Astros Prospect Walker Janek Shines in Arizona Fall League Debut

The Fall Leaue kicked off on Monday night with two Astros prospects in the lineup.

Apr 27, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Houston Astros hat and glove in the dugout during the second inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

For the first time since 2016, the Houston Astros aren't playing in October. It's something they're not accustomed to, so the regular offseason protocol might take some time to get used to. However, there are some in the Astros organization that are still playing.

The Arizona Fall League is a tournament held every season with the best prospects from every team's farm system. It kicked off on Monday, starting with a game between the Peoria Javelinas and the Scottsdale Scorpions, which is the team with the Astros prospects.

Scottsdale penciled in two of Houston's prospects, Walker Janek and Jeron Williams, to the starting lineup with Janek kicking off his fall in fashion.

Janek Has Big Day, Williams Goes Hitless

Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

This was the Fall League debut for both Janek and Williams. Janek is considered one of the Astros top prospects while Williams is not even ranked on MLB Pipeline's top 30 list.

Janek was the starting catcher and batted cleanup in Monday night's game. The 23-year-old went 3-for-4 and drove in a run. He was Scottsdale's biggest contributor in a 4-3 loss. The catcher hit an RBI double in the bottom of the first to put his team up 1-0, but they were unable to drive him back in.

As for the rest of his day, Janek had two singles and struck out in his final at-bat to lead off the eighth.

Houston's number three prospect was coming off of a solid offensive season at High-A. In 92 games, he hit .263 with 12 homers, 46 RBI, a .766 OPS and a team leading 21 doubles. An advanced bat out of college, the Astros are hoping Janek can ascend to another great offensive catcher along with Yainer Diaz.

Jeron Williams was batting ninth and playing second for the Scorpions. He had a tougher day at the plate, going 0-for-2 with a strikeout and two walk. However, he was able to take advantage of getting on base the first time, stealing second. He had 19 stolen bases this season and 26 last season.

Williams is an intruiging prospect. Despite not having a lot of love on the lists, there's quite a bit to like about him. He doesn't walk that much, but he also doesn't really strike out. He took a step back this season, hitting .248 with a .641 OPS, but he did hit 11 doubles and steal those 19 bags.

Last year was impressive, with Williams posting a .754 OPS with 15 doubles, five triples, eight home runs and the stolen bases. A huge plus is that he plays all over the infield, too.

It'll be a long AFL season and not all of the Astros prospects got to play, but seeing both Janek and Williams have good at-bats is a terrific sign of things to come for those two players.