In the Arizona Fall League, Pedro León gave us a glimpse of what he can do when healthy

Pedro León was one of the Astros’ prospects playing in the 2021 Arizona Fall League, the one-month tournament that concentrates most of the top prospects in the game. And for him, it wasn’t how it began but how it ended. Even though the promising youngster had an off start at the plate, he flashed all his talent at the plate in the final two weeks of the competition.

Signed this year out of the international market and with the ability to play both shortstop and center field, León ended the AFL being one of the hottest hitters in the league. But it wasn’t like that from the beginning.

The 23-year-old, who finished the season in Triple-A but missed a bunch of time due to injury, was hitting for a .184/.298/.265 slash line with only nine hits (one homer) in 49 at-bats through his first 13 games with the Glendale Desert Dogs. Over that period, he compiled more strikeouts (16) than hits.

But during the final 15 days of the tournament, León was at his best. He connected nine hits across 21 at-bats, along with two doubles, six runs batted in, two runs scored, six walks, only four strikeouts, three steals in four attempts, and a robust line of .429/.556/.524. All things considered, this is the kind of star production the Astros may expect from León once he’s fully developed. When all was said and done in the Arizona Fall League, León had posted a .257/.381/.343 line in 20 contests, with a .724 OPS.

Right now, Pedro is the second-best prospect of the Astros organization, behind only his AFL teammate Korey Lee. Both, by the way, have the 2022 season as their estimated time of arrival at the Major Leagues, according to MLB Pipeline.

Indeed, the Astros could give León his first taste of MLB baseball at some point in the upcoming season — at the moment of his signing, he was expected to have a brief experience in the Minors before calling himself a big leaguer. Entering 2022, the mission for León will be to stay healthy and prove he can hit in the upper levels of the MiLB.