Astros just put Brendan Rodgers on the hot seat after signing former first round pick

Eric Cole

Houston Astros v Chicago White Sox / Matt Dirksen/GettyImages

The Houston Astros would surely love to have some more lineup options at the moment. They are very famously too right-handed at the moment especially with Yordan Alvarez out and the offense has lagged behind what has been surprisingly good pitching this season. While ideally guys like Christian Walker and Jose Altuve would get going again, it seems like the Astros' latest signing could be targeting the roster spot occupied by Brendan Rodgers.

The hope was that Rodgers would slot into the void left after Altuve was shifted to the outfield and actually perform at the plate. However, what has actually happened is that Rodgers is hitting .198 with a .535 OPS through 106 plate appearances.

Well, Rodgers' position on the Astros' roster period could be in jeopardy. On Thursday, Houston went out and signed Greg Jones to a minor league deal and his profile is one that should really interest Astros fans at the moment.

Astros sign former first round pick Greg Jones to a minor league deal

A first round pick from the 2019 MLB Draft by the Rays, Jones has long been a tantalizing blend of physical tools even though he hasn't quite been able to put things together and become a regular in the big leagues in large part due to injuries. Just last year, Jones slashed .267/.344/.453 with 16 homers and 46 stolen bases in the minor leagues.

More importantly for Astros fans, Jones can play second base in addition to shortstop and the outfield AND he is a switch hitter. While nothing is guaranteed to Jones here as this is a minor league deal and he hasn't been able to establish himself thus far, Houston taking a flier on Jones here does seem like an attempt to give the organization a bat that can balance their lineup and get the underperforming Rodgers out of the picture if he can't start hitting.

With Jones now lurking at Triple-A, Rodgers could be running out of time to prove himself. He may have thought that getting away from the Rockies would help his career, but there has been precious little evidence of that being true. If Jones performs well in the minors, Rodgers could find himself out of a job.

More Astros News from Climbing Tal's Hill

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.