Shay

Whitcomb

No massive surprises here in the latest batch of Astros cuts, but Whitcomb’s inclusion seems to hint at fellow prospect Zach Dezenzo possibly locking up a spot on Houston’s season-opening roster in a versatile utility role.

The Astros are proceeding full-steam ahead with the Altuve in left field experiment, which will enable them to move Yordan Alvarez to a full-time DH role. The 34-year-old veteran has played second base exclusively since 2011, but figures to be able to make the transition pretty seamlessly. Barring an unexpected reversal, it’ll likely be some combination of Brendan Rodgers, Mauricio Dubón, Shay Whitcomb and possibly even top prospect Brice Matthews battling it out this spring for the starting second base role.

Two days after Whitcomb’s four error catastrophe, he finds himself back in the minors leagues. Houston called up Zach Dezenzo to replace Whitcomb as infield depth.

Sure, one could say this is why he hadn’t started in 24 days, but it’s also quite possible that barely playing for a month factored in significantly. Whitcomb started at second today with Jose Altuve resting, but he was moved to third when Alex Bregman was taken out for ceremonial purposes in the fourth. It was from there that he committed all four of his errors. Two of them came in the seventh inning, which also featured him making an awful throw home on a fielder’s choice (that one wasn’t an error). It was just a brutal game. Hopefully, he’ll get a chance to shake it off in another start this weekend.

Bregman was tossed by home plate umpire Alex Tosi for arguing a called third strike leading off the fourth inning of Thursday’s contest at Minute Maid Park. He finished 0-for-2 at the plate and was replaced by rookie Shay Whitcomb at third base.

Whitcomb supplied Houston’s lone runs of an eventual extra-inning marathon by ripping a two-run double down the left-field line off Phillies ace Zack Wheeler in the fourth inning. It was his lone hit in four at-bats before being lifted as part of a defensive swap. The 25-year-old rookie infielder has held his own so far at the highest level, batting .280 (7-for-25) with four RBI in eight games.

It’s just a routine day off for the veteran with Shay Whitcomb getting a chance to start at second base in his place. For Whitcomb, that’s now five starts in his last seven games and a sign that the Astros will try to get him into the lineup in creative ways now that Alex Bregman is back.

Whitcomb, making his sixth straight start at third base for Houston, knocked in two runs with a two-run single in the sixth inning. It’s unclear when Alex Bregman, who was the designated hitter on Thursday, might return to the field. For now, Whitcomb is the beneficiary of increased playing time at third base and with that comes fantasy value in AL-Only leagues.

When asked after the game on Wednesday about his ability to play the field regularly from here on out, Bregman said, “It’s going to be one of those things to take day by day and see how it feels the rest of the year.” The veteran admitted that his right elbow is still not at 100 percent. “Some little gremlins in there are causing some swelling that I’m just going to have to try to mitigate through the rest of the year and keep the swelling out.” Bregman doesn’t feel much pain when he swings, so he would likely be able to DH when he’s not at third base, but if that were the case, manager Joe Espada would be forced to play Yordan Alvarez daily in left field and trust one of Shay Whitcomb or Zach Dezenzo to man third base. It would also mean he would need to play Yainer Diaz at first base if he wants to get his bat in the lineup more often. There are a lot of moving pieces here, but it’s something to keep an eye on moving forward.

It looked like Bregman wanted to pinch-hit last night, but the Astros declined to use him then in the one-run loss. He’s back in there today, though. Yordan Alvarez is playing left field with Bregman DHing. Shay Whitcomb is making his fifth straight start at third base.