How long was he in triple A? I'm not saying he is damaged or won't be a good or even great player. I just think he should have spent some more time in AAA. I'm sure he'll figure it out and end up killing the majors next year.
regardless of if you are correct on needing additional seasoning (as i wholly advocated for with respect to Reed) - the Valbuena and Margo injuries would have had him up. He's also already a more polished hitter (than Reed) and is not looking embarrassed by MLB pitching. His BaBip is abysmal right now and will surely regress to the mean. Add in the fact that the longer he is up - the more time he has to adjust and quite obviously - we need his bat.
This is all ridiculous. If can only play in MLB when he's "hot" in the minors, then he's not ready to be in the majors anyway. Lots of people have been called up during hot streaks and failed early just as much. This is backseat managing at it's finest.
I agree the injuries made it more pressing but do you think Kemp or Moran would have gotten more than 1 hit if they were in the lineup? Especially Kemp. While the team is waiting for him to adjust, they are losing close games where other guys could have helped. Like I said, I'm sure he'll figure things out soon enough. But the team sure could use more hits right now.
kemp isn't a third baseman - i see little to no value in moran - and really look at our established players to lay blame for lack of production. there will always be a transition period. period. no matter who we brought up - hell, look at Tucker. He looks as lost as ever and it's his second cup. the way i see it - and it's obviously not quite the same way you see it - breg's was our best minor league alternative for bringing offense. Nothing I have seen so far at the MLB level has changed my mind of that. If anything - I wouldn't be surprised to see him get red hot over the next week or two.
The sad fact is that right now even a 3 year springer and a 2 year correa isn't much better than Chris Carter. So expecting a rookie, just a few months more than 1 year in the minors, to do anything in the majors is ridiculous. The astros brought him up way too quick.
Hitting is about being in a grove. Bergman was on a cold spell and the level of competition went up greatly.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Alex Bregman's BABIP, first 30 PAs: .050. <br><br>That's unbelievable.</p>— Thickie Don (@AstrosCounty) <a href="https://twitter.com/AstrosCounty/status/760446849627123712">August 2, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Wait, what? I mean... what? (rubs eyes, rereads comment... shakes head...) Springer and Correa are both *significantly* better than Chris Carter. What in the world are you basing this on?... It's home runs & RsBI, isn't it? Good lord.....
Exactly zero people were saying they "brought him up to quick" when he came up a couple weeks ago. In fact, most were saying it was too late and he should have been up awhile back. The Astros management knows what they are doing believe it or not.
If all it takes is 4 bad games for someone to go from MLB ready to not ready, then they weren't ready in the first place.
Not me. I actually predicted he would go 0 for his first 12. Not happy about it but I felt he should have spent some more time in AAA. And I also felt the expectations put on him might be a problem.
I think he will eventually get better and bring more to the major ball club. We just could have used his bat the past few games.
The expectations is most of the problem IMO, especially with the team struggling to score. It's already hard to hit in the MLB but it's especially hard as a rookie who is going into a lineup where 5 of the hitters can't break .230 and you're supposed to instantly be one of the four best hitters in the lineup. Meanwhile, you have others in the lineup like Tucker, White, etc. who are doing just as bad as Bregman and it makes it even worse.
marwin and valgoodness are missed. Alex has good eye for the ball, puts nice at bats, gets contact, hits it hard they just happen to go straight to the fielder or fouled off. I know everything is instant gratification but damn never thought baseball would become part of the gold fish generation. Alex has an awesome glove and arm.
