No learning curve for Bregman

Published 6:48 am Wednesday, July 6, 2016

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">For a while, it looked as if the Astros might go ahead and yank Alex Bregman in the middle of his first Triple-A game, dispense with the formalities and bring him up to the major leagues right now.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The former All-American shortstop, barely a year out of LSU, is at Fresno in the Astros system. And there already seems to be some question if the competition there will be enough to hold his attention.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Fortunately, Bregman has some focus when it comes to baseball.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But this is really getting boring.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He was fresh off the Texas League Double-A All-Star Game, representing Corpus Christi, when he was sent out west to Fresno for ?— what is it they say in baseball? — “more seasoning.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He was six at-bats into his first game in Triple-A before he made an out. In fact, he was 5-for-5 with two home runs, six RBIs and four runs before finishing 5-for-6.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Representing Corpus Christi, he’d just bid adieu to Double-A by going 2-for-3 in the Texas League All-Star game with a home run.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Just wait until he gets comfortable with the promotion, adjusts to the higher caliber pitching a heartbeat away from The Show.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">OK, there actually is a slightly larger sample size now.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">As of Monday Bregman had five Triple-A games under his belt and is hitting .476 with four home runs and 11 RBIs.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">That’s about two years ahead of schedule, even for an overall No. 2 pick in Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft, which Bregman was for the Astros out of LSU last season.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">That isn’t just fast-tracking. Bregman is leaving scorch marks in his mad dash through the Astros minor league system.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Beep-beep.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Usually there’s a hiccup somewhere along the way. At some point en route to Park Place and Boardwalk you get sent back to Baltic Avenue without passing Go.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Not this guy. Not so far.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">As with most prospects, the Astros proceeded with caution, even after drafting Bregman so high.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">They started him last summer in low Class A, which contained him for 37 games before being booted up to high A, the parent club’s Quad Cities (River Bandits) in Davenport, Iowa, for the final 29 games.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">There doesn’t appear to be any wall he might hit on the way up. This year has seen similar mere toe taps at the various stops along the way.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Sunday he’ll play with the U.S. team in the Future’s Game in San Diego’s Petco Park as part of the Major League All-Star game build-up.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Bregman was always a baseball version of a gym rat, the kind of guy who couldn’t get enough of the sport, always running out routine ground balls like the Olympic 100-meter gold medal was on the line.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He’ll usually have a jersey full of dirt and dust by the time infield warm-ups are over.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">At LSU you could count on at least one web gem per game that would take your breath away.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And he was always a hard out at the plate.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The oddity during the meteoric rise through the minors has been the power.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Where’d that come from?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Oh, he launched a few with the Tigers. But most seemed to be accidents. There was little to suggest a true slugger at the next levels.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Yet, counting Corpus Christi and the budding Fresno r?sum?, he has 18 bombs in 67 games — 19 if you count that all-star cameo.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">With only a few less games to LSU seasons, he never hit more than nine with the Tigers.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Bregman told mlb.com that in college he concentrated on “staying on top of the ball,” hitting ground balls. Now, he said, if a pitch is anything from the middle of the plate in, he’s looking to put an uppercut on it.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It sounds like something that might agree with the short-shot Crawford Boxes in the Astros’ Minute Maid Park.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">So, yes, Bregman has kind of been the talk of the minor leagues, the buzz highlighted by his quick assault on Triple-A pitching.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">If somebody out West doesn’t starting getting him out, you wonder how much longer the Astros can wait to make the final promotion.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">There’s only one problem, one road block.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The Astros have the reigning American League Rookie of the Year at shortstop. And it wouldn’t appear that Carlos Correa (who spent only 27 games in Double-A last year) is going anywhere anytime soon.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It was no doubt with that in mind that, early at Corpus Christi, Bregman moved over and began playing third base, apparently passing the audition without incident.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He’s back at shortstop at Fresno, at least for the time being, but that could always change.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The Astros have had something of a platoon at third, with Marwin Gonzalez and Luis Valbuena producing mixed results.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And you wonder if the Astros want to debut a promising prospect in the big leagues at a relatively new position.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But you have to believe that some time before this season is over, Alex Bregman will be a major leaguer somewhere on the field.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AZaphdingbatdot7pt">l</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Scooter Hobbs</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">covers LSU</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">athletics. Email him at</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">shobbs@americanpress.com</span>

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<p class="p1">Follow Scooter Hobbs on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/ScooterAmPress"><span class="s1">twitter.com/ScooterAmPress</span></a>

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