Former Houston Astros Top Prospect Back in Majors, His Moment to Finally Shine?

The Houston Astros are calling up their former top prospect after he has had a roller coaster of a minor league career.

Mar 11, 2023; West Palm Beach, Florida, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Forrest Whitley (60) throws a pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. | Rich Storry-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros have made a significant roster move on Saturday afternoon involving a name fans have become extremely familiar with over the years.

As first reported by Chandler Rome of The Athletic, the team has activated right-handed pitcher Forrest Whitley from the injured list and in a corresponding move optioned Nick Hernandez to Triple-A.

The San Antonio native was a former first round selection all the way back in 2016 when the Astros used the No. 17 overall selection on him. Whitley would eventually work his way to quickly becoming the team's top prospect by 2018, but a number of issues kept him away from the big leagues since then.

A 50-game suspension for violating the league's drug prevention and treatment program in 2018 was the first major setback. Seemingly on the cusp of making his debut by the end of the 2020 season, Whitley would be forced to undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the entire 2021 season.

Finally cracking the Major Leagues last year, Whitley threw 3.1 scoreless innings late in the season over three appearances.

He would return this spring to have a tremendous camp with a 1.80 ERA over four appearances and five innings and finally looked to be a lock to start the year with the Astros, but a knee issue put Whitley on the injured list once again to start the year.

Now fully healthy and ready for action, this could be the moment where Whitley tries to finally live up to the billing in terms of being a highly rated prospect.

Still just 27 years old, Houston being able to salvage production from him at this point will be a welcomed sight to fans who have been eager to see him pitch more than just late season innings for now close to a decade.