June 5: The Astros have now made all of this official, announcing the selection of Kessinger, the optioning of Salazar and the transfer of Garcia to the 60-day IL.
June 4: The Astros are expected to promote infielder Grae Kessinger, reports Mark Berman of Fox 26, with catcher César Salazar optioned in a corresponding move. Kessinger isn’t on the 40-man roster and will require a corresponding move to get a spot there though that could easily be accomplished by transferring someone like Luis Garcia, who is out for the year due to Tommy John surgery, to the 60-day injured list.
Kessinger, 25, was selected by the Astros in the second round of the 2019 draft. He made some appearances in Low-A and Single-A that year and was ranked the club’s #10 prospect by Baseball America going into 2020. After the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues that year, he spent 2021 in Double-A but struggled. He hit just .209/.287/.330 for a wRC+ of 67, though he did steal 12 bases and play the three infield positions to the left of first base. He stuck in Double-A in 2022 and improved slightly, hitting .211/.327/.366 for a wRC+ of 82 while swiping 23 bags.
Those tepid results put a dent in his prospect stock but he was promoted to Triple-A for this year and has fared better, walking in 15.4% of his plate appearances against a 19.5% strikeout rate. His .284/.400/.443 batting line amounts to a 107 wRC+ and he’s continued to bounce around to the different infield positions. He’ll now be in position to make his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
The promotion of Kessinger is likely due to the oblique soreness that has kept Jose Altuve out of the lineup for the past two days. With Altuve unavailable for the past two contests, the clubs has run out an infield of Alex Bregman at third, Jeremy Peña at short and Mauricio Dubón at second. But with three catchers on the roster in Salazar, Martín Maldonado and Yainer Diaz, they didn’t really have a backup in the event of any of those guys suddenly needing to leave a game. Swapping in Kessinger and reverting to the standard two-catcher setup will give the club a bit more infield security until Altuve is ready to return to action.
No shot bro’s full first name is Graeber. LMAO.
Graeber Torres.
Only if Gleyber plays in Japan.
Congrats to him, his family will now be only the sixth to see three generations of MLB players!
Congrats to the Kessingers! I guess Altuve’s injury is somewhat of a worry. Hopefully not, though.
Might be more of – there is no backup middle infielder if Dubon is playing one of the OF spots/DH, as he’s earned a chance to start a lot of days? No need for a 3rd catcher that rarely plays.
Big infielder, plays multiple positions, has pop with the bat – solid HR power, and a great bloodline. Glad to see him up
The “tepid” results referred to included 16 HRs and 23 stolen bases in AA last year. Hit .285 with 6 HRs in 1/3 of a season in AAA this year. Also had a great spring training.
Would be cool if the Astros brought on Otis Nixon as a 1b coach.
They would Spiro downward if they did that.
Agnew that.
Nolo contendre’
Can’t argue with that, boys!
His nickname shall now be Creepy. And his walk up music shall be Boris the Spider. Creepy Crawley Kessinger
This move goes to show that it doesn’t matter what you do its who you know. Pete Rose jr, Grae Kessinget, John Mayberry Jr, Eric Young Jr, Cavan Biggio, Kodi Clemens, etc. These guys are in the majors because of the name on their back, not their performance. Yet guys like Jeff McNeil who batted over .300 in the minors didnt get called up till he was 27
Yet McNeil had an older brother that never made it past the minors for the Cubs. Maybe that had an impact with the logic.
Well, Mayberry Jr. was decent for a year and a half.
Is Grace the grandson of Don Kessinger?
Yes
Who you know has always been more important than what you know and this applies to almost anything in the real world.
Salazar needed to go down and get work. I am sure liked being here but we needed extra infield help. Dubon cannot do it all. He is in uncharted territoryb for him. Has played a lot for Altuve and little for Peña. We have plenty of outfield with Julks and Alvarez for LF and CF is Chas and Meyers and Tucker in RF yes Chas can play LF and RF but the main people are who they are. Julks May be playing more as trade material even. We do not know on Brantley even. If he returns by the All Star break or not. Doubt will see much with LF with him. Think more DH material now. But do hope this move helps. Whether available as a PH for tonight