23-year old lefty swinging 1B Brett Wallace is looking overmatched so far for the Astros. He has played in 49 games for the Astros so far this year and he is 30 of 136 (.221 avg, .599 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 2 homers and 11 RBIs. His plate discipline hasn’t been good either as he has whiffed 47 times this year while only whiffing 8 times. Wallace will likely have competition for the 1B job next spring as he just doesn’t look ready for prime time quite yet.

The Astros have designated 28-year old righty swinging infielder Edwin Maysonet for assignment. Maysonet played in 90 games in Rookie+AAA-ball this year and he was 79 of 319 (.248 avg, .637 OPS) with 31 runs scored, 2 homers, 40 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Maysonet has played in 46 games in his career with the Astros and he was 21 of 76 (.276 avg, .659 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 1 homers and 7 RBIs. With all of the problems the Astros had in the middle infield they never called up Maysonet this year which shows what they really think of him.

The Astros have claimed 26-year old righty starting pitcher Cesar Carrillo off waivers from the Padres. He pitched in 3 games (all starts) for the Padres earlier this year and he was 1-2 with a 13.06 ERA and a 2.71 WHIP. Carrillo gave up 16 hits and he walked 12 batters in only 10 1/3 innings with the Padres. He also pitched in 27 games (all starts) in AAA-ball this year and he was 5-14 with a 5.60 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. I’m not so sure what the Astros see in Carrillo but it doesn’t hurt to take a chance on him.

When 25-year old righty swinging 3B Chris Johnson got called up in 2009 he was clearly overmatched. In 11 games in 2009 for the Astros he was 2 for 22 (.091 avg, .221 OPS) with 1 run scored and 1 RBI. He made the Astros out of spring training this year but he didn’t last too long before getting dispatched to AAA. Instead of moping in AAA, Johnson excelled. He played in 38 games at AAA for the Astros and he was 49 of 149 (.329 avg, .932 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 8 homers and 33 RBIs. Johnson earned a promotion as the Astros wanted to see what he could do with extended ABs so they bumped veteran Pedro Feliz to the bench. Johnson has rewarded the Astros for their faith in him. He has played in 83 games for the Astros this year and he is 98 of 300 (.327 avg, .878 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 11 homers, 49 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. The Astros hope that Johnson will be the starting 3B for the future starting right now.

27-year old righty swinging starting RF Hunter Pence just keeps rolling along. Despite not having a lot of help in the batting order, Pence keeps putting up good numbers. Pence has played in 141 games for the Astros this year and he is 159 of 558 (.285 avg, .804 OPS) with 88 runs scored, 24 homers, 85 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. The runs scored, RBIs and stolen bases will all be new career highs when his season is over and his career high in homers is 25 in a year so he might eclipse that too. Pence has now played in 565 games in his four years with the Astros and he is 631 of 2,194 (.288 avg, .822 OPS) with 299 runs scored, 91 homers, 309 RBIs and 54 stolen bases. Pence is the one player the Astros have on the roster that they know they can count on.