The Curious Case of Brett Wallace

     Brett Wallace, the former 13th overall pick of the 2008 draft, was acquired via the Roy Oswalt trade in 2010. Anthony Gose came over as apart of the package Houston received in return, and was promptly flipped to Toronto in exchange for Brett Wallace on July 29th. Only two days later, Lance Berkman was sent to the Yankees, opening the spot needed for Brett Wallace, to entrench himself as the Astros first baseman of the future.... Ed Wade's master plan didn't quite pan out. 

     The scouting report on Wally coming out of college and advancing through the minor league levels was that his hit tool was very advanced, and although he wasn't entrenched at any one position, the stick would play. He played up to his reputation posting a career minor league slash line of .307/.378/.492. Here is a more thorough look at his numbers before the trade via baseball-reference..

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2008	21	2 Teams	2 Lgs	A-AA	STL	54	234	202	41	68	13	1	8	36	0	0	19	39	.337	.427	.530	.957
2008	21	Quad Cities	MIDW	A	STL	41	177	153	28	50	8	1	5	25	0	0	17	32	.327	.418	.490	.908
2008	21	Springfield	TL	AA	STL	13	57	49	13	18	5	0	3	11	0	0	2	7	.367	.456	.653	1.109
2009	22	3 Teams	2 Lgs	AAA-AA	STL,OAK	244	1046	936	130	276	47	0	35	110	2	4	76	198	.295	.361	.457	.819
2009	22	Springfield	TL	AA	STL	32	154	128	22	36	5	0	5	16	0	0	18	34	.281	.403	.438	.840
2009	22	Memphis	PCL	AAA	STL	62	243	222	22	65	11	0	6	19	0	1	15	42	.293	.346	.423	.769
2009	22	Memphis,Sacramento	PCL	AAA	OAK,STL	106	446	404	54	120	21	0	15	47	1	2	29	82	.297	.354	.460	.815
2009	22	Sacramento	PCL	AAA	OAK	44	203	182	32	55	10	0	9	28	1	1	14	40	.302	.365	.505	.870
2010	23	Las Vegas	PCL	AAA	TOR	95	423	385	64	116	24	1	18	61	1	1	27	83	.301	.359	.509	.868

....pretty sexy stuff. Unfortunately he hasn't figured it out at the big league level for an extended period of time just yet. Since his call in 2010, Wally has made three different stops to AAA OKC, and has accumulated over 700 plate appearances during those stints. During those three years, he has posted slash lines of .356/.437/.481 in 2011 with a BB%/K% of 11.9%/22.2%, .300/.379/.506 in 2012 with a wOBA of .388 , and .326/.398/.554 in 2013 with an ISO of .227, so there's obviously no need for further development at the AAA level. Its simply his time to sink or swim in the big show. 

     In his time in the bigs, Wally has posted slash lines of .259/.334/.369 in 2011, .252,.323,.424 in 2012, and .216/.266/.466 thus far in 2013. I did not include his rookie campaign because a small sample size of 144 ABs is asinine. Although small sample size comes into play, his slugging has increased steadily over the last three years to a tune of .369, .424, .466. I'll take any silver lining I can get, regardless of how far I have to reach for it, alright guy?? Brett's numbers don't look all too hot this year, however you shouldn't read anything into that, considering his god awful 1-24 start to the year and his incredibly small sample size of 94 ABs in only 25 games. Wally has been destroying baseballs in July since his recall from OKC, to the tune of .313/.365/.667. Encouraging as well, he has carried over his power surge from AAA; nine of his fifteen hits have come as extra base knocks, including a 2 HR game and and he has shown the ability to pull the ball with authority. His minor and major league K and BB %'s are fairly similar, although there is a discrepancy in his minor league BABIP numbers compared to his BABIP major league numbers. Regression is to be expected considering he's seeing higher quality pitches, and major league defenses, but there is a pretty significant drop-off there that I think may even out eventually. Wallace's minor league BABIP numbers are through the roof averaging anywhere from the upper .300 range to the low .400 range rather consistently, which I think is a testament to the kind of hitter he is as far as going with the pitch and the ability to barrel the baseball on a frequent basis, rather than statistical anomaly. Hopefully, he has figured it out to an extent, and I believe that maybe he just has. 

     Given that this is his fourth year with the big club, one would have to think that this is his final opportunity to pan out and prove that he belongs. With the DFA of Carlos Pena, Wally should find his way into the everyday starting lineup, and he'll most definitely get his chance to hang with the big dogs. Go get 'em wally world, I have faith in you. Maybe I am a bit high on Wallace, but that's just my Houston Bias showing.