Bregman: From slow start to fast and furious

When Alex Bregman was at his lowest, Astros manager A.J. Hinch did two things that seem absolutely brilliant in hindsight.

Today, Bregman is one of baseball’s hottest hitters, having batted .333 the last month with 10 doubles, seven home runs and 26 RBIs in 28 games.

In this stretch, Bregman leads all Major League rookies in RBIs and doubles. Only Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez (11) has more home runs.

Back to the beginning.

First, Hinch summoned Bregman to his office on July 31 and told him he was moving him from sixth or seventh in his batting order to second.

Considering that Bregman had gone hitless in 17 at-bats in his five Major League games, a promotion didn’t seem to be in order.

Hinch saw it another way.

“This move reflects what our organization thinks of you,” he told Bregman.

In other words, a shot of confidence.

Bregman, 22, had been the second overall pick of the 2015 Draft, and Astros fans had been vocal on social media in wondering what was taking the Astros so long to bring him up.

Expectations were sky high. And then no hits in 17 at-bats.

Hinch saw a young player who hadn’t looked overmatched at the plate, a kid who was working deep counts and hitting some balls hard.

Hinch figured that moving him up in the batting order, putting him behind George Springer and in front of Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa might be a sweet place to get things going.

Only it didn’t. Bregman went 2-for-21 over his next five games, and after 10 games, he was 2-for-38 and hitting .053.

During that time, Hinch …

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