Astros prospects report: Seth Beer, Kyle Tucker, and Randy Cesar

A brief look at three Astros prospects who are hot at the moment.

Saturday night, the Houston Astros won their 51st game in the 12th inning on a walk-off single by Carlos Correa. Last night, they won by scoring eight runs in the second inning, capped by a Yuli Gurriel grand slam. This team is tied with the Boston Red Sox win the most wins in baseball with 52. After winning 15 of 17 games, this team is where we thought they would be.

They are part of the big three in the American League, but the future Astros are also impressing down in the minors. This season has not seen any MLB debuts with a deep roster, but players like Tony Kemp and Tyler White are getting a chance to play. Let’s take a look at a few of the players who could help down the road.

Seth Beer.

Many people were scratching their heads when the Astros drafted Beer with the 28th overall pick in the 2018 MLB draft. While there were very few questions about his bat, the focus was on his transfer to wooden bats and what position he would play. He could be destined to be the Astros DH down the road, but he is playing first base with the Tri-City ValleyCats.

He didn’t wait too long, homering in his professional baseball debut. Beer had a game to remember when he went 3-4 Saturday night and hit two homers and drive in four runs.  Last night, he hit another homer. This raised his batting average and OPS to .333 and 1.234 respectively.

He now has seven RBI on the season but has struck out eight times in 33 at-bats.

Beer looks to rise quickly through the minor leagues and could join the Astros in the next two seasons. He has mostly played first base, but he played left field last night. Where he settles in at will be fun to watch.

Kyle Tucker.

No, Tucker is not getting the call yet. However, Jeff Luhnow did mention during an interview on the Astros pregame show that there is “a decent likelihood” that Tucker will be up later this summer. Thanks to Christian Boutwell for pointing this out. This was a big topic of discussion on last night’s Talking Stros. When someone asked when that could be, I suggested that around the trade deadline could be the time we see him.

As my co-host pointed out, why wait for later when he is hot now? After a slow start, Tucker has responded nicely batting .314 with an OPS of .891 via MiLB.com. He has 34 extra-base hits, including ten homers while driving in 57 runs. Don’t forget about his speed. He has stolen 13 bases in 15 attempts.

Tucker had the walk-off hit for the Grizzlies in Saturday night’s game. When does he make his debut with the Astros? The only one who knows this is the new President of Baseball operations and GM, Luhnow.

Randy Cesar.

The first thought you probably had was who? Cesar is not one of the Astros top prospects, but he could be someone to watch. He got some playing time this spring with the Astros, and is currently red hot in Double-A. Cesar hit his ninth homer and 18th double to raise his batting average to .354 via MiLB.com.

Next: Astros Minor League Spotlight: Trent Thornton is rising

The third baseman extended his hitting streak to 41 games with that hit. Someone who no one knew much about has garnered baseball’s attention with his streak. Cesar already broke the Texas League record for longest hitting streaks at 40, will set a new record as long as this streak continues. Maybe Cesar could become someone like Tyler White, who comes out of nowhere to win a job in the future.