Untimely Astros injury appears to have bought top prospect more time to prove his worth

Brice Matthews was a dark horse to make the Houston Astros' Opening Day roster until he wasn't. The club's No. 4 prospect did just enough in the spring to beat out fellow farmhand Zach Cole and break camp with the big club.

The fit wasn't ideal. Matthews is an infielder by trade, but the crowded cast of characters there had the Astros preparing him to work in the outfield. Even so, he didn't look to be in line for a starting role, and Joe Espada isn't in love with having prospects on the 26-man roster if they aren't getting regular at-bats. It seemed as if, rather than this being an intentional decision, Matthews' inclusion was due to a lack of better options, and potentially only a temporary assignment.

Zach Cole's struggles opened the door for Matthews, but if Cole went down to Sugar Land and turned it on, the pair could've easily switched places. Now that Cole's sidelined with a broken toe, that door will stay open for a while longer.

Brice Matthews has shown flashes, but he'll need to take full advantage of Zach Cole's injury

The 24-year-old has taken to the outfield and had his moments with the bat in the early going. His March 30 homer turned some heads and drew some serious praise from Espada.

“I know he’s strong, but that’s strong,” Espada said. “When he hit it, honestly, I thought, ‘This ball isn’t going to get caught,’ but when it kept going, I was like, ‘Oh man, that’s some big-time juice.’”

The ball left Matthews' bat at 111.1 miles per hour and traveled a whopping 434 feet. It was an example of the power portion of the youngster's power-speed combo that makes him so exciting. The second part, the speed, has been on display as he's ranged around both left field and center field, looking more comfortable than you'd expect in the process.

That's the good, but he'll need to show a whole lot more in order to stick in the majors. The power and speed that Matthews brings to the table mean nothing if he can't consistently get on base. He's honed a decent batting eye and is walking at a 10.5% clip through his first eight games, but he's striking out at an astronomical 52.6% rate.

This was an issue for Matthews last year during his brief big league stint as well. The 2023 first-round pick struck out 42.6% of the time over the 13 games he spent in the majors in 2025.

The heart of the issue is Matthew's contact rate, which has been a concern for some time. He managed a 67% overall contact rate and, more concerningly, a 76.2% zone contact rate in Triple-A last season. So far this year, his zone contact rate is at 78.1%. Ideally, he needs to push that number to 85% or higher in order to have a shot at being consistently productive.

This is all top of mind for Matthews. He acknowledged the opportunity his friend's injury has given him and what he needs to work on to maximize it.

"I talked to [Cole] and told him I was praying for him,” Matthews said. “Hopefully, it’s a speedy recovery. He’s going to help us in the long run. He’s a really good player and it just sucks to have him injured. For me, it’s keep having good at-bats and finishing them off the right way and keep making more contact like I was in Spring Training. I just have to slow everything down and keep playing baseball.”

Matthews has the right idea and now has the best runway he's going to get with Houston for the foreseeable future. Now it's up to him to do something with it. If he does, the Astros will have a nice, young building block on their hands. If he doesn't, he might soon be written off.