Roster space was needed for Houston’s latest wave of prospect call-ups and the Astros have designated third baseman Matt Dominguez for assignment.
Dominguez was once a top prospect himself and the Astros acquired him from the Marlins in the mid-2012 deal for Carlos Lee, but he simply hasn’t hit enough in the majors to be an asset.
Dominguez has 20-homer power, but he’s a career .233 hitter with a 246/65 K/BB ratio and ghastly .275 on-base percentage in 357 games as a big leaguer. His reputation as a slick fielder hasn’t translated to defensive metrics, which consistently rate him average or worse.
He’s spent all of this season at Triple-A, hitting just .251 with four homers and a .660 OPS in 45 games. At age 25 he’s still young enough to work his way back to the majors, but the Astros had little need for Dominguez at this point.