Marek Houston - Prospect Profile

MLB.com - July 1st: "Houston earns solid-to-plus grades for his quickness and arm strength, and some evaluators will go even higher than that on his ability to play shortstop. He has smooth actions and plenty of range to both sides and should be a high-quality defender at the big league level"

Keith Law - The Athletic - July 1st: "He does have very strong hand-eye coordination and almost never whiffs on pitches in the zone, with a short swing that had him over a 50 percent groundball rate as a sophomore but down to 44 percent this year. He’s a high-floor, lower-ceiling prospect, unless someone foresees more power in his future than I do."

Baseball America - June 25th: "Houston slows the game down like the best defenders do, and he attacks the ball at ideal angles with smooth, easy actions and deft hands that allow him to vacuum up tough hops and sharply hit balls. He’s got a plus, accurate arm and knows when to unleash it, with an advanced internal clock, good slot versatility and a comfort while throwing off-balance and from all sorts of angles on the field."

Tyler Jennings - Just Baseball - March 24th: "His plate discipline is pristine and features little warts. He has some of the best contact rates in the class and he stays inside the zone, slapping the ball to the all fields. He’ll utilize his fantastic speed on the basepaths, as well, as he’s recorded times to first base around 4.15 seconds."

Prep Baseball Draft HQ - March 19th: "Moreover, the K rate’s gone down even more (9.3%) while the walk rate’s risen (15.7%), but it’s really the enhanced batted-ball profile that’s boosted his draft stock considerably, now feeling like a much more impactful offensive asset at the pro level."

Carlos Collazo - Baseball America - March 10th: "I was curious how early Houston would come off the board. We wrote about his increased power a few weeks ago, and if you think he’s going to get to average game power with wood, it’s a fairly well-rounded profile and a near lock to stick at shortstop. Hard to argue with that."

Keith Law - The Athletic - March 4th: "Houston is one of the best defensive shortstops in the class, and if he shows more with the stick this year he could jump into the top 10-15 of the first round. He rarely swings and misses, especially at strikes, but doesn’t hit the ball hard at all, with a 90th percentile EV last year just over 99 mph."

Kiley McDaniel - ESPN - February 21st: "The 6-foot-3 shortstop, who is a plus runner and defender, looks to have turned the corner offensively with an OPS over 1.700 and three home runs in his first five games. He might be in the first tier in another month, with one scout comparing him to Dansby Swanson."

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