What To Expect: Alex Bregman

After rampant speculation since the end of the Futures Game, the Astros have pulled the trigger and called up top prospect Alex Bregman, the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s draft.

Bregman, a Louisiana State product, has raked at every stop this year, starting with an aggressive assignment to Double-A Corpus Christi. With the Hooks, Bregman, 22, hit .297/.415/.559 with 14 home runs in 62 games.

The power outburst was a little bit of a surprise, considering he’d hit 21 home runs over three seasons at LSU. He added six more longballs at Triple-A Fresno and had an OPS of 1.018 at the time of his callup.

The No. 8 overall player in the game showed off in this year’s Futures Game, in San Diego, where he was a home run shy of the cycle and played the entire game.

SCOUTING REPORT

Bregman has long been lauded for two parts of his game–his offense and his makeup. As he showed in college and in the minors, he’s an advanced hitter with the ability to hit for both average and power and the acumen to draw plenty of walks as well.

He carries himself with an abundance of confidence. He knows he’s talented, and he’s anxious to prove it on the big stage.

Dansby Swanson, who played against Bregman for three years in the Southeastern Conference and was taken one spot ahead of him—at No. 1 overall by the Diamondbacks—gushed at his skills while the two were teammates at the Futures Game.

“He’s incredible, he really is,” Swanson said. “He can hit, play defense, do it all. I thought they were going to hang him a breaking ball and he’d hit it out (for the cycle) . . . But they started thumbing him breaking balls and changeups. . . . Everyone knows he can hit, he knows he can hit—that’s probably why he’s so good.”

Swanson wasn’t the only one singing Bregman’s praises that day. Clint Frazier, who ranked as the Indians’ top prospect in this year’s Midseason Update, couldn’t help but be impressed with the skills of his teammate for the day.

“He rakes man, he just barrels everything up. It’s a very simple, repeatable timing mechanism and swing,” Frazier said. “There’s not a lot that goes into it. It shows why he’s successful, he’s able to repeat what he does at the plate every time. Alex Bregman makes the game look easy.”

Defensively, Bregman’s an adequate shortstop but is blocked at the position by Carlos Correa, last year’s rookie of the year in the American League. To alleviate that problem, he’s worked around the diamond of late with Fresno. He’s seen a little bit of time recently at third base and in left field.

He’s likely to move around the diamond, playing left field and infield to give some of the Astros’ more veteran players a chance to take half-day at designated hitter once or twice a week.

WHAT TO EXPECT

If he’s not already owned or kept in your fantasy league, go get him—now. He’s got the potential to play every day in Houston to give the team an injection of offense and should be around for the long haul as the Astros challenge for a second straight playoff berth.