Matthews is in high A. If he progresses as expected, he might make it to AA by end of year. In particular, the Astros are working on Matthews's hitting. I would not be surprised if Matthews stays in high A for the entire year. I would be very surprised if the Astros rushed Matthews to the Show, though the GM Brown can be aggressive moving players in the minors.
I think Matthews will be in AA by the end of July, which would give him a good sample there before the end of the year. It’s unlikely, but if he dominates AA from July-August, he could be in position to win a big league job next spring, especially if Houston doesn’t make a significant move at 3B. But all that is extremely unlikely. The best realistic case is he continues to have success, enters next season as a firm Top 100 prospect in AA, and is ready to come up at some point between June 2025 and March 2026. Given his versatility, assuming he projects as a core piece, that makes him a potential replacement for Tucker, McCormick, or Dubon. He could also be the long term answer at 3B if Houston employs a stop gap there after Bregman leaves. Most likely in-house replacements: C Diaz: not in system yet 1B Abreu: Joey Loperfido 2B Altuve: not in system yet SS Pena: Chase Jaworsky 3B Bregman: Zach Dezenzo (although they will likely need a stopgap) RF Tucker: Jacob Melton CF Meyers: Kenni Gomez LF McCormick: Luis Baez DH Alvarez: not in system yet UT Dubon: Brice Matthews C Caratini: Cesar Salazar Bench bat Singleton: Trey Cabbage/Will Wagner UT Kessinger: not in system yet, subject to change/competition
Matthew’s talent really pops off the screen in every clip I’ve seen of him, I can tell why Brown targeted him. Lots of variance in his outcome as a player as he develops, but his ceiling is probably higher than any prospect we’ve had since Tucker.
I would agree with this - and Matthews, Cole and Melton are also very high ceiling/high volatility prospects with an entire shed of tools but serious questions about their hit tools - so it is so hard to know how good they will actually be. There is like a 5% chance that Cole hits well again this year, and if he does, with his skill set, he will be a top 10 prospect in baseball. It is also more likely that he never even gets to AAA.
Except that he is lefthanded, that is a good comp within the batters box. He doesn't have Dubon's defensive versatility though. 2b is probably best position and SS and CF are very unlikely.
Dubon had three times as many strikeouts as walks in AAA at age 24. At age 25, Wagner gas twice as many walks as strikeouts. I think they are completely different players. Dubons value comes in that he can play shortstop and center, two of the three most difficult positions. Wagner can play neither of those, but he is a much better hitter in my opinion.
I think they’re pretty similar in terms of overall offensive projection. I haven’t dug into Wagner’s batted ball data but I assume he has more power potential than Dubon, but they hit for similar power numbers in the minors. A guy who can’t play up the middle (and who really isn’t a good defender anywhere) who hits 21 total HR in over 1100 minor league pa just isn’t that exciting of a prospect. He has a carrying tool (lefthanded contact ability) but that still only projects him as a league average hitter.
Big night for Luis Baez as he went 3-5 with a three-run blast (8) and an RBI double in Asheville's 11-7 win over Bowling Green. Railin Perez allowed a hit, walked one, and struck out six to get the save. He now has a 1.53 ERA on the season (0.00 road, 3.38 at home following tonight). Perez came to the Astros as a minor league Rule 5 pick from the Red Sox and showed a propensity to get groundouts. That's probably a crucial skill to have in a launching pad of a ballpark.
All complex-league teams won today. DSL Blue beat the A's 14-8. They allowed two hits. That's DSL baseball for you. Franchely Silverio hit his first career home run, a grand slam. At first, his name was "Francheli" but the *official* spelling is with a Y at the end. He was one of the highly-touted signings from January and got a $672,500 bonus. Juan Sierra also hit his first home run of the year. Sierra was singled out as a lower-bonus sleeper by Baseball America's Ben Badler for his in-game hitting ability, but he scuffled a bit in his pro debut last season. The DSL Orange team topped the Red Sox 4-2. No real standout performances here... Yosweld Vasquez went 2-3 with a double and an RBI single. Yeah, that's all I got. The FCL team beat the Mets 3-1. Engel Daniel Peralta allowed a hit and struck out three in two scoreless innings. He's now 2-1 with a 1.83 ERA in 6 appearances (1 start, 19.2 IP). Peralta has struck out 23 and walked 5 and allowed a .171 average against him in his first season stateside.
eta: this doesn't necessarily mean anything, it's just something to always look at wrt Asheville and the entire PCL road schedule. If he's barrelling up balls (and the Stros know), it don't matter if they're out or in at any park ("maybe Yellowstone"). If his strike zone judgment is on..blah blah blah... that transfers.
Ethan Pecko with another nice outing for Fayetteville: 3 IP, H, 4 K And another 4-RBI night for Luis Baez in Asheville: he hit an RBI single, a sac fly, and a two-run homer (9).
Miguel Ullola vs. Frisco: 4.2 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 BB, 7 K Pascanel Ferreras hit his 7th home run of the season (4 with Corpus) and Zach Cole had a pair of RBI singles as the Hooks won 4-1.
