kid and I think the analytically minded Astros will want him as insurance at a premium position where they don’t have much depth behind Garrett Stubbs. Other options include Erik Rivera, Jaden Brown, Quinn Priester and George Kirby.