The Houston Astros made a trade deadline splash when they traded for Minnesota Twins infielder Carlos Correa. While the Astros don’t need a shortstop, even more so now that Jeremy Pena is back, Correa’s return spurred the Astros to make a few roster moves.
Before their series against the Boston Red Sox, the Astros announced that they had optioned their top two prospects, Brice Matthews and Jacob Melton, back down to Triple-A Sugar Land.
Houston made the moves with Correa and Jesus Sanchez taking their place on the active roster, along with Pena’s return. In their time with the Astros, their top two prospects showed some potential, but didn’t completely put it together.
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Matthews, the top prospect and only player inside the top 100 from the Astros organization, had a .143 batting average in 11 games in the Majors before he was optioned back down to Triple-A.
While his batting average wasn’t great, he did manage a solid .400 slugging percentage, thanks to his three home runs, which included a two-homer night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, followed by another home run the next day against the same team.
MORE: Astros agree to blockbuster trade with Twins for Carlos Correa
Melton, on the other hand, didn’t slug the ball nearly as well as Matthews did, but his average was significantly better. He hit .206 in his 13 games with the Astros this season, and most recently was activated off the injured list for two games to close out July.
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In those games, he went a combined 0-5 with two strikeouts. Overall, during his Astros tenure this season, his OPS was paltry .535, significantly lower than his .946 OPS in 19 games in Triple-A this season.
Both Melton and Matthews had their moments, but with the trade acquisitions making their debuts for the Astros, the team decided to send them back down to Triple-A, likely to get them more at-bats and hopefully keep them fresh for a deep postseason run.
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