Consistency Counts For Derek Fisher

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—Through the first three months of last season, outfielder Derek Fisher was one of the most productive position players in the Texas League.

His numbers waned in July before picking up back again after the Astros promoted him from Double-A Corpus Christi to Triple-A Fresno in early August.

The 23-year-old Fisher seeks consistency this season as he returns to the Pacific Coast League, one level away from Houston.

“That’s what separates everybody who’s up here (in the majors),” Fisher said. “That’s what’s remarkable.”

Fisher is participating in his second big league spring training this year. He hit .290/.347/.505 with five home runs in 27 games at Fresno to close 2016.

Fisher’s path to Houston became much more crowded when in the offseason the Astros signed free agents Josh Reddick (four years, $52 million) and Carlos Beltran (one year, $16 million) and also claimed Nori Aoki on waivers from the Mariners.

A supplemental first-round pick from Virginia in 2014, Fisher produced an .815 OPS overall last season.

“Each year you just try to make progress,” said Fisher, who bats lefthanded. “Last year, I made really good progress in the beginning, not so well in the middle and then toward the end I made some really, really good progress.”

Fisher, who stole 28 bases last season after swiping 31 in 2015, has taken advantage this spring of being around the 39-year-old Beltran, the most efficient basestealer in baseball history.

“He’s great,” Fisher said. “It’s awesome to have somebody who’s played this game so long and has been such a complete player.

“Earlier in his career, he stole so many bases . . . (that for) somebody like me (where it’s a) part of my game, I like to just pick his brain a little bit.”

SPACE SHOTS

• Catcher Garrett Stubbs said he added 10 pounds to his 5-foot-10 frame between the end of the Arizona Fall League and spring training. He reported to spring training weighing 183 pounds, he said.

• Anibal Sierra, the 23-year-old Cuban shortstop who signed for $1.5 million last July, was among the minor leaguers brought over to big league camp for late-game action early in the Grapefruit League slate.

— Jake Kaplan covers the Astros for the Houston Chronicle