In December, the Houston Astros told Taylor Trammell he wasn’t worth protecting. They removed him from the 40-man roster and sent him outright to Triple-A Sugar Land. He could have walked. He chose to stay.
Four days from Opening Day, that decision is looking like one of the better ones anyone in the Astros organization has made this spring.
Trammell, 28, enters Tuesday’s exhibition finale against the Space Cowboys hitting .316 with two home runs and eight RBI, forcing a conversation the Astros probably didn’t expect. The outfielder who was deemed expendable in December is now one of the most compelling roster cases in West Palm Beach: a player who showed up, kept his head down, and let his bat do the talking when few were paying attention.
The backstory makes the spring even more remarkable. Trammell was the 35th overall pick in the 2016 draft, a toolsy outfielder from Kennesaw, Georgia, who earned two All-Star Futures Game appearances and once looked like a sure thing. That sure thing didn’t quite materialize. He bounced from Cincinnati to San Diego to Seattle, then to Los Angeles, then to New York, compiling a career .175 batting average and a reputation as a player whose tools never fully translated. When the Yankees traded him to Houston for cash considerations in November 2024, it felt like another stop on a well-worn road.
Last season with the Astros, he appeared in 52 games and hit .197—replacement-level production. When Houston removed him from the 40-man roster in December rather than protect him, the message was clear: He wasn’t guaranteed a spot. Another team might have sent him looking elsewhere. Instead, Trammell signed a split contract worth $900,000 if he made the big league club and reported to camp determined to change the narrative.
He has. Manager Joe Espada has praised his at-bats and versatility all spring, and the numbers back it up. Sunday’s solo home run off Michael McGreevy—106.8 mph off the bat, 35-degree launch angle—was the kind of contact that doesn’t lie. This isn’t a hot streak built on weak contact; Trammell is squaring the ball up.
The catch, of course, is the 40-man roster wrinkle. Adding Trammell to the Opening Day roster requires the Astros to make a move to accommodate him—a complication that could ultimately cost him the spot regardless of what he does Tuesday. Baseball is sometimes cruel in exactly that way.
But if the Astros are looking for a reason to find the roster space, Trammell has given them plenty. He came back when he didn’t have to, worked when nobody was watching, and is now standing at the door of a major league roster with his bags packed and his bat hot.
The man bet on himself. The only question left is whether Houston will too.
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