Houston Astros: Corpus Christi Player Spotlight – Alex Bregman

Astros top prospect, Alex Bregman, and his hot start has propelled Corpus Christi forward to start the year.

The AA affiliate of the Houston Astros, the Corpus Christi Hooks, is off to a relatively average start in the young season. With a 4-3 record thus far, there is plenty of room to improve, but there are some bright spots that exist. One of these bright spots is the play of the highly touted prospect Alex Bregman, who will be spotlighted this week.

Alex Bregman’s professional background has been relatively basic through this point in his career. He was the Astros first round pick in the 2015 MLB draft and has been near the top of the prospect list for Houston since. In three seasons at shortstop at LSU, Bregman hit .336 and provided decent power and RBI numbers. One place in which the young shortstop improved each year at college was stealing bases, robbing 38 in his final year at LSU.

After being drafted and signed, Bregman spent 29 games in Quad Cities, the Astros’ Class A team. After showing signs of promise and ability, Alex was promoted to Class A-Advanced in Lancaster. Here Bregman flourished, hitting .319 as he began to become accustomed to the Minor Leagues. After Spring Training this year, Bregman was sent to AA Corpus Christi for the new season.

Alex Bregman possesses several strengths on the field which attributed to his first round selection. Wherever the shortstop has gone, he has found the ability to hit for a good average. As a freshman at LSU, he adjusted to the collegiate game well and hit .369. Bregman has also shown flashes of some serious speed along with some solid fielding ability. In the minors so far, he has a .950 fielding percentage, which has some opportunity to improve but is overall pretty good.

So far this season, Alex Bregman has taken the AA level by storm. Never much of a power threat, he has already hit four long balls, including a grand slam and a walk-off, in the first eight games. Though the sample size is still way too small to base the rest of the season on, a boost in power for the shortstop’s game could go a long way into deciding his role in the organization.

So what is Bregman’s future with the Astros?

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Obviously, his future in Houston is bright due to his performance during his time in the minors. But one problem remains, that is Carlos Correa. With both players likely staying in an Astros’ uniform for years to come, one of them will have to change positions with them both playing shortstop.

Next: Houston Astros: Corpus Christi Player Spotlight - Joe Musgrove

The most likely candidate, and the one I personally believe will change is Carlos Correa to third base. Carlos has a stronger arm than Bregman and should be able to switch somewhat naturally. Overall, Astros fans should be excited for the future with Alex Bregman at shortstop.

**Statistics provided by The Baseball Cube and milb.com**