Prospecting: Brice Matthews
Brice Matthews was taken 28th overall in 2023 and finished 2024 in Sugar Land
Last February, I wrote about the Astros’ No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, Brice Matthews, who Houston took at No. 28 overall that summer.
This post will provide an update on Matthew’s progress in 2024.
Matthews comes in at No. 3 on the Astros prospects list at MLB.com, ranking behind Jacob Melton and Walker Janek.
Matthews began 2024 with A+ Asheville where he slashed .321/.423/.580 in 81 at-bats, with 6 homers and 17 RBI before being promoted to AA Corpus in mid-June.
Matthews missed a month at Asheville due to “low back discomfort”, which necessitated a rehab assignment with the FCL Astros before returning to Asheville.
In Corpus, Matthews slashed .252/.376/.497 with 9 homers and 21 RBI in 151 at-bats, stealing 16 bases in 20 attempts.
In August Matthews made another trip to the IL with back muscle spasms.
The Astros promoted Matthews to AAA Sugar Land on September 10, where he got 42 at-bats and hit .143.
Matthews recently played in the Puerto Rican Winter League with the Senadores de San Juan where he hit .200 with 4 homers in 75 at-bats.
As pointed out last February, a big concern with Matthews is his swing and miss rate and that held in 2024 as he struck out 108 times in 287 at-bats across three levels.
Conversely, Matthews showed power, hitting 15 home runs and slugging .481 across all minor league levels, peaking with a .580 slug at Asheville (81 at-bats).
Matthews also showed the athleticism discussed in February, stealing 32 bases in 41 attempts, including 19 of 23 in AA/AAA.
Matthews played shortstop (12 starts) and third (4) at Asheville, shortstop (25), third (13) and second (1) at Corpus and shortstop (8) and third (4) for Sugar Land, in addition to occasionally DHing at Asheville and Corpus Christi.
The evaluation at MLB.com states that Matthews’ ability to remain at short is questionable due to his average arm and the accuracy of throws, questioning if he will eventually wind up at second.
To date, Matthews has 1 minor league start and a total of 12 innings at second base, though he did start 11 games at second for San Juan this winter, in what could be a precursor of things to come.
That same evaluation lists Matthews’s ETA for Houston as 2026.