Astros to Promote Alex Bregman and Teoscar Hernandez to AAA

Two Houston Astros Prospects to be Promoted to Fresno Following the AA All-Star Game.

In the most obvious news to come out of the Houston Astros camp was that after the Double-A All-Star game Tuesday night, two prospects will be promoted to Triple-A Fresno. Last night on Talking Stros, my co-host Brandon suggested that Alex Bregman and Derek Fisher would get promoted after the All-Star game. I quickly corrected him, while Fisher has played well, it would be Teoscar Hernandez.

Following the show, I noticed Brian McTaggart’s Tweet above, saying that Bregman and Hernandez were being promoted. It’s not too often that I am right and Brandon is not. I am done with that, but this is awesome news for those two players. The club has not confirmed it, but they did not confirm the A.J. Reed news to after it was reported. Before we get too deep in each players stats, I wanted to tell you a brief reason why Hernandez over Fisher.

Hernandez is entering his third season with the Double-A Hooks, with him spending the entire 2015 season with the Hooks. In 2014, Hernandez showed potential five-tool talents mostly with High-A Lancaster but finished the year with the Hooks. That season, he hit .292/ 21 homers/ 85 RBI/ 33 SB between the two teams. He leaped onto the top prospects lists but struggled in 2015. With his struggles, the Astros had him repeat Double-A in 2016.

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While most players could get upset, Hernandez worked to get back on track. Despite hitting 17 homers and stealing 33 bases last year, his batting average slashed down to .219 with an OPS of .637, down from .897 in 2014. The Astros wanted to reward Hernandez for his efforts, where it seems that he has sacrificed some of his power for more contact.

He had seniority at Double-A over Fisher, which makes sense for him to get the promotion over the former 2014 first round pick. The Astros will try to stall as long as they can with Fisher, possibly waiting until the Super 2 deadline in 2017. However, Hernandez could be used at some point in 2016 if needed.

Let’s take a look at Bregman, Hernandez, and Fisher’s 2016 stats with the Hooks. Bregman: Slash line – .297/ .415/ .559/ .975 with 14 homers with 46 RBIs while stealing 5 bases.

Bregman: Slash line – .297/ .415/ .559/ .975 with 14 homers with 46 RBIs while stealing 5 bases. 

Hernandez: Slash line – .305/ .384/ .437/ .821 with 6 homers with 30 RBIs while stealing 29 bases.

Fisher: Slash line – .271/ .404/ .490/ .895 with 13 homers with 47 RBIs while stealing 18 bases.

As you can see, you can tell that these three players are a big reason for the Hooks having a 51-25 record this year. Fisher might be the better overall player than Hernandez, but the Astros think that Hernandez has mastered Double-A. Jeremy Booth of Program 15 and Jim Callis of MLB.com both said that a player should be promoted when they have mastered a level, that is what Hernandez has done this season.

Fisher’s time will come, but for now, all three players focus is on the Double-A All-Star game right now. Hernandez and Bregman both are tied with 52 runs and hits with 82, from Michael Coffin before yesterday’s game. Bregman and Fisher will take part in the home run derby, last year’s winner was Tyler White.

The trio will play together one more time in the All-Star game on Tuesday, then Bregman and Hernandez will head to Fresno where other issues await them. Where will they play? There could be some players being moved back to Double-A, but the Fresno Grizzlies have a glut of corner infielders and outfielders. I’ll discuss this in a later post.

Next: Astros: Time For Teoscar Hernandez to be Promoted to AAA

Bregman will play shortstop primarily, will get possibly 25%-40% of the starts at third base as well because that is his anticipated position once he makes it to the show. Hernandez should become the primary center fielder, even though he played right field with the Hooks. Hernandez has reasserted himself into the Astros future plans, and Bregman is the future, it is fitting that they get promoted to Triple-A together. Good luck guys.

***Stats from MiLB.com and Baseball-Reference***