Astros: Chas McCormick added to roster with eye on future

Houston Astros fans may not be familiar with outfielder Chas McCormick.

For all those who actively watch the Houston Astros, when you found out Chas McCormick made the roster for the Wild Card round, you were probably very confused and also wondering who he is. Today the team announced its ALDS roster, and McCormick was on it too. The weird thing is, McCormick did not play a single Major League game this season.

So, who is Chas McCormick? The West Chester, PA native was a star high school athlete. He was the first person to ever put up more than 1,000 points in basketball while also having more than 100 hits in baseball in his high school’s history. He was a Division II baseball player at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, where he holds many records and also became an All-American.

McCormick was drafted in the 21st round by the Astros in 2017. In 2019, MiLB.com named him an All-Star of the organization. Through 281 minor league games, he is batting .276 with an OPS of .760. Some very average stats, but he shows some great speed aspects.

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Why did the front office bring up a guy who hasn’t seen a Major League pitch yet? This move came as a surprise to many, but it was a move for the future. The Astros have two All-Star outfielders in George Springer and Michael Brantley that are on their last years of their contract, and another player out of a contract will be Josh Reddick.

The organization cannot afford all three of them in this upcoming offseason, so they are giving McCormick the experience and the time to build a relationship with his future teammates. Look at it as a time to prep for your future job, a tour around the office. This move might have been heavily planned with the team moving McCormick to the alternate training site on July 17, right before the season.

McCormick will likely be the fourth outfielder next season depending on how the Astros move forward with Brantley, Springer and Reddick. The ideal outfield for the future is McCormick in right, Springer in center, and Kyle Tucker in left.