After a busy week with trades and players moving to different cities and joining their new clubs, corresponding moves must be made to fill the active roster. The Houston Astros were active on Tuesday’s deadline, acquiring starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi and bolstering their bullpen with Caleb Ferguson. With these moves being made, the Astros selected the contract of outfielder Pedro Leon.
Leon, 26, is replacing outfielder Joey Loperfido on their active roster, with Loperfido on his way north of the border to the Blue Jays. Leon was signed during the 2020-21 international signing class, collecting the highest bonus of any player. He was born in La Habana, Cuba.
Before signing his contract in January 2021, he played as a second baseman during the 2017-18 and ‘18-19 seasons with the Huracanes de Mayabeque during the Cuban National Series. In his 19-20 seasons, he played in 67 games, hitting 21 home runs and 61 RBIs while hitting a sizzling .359.
After signing with the Astros, he played three games with the FCL Astros before getting promoted to Double-A Corpus Christi. After batting .249 with nine homers in 52 games, he was promoted again to Triple-A Sugar Land to finish the season. In his first professional season in 2021, he played 72 games, batting a collective .220 across those three levels.
The following two seasons were interesting for Leon. In both those seasons, Leon spent the 2022-‘23 seasons with Triple-A Sugar Land. Between the two seasons spent with the Space Cowboys, Leon played in 243 games, hitting .237, with 38 homers, 135 RBIs, and 59 stolen bases. The only alarming thing in those two seasons is that he struck out 305 times in 896 at-bats.
Going into this season, he would begin once again with Triple-A, where his stats are much improved from previous seasons. Before getting the call, in 93 games, Leon hit 19 homers to go with 74 RBIs, hitting .277. His on-base percentage was the highest in his career at .377.
Pedro Leon is not penciled into the lineup tonight as Houston is home hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates. It will be great to see him potentially get an at-bat or even a start this upcoming week.
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WBN MLB: https://worldbaseball.com/league/mlb/
Photo Credit: Pedro Leon #98 of the Houston Astros bats during the seventh inning of a spring training game against the Washington Nationals at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches on March 18, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
