Brice Matthews #86

A native Houstonian, Brice has deep roots with the Astros organization as a former youth player at the Astros Youth Academy...the Astros AYA has helped thousands of boys and girls since it opened in 2010, with many getting college scholarships to play baseball and softball...at the time of Brice's selection by the Astros there had been 11 kids taken in the MLB Draft who played at the AYA, but not a first-rounder...When he wasn't at the academy, Matthews was starring at Atascocita High School in Humble, TX, both on the diamond and the gridiron...Matthews served as his high school's duel-threat quarterback, finishing his senior season going 233-of-372 for 4,001 yards with 43 touchdowns and 12 interceptions...he also had 108 carries for 744 yards with 11 touchdowns...Matthews finished his football career as District 22-6A MVP...While at Atascocita HS, played behind offensive lineman Kenyon Green...Green went on to star at Texas A&M before being selected by the Houston Texans in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft...Matthews was not drafted out high school and went on to play baseball at the University of Nebraska for three seasons...had a breakout junior year in 2023 in which he hit .359 at the plate with 20 homers and 20 stolen bases as a first-team All-Big Ten selection... tallied a .481 OBP and a .723 slugging percentage... his 20-20 season was the first by a Huskers player in school history and the second in Big Ten history...Selected by Houston in the first round of the 2023 June draft with the 28th overall selection...signed by Astros scout Drew Pearson...Received his first career Major League Spring Training camp invite this season.

2024

Had a strong sophomore season in 2024, advancing up three levels to eventually top out at Triple-A Sugar Land...on the season, combined to hit .265 (76-for-287) with 15 doubles, 15 home runs, 44 RBI, a .346 OBP and an .8654 OPS in 79 games... began his season at Class A Asheville, where he'd play in 21 games before a promotion...while at Asheville, named the South Atlantic League Player of the Week for the week of June 3-9...went 12-for-26 (.462/.533/1.495) in six games that week, while hitting four home runs, tallying seven RBI, scoring eight runs, working four walks, and stealing five bases...promoted to Double A Corpus Christi on June 18 and then to Sugar Land on Sept. 10...went 3-for-13 (.231) with a homer and four RBI in three postseason games for Sugar Land...following the year, played for San Juan in the Puerto Rican Winter League, appearing in 20 games and hitting .200 (15-for-75) with two doubles, four homers and 13 RBI.