Whitley acknowledges expectations for him may be high in 2018 after a promising first full season in 2017, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports. "There's extra excitement," Whitley said of the 2018 season. "I'm going to try to stay in my lane, stay where my feet are and be humble as possible and just play the game."

EDGE Analysis

There's talk of Whitley possibly being invited to major league camp at spring training, which would only fuel the expectations he created after the 2017 season. The right-hander struck out 143 batters over 92.1 innings across three levels as a 19-year-old last year. The 6-foot-7 Whitley will continue to work on harnessing those long limbs, something we saw toward the end of 2017. He improved his BB/9 from 4.1 at Low-A to 2.6 at High-A to 2.5 at Double-A. Whitley, Houston's top-ranked prospect per RotoWire, is expected to open the season at Double-A Corpus Christi with a shot to reach Triple-A Fresno as a 20-year-old.