Houston Astros Option Prospects to Minor Leagues Ahead of Opening Day

The Houston Astros have continued their roster cut downs as they work towards finalizing their 2025 Opening Day roster.

Houston Astros infielder Shay Whitcomb runs to first base on an RBI single against the Los Angeles Angels at Minute Maid Park. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros have lots of roster decisions to make throughout this spring, and ahead of Opening Day, they have continued their cut downs by clearing out the team of anyone they want to start the year elsewhere.

That mean there was another group of transactions made to trim the roster, this time with a top prospect being sent back to the minor leagues along with two veterans.

Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported that the Astros sent César Salazar, Nick Hernandez, and No. 17 prospect Shay Whitcomb to minor-league camp, meaning their 2025 will more than likely be started at Triple-A Sugar Land.

When it comes to Salazar and Hernandez, neither decision was particularly surprising given there is already depth at both positions for Houston. At catcher they have Yainer Diaz and Victor Caratini, and the bullpen was already chock-full with relief arms, so logistically those positions made sense to clear up.

With that said, Hernandez did also have a tough showing this spring, putting up an 8.59 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, .323 allowed batting average, six strikeouts to three walks, and one save in two opportunities. Salazar did have a strong spring training however, with 20 at bats, .350/.435/.700 slash lines, two home runs, eight RBI, three runs, and three walks to one strikeout.

As for Whitcomb, he may be the most surprising option of the group. Despite an underwhelming first 20 games in 2024 and spring training, he has proven pretty much all he can in Triple-A, and might not benefit from going back to the minor leagues. His development is not stunted, and after only 20 games the team has decided he would be better suited starting the season off there.

In his limited MLB playing time, he slashed .220/.304/.293 with five RBI, a run, and eight strikeouts to five walks. However, he had difficulty in the field at third base, registering five errors in 88 innings, giving him a .833 fielding rate. During the spring his offense remained relatively similar, with .231/.259/.346 slash lines, three RBI, four runs, and 11 strikeouts to only one walk.

Third base is already pretty strong for the club with Isaac Paredes and Cam Smith in the fold. It will be intriguing to see how all three of the players who were optioned in this group will handle the decision, and if they can make it back up to the MLB in the near future.