10:09am: Stubbs is up and Stassi’s on the IL, McTaggart tweets.
9:28am: The Astros are set to call up catcher prospect Garrett Stubbs from Triple-A Round Rock, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. They’re likely to place fellow backstop Max Stassi on the injured list to free up a 25-man roster spot for Stubbs, who’s already on the Astros’ 40-man. Stassi suffered a left knee injury in the Astros’ win over the Red Sox on Saturday.
Now 26, Stubbs has spent his entire pro career with the Astros, who picked him in the eighth round of the 2015 draft. The former USC Trojan ascended to the Triple-A level in 2017 and has since batted .284/.371/.424 with eight home runs in 530 plate appearances. He’s off to a .250/.364/.440 start with four HRs in 99 attempts this year.
MLB.com ranks Stubbs as the Astros’ 12th-best prospect, lauding the lefty swinger’s ability to make consistent contact and handle “the strike zone better than any Astros product.” Stubbs is also “extremely athletic” for his position, where he’s an adept defender, though MLB.com notes the 5-foot-10, 175-pounder may top out as a major league backup because of his lack of size.
Stassi, 28, has mainly been a reserve since debuting with the Astros in 2013. He got off to a scorching start in 2018, during which he wound up amassing a career-high 250 PA, but fizzled beginning in June and has continued to log anemic offensive numbers since then. Stassi does rate as an excellent defender, but his offensive shortcomings have kept him behind offseason pickup Robinson Chirinos on the Astros’ depth chart this year. Chirinos is among many Astros who have thrived at the plate so far.
Pretty cool how he got called up on his birthday.
Connor Byrne… the Byrninator… pumping out the articles like they are burgers at the fast food joint.
That’s like 10 articles in a row. Thanks for keeping us baseball info geeks fed. We appreciate it.
I don’t know why, but when I clicked on the Baseball Reference page, I looked at the birth dates also… Stassi was born on the Ides of March.. Chiros has a birthday coming up in a couple weeks, June 5 and it’s Stubbs birthday today. Usually I focus on the stats… for some reason I looked at birth dates… ???
Because like the lot of us on here, you are a random individual.
Random? I think not. I was COMPELLED to look upon the dates of birth and it was REVEALED to me by a higher being that on this very date, a backup catcher was born unto this world. It was a vision I say. Mock the powers that rule this world as “random” and you will live a life of servitude. Praise these powers and you too will rule over men, you too will become a LEADER!!!! I laugh mockingly at your ignorance… “random”? HAH!!!! Was it “random” that when I blindly reached into my sock drawer and withdrew two socks that matched color, style and visual agedness? HAH HAH!!! Was it “random” that following my morning bathroom duty I had just enough toilet paper to perform an adequate cleaning? HAH HAH HAH!!! You ASTROSFAN4LIFE are the “RANDOM” one!!!!! I am the “CHOSEN ONE”!!!!!! Kneel before me NOW and join the… well, be the first to follow me as I follow these visions and become RULER OF THE WORLD!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! (FYI, that’s my menacing laugh)
I bow down to that reply. Well done
pretty epic
Is he related to Drew Stubbs?