The Astros are set to select the contract of first baseman Jon Singleton from Triple-A Sugar Land, Singleton himself tells Kristie Rieken of the Associated Press (Twitter link). He’s on his way to join the team in Baltimore. A corresponding 40-man roster move will need to be announced, though Houston already opened a spot on the 26-man roster by optioning Corey Julks to Triple-A earlier today.
The 31-year-old Singleton reached the Majors earlier this season with the Brewers — his first MLB stint since his original run with the Astros in 2014-15. Prior to making his MLB debut, Singleton inked a five-year, $10MM extension with the Astros that included a trio of club options. Both parties took some criticism from detractors, with Singleton in particular drawing flak for potentially selling himself short. In hindsight, taking the deal looks to have paid off; Singleton batted just .171/.290/.333 with the ’Stros in multiple stints before being released in 2018.
That was the first of three full seasons in which Singleton was out of baseball entirely. He turned up in the Mexican League during the 2021 season and hit well enough to draw looks with the Brewers on minor league contracts in both 2022 and 2023. Though he went just 3-for-29 with the Brewers in his return to MLB action earlier this year (to say nothing of a 34% strikeout rate), Singleton has turned in a combined .289/.409/.567 slash between the Triple-A affiliates for Milwaukee and Houston this season. He’s walked at an exceptional 17.3% clip against just a 20.6% strikeout rate between those two stops.
Houston has been on the lookout for extra left-handed bats for much of the season. Michael Brantley has yet to return to the lineup after signing a one-year, $15MM deal over the winter, as multiple setbacks have popped up in his rehab from shoulder surgery. Yordan Alvarez missed more than a month of the summer with an oblique strain, though he’s back in the lineup and again serving as a middle-of-the-order masher. GM Dana Brown said in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline that he’d love to add a left-handed bat, but no deal ever materialized, so the organization will turn to an old friend and look for a late-blooming breakthrough to help balance out an extremely righty-heavy roster.
That beard is on point.
Aren’t they still paying him from his first go-round?
He signed the contract prior to the 2015 season
Fun at parties much?
What a strange turn of events
Astros are desperate and grasping at straws now.
weak comment
Everyone is always hoping for the Astros to falter. Anything they do fans can turn to a negative.
True, but that’s on them. Hard for fans of other teams to forget what happened.
Other teams have had 6 years to prove that it mattered. Stros are still world champions.
True, like winning the pennant in 21 and 22, and the World Series in 22. Hard for fans of other team to forget that happened. Maybe that’s on them/those fans?
Youre trying to posit that if a good chunk of the Astros has been banned from baseball (as they should have been) that it would have had no marked effect on the onfield performance?
There is absolutely no way a lifetime ban would have been issued by MLB and even less likelihood that it wouldn’t be successfully appealed by the players union.
There have been very few bans and none for stealing signs. Players have never even been suspended a game for that
If you banned any player, or even suspended them, they would have sang like canaries on what the rest of the league was doing. By only punishing the team you kept the league from having to answer a lot of uncomfortable questions, instead of just one team having to.
You’re talking like the Astros were the only team using video relay. How uninformed of what the Astros, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Yankees were doing. But since the Astros aren’t from a mega market they took the hit that the league needed to deliver. Don’t think for a second the punishment wouldn’t have been harsher if the Astros were the only team cheating.
I’m not sure it’s a weak comment. The Brewers were grasping when they put him on the roster too. He’s not exactly a change of scenery candidate at this point, nor is this some form of hopeful homecoming that is likely to all of a sudden regain something he lost. He’s simply a AAAA player like so many others, so yes, the Astros are also grasping at straws here. That doesn’t mean we’re rooting against the dude either!
Maybe he just needs a change of marijuana type, say from Septiva to Indica? I’m here to help.
He wrangled a walk from a top closer to begin the ‘Stros 9th inning comeback win tonight. That’s a pretty good debut.
Hopefully he can improve on the approximate $1.1 mil per major league hit tab he is currently running against the Astros
Hes played great at AAA tho hasnt he? Its no different then an Eric Thames coming back a couple years ago to be a good player for 2-3 years. If he was being calles up by anyone else you wouldnt hear about straw grasping.
Edit: A yea so, 300ABs 289 avg 22HR 976ops. His best minor season yet
.333 with an 1.138 OPS and 12 HR, 163 wRC+ for Sugar Land in 33 games.
His dad of course an oriole legend
Jon is not related to Ken Singleton,
He proves he is a AAAA player every season.
There’s a name I haven’t read in many moons
good luck he will strike out and not hit the ball
How did I not know there was a team called the Space Cowboys?
Great movie.
Great cast
They changed their name a few years ago. They used to be the Skeeters.
But is there one called the Gangsters of Love?
Blazing his trail back to the majors.
Julks was on fire at a great time while Altuve, and Pena was injured, he really came through for Houston. A trip to the farm to get his stroke back before September is a great idea. Gives one a few weeks to show what he’s got, and helps another who’s been struggling.
He gets fewer ABs causing his bat to get out of sync. Then they continue the reduced playing time because he’s not hitting. Maybe he just needed regular ABs?
I agree, and Abreu has been flat for a couple of weeks as well. They have a tough schedule coming up, and they need to hit. Getting Julks bat going again would really help for the playoff run.
I am not sure with this move. But they need another bat. Corey is struggling. Perhaps let him go to minors to find his stroke. He has been with team all season. Michael Brantley not working out was his main stay. Yes was hitting until July. September 1 is when teams can expand by one or two. So perhaps he be back then. With fact LF you have Yordan and Chas and CF you have Meyers and Chas more so. Yes can use Dubon but I would not want him worn down for playoffs. RF is Chas and Tucker. This gives Julks the time with no pressure to go down briefly. He could help team for playoffs etc. So want his stroke back. Singleton can perhaps spell Abreu. Come off bench as well. What does it hurt to try now. But who loses a spot on roster they have to make. Singleton not on 40 man so
Singletons K:BB ratio at AAA this year is greatly improved. If he can translate even a fraction of his improvements to the major league level, he’ll be a valuable source of power off the bench.
Sentence fragments are wonderful !
yes but
Julks tears up lefties though. I’ve liked the three-headed rotation of McCormick/Meyers/Julks
Probably Joel Kuhnel, maybe even Bligh Madris.
I’m a big fan of comeback stories. This one ranks up there, even if he goes 0-20.
Such a shame with Dirden staying in Sugarland
If only Jon could hit like Ken Singleton did.
Welcome back to the bigs, Clean Plate.
Geez I thought his career went up in smoke. He’s now having nice dreams of being back in MLB. Maybe someone like Kevin Costner can do their next movie based on his history of knocking around. When things got tough all over Jon really showed his bat is still smoking. Maybe he will witness a perfect game . One thing is he won’t be telling anyone to get out of his room anymore making good coin. Hopefully some Corsican brothers don’t bean him in his first at bat.