Astros' No. 3 prospect moving up the ranks

This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

HOUSTON – Astros general manager Dana Brown hasn’t been shy about his willingness to promote Minor League players and challenge them at the next level. Already this season, third-round 2023 Draft pick Jake Bloss, Pedro León (the Astros' No. 24 prospect) and Zach Dezenzo (No. 4) have made their big league debuts, while Jacob Melton (No. 1) has moved up to Triple-A.

Shortstop Brice Matthews (No. 3) – Brown’s first pick in the MLB Draft as a general manager -- has made a solid impression after getting bumped to Double-A Corpus Christi from High-A Asheville on June 18. This is Matthews' first full season in the Minors.

The 22-year-old right-hander slashed .321/.423/.580 at Asheville before his mid-season promotion to the Texas League. He’s held his own for the Hooks, slashing .234/.351/.451 with six homers, six doubles, 10 steals and 13 RBIs in 30 games entering Saturday. He’s played nearly 300 innings at shortstop and 108 innings at third base.

“Brice is a great kid,” Corpus Christi manager Joe Thon said. “Obviously, he’s been pushed to this level quite quickly. He’s younger in the group, but he’s pretty diligent with his work. He’s always out there working. Great teammate who works hard. At least in the things he can control, he’s really good with it. Obviously, there’s a lot of things he’s working on. Being pushed at a higher level, he’s exposed to a little better pitching and more specific approaches. It’s good to see him learn at a higher level.”

Matthews, the No. 28 overall pick in the 2023 Draft out of Nebraska, has been working closely with Corpus Christi hitting coach Bobby Bell and Minor League hitting coordinator Dan Hennigan on refining his in-zone approach.

“He’ll be [swinging] in-zone more times than not,” Thon said. “He spits on good pitches and is good to go there. The discipline is there. Now it’s being able hit the ball clean in-zone and we’ve seen it. When he hits the ball clean, it goes quite a [ways]. He’s very twitchy, very strong, very athletic. It’s [a] good combo.”

Defensively, Matthews moves very well and gets quick, clean jumps. The focus now at Corpus Christi is taking the defense to the next level, which means cheating jumps while recognizing which pitches are being thrown. It’s the kind of next-level baseball intelligence that could help Matthews get the big leagues quicker.

“There’s a lot more baseball IQ to instill in him,” Thon said. “His physical abilities are quite apparent and now it’s getting to be able to translate that to an everyday shortstop or [an] everyday infielder in a big league way. There’s a lot of people who are talented now and it’s being able to play the game correctly and be observant.”

Matthews slashed .208/.365/.352 (.717 OPS) with four homers, 11 RBIs and 18 stolen bases in 35 games in his professional debut in '23, 33 games of which were spent at Low-A Fayetteville.