Matthews ready to show off his versatility with Astros

HOUSTON -- Brice Matthews, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Astros’ No. 4 prospect, parlayed a strong performance in the Grapefruit League into a spot on Houston's Opening Day roster and made his first career start in the outfield in Friday’s 6-2 loss to the Angels at Daikin Park, with the hopes his versatility and speed can make an impact.

Drafted in the first round as a shortstop out of the University of Nebraska in 2023, Matthews played second base, third base, shortstop and center field in the Minor Leagues and flashed that versatility in Spring Training. Matthews started games in left and center in Florida and often moved to second base later in the games -- the kind of versatility he could be asked to offer in a game for the Astros.

"I love the flexibility, the athleticism, the element of speed on the bases,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “I ask a lot of these guys to come in and compete, and they competed. And the players who competed and performed better won jobs. Brice was one of those guys.”

Matthews, who posted an .817 OPS in the spring with 10 RBIs, eight steals and nine walks (13 strikeouts), went 1-for-3 with a double and two strikeouts. He won the final spot on the Opening Day roster over outfielder Zach Cole (No. 11 prospect), who struck out 20 times in 50 plate appearances in the Grapefruit League.

“Brice had a really good spring,” Astros general manager Dana Brown said. “He hit the ball hard, stole some bases, can play multiple positions. He really looks good out there. He really fine-tuned his two-strike approach and had a lot of quality at-bats.”

Matthews had a slash line of .283/.400/.476 with 10 homers, 39 RBIs and 25 steals in Triple-A last year when he was called up to the Major Leagues one day before he was set to play in the All-Star Futures Game. In the Majors, he homered three times in a two-game span in Arizona in July and posted a .674 OPS with four homers in 47 plate appearances.

For the season in Triple-A, he slashed .260/.371/.458 with 17 homers, 64 RBIs and 41 stolen bases. He hit for the cycle in May but struck out 139 times in 498 plate appearances. He struck out 20 times in his 47 big league plate appearances.

Espada said Matthews could get some starts at second base when Jose Altuve gets a day off or is in the lineup at designated hitter, but left field and center field appear to be his path to getting the most playing time. This is the second year in a row the Astros have moved an infield prospect to the outfield; Cam Smith made the move from third base to right field last spring and was a Gold Glove finalist at the position.

“I think Cam showed that last year that, if you have infield experience ... backhanding the ball, getting rid of the ball, being accurate with your throws, one hop, balls to the bases,” Espada said, “you can use all those skills there.”

One key will be hitting the cutoff man, but being a middle infielder for much of his career gives Matthews knowledge on where to throw the ball in those situations.

“I feel like I’ve got a lot more work to do, but I think that’s why we prepare each and every day, to get out there and be ready to play, and that’s what the early work is for,” Matthews said.

Matthews was Brown’s first Draft pick as a general manager, so no one is rooting for him to make a bigger impact on the club harder than him.

“It’s exciting to see the dynamic type of offensive player he’s starting to become with the stolen bases, the good approach in the batter’s box,” Brown said. “We like that and we think he’s going to add to this offense. It would be nice to have him around.”