Top Houston Astros Prospect Needs to Shake off Forgettable Season

Only a promotion to Triple-A helped jolt this Houston Astros outfield prospect out of what became a season-long slump.

Feb 25, 2024; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; Houston Astros outfielder Kenedy Corona (89) hits a single in the fifth inning against the New York Mets at Clover Park. / Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

The minor-league season has just a few weeks left, but Houston Astros prospect Kenedy Corona is probably ready to put it in his rear-view mirror.

Corona is the Astros’ No. 22 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. But he hasn’t played like it in 2024, as Baseball America points out.

The site recently wrote about one prospect that might want to forget this season and move on to 2025 for reasons such as performance or injury.

For Corona, the 24-year-old outfielder, who was signed internationally in 2019, it has been all about performance.

With two different affiliates this season he’s slashed .225/.330/.309/.639 with three home runs and 28 RBI. He started the season at Double-A Corpus Christi and was promoted to Triple-A Sugar Land on Aug. 13.

Strikingly, the change of scenery helped. While Corona truly struggled at Corpus, his numbers went up with the Space Cowboys — .286/.364/.429/.793 with one home run and five RBI. So there are some encouraging signs of late, even if it’s just nine games.

Per Baseball America’s scouts, Corona’s value at the Major League level will be his defense, as he’s a strong center fielder. What’s hampering his development is what the site called “… substandard bat-to-ball skills, propensity to chase and high groundball rate.”

The Astros appear to still be believers in Corona. Last year he could have been exposed in the Rule 5 Draft to other Major League teams. But, Houston moved him to the 40-man roster to protect him from other teams. He remains on the 40-man entering September.

He could eventually be a solution in the outfield for the Astros, who are in a bit of flux right now with the injury to three-time All-Star Kyle Tucker and the recent demotion of Chas McCormick due to a downturn in his bat.

But, for now, Corona probably needs another year in the minor leagues before he’ll get a shot.

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

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 2024.