Astros to Call Up Number-One Prospect on Thursday

According to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart, the team is expected to call up top prospect Hunter Brown on Thursday when the rosters expand. 

MLB source confirms @astros will call up pitcher Hunter Brown when rosters expand Sept 1. @brianmctaggart reported first.

— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) August 30, 2022

Not only is Hunter Brown the Astros' top prospect and top pitching prospect, but he is also the 71st-ranked prospect in all of baseball. 

Brown last pitched on Sunday in relief at Triple-A Sugar Land, striking out four over 3.1 scoreless innings of work. The Astros reportedly plan to use the rookie in a relief role upon his promotion to the majors. 

The twenty-four-year-old has had an exceptional season at the Triple-A level, posting a 2.55 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 134 strikeouts over 106 innings. Opponents are only hitting .186 against him. Of the 23 games Brown has appeared in, he's started 14. He's also converted one save on the season, so there's some valuable versatility here with the rookie. 

Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Hunter Brown undeniably has fantastic stuff, the one issue being his control. He has slightly improved that this season, however, knocking down his walk rate to 3.8 walks per nine innings. 

Brown was a fifth-round pick of the Astros in the 2019 MLB Draft.