What to Expect from Astros Infielder Brice Matthews

That season saw Matthews push his way to Triple-A at the end. He started there to begin 2025 and got off to a somewhat sluggish start, thanks to a nearly 40% Whiff% on fastballs in April.

However, Matthews got on a roll, as he hit 18-54 (.333) with three home runs in May, along with a 1.033 OPS. He added four more in June, giving him a double-digit home run campaign before the end of the month.

Matthews’ power at the collegiate level has played in the pros. Only one of his 10 Triple-A home runs came off a 95+ MPH pitch, with many of them coming off breaking balls and offspeed pitches that he stayed back on.

Now, make sure to watch that video above, because it illustrates a couple of points about Matthews’ game at the plate. He will get deep into counts; Matthews did a good job of taking non-competitive pitches. In the past two seasons, Matthews averaged more than four pitches a plate appearance.

Not to mention, Matthews doesn’t have a long stroke at the plate.

However, Matthews has dealt with significant strikeout problems in the Minors. Much of that can be attributed to, as noted earlier, problems getting to high fastballs.

His whiff rate against fastballs has dropped since April. Still, 31.4% of the fastballs he swung at in Triple-A resulted in a swing-and-miss.

Defensively, Matthews is very agile and showed range for the shortstop position. However, Matthews made 14 errors over 48 games last season as a shortstop. Given that Jeremy Pena is entrenched at short, it made sense for him to shift to second, where he’s played for most of 2025.

MLB.com stated Brice Matthews will be moved up before the Astros’ game on July 11.

Analysis

Rather than play in the Futures Game, Matthews will get to make his MLB debut before the All-Star break.

The Astros are currently without Jeremy Pena, who is on the IL with a rib fracture. Houston’s made due by giving Mauricio Dubon and Zack Short time at short, with Jose Altuve working at second base yet again.

Matthews can slot at second, allowing Altuve to move back to left. As noted, he should be fine range-wise at second base. And as for the bat, his right-handed bat may play very well with the short porch in Houston.