ST. LOUIS -- As Spring Training came to a close, we took a look at five Astros players who had standout performances in the Grapefruit League.
Now that we’re 16 games into the regular season following Monday night’s 8-3 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium -- about 10% of the season in the books -- let’s take a look at how those five players have performed when the results matter:
IF/OF Zach Dezenzo
Dezenzo hit .391 (18-for-46) in the spring with two home runs and seven RBIs and made his first Opening Day roster. Playing time has been hard to come by for Dezenzo, who has started only four games this year -- three in right field and one in left. The 24-year-old came off the bench Monday and singled in his only at-bat and is 2-for-15 with seven strikeouts.
“At some point, there’s a chance we could end up sending him out,” general manager Dana Brown said on Friday. “But right now, we want to see if we can get him some at-bats at the big league level.
“He’s a young player, but we wanted to see if we could find him some opportunity here. If we can’t find him opportunity here, then we’ll send him back to get more at-bats.”
RF Cam Smith
Smith, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Astros’ No. 1 prospect, was the talk of camp after hitting a pair of home runs in his first two official Grapefruit League at-bats. He proceeded to have an excellent showing in Grapefruit League play (slash line of .342/.419/.711 with four homers) and was the Opening Day starter in right field as the replacement for Kyle Tucker. Smith had played in only five games above High-A entering this season.
Making his 12th start of the season in right field on Monday, he went 0-for-4 against the Cardinals after going 6-for-17 with his first triple and homer in the previous five games. He has one strikeout in his past 20 at-bats after striking out 10 times in his first 19 at-bats.
“I still think that he’s disciplined at the plate,” Brown said on Friday. “His swing decisions are still really good. He just hasn’t had some of the fortune he had in Spring Training. He got two hits in a game for the first time [Wednesday, and again on Friday]. So we’re looking for more of that, for sure.”
RHP Logan VanWey
VanWey flew under the radar all spring and made a push to make the club out of camp before getting sent to Triple-A to start the year. He wasn’t there long. Called up April 7, he has tossed three innings in two games, allowing a homer to Taylor Ward of the Angels on Saturday.
VanWey, who struck out 98 hitters in 72 2/3 innings last year at Triple-A, has the weapons to get right-handers and left-handers out. With Kaleb Ort and Forrest Whitley likely to be activated off the injured list in the next week or so, VanWey’s spot in the big league bullpen is anything but secure.
SS Jeremy Pe?a
Pe?a raked the entire spring, going 19-for-40 (.475) with two doubles, four homers and 10 RBIs in Grapefruit League play. After going 5-for-35 to start the regular season, he’s slashing .304/.370/.478 during his six-game hitting streak, which he extended with a ninth-inning homer Monday -- the 50th of his career -- that traveled 407 feet.
“I think his at-bats continue to get better and it’s a game of adjustments, and he’s got to continue to make those adjustments,” manager Joe Espada said.
LHP Bryan King
King has been terrific out of the bullpen for the Astros and is becoming one of Espada’s most trusted relievers. So much so that he has pitched exclusively in the seventh inning or later. In an ideal world, Espada uses Bryan Abreu in the eighth and Josh Hader in the ninth, while King has settled into the seventh-inning setup role.
King has thrown 7 1/3 scoreless innings and has struck out 13 of the 28 batters he faced for a 46.4% strikeout rate that’s in the top 1 percent of pitchers, while relying mostly on a four-seam fastball and slider. King had a 2.39 ERA last year in 28 games out of Houston’s bullpen as a 27-year-old rookie and has been a solid pickup out of the Minor League phase of the Rule 5 Draft in 2022.