Houston Astros Promote Intriguing Prospect to Triple-A Sugar Land

The Houston Astros promoted one of their top prospects to their top affiliate, along with three other player moves.

Mar 3, 2024; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; Houston Astros center fielder Kenedy Corona (89) makes a lunging catch in foul territory against the New York Mets in the third inning at Clover Park. / Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Astros announced on Tuesday that they officially promoted outfielder Kenedy Corona to Triple-A Sugar Land, putting him one call-up away from joining the Major Leagues.

The 24-year-old was only batting .219 at Double-A Corpus Christi, with two home runs and 23 RBI. But, he also had 24 stolen bases and previous put up solid offensive seasons.

Corona has been a part of the Astros’ system since 2019, before which he was an international signee out of Maracaibo, Venezuela.

The Astros made three other player moves on Tuesday. All were outfielders and all were designed to create a roster space for the player promoted.

In Corona’s place at Double-A Corpus Christi was Luis Baez, who was promoted from High-A Asheville. Kenni Gomez moved from Class-A Fayetteville to High-A Asheville to replace Baez. Rabel Colon moved from the Astros’ Florida Complex League rookie team to Class-A Fayetteville.

Corona has nearly 1,600 minor-league at-bats, even though he didn’t play in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown of minor league baseball. He’s coming off quality back-to-back seasons in 2022 and 2023 and he earned a promotion both seasons.

Last year he spent the bulk of the season in Corpus Christi and combined with a few games at Asheville he slashed .251/.331/.458/.789 with 22 home runs and 65 RBI. That helped solidify a place among the Astros’ Top 30 prospects entering this season.

Baez, an international signee out of the Dominican Republic, started his pro career in 2022 with the Dominican Summer League Astros. He built on a solid first year stateside in 2023, where he batted .238 with 11 home runs and 38 RBI.

This season with Asheville he slashed .263/.300/.479/.779 with 20 home runs and 67 RBI before the promotion. He’s a .270 career hitter in the minor leagues.

Gomez, 19 years old, was born in Cuba and joined the Astros in 2022. After he stumbled in the Florida State League a season ago, where he batted just .208, he bounced back with Fayetteville.

He slashed .265/.338/.415/.753 with six home runs and 35 RBI with the Woodpeckers.

Colon, 20 years old, is also from the Dominican Republic and has been with the Houston organization since 2022. He started this year with the Florida Complex League Astros for the second straight year and improved after a .163 batting average in 2023.

This year he slashed .253/.426/.422/.848 with three home runs and eight RBI. This will he his first stint with a full-season affiliate.