The Astros sent Jon Singleton to Triple-A to begin the season in the wake of his lackluster 2014 numbers and a poor Spring Training, yet the former star prospect is doing his best to earn a return ticket to the bigs. Singleton has 11 homers and an impressive .274/.386/.632 slash line over 140 plate appearances at Triple-A Fresno, highlighted by a two-homer, 10-RBI game last night. While stats in the very hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League have to taken with a grain of salt, Singleton’s production is certainly a positive sign. Here’s some more from Houston…
- The time is now for the Astros to promote Carlos Correa, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal opines. While the Astros’ decision to give Correa more Triple-A seasoning is a reasonable one, Rosenthal argues that if Houston will just promote him in two weeks if he’s tearing up the PCL, the club should just get him to the bigs now. Correa would instantly upgrade the Astros at shortstop and help the team maintain its surprising first-place status.
- Righty Lance McCullers has also been promoted to Triple-A, and Astros GM Jeff Luhnow told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart that McCullers could potentially be in the mix for a Major League call-up this season. “The reality is if he’s pitching the way he’s been pitching, we could probably benefit from having him here. There is a possibility he will be here,” Luhnow said. McCullers was a top-100 ranked prospect by both MLB.com and Baseball America prior to the 2013 and 2014 seasons, but his stock dipped a bit following an unimpressive year at high-A ball last year. The 21-year-old rebounded to post an 0.62 ERA, 13.3 K/9 and 3.91 K/BB rate over 29 innings at the Double-A level this year.
- Colby Rasmus is enjoying his time in Houston, the outfielder tells Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi. Rasmus is one of the more experienced players in the young Astros clubhouse, which seems to be a relief for him given how he wasn’t happy playing for the more veteran Blue Jays last season. Rasmus said he felt judged “in the sense of how much (service) time you had, and the pecking order, just feeling comfortable in the clubhouse. I’m not going to go into any details, but I feel more comfortable in this clubhouse and in this environment.”
what do the ‘stros do with Lowrie once he’s healed if they call up Correa?
Probably trade Lowrie to someone that needs a shortstop. IE: Mets or someone.
You guys are acting like Correa is a sure thing. The guy could very well hit .150 and get sent down the second Lowrie get’s activated off the DL.
It’s not that Correa is a sure thing. But based on his mastery of the minors the past three seasons, he does seem like a better bet to contribute immediately than your average prospect.
Correa is pretty much a sure thing. Whether it be this year, 2016 or 2017, we will see. The guy has shown the ability to hit and play well defensively, if he stays healthy he will be a Major League SS pretty soon. And the Astros are in need of one
Jackie Bradley Jr, Javier Baez, Jon Singleton, Dalton Pompey, Mike Olt, Jesus Montero? Numerous others have failed, very few prospects succeed their first full go around in the majors. Correra is far from a sure thing, Will Myers had a horrendous sophomore slump and he was as sure as a thing was in his rookie season. Don’t act like you know Correra is going to be a superstar like how everyone thought Delmon Young was going to be one in his day.
Delmon Young never became a superstar but he’s had a solid MLB career. And I might be wrong, but to me Correa is special, look at his tools and look at his numbers. Then look at all the past SS prospects that became solid MLB players and they are not even close. Correa can hit for average and power, he is an average runner with plus fielding and a plus arm. Even if he doesn’t hit (let’s say .250 at the big leagues) he will be a nice addition to the Astros If you don’t think he will be a MLB player pretty soon and stick well I don’t know what to tell you, he is rare talent.
Besides none of the guys you mentioned were SS, maybe Baez but there had always been questions about him, he was never a “sure thing”.
Top prospects are top prospects. I don’t see what being a shortstop has to do with anything, bust rates are still 35% for top 10 prospects. Until these kids face major league pitching you don’t know what they’re going to be, you do understand the difference between Clayton Kershaw pitching and a typical Double-A or Single-A pitcher right?
Being a SS helps Correa in the sense that even if he can’t hit ML pitching (say below .200 average) he could still stick around because he is considered a plus defender. And you are right, he might not pan out to be a superstar, but if I had to bet on a prospect I would say he is the one closest to be a certain one. Besides it’s not like the kid can hit a little bit, he has shown to be way above average throughout his minor league career. Just to give you an idea, the best hitting SS currently, Tulo, had a slightly inferior performance than Correa in his minor league career. I’m not saying Correa is going to put up Tulo numbers but that is his potential. By the way I just checked all current starting SS. Correa has a better minor league stat line than ALL OF THEM. That, with some scouts saying the guys is a plus defender TODAY. I would say Correa is the closest thing to a can’t-miss-prospect (barring injuries, etc).
ps: I am not an Astros fan at all. And for the record, Correa’s minor league stat line: .316/.396/.493
Houston’s got 4 starters hitting sub-Mendoza. The Astros are going to need Lowrie’s bat more than whoever Luhnow get in a trade. He could spell Correa at SS, possibly take over for Valbuena at 3B if he continues to hit poorly and/or 1B/DH if Carter/Gattis keep struggling and Singleton ends up not being the answer. Lowrie will get ABs, no matter what.
Maybe Colby felt judged because he struck out 200 times a year, only swings for the fences, showed up late to games and that .220 average
Team’s playing that shift on him have been the death of his ability to hit for a high average. The guy just has no clue how to beat it.
He has a clue. He just doesn’t care enough to try. With teams willing to pay him $8 million a year anyway, it’s kind of understandable, although not likeable.
This. Guys know if they hit an extra couple HR a year it will offset the low average. And in the end they make more money. But I agree, I wish they would shorten up their swing and go the other way. You win the game by getting on base and scoring runs consistently
No, he really doesn’t. Teams still pay for RBI’s too and I think I’ve seen him play more than fellow Astro fans here seeing as he was on my team the last 3-4 seasons. Rasmus can only bunt to beat the shift, teams play the thirdbasemen tight on the third baseline and the overshift with the other infielders and he hasn’t found another way to beat it. You can look at his spray charts, how many times he hit a ground ball the other way over the past 4-5 years that weren’t bunts? Not many.
“While stats in the very hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League have to (be)
taken with a grain of salt, Singleton’s production is certainly a
positive sign.”
That seems contradictory.
“His numbers might be inflated in the PCL, but they look good anyway.”
a better way of wording it.
“Even though PCL numbers are inflated, his numbers are above average for the league”
I had to look up the box score for the Fresno Grizzlies game. 10 RBIs in a game is a big deal. It has only happened 12 times in all of MLB history, 4 times in the National League, ironically where the co-MLB record holders of 12 RBI in a game, both did it for the Cardinals; Jim Bottomley Sept. 16, 1924 and Mark Whiten Sept. 7, 1993.
Imo right now it would be a waste of time to call up Correa because the astros will not be able to sustain this run that they are on right now, they are not ready to compete for a division title, wildcard maybe. Sooner or later the angels are going to hit their stride and take over the top spot in the al west
“they are not ready to compete for a division title, wildcard maybe”
If the Astros believe that they can compete for a wildcard spot, isn’t that all the more reason to call up Correa soon? A playoff berth is a playoff berth.
With the extra wildcard every team feels like they can make it. I don’t like the one-game elimination but it definitely brings a different feel to the regular season, more exciting races. Best of luck to the Astros, although I doubt with such a high K rate they will maintain success