After slow start, Bregman’s talent shining through

While trolls and naysayers on Twitter were crying bust after Alex Bregman, the Astros’ top prospect, began his Major League career by going 0-for-17 and 1-for-32, manager A.J. Hinch was moving him up to bat in the most important spot in his team’s lineup: second. At the time, Hinch cited his contact rate and exit velocity as indicators that Bregman’s at-bats were better than the results indicated.

Bregman has now become a fixture in the second position of Houston’s batting order, starting there in each of the club’s past 33 games. And over the past month, he’s been among baseball’s most productive hitters. While it may seem like there must have been a grand adjustment or a light bulb that went off, Astros hitting coach Dave Hudgens dispelled that notion before a recent game in Cleveland, reinforcing Hinch’s suggestion that Bregman was never actually struggling at all.

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“The biggest thing is, he was having good at-bats and having tough luck, too,” Hudgens said. “He was getting good at-bats. He just needed a couple hits to fall. His at-bats were good even when he was struggling.”

Split Bregman’s short career into two near-halves, and it’s evident that Hinch and Hudgens aren’t just blowing smoke — the Bregman we saw his first three weeks really isn’t all that different than the Bregman who has torn up the league over the past month.

Even when Bregman was struggling, he wasn’t striking out much more or walking much less than he has been lately. His contact, chase and hard-hit rates have all improved incrementally, but all were right around or better than league average to begin with. It’s just that the hits weren’t falling early, and that poor fortune has more than overcorrected itself in the recent weeks. As is always the case, the real Bregman lies somewhere in …

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