Astros prospect Bregman ‘ready to contribute’

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Alex Bregman doesn’t make many mistakes on the baseball field, so when he was picked off base in a game a few days ago in Midland, Double-A Corpus Christi manager Rodney Linares noticed Bregman sitting with his head down in the dugout.

Sure, Bregman — the infielder who was the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s First-Year Player Draft and the Astros’ top-ranked prospect by MLBPipeline.com — isn’t perfect, but he wants to be. Getting picked off base was as bad as it gets for him.

“I went up to him and I said, ‘I can’t even be mad at you. You get a pass for it,'” Linares recalled.

That’s because Bregman’s desire to be the best and his work ethic set him apart. And so does his play on the field. He entered Wednesday’s game against Arkansas at Whataburger Field hitting .320 with 12 homers, 32 RBIs and only 12 strikeouts in 122 at-bats (32 games). He had homered in five of his previous nine games and led all the Minor Leagues with a 1.104 OPS.

“It’s due to the preparation I put in this [past] offseason,” Bregman, 22, said. “I worked really hard on the pitch in and hitting it in the air, and the ball away and hitting the ball on the line. It’s just a product of the preparation I put in back in [his hometown of] Albuquerque. I feel ready to contribute.”

Linares compares the 6-foot Bregman to a young Craig Biggio based on his passion and grit. Those are heady expectations, but Bregman’s done nothing to suggest he’s not ready to live up to that billing.

“He’s leads by example, doesn’t talk much during the game, really methodical,” Linares said. “He watches pitchers. He’s a pretty …

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