I'm not sure I'd punctuate a 20-year old posting an .837 OPS in AA with an "only" - he totaled nearly three times as many PAs as Correa. I suspect, if they'd kept Correa there that long, his slash line would have eventually regressed and been more in line with Tucker's. But those were different days; there's less urgency to move the prospects through the system, given the team's current status. Anyway, point remains: slash lines are likely not the driving force behind their evaluations. Tucker's K rate last year was a respectable 20%; it has dropped to 17% thus far in AAA; I would wager they care more about that than his slash line. Preston was 21 when he made his minor league debut; Kyle 18. Again, I think the team has a much better handle on their prospects beyond what the numbers tell us.
The forgotten man is JD Davis. He was coming around right before he was sent down and is tearing up triple A with a .424 ba. Sure wish they spent more time getting him reps in LF. If Marisnik, Fisher, and/or Gattis don't show signs in the next couple of weeks it will be time to make a move. Send Fisher down, have Gonzo, Gurriel, Davis, Gattis split time at dh, 1b, lf. With Gonzolez primarily left field. If Gattis continues to struggle try to move him and bring Kyle up. Marisnik should be used sparingly as defensive replacement and pinch runner.
It’s interesting to me that the guys struggling the most out of the gate (namely Marwin and Gattis) are in walk years. However many games this team wins, its looking likely that next year’s team, with White, Davis, and Tucker replacing Gattis, Marwin, and either Marisnick or Fisher, will be better offensively, especially if they acquire a good catcher to replace McCann.
After going 4-8 in his first 2 games with Fresno, Tucker is mashing the ball at a robust .195 .298 .244 .542 clip (8-41).
"Only" in comparison to Correa's slash in AA because Correa's numbers came down quite a bit when he moved to AAA before his call up. People seem to forget Jed Lowrie getting hurt, Marwin not hitting great, and the Astros being ahead of schedule and winning in 2015 was a perfect storm so to speak to get Carlos up earlier than planned. The Astros were 11 games above .500 when Correa was called up. If you go back a page or 2 you will see my point that started all this. With Marwin, Gattis, Marisnick, and FIsher struggling I believe there is/was an opportunity for Tucker to be called up sooner than the Astros were planning. HOWEVER, Tucker's numbers in AAA early in the season have not been overly impressive. I believe original preseason plan for Tucker was MAYBE a September call up and then start him in AAA next year until he clears super 2 status. With so many under performers on the MLB roster I believe if Tucker was raking he could have been looking at a call up in a matter of weeks. It's still early so maybe he can get on a tear and make it happen. I think though the Astros will use his "okay" numbers as an excuse that if/when they are ready to demote Fisher the spot will go to Drew Ferguson, Tyler White, or JD Davis again. Tucker needed to be mashing like Bregman to get an early call up.
Again, the Astros have a long list of qualitative data they consider that goes well beyond a player's slash line. For instance, I know, for a fact, they focus heavily on strikeouts. Bregman and Correa's rates were both around 10-12% in the minors; Tucker has been above 20%, currently 17% - I'd wager that would concern them more than his batting average. (Springer was up above 25%, at times as high as 30%.) Additionally - and this is based on nothing more than my own intuition - I just don't see them putting *that* much pressure on Tucker. Bringing him up while the bats are struggling positions him as a savior and that, with the shadow of a repeat hanging over every thing that they do, is a lot to burden a 20-year old with, IMO. I think he'll be up this year - but I think they'll be careful (beyond all the eligibility issues) when they do it.
Any update on my boy K-Tuck? All I saw was that he's still crushing it in AAA... but there's no available spot with Jake, D-Fish, and Reddick in the OF.
He's been hot lately, which is always welcomed, but I wouldn't consider his season thus far as crushing it, especially for his lofty expectations/standards. Hopefully he continues the positive trend, but I don't see him suiting up at MMP any time soon.
Fisher is a fine replacement for Marisnick as a base runner, but Fisher is nowhere near the defensive player Marisnick is. Marisnick is an elite CF, Fisher is barely playable there. If I were choosing a 4th OF for this season only, I would easily go for Marisnick over Fisher. If I had to choose someone to play LF everyday, and if I had to consider long term over short term, I’d pick Fisher. Luckily they don’t have to make that choice, they can send Fisher down to the minors if they acquire another OF or want to promote one from within (like Tucker, who I do not think is playing well enough to warrant a callup just yet).
The team is not expecting him to go nuts in AAA nor will they hold him back if he doesn't become a minor league MVP candidate. Correa also had a very pedestrian stint at AAA before the call-up. For all we know, they may be asking him to work on just one or two particular aspects of his hitting while he's down there, which sometimes will impact overall numbers.