The Astros system saw a lot of ups and downs this season. The lower levels teams had some struggles but the Triple-A club stood out. The Sugar Land Space Cowboys finished the regular season with a record of 93-56 as they road into the Pacific Coast League Championship Series against the Reno Aces.
This week, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys started a three game series to determine the PCL Champs. Sugar Land won game one in dominating fashion 14-2 behind a solid start for A.J. Blubaugh and big games from the bats, including Houston native Brice Matthews. On Wednesday, Sugar Land beat Reno 5-2 to win the Pacific Coast League Championship.
Matthews started the season in High-A before an early injury knocked him out for a few weeks. He came back with a vengeance earning a quick promotion to Double-A. In the last couple weeks of the season, he was moved up to Triple-A to help with the playoff run and get some experience playing in crucial games and a winning culture.
“It’s fun. To experience this with these guys,” Matthews said, “They made this experience so much fun and allowed me to be comfortable joining a new clubhouse. It’s just fun getting to play with the guys that have the experience and get after it every day.”
Matthews showed his talent in his short time in Sugar Land. While the batting average may not be very high, he was able to drive in 8 runs over 14 games (including the playoffs) and also added 2 doubles and stole 4 bases. He was able to lean on some of the more experienced players too, like Trey Cabbage and Zach Dezenzo.
“Yeah just talking to them, kind of simplifying the game, not making it too hard on yourself,” Matthews said. “It’s already hard enough game as it is and putting more pressure on yourself is only going to make it more stressful and harder to slow everything down.”
Sugar Land will move onto the Triple-A Championship Series this weekend in Las Vegas. There, the Space Cowboys will get the opportunity to claim their stake as the best Triple-A team in all of baseball. With the late season additions, including top prospect Brice Matthews, they are poised to take home the title.
Matthews is projected to be a big-time contributor for the Astros, potentially in the near future and as soon as 2025. The experience of playing in a winning culture and playing in playoff games late in the season will be huge for his development when he joins an Astros club that has made it to eight straight post-seasons.
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