28-year old righty swinging J.R. House never gets a chance to prove himself in the majors. He has to feel pretty bad that the Astros passed him up for Humberto Quintero despite House playing much better than him in AAA. What does he have to do to get a legit chance to prove himself in the majors? He has nothing left to prove in the minors. House has played in 65 games in AAA this season and he is 70 for 227 (.308 avg, .831 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 5 homers and 28 RBIs. It will be interesting to see if House gets a call from the Astros before September when rosters can expand to 40.

23-year old righty starting pitcher Bud Norris is off to a good start in AA ball. He is the #5 rated prospect in the system of the Houston Astros according to Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook. Norris has started 6 games in AA this season and he is 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. He also has whiffed 40 batters in only 30 innings this season which shows what kind of stuff he has. Norris could be on the fast track to the major leagues with the problems the Astros are having in the starting rotation.

The Astros might give center fielder Josh Anderson a shot in the future as long as he keeps hitting in AAA. The 25 year old lefty swinging Anderson has played in 109 games in AAA this season and he is 120 for 422 (.284 avg, .690 OPS) with 54 runs scored, 2 homers, 39 RBIs and 34 stolen bases.Â

24 year old righty swinging Hunter Pence has been incredible so far this season. Pence is the #1 rated prospect in the Astros organization according to Baseball America and he’s proving it on the field. Pence started the season in AAA and he played 22 games there and was 29 for 85 (.341 avg, .986 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 3 homers, 19 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. The Astros decided to call him up because they were having problems scoring runs and he’s been great for them. In his first 25 major league games, Pence was 34 for 96 (.354 avg, .996 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 4 homers, 18 RBIs and 2 stolen bases! Pence looks to be an excellent building block for the Astros in their future…….starting right now!

23 year old right hander Juan Gutierrez is off to a good start. In 7 starts, Gutierrez is 1-3 with a 2.66 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Gutierrez has thrown 40.2 innings and he’s only allowed 28 hits, but he’s walked 19 batters and his command will need to improve if he wants to get called up by the Astros.