Luhnow: Hot-hitting Singleton staying in Triple-A

HOUSTON -- Now that George Springer has joined the Astros can Jonathan Singleton be far behind?

Singleton, a slugging first baseman who was in spring camp with the Astros, went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and home run at Colorado Springs on Wednesday. He's hitting .358 with a .460 on-base percentage with five homers and 18 RBIs in 13 games at Triple-A. Still, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said Wednesday his arrival in Houston isn't imminent.

"We're happy that Singleton is off to a good start," he said. "He does not have the Triple-A track record that Springer has yet. We feel he needs to develop that track record. We're always going to be in a position where our fans want our top prospects to come up here sooner than we think they're ready to come up here.

"Last year, it happened to [Jarred] Cosart. We did bring Cosart up at the right time, and when he came up he contributed and helped us win ballgames. He still is showing that deserves to be at this level and is ready to help us win."

Singleton played most of last season at Oklahoma City, hitting .220 with six homers and 31 RBIs in 73 games. Singleton missed the first 50 games of 2013 because of a second failed drug test and admitted this spring he enjoyed smoking marijuana and had spent time in rehab last year. He also said he battled alcohol addiction last year.