Houston Astros top prospect Alex Bregman was recently called up to the show, but he has struggled since the promotion. Did the Astros rush him?
The Houston Astros shocked the baseball world last season when they jumped out in the first half of the season to lead the American League West. Although they didn’t hold on to win the division, they still impressed many on their way to the playoffs. Their success in 2015 was based mostly on the strength of the youth on the team, which came from them having built one of the best farm systems in baseball over the previous five years. During 2015 they had many players graduate that farm system like Carlos Correa, but that didn’t leave it bare. One prospect in particular stood out from the rest going into the 2016 season: Alex Bregman.
Alex Bregman started the year in AA, where he had 285 plate appearances and hit .297/.415/.559 with 14 home runs and a 177 wRC+. His dominant play in AA led to him being promoted to AAA after 62 games. When he stayed hot during his first taste of AAA (.333/.373/.641 and 164 wRC+ in 83 PAs) the Astros decided it was time to call up their top prospect, the number 4 prospect overall according to Baseball Prospectus.
Bregman was called up on July 25th and has played eight games with the Astros, playing all but one game at third base (he played left field). Despite having 34 plate appearances in those eight games, Bregman only has one hit while striking out 10 times, nearly a third of his plate appearances. Naturally there is some concern around Bregman because he has started off so slowly. He was a player that the Astros believed could act as their own type of trade deadline addition, so by that standard he has certainly disappointed.
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While it is concerning that Bregman has slumped so hard to begin his major league career, we shouldn’t make too much out of an eight-game sample. There is often an adjustment period for hitters when they first arrive in Major League Baseball. Granted, the adjustment period doesn’t always mean that a player suffers a .088 OBP over their first 34 plate appearances. However, it isn’t abnormal for a player to struggle during their first couple weeks only to break out and become the player people expected them to be.
Bregman’s struggles in the first week of his career certainly leave fans with questions about his future. Going from AA at the beginning of the season to Major League Baseball before the beginning of August always brings about doubt about whether the player was allowed to truly develop or not. In the case of Bregman, it’s probably too early to tell whether that was the case or not, but we can make a snap judgement from what we have seen so far.
It appears as though the Astros did rush Bregman to the big leagues, not allowing him enough time in AAA to slowly adjust to major league level pitching; however, I don’t think that is the case. He was so clearly better than his competition this season, at both minor league levels, that it was almost unfair to keep him buried in the minor leagues. When a player so obviously dominates the minor leagues, the best possible thing for his development is to allow him to ascend to the next stage.
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After owning the minor leagues, Alex Bregman has cooled since his arrival in Major League Baseball. That is okay. Players go through ups and downs all the time. For now, there is nothing saying that Bregman won’t continue on his path to becoming a very good third baseman at the major league level.