Astros honor prospects Reed and Musgrove

HOUSTON -- Pitcher Joe Musgrove might be the only player in the Houston farm system who can make slugger A.J. Reed look small. Well, at least not as big.

Musgrove (6-foot-5, 255 pounds) and Reed (6-foot-4, 252 pounds) came up huge this year. Musgrove was named the organization's Minor League Pitcher of the Year on Friday, and Reed was named the Minor League Player of the Year. Both will be recognized at Minute Maid Park prior to Saturday's game.

"A.J. quickly established himself as a professional hitter with big-time power in his first full season in the Minors, while Joe put together one of the most dominant years a Minor League pitcher can have," said Quinton McCracken, director of player development. "After a modest start to his first month in Lancaster, A.J. really found his stroke at the plate and hasn't stopped hitting for average and power since. We feel he's only scratching the surface of his offensive and defensive potential. Joe exhibited excellent control of his three-pitch mix and mastery of pounding the strike zone with his arsenal, as documented by his phenomenal strikeout-to-walk ratio [12.38]."

First baseman Reed, 22, led all of Minor League baseball in home runs (34), RBIs (127) and OPS (1.044) while splitting the season between Class A Lancaster and Double-A Corpus Christi. Selected by Houston in the second round of the 2014 Draft, he was named the 2015 California League MVP and could go to big league camp competing for a starting spot in 2016.

"Honestly, I think the biggest thing I think I learned from this year is what I need to do in the offseason to make myself ever better prepared for the end of the year," said Reed, who will soon head to the Arizona Fall League. "I started off slow, and next year I want to be able to start off well. Improvement-wise, just [my] overall approach at plate got better as the season went on. That's something I took a lot of pride in."

Musgrove, 22, pitched at three levels in the organization in 2015, combining to go 12-1 with a 1.88 ERA, 99 strikeouts and just eight walks between Corpus Christi, Lancaster and Class A Quad Cities. He was acquired in a 10-player trade with Toronto in 2012.

"It's a big honor," Musgrove said. "A lot of guys had really big years. Obviously, it means a lot to get this award going up against a lot of good competitors. ... All these guys are all working toward the same goal, which is to help out Houston. It does mean a lot."