Astros notes: The future at second base, Forrest Whitley’s role and more

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Jose Altuve landed in south Florida on Sunday for the most fascinating spring training of his storied career, one sans Alex Bregman and shrouded in speculation about his future as a second baseman.

Altuve hasn’t addressed a potential move to left field since mid-January, when the scenario felt more like a final appeal for Bregman to remain in Houston. The ensuing weeks accentuated how serious Houston is considering moving the face of its franchise off the only position he’s ever played. Altuve is expected to speak Monday, when all position players report to camp.

Team officials continue to insist Altuve will train at both positions during spring training and aren’t committing to anything, but even if Altuve remains at second base this season, Houston’s long-term future at the position has never felt more in flux.

Progression from prospect Brice Matthews may solidify it, making this a consequential first major-league camp and minor-league season for Houston’s first-round pick in the 2023 draft.

“He sees that he’s getting close and he sees there’s opportunity at the major-league level,” manager Joe Espada said Sunday. “He sees the competition and wants to get in the mix of things too.”

“We just have to polish him and finish him up, but I think he recognizes it’s time to take a step forward.”

Matthews ascended three levels of the Astros’ minor-league system last season, showing some stretches of offensive success with a strikeout problem sprinkled in. Earlier this month, The Athletic’s Keith Law wrote that Matthews “can’t hit breaking stuff at all right now,” a fact Espada alluded to Sunday.

“We know he can handle fastballs,” Espada said. “We know he has a pretty good feel for the strike zone. It’s more (about) consistency — be more of a complete hitter (and) knowing that when things aren’t going well, how can those slumps be reduced to a three or four-day slump instead of a week-long slump? That’s the difference sometimes between a major-league hitter and a minor-league hitter.”

Matthews, who turns 23 next month, slashed .252/.376/.497 across 181 Double-A plate appearances last year. He struck out 19 times in 42 at-bats during his brief Triple-A debut at the end of last season before punching out 30 times in 85 plate appearances in Puerto Rican winter ball.

Espada traveled there this winter to watch Matthews and Zach Dezenzo play for Senadores de San Juan. Matthews, who started 11 of his 19 winter ball games at second base, impressed Espada with his ability to handle the position, unsurprising for a player who was primarily a collegiate shortstop at Nebraska.

Matthews has started just one game at second base during his two-year professional career, but with the addition of touted third base prospect Cam Smith coupled with Altuve’s potential position change, it is expected that Matthews will see more time there this year.

Espada already announced Matthews will start at second during the team’s Grapefruit League opener later this month.

“I can play wherever, wherever they tell me to go, I’m willing,” Matthews said. “(Second base) was like riding a bike.”

Barring something unforeseen, Matthews won’t break camp with the Astros, meaning the club could still be searching for a second baseman should Altuve make the full-time move to left field.

Espada and general manager Dana Brown have mentioned Mauricio Dubón as the most logical candidate to play a more prominent role, but Dubón said Saturday that he hadn’t had any discussions about it with team officials.

Two seasons ago, Dubón opened the season as Houston’s everyday second baseman after Altuve broke his thumb in the World Baseball Classic. Dubón slashed .309/.333/.389 in Altuve’s absence and eventually captured the American League’s utility Gold Glove Award.

“I would love the opportunity,” Dubón said. “I was able to do it in (2023) and I think I did a pretty good job in that situation. I want to play. I want to play anywhere. As long as I’m out there every day, I’m happy.”

Espada and other team officials continue to echo that Dubón is most valuable as a utilityman able to spell regulars around the infield while adding another name into the Astros’ uncertain mix in left field. Platooning Dubón with another left-handed hitting second baseman — be it Luis Guillorme or Zack Short — could be another option for Houston should Altuve move to left field.

His immediate future is in the bullpen, but Forrest Whitley once held the title of baseball’s best starting pitching prospect. The Astros haven’t forgotten it.

“It would be nice if I could get him out there for four or five outs, if necessary, six outs,” Espada said. “I love the stuff and he’s been a starter in the past. I don’t want to take that strength away from him. If he can go out there and give us two-plus innings, that’s our goal.”

Only four of Whitley’s 32 outings for Triple-A Sugar Land last season featured more than three outs. He did procure five outs for the Astros on Sept. 4 against the Cincinnati Reds, but did so out of sheer necessity after starter Spencer Arrighetti could not complete the first inning.

Stretching Whitley into a multi-inning reliever could benefit the club early in the season, when starters aren’t built up to their midseason workload. The early-season absence of Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia only compounds that problem, emphasizing the need for middle relievers capable of procuring up to nine outs.

“We’re going to slowly build him up,” Espada said, “but I expect him to get us more than three outs.”

Whitley is out of minor-league options, meaning he must make the Astros’ Opening Day roster or risk being exposed to outright waivers. It’s all but certain another club would claim him based on talent alone, an outcome the Astros want to avoid for a player in whom they’ve already invested more than $3.15 million.

Strengthening Whitley’s candidacy to throw multiple innings is the continued absence of Shawn Dubin, who reprised the long relief role last season and, like Whitley, doesn’t have minor-league options remaining. Dubin is shut down from throwing due to a shoulder that, according to Espada, “doesn’t feel right.”

Though he is no longer a member of the MLBPA’s executive subcommittee, Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. maintains a vested interest in the broader state of baseball and its business. He, along with the rest of players, isn’t interested in a salary cap, even after the Los Angeles Dodgers’ winter spending spree.

“I don’t view anything the Dodgers are doing as bad for baseball,” McCullers said. “They are a team that is a big-market club. There’s other big-market clubs in the big leagues — there’s the Yankees, there’s the Mets, and then there’s the Red Sox, the Cubs, I mean, there are other massive, massive markets and they think they have a window of opportunity to win and they’re going for it. I don’t see anything anything wrong with that”

McCullers acknowledged that the luxury tax is “effectively used as a salary cap” by “most owners” in the sport. Astros owner Jim Crane has even described the luxury tax as a “cap,” most notably after the 2021 season.

Crane crossed the luxury tax and paid the penalties last season for the first time in his ownership tenure, but team sources indicated throughout this winter that he preferred not to do it again. Dumping the majority of setup man Ryan Pressly’s $14 million salary in January furthered that thought.

“I guess it’s just up to the individual club and the owner and the front office on how much they want to spend, how much they want to pay in penalties,” McCullers said. “And if they don’t, they just don’t go for it. People use the CBT as a salary cap. Other teams use it as a penalty system. So I don’t think anything is wrong with the way any team decides to go about their business.”

(Top photo of Forrest Whitley: Troy Taormina / Imagn Images)

Chandler Rome is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering the Houston Astros. Before joining The Athletic, he covered the Astros for five years at the Houston Chronicle. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University. Follow Chandler on Twitter @Chandler_Rome