Talented Houston Astros' Prospect Switching Roles to Create More Consistency
By now, it's no secret that the Houston Astros' farm system is considered the worst in baseball by numerous talent evaluators.
Calling up elite prospects year after year and trading away others for more established Major League players dries up a pipeline fast.
That's why they were so excited to hand Pedro Leon $4 million as an international free agent, the most out of anyone in the 2021 class.
Coming in at 22 years old, and considered the best international prospect, the Astros expected him to join their MLB roster quickly, potentially being the replacement for departed George Springer.
Unfortunately, that hasn't come close to happening.
Leon, now 25 years old, has played the last two seasons in Triple-A and has yet to make his Major League debut.
Much of that is due to inconsistency.
Houston is hoping that moving him back to his natural role in center field will help him tremendously this year and get his career back on track. The decision comes after the Astros tried seeing what he could do in the infield, knowing his outfield defense was so special.
They wanted to throw more things at Leon and turn him into some sort of "super player."
Instead, they might have broken him.
"We almost took the outfield play for granted, the ability for granted. Like, 'He's going to be this player; it's a given. Let's try to do this and see: Can we create a monster?'" Triple-A manager Mickey Story told Chandler Rome of The Athletic.
It seems strange that defense would impact the performance of a player at the plate, but baseball is such a mental sport that overthinking in general can cause someone to be completely off.
"It hit him really hard mentally ... He wanted to do really well, and I think that combination of the frustration in trying to learn a position and, now, to just be relaxed and play only the outfield is going to help," hitting coach Alex Cintron said.
This is going to be a big year for Leon.
He has to prove he can be a Major League factor at some point in his career as he enters the fourth season where he'll see playing time at Triple-A.
Moving him back to center field hopefully turns him into the top prospect he once was.
Something similar happened with another Houston minor leaguer in Myles Straw. After he was moved back to his natural outfield role, his career got back on track.
"I definitely feel different. As a player and a person, I think I've matured and I've been able to put into practice a lot of the things we've talked about and things that I've learned," Leon said.
If that's the case, he could make his long-awaited MLB debut as early as this year.
