This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Astros got creative in their pursuit of North Carolina high school outfielder Ryan Clifford during last year’s MLB Draft, signing him for a bonus of $1,256,530 -- the second-highest bonus given to an 11th-round pick in history -- that was good enough to lure him from his scholarship at Vanderbilt University.

The Astros used some of the money they saved on their bonus pool from the first 10 rounds to sign Clifford, and the early returns have been promising for the club. In his first 21 at-bats at Low-A Fayetteville, Clifford was slashing .333/.533/.476 and had walked seven times and struck out seven times. In 40 at-bats last year at Fayetteville, he also showed a knack by getting on base (.412 OBP).

“Early sample-size trends are positive,” Astros director of player development Sara Goodrum said. “It’s nice to see what he was doing in Spring Training translated over to the season, and it’s been really encouraging to the see the walks. He had a mammoth home run pull-side on Wednesday, which was really exciting. It’s been really encouraging so far.”

Clifford, a 6-foot-3 left-handed-hitting corner outfielder, was ranked No. 92 on MLB Pipeline’s '22 Draft Top 250, so he is a third-round talent. He’s the Astros’ No. 5-ranked prospect going into the season by MLB Pipeline.

“For his age [19], he’s got very advanced tools and a high baseball IQ,” Goodrum said. “The pitch selection and the ability to draw walks at his age has been really encouraging and great to see, and I think that’s a testament to who he is as a player, and the amount of baseball that he’s played at this point in his life.”

Goodrum said the Astros stressed with Clifford about getting better pitches to hit during Spring Training and his swing decisions have been good, though in a small sample size. It’s too early to tell what some of his swing deficiencies are going to be just yet.

“The biggest thing is he going to be able to lay off the bad pitches and swing at good pitches to be able to do damage, and so far in that very small amount it’s been very encouraging,” Goodrum said.