Report: Houston Astros sign prospect Jon Singleton to five-year contract
By Brad Rowland
The Houston Astros have been making waves with their handling of the MLB Draft and their prospects for some time now, but on Monday, the team has reportedly pulled off a historic move. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports that the Astros and prospect first baseman Jon Singleton have agreed on a 5-year, Major League contract before Singleton ever appears in a big league contest.
Source: Astros, minor league 1B Jon Singleton agree on historic long-term deal. $10M guaranteed, up to $35M. News coming on Yahoo Sports.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 2, 2014
Jon Singleton deal covers five guaranteed seasons and includes three club options for the Astros. He will be called up immediately from AAA.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 2, 2014
As noted by Passan on Twitter, Singleton would be the first player in MLB history to ink a deal of this magnitude without ever being promoted from the minors, and if the specifics of the reported deal are accurate, he could be locked up with Houston through his age-30 season. The 22-year-old Singleton had a pretty disastrous season in 2013, putting together just a .220/.340/.347 slash line with six home runs in 73 games, but he has bounced back nicely in 2014 with a .267/.397/.544 line and 14 home runs, which was enough to get him promoted.
It would appear that the Astros plan to insert Singleton into the lineup on a fairly regular basis, simply because of the large investment, and if that happens, Marc Krauss and Jesus Guzman would be on the hook to lose playing time. That certainly won’t be the focus, however, and it will be incredibly interesting to see how the Astros and Singleton respond after what is an intriguing contract agreement.