Fresh off his Pacific Coast League Player of the Week Award, Houston Astros No. 3 prospect is heading to Houston.
Astros reportedly call up OF prospect Domingo Santana http://t.co/lQGGmbbhFO pic.twitter.com/pQr6BPdvRi
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) June 16, 2015
The Astros outfield prospect is having a big season with the Fresno Grizzlies. If it weren’t for a Houston Astros outfield performing quite well, he has played well enough thus far to merit a big league promotion. It appears that his current stay will be a short one, however. Colby Rasmus’ grandmother passed away, and he is being played on the bereavement list. Santana will fill his void for a week, at which point he will head back to Fresno.
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Santana is slashing .320/.444/.584 with 11 home runs and 38 RBI thus far in 2015. As already mentioned, he is the reigning PCL Player of the Week after collecting 4 consecutive multi-hit games. This will not be Santana’s first taste of the big leagues, as he had a brief 17 at bat stint at the end of last season.
What Santana did in those 17 at bats was frightening. He didn’t register a hit and struck out 14 times. That has always been the knock on Santana, he had a big, attractive swing, but he was all or nothing. That big swing connected a smashed a home run, or missed big time.
This season, although still striking out nearly 30 percent of the time, he has showed a lot more patience. His batting average is .320, and he has walked 43 times in his first 56 games of 2015. He is on pace to crush his career high of 64 walks over 120 games he set last season. Santana needs to continue that trend.
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Nothing is official, but Santana will most likely serve as depth off the bench during his short time with the Houston Astros. Preston Tucker will most likely take over left field during Rasmus’ absence, and Santana will be that big bat off the bench, maybe getting a start or two before it is all said and done.
Santana, whether it be two at bats or 10, really needs to show some patience at the plate this time around. He needs to prove to the Astros, who have an outfield crowded with youth on the big league level, and newly signed draftee Kyle Tucker coming up the pipeline, that he deserved to be part of Houston’s future plans. Every opportunity counts for Santana, and this short stint could determine whether he is part of the Astros future or a big power trade chip at the deadline.