The Astros announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Lucas Spence from Triple-A Sugar Land. Houston also reinstated righty Kai-Wei Teng from the 15-day injured list and placed Brice Matthews on the 10-day IL with a sprained left knee.
Spence, 23, signed with the Astros in 2024 as an undrafted free agent. He’s climbed to Triple-A in about two calendar years. The Southern Illinois University product opened the ’26 season in Double-A and hit well through 44 games and 207 plate appearances before getting bumped to Sugar Land for his first career Triple-A action. Spence has struggled through 67 plate appearances there, but his combined .258/.353/.424 slash between Houston’s top two minor league levels is still slightly above average — and, clearly, enough to get him a major league look in light of Matthews’ injury.
Houston is known to be on the lookout for a left-handed-hitting outfielder. Spence will fill that role temporarily, though the ‘Stros figure to aggressively scour the market for a more established option. In the meantime, Spence will try to prove that he can stick at the top level. He popped six homers and went 13-for-15 in stolen base attempts in the minors prior to his debut. He’s had contact issues in Triple-A, fanning in nearly one-third of his plate appearances during that tiny sample of 67 trips to the plate, but Spence only struck out at a 20.3% clip in Double-A.
As for Matthews, he’ll be sidelined for the a to-be-determined period of time. Houston hasn’t provided further details on the specifics/severity of his injury, nor has the club provided a timetable for his return. Manager Joe Espada figures to do so later today when addressing the media.
Matthews, 24, was the Astros’ top pick back in 2023 and ranked as the system’s top prospect prior to his first call to the majors last year. The infielder-turned-outfielder has been given a fair bit of playing time this season as he tries to cement himself as a piece of Houston’s future, but so far he hasn’t solved major league pitching. In 226 turns at the plate, he’s hitting just .197/.250/.332 with a huge 31.4% strikeout rate. Matthews’ move to the outfield has been smooth (6 Defensive Runs Saved, 4 Outs Above Average in only 399 innings), but he’ll obviously need to provide more offense if he’s to have a long-term role on the big league club.
Matthews had been playing center field regularly prior to this injury. With Jake Meyers recently optioned to Sugar Land amid his own struggles, Houston’s already patchwork outfield group will now include Spence, right fielder Cam Smith, recent minor league signee LaMonte Wade Jr. and journeyman/former top prospect Taylor Trammell. Spence should have a real chance to earn some playing time, at least in the short term, but subtracting Matthews’ quality defense from the outfield for the foreseeable future only heightens the Astros’ urgency to bring in some external help.
