2026 Projections: Brice Matthews and Jake Meyers

Flashes of pop and regression dead ahead

Mar 14, 2026

Brice Matthews

Dana Brown’s first draft pick as Astros GM made his MLB debut in 2025 and provided some pop, including a two-home run game, but struggled at the plate overall, while providing solid defense in limited opportunities.

Similar to Zach Cole’s projections, my numbers will duplicate last year’s production (0.1 fWAR and 83 wRC+) until I have further evidence of his MLB production.

At the time of this writing, Matthews is having an OK spring, slashing .222/.323/.296 with 7 RBI and 5 stolen bases, albeit against something around AA pitching on average, but the strikeouts continue to haunt (10 in 27at-bats). If Pena is healthy, Matthews may be headed back to Sugar Land.

Summary: Flashes of pop (4 HRs!), but horrific plate discipline and contact make it a low-value line overall.

Barring injury, I don’t see a path to consistent playing time, and in a full-season extrapolation, it'd be negative WAR without massive improvement; positional flexibility, athleticism, and speed keep it from tanking completely.

Jake Meyers

When healthy in 2025, Jake Meyers had a fantastic year in multiple ways, hitting .292 and recording an Outs Above Average in the 96th percentile.

But somewhere along the way of becoming a serviceable hitter, Meyers gave up what power he had (10 HR in 2023 and 13 in 2024) for average (3 HR last season, two in one game).

Simply put, Houston needs more power from centerfield, and hopefully it’s not at the expense of 75 points of batting average.

To that end, there’s talk of Meyers being traded this spring as various players audition at the position (including Matthews).

I’m not sure that I agree with that, but I do understand it and I believe Jake does, too.

I expect to see a return to closer to Jake’s pre-2025 bat, with a little more power and less average, which may or may not be enough for a 9-hole hitter.

Summary: Meyers provides mediocre-to-weak offense, but elite center-field defense and plus baserunning, which make him a positive contributor and a valuable everyday player.