Astros Prospect Watch: Tucker getting hot and Alvarez getting hotter

The Astros’ AAA affiliate Round Rock Express had a good week going 5-2 and Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker are among the top players responsible.

The Express just completed their first sweep of the season and are in 1st place of the Pacific Coast League, American Southern Division at 16-10. Astros‘ prospects Alvarez, Tucker, and Myles Straw have had the hot bats of late and Corbin Martin continues his success on the mound.

To say that Yordan Alvarez was hot this week would be a huge understatement. I’m running out of superlatives trying to describe Alvarez and the type of season he’s having. In the last seven games, he has 13 hits in 20 at-bats, and eight of those were extra-base hits, six doubles and two home runs. That amounts to a blazing slash line of .650/.682/1.250 with an OPS of 1.932.

Alvarez now leads the league or is tied for the lead, in five categories. He is tied for first in home runs and doubles with 12 and 10, respectively, and is in the outright lead with a .931 SLG and a 1.421 OPS. Alvarez also has the most total bases with 81. What makes some of these numbers even more remarkable is the fact that there are 43 players in the league with more at-bats than Alvarez.

Another one with the hot bat this past week was Myles Straw. He hit .333/.417/.429 in the last seven games. Straw is second in the league in the stolen base category with seven. In trying to turn Straw into more of a utility player, he has been getting a good share of time at shortstop. He has pretty much split his games between SS and CF.

A welcome sight to see this week is the resurgence of Kyle Tucker behind the plate. He has had a miserable start to the season, but hopefully, he’s turned the corner and is starting to play up to his expected potential. Although his slash line for the season is a disappointing .189/.240/.444, he had more of a Tucker kind of week batting .313/.353/.750 with two HRs, two SBs, and nine RBIs.

The pitcher that shined this week and has quietly had a superb season is Corbin Martin, the Astros 5th ranked prospect. Martin pitched in relief for the first time this season going 4.1 innings against the Oklahoma City Dodgers. In that scoreless outing, he only allowed one hit and walked two. Martin has surrendered just three runs in his five appearances this season giving him an ERA of 1.33 on the season.

These prospects and others are just a sample of a deep and talented the Astros’ Minor League system. A few of these players are knocking on the door loudly to get that call up to the big leagues and when you see performances like Alvarez’s, it may be soon.