Astros Expected To Select Grae Kessinger

The Astros are expected to promote infielder Grae Kessinger, reports Mark Berman of Fox 26, with catcher César Salazar optioned in a corresponding move. Kessinger isn’t on the 40-man roster and will require a corresponding move to get a spot there though that could easily be accomplished by transferring someone like Luis Garcia, who is out for the year due to Tommy John surgery, to the 60-day injured list.

Kessinger, 25, was selected by the Astros in the second round of the 2019 draft. He made some appearances in Low-A and Single-A that year and was ranked the club’s #10 prospect by Baseball America going into 2020. After the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues that year, he spent 2021 in Double-A but struggled. He hit just .209/.287/.330 for a wRC+ of 67, though he did steal 12 bases and play the three infield positions to the left of first base. He stuck in Double-A in 2022 and improved slightly, hitting .211/.327/.366 for a wRC+ of 82 while swiping 23 bags.

Those tepid results put a dent in his prospect stock but he was promoted to Triple-A for this year and has fared better, walking in 15.4% of his plate appearances against a 19.5% strikeout rate. His .284/.400/.443 batting line amounts to a 107 wRC+ and he’s continued to bounce around to the different infield positions. He’ll now be in position to make his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

The promotion of Kessinger is likely due to the oblique soreness that has kept Jose Altuve out of the lineup for the past two days. With Altuve unavailable for the past two contests, the clubs has run out an infield of Alex Bregman at third, Jeremy Peña at short and Mauricio Dubón at second. But with three catchers on the roster in Salazar, Martín Maldonado and Yainer Diaz, they didn’t really have a backup in the event of any of those guys suddenly needing to leave a game. Swapping in Kessinger and reverting to the standard two-catcher setup will give the club a bit more infield security until Altuve is ready to return to action.