Astros: A.J. Reed Called Up to Majors, Tony Kemp Optioned to AAA

The Houston Astros have finally made the highly anticipated move to call A.J. Reed up from triple-a Fresno.

It was first announced that A.J. Reed was going to get the call-up by 1250 AM Sports Talk before tonight’s game.  It was then confirmed that they have purchased his contract by Astros’ Manager A.J. Hinch after Friday’s 13-4 win over the Kansas City Royals. Hinch said that Reed will join the club tomorrow in Kansas City and will be the designated hitter against the Royals’ right-handed pitcher Chris Young.

Hinch said that the reason for the call-up is, “we’re on a run right now where we will be facing a lot of right-handed pitching, and he’s been swinging a hot bat lately… Now’s as good a time as any.” Quote from Root Sports postgame interview, but can be found via Jake Kaplan here.

Reed, a second-round pick of the Astros in the 2014 amateur draft, hit his 11th home run of the season for the Grizzlies yesterday and has started to swing a hot bat of late against triple-a pitching. He is slashing .308/.397/.560 in his professional career and has hit 58 home runs in 273 minor league games.

To make room for Reed, it was announced that Tony Kemp would be optioned down to triple-a Fresno.  Kemp appeared in 21 games for the Astros this season, hitting .238 with three RBIs and one stolen base in that span.  Hinch made sure to say that Kemp did nothing wrong and is only being optioned to make way for Reed. 

More from Climbing Tal's Hill

• Houston Astros: A Lineup Change to Spark Offense
• Astros prospect Hunter Brown throws 6 shutout innings in debut
• Always faithful Astros World Series champion Josh Reddick defends the title
• Michael Conforto declines Astros’ 2-year, $30 million offer
• Alex Bregman goes off in August, leads Astros

The Astros will also need to make room for Reed on the 40-man roster before tomorrow’s game.  When asked about the corresponding 40-man move in his post game interview, Hinch was uncertain who would be DFA’d and said that Astros’ GM Jeff Luhnow would have to make that announcement tomorrow before the game. Check to see who CTH editor Eric Huysman thinks will be taken off the 40-man roster here.

Astros fans throughout Houston have been waiting for this call up for a couple of years now, and there will be a lot of excitement around Reed’s debut tomorrow.   When asked how he would help Reed deal with the anticipation of his first big league game, Hinch said: “I’m just going to tell him what I tell all these guys, there’s only one first day, and you gotta enjoy it.”

Next: A.J. Reed is set to join the Houston Astros via reports

Reed and the Astros will face off against the Kansas City Royals tomorrow at 6:15 PM in Kauffman Stadium.  The Astros will send Mike Fiers (5-3, 4.42 ERA) to the mound against the Royals’ Chris Young (2-6, 5.61 ERA) with a chance to win their seventh straight game and their fourth straight series.

**Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com**