Earlier this week, Astros manager Joe Espada told the Houston beat that Jose Altuve would play the “majority” of his games in left field. The second-year skipper walked that back a bit on Friday, indicating that the team’s position player mix remains unsettled.
“I’m not committed to Altuve being the everyday left fielder nor any X player being the everyday second baseman,” Espada said (relayed by Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). “We are exploring all our options here and we’ll make those decisions when we get towards the end of camp.”
Altuve has gotten the bulk of his Spring Training work in left field. That’s likely to continue as the Astros try to build his outfield reps. While Espada’s most recent comments leave the door open for the nine-time All-Star to return to second base, it still seems likely that Altuve will remain the team’s primary left fielder. That’d leave the keystone to Mauricio Dubón. Houston added former Rockies’ Gold Glove winner Brendan Rodgers on a minor league deal. He could also play second base if the Astros want to bounce Dubón around the diamond.
There’s an outside possibility of top prospect Cam Smith factoring into the infield mix before long. Selected 14th overall by the Cubs last summer, Smith went to Houston alongside Isaac Paredes and Hayden Wesneski in the Kyle Tucker blockbuster. Smith has all of 32 professional games under his belt, only five of which have come above High-A. Though he’s likely to begin the season in the minor leagues, the 22-year-old has turned some heads in his first Spring Training. Smith is 7-11 with a pair of homers in exhibition play. He has drawn four walks while striking out just once.
Chandler Rome of The Athletic examined the possibility of Smith breaking camp with the MLB team. Rome notes that the Astros promoted 2023 third-round pick Jake Bloss last June, less than one calendar year from his draft date. (Bloss was traded to Toronto in the Yusei Kikuchi deal a month later.) Bloss, a right-handed pitcher, had started eight games in Double-A and jumped from there to the big leagues. Carrying Smith on the Opening Day roster would be a bolder move, as he has almost no experience facing upper minors pitching.
Smith is a natural third baseman. That’s the position he played at Florida State and where he saw all of his defensive innings in the Chicago system. Rome writes that the Astros would like to get him some work in right field (in addition to third base) in the minor leagues. Houston’s outfield is arguably its biggest weakness. Altuve will probably have some growing pains defensively if the Astros use him as their primary left fielder. Center fielder Jake Meyers is unlikely to provide much offensively. Chas McCormick is looking to rebound from the worst season of his career in right field. If McCormick struggles for a second consecutive year, right field would be a target for midseason upgrade. The Astros would presumably want Smith to have some minor league experience there before considering him a candidate for outfield work at Daikin Park.
At the same time, they’re also facing a potential injury absence on the infield dirt. Christian Walker went for imaging after reporting soreness in his left oblique. Espada provided an encouraging update on Friday, saying that the MRI didn’t reveal any kind of strain (link via McTaggart). The Astros intend to gradually ease him back into game action.
Smith’s path to breaking camp may be conditional on Walker opening the season on the injured list. That’d leave first base to a combination of Jon Singleton and Zach Dezenzo unless the Astros wanted to slide Paredes across the diamond and install Smith at the hot corner. Espada didn’t commit to Walker being ready for Opening Day, but the lack of a strain seems to leave that as a possibility.
Espada provided one other injury update of note. Lance McCullers Jr. got through a live batting practice session this afternoon without issue (via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle). The righty is expected to get into game action in the near future. That’ll be a big step for McCullers, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since the 2022 World Series. The Astros have already announced that he’ll begin the season on the injured list as he returns from June ’23 flexor surgery. If McCullers gets into Spring Training action, he could be ready to return from the IL within the first few weeks of the regular season.
McCullers is stealing money.
Giving away Smith for ONE year of Tucker – was possibly the worst trade in Cubs history – worse than Brock – Broglio.
Cubs could have just kept Bellinger for one more year AND Smith for 7 more.
STUPID
It’s early, but this has the makings of a disaster. Houston gets 3 years of maybe a 2.7 bWAR Paredes, 5 years of someone that might be a #5 SP, and 6+ years of top-50 prospect who is tearing it up in ST.
Well at least the Astros are giving Altuve a lot of practice in ST learning a new position.
Unlike the Red Sox who haven’t played Bregman at 2B for even one inning, what a joke.
The reason why Bregman has not played 2b is because they have been without Devers so far this spring. He has also played 2b before, even though it has not been very much. Altuve has never played in the outfield ever, that is why he is playing there pretty exclusively this spring!!
dave – Bregman has played only 32 innings at 2B in his entire MLB career, and none since 2018.
What difference does it make if Devers can’t play 3B yet? Winning games doesn’t matter right now, it’s Spring Training!
Bregman should be spending time learning 2B, and others such as Mayer and Campbell should be learning 3B as much as possible. Romy may not be around very long to fill in at 3B during the regular season.
Bregman is probably going to play 3b and that fat loaf is going to check his ego and play DH where he belongs.
They don’t need Bregman at second. They have Campbell, Hamilton, Romy and, if needed, Story. Plus they shouldn’t be giving Tubs any notion that he’s going to be playing third.
Can they figure out how to use a trash can to help position Altuve in left field? Maybe a buzzer on his chest instead?
CoUld tHeY UsE a TrAshCaN.
Yawn
So tired. But when you have the wit of a 10-year-old, I guess it’s the best you can do.
Nah…Bregman took it with him to reunite with Cora in Boston!
He got one look at Altuve’s arm in LF and realized he couldn’t commit.
Yep. He’s basically a DH now, but Yordan already has that locked up.
It’s gonna be so funny watching him scurrying around on his little umpa lumpa legs trying to track down fly balls then not having the arm strength or accuracy to hit the cut off man. They might need two cut off men for him. DUMPATY DOO
I honestly dont feel much sympathy.
Your fifth place Houston Astros everybody.
Dezenzo is getting reps in the OF. I think he gets some playing time there.
I think it should be Rodgers at 2nd and Meyers in CF with Dubón filling in for each of them a few days per week. Gamel in RF because I don’t think Chaswick will ever figure it out again. Rest of the lineup pretty set with Caratini and Diaz giving walker a rest at 1B occasionally.
Brendan Rogers at Coors: .306/.361/.465. Everywhere else: .227/.272/.356. Dubon in 3+ seasons with Houston 262/.294/.371. Is Altuve that bad at 2b? I have seen him play a lot over the years and he looked OK to me just based on the eyeball test. Baseball reference defensive ratings are mixed, not great, but I don’t know thar I would put him in LF to get a slick fielding banjo hitter at 2b.
Your fifth place Houston Astros everybody. The party has come to an end in rather swift fashion.
Well, you posted that twice on this thread now… Maybe you should try again. It was a ridiculous post the first two times, so maybe you’ll look even dumber the third time!
Hey! Somebody is reading and paying attention! Gold star day for you. You’re right, I’ll go delete my other comment although it usually takes a couple times for Astros Fans to read something before it sinks in.
Rather swift? That was a fast 11 years…