It is no secret that the Astros OF has performed poorly offensively this season, threatening to be their worst offensive OF of all time.
Young prospects Cam Smith, Brice Matthews, and Zach Cole have not performed well. Former prospect Joey Loperfido has battled both injury and underperformance. CF Jake Meyers has shown none of the contact ability he showed for the first time last season.
In fact, the OF who has hit the best for them that is currently on the active roster (no, Yordan doesn’t count)
has been Taylor Trammell, but despite his solid average has a meager OPS as there has been no power in his offense.
LaMonte Wade Jr. performed well in his 4 games with the team before suffering a hamstring injury that currently has him sidelined.
With that, it is notable that the Astros promoted OF Lucas Spence to Triple-A Sugar Land today.
The Astros under GM Dana Brown have shown a propensity to push young players quickly, and Spence is a young lefthanded hitting OF who can play all three OF positions.
According to MLB.com, Spence is currently ranked as the Astros #10 overall prospect. He is considered an above average fielder with a plus arm and plus speed. His hit tool is still a work in progress and he is not considered a power hitter.
However, he has had a tremendous month of June at Double-A Corpus Christi, where he has hit for strong power, as noted in Jimmy Price’s post on X above.
With the Astros OF floundering at the plate, a strong representation from Spence at Triple-A could earn him a call up and an opportunity with the big league club, similar to how Zach Cole got a shot late last season (one that the team liked enough that they had hoped he could take another step forward and claim a regular job this spring, but alas…).
It is certainly worth watching.
