Astros claim OF Jason Bourgeois off waivers from Milwaukee

The 28 year old will most likely compete for a fourth or fifth outfielder's job and as a pinch hitter.

His last name has three vowels in a row. That's something!

Career Stats.

4 months ago Evan Hochschild 8 comments 0 recs |

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Nice pickup. Hopefully this means they don’t plan to waste anymore money on guys like Michaels and Erstad.

by OremLK on Oct 26, 2009 3:07 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

eh. Unless he is a really good defensive outfielder, he doesn’t look very promising. HIs last two years in AAA, he couldn’t get his OPS above the low to mid 700’s. Maybe he will be used as veteran fodder in Round Rock. Jason’s ISO at Nashville this year was .085 and .115 in his previous year in AAA. That is a true lack of power…he makes Bogusevice and Yordany Ramirez look like sluggers. He stole a lot of bases, so I assume he has good speed.

by clack on Oct 26, 2009 3:27 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

He played mostly CF, so that’s a less offensively demanding position than corner outfield. His walk rate wasn’t great in 2009, but it was better in former years, and his OBP was consistently average to good in the minors.

Doubtful he’ll ever be a starting OFer but he sounds fine as a bench guy. Probably better than anybody we have at AAA, and this way we don’t have to call up someone like Bogusevic or Locke and stall their development.

by OremLK on Oct 26, 2009 3:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

He seems comparable to either Yordany Ramirez or Bogusevic, but older, even though I doubt he is as good a defensive player as Yordany. Pinch runner / defensive replacement seems like the only role he could fill at the major league level. Supposedly some in the Astros organization think he could be converted to a 2d baseman.

by clack on Oct 26, 2009 3:47 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Note that OPS doesn’t properly weight OBP and slugging (OBP is a lot more valuable point for point). Bourgeois was worth .348 wOBA in 2009 according to FanGraphs which is a lot better than any of our other AAA outfield options. It’s hard to say how he is defensively, though he can’t be too bad if he mainly played CF.

by OremLK on Oct 26, 2009 3:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

He outhit all of our 3 main Round Rock outfielders last year:

Bourgeois: .316/.354/.401/.755
Abercrombie: .271/.314/.412/.726
Bogusevic: .271/.342/.365/.707
Y. Ramirez: .256/.275/.381/.656

This move was probably more about organizational depth than trying to beef up the major league level. Could be seen as a move to provide competition for those guys in Spring Training for the 4th/5th OF spot…with either Bourgeois or Abercrombie likely to take the spot. Also, he’s hometown product, so the PR wing of the Astros will milk it for a story or two.

by AstroAndy on Oct 26, 2009 3:47 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah, but he is 28 years old. an outfielder at that age should be showing a lot more offensively…if he is a realistic option for the major league roster. The Astros’ idea that he could learn to play 2d base makes me think they envision him as a utility player like David Newhan.

by clack on Oct 26, 2009 4:06 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

He looked really good defensively in his cup of coffee. I was hoping he would be the 4th OF, possible platoon partner in CF. I know Cameron is considered a good value, but I wish they’d spend most of the 10 million on pitching and use a guy like Jason in CF. Given that they were taking him off the 40, they must really disagree with that idea.

And yeah, he’s fast. I think he’s a nice player, but he doesn’t fit the corner OF profile.

by ol Pete on Oct 27, 2009 11:00 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

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