Astros send Reed to Minors, keep White

A.J. Reed did just about everything in his run to last year's Top Offensive Player MiLBY, but he'll have to wait a little longer until nabbing his ultimate prize.

Houston's No. 2 prospect and fellow slugger Jon Singleton were among a host of Astros prospects cut from Major League camp on Monday. Meanwhile, the dream spring continued for No. 13 Astros prospect Tyler White with the news that he made the big league club.

Reed was reassigned to the Minors after an impressive spring that came on the heels of a breakout 2015. In 21 Grapefruit League games, the University of Kentucky product batted .311/.333/600 with three homers and nine RBIs. Last season, between Class A Advanced Lancaster and Double-A Corpus Christi, MLB.com's No. 40 overall and top first base prospect hit .340/.432/.612 with a Minor League-best 34 homers and 127 RBIs.

Singleton was battling for Houston's first base job this spring along with Reed but never found his stride at the plate. In 53 at-bats, the 24-year-old hit .151/.196/.358. Singleton spent the bulk of 2015 with Fresno. For the Triple-A title-winning Grizzlies, the California native batted .254/.359/.505 with 22 homers and 83 RBIs.

Houston's No. 2 prospect entering the 2014 season, Singleton has played 114 Major League games since debuting on June 3 that year. At the big league level, he sports a .171/.290/.331 slash line, compared with .274/.383/.473 in the Minors.

White doesn't have the same pedigree as the top prospects in the Astros' perpetually loaded system, but the 2013 33rd-round pick keeps rising to the challenge. When Reed was named Top Offensive Player by MiLB.com's staff last fall, White received the same honor from the fans.

"He's done nothing but perform throughout his Minor League career, and it's a great story, and he's earned it," Astros manager A.J. Hinch told MLB.com on Monday. "So I let him know in front of the team that he's going to be a big leaguer a week from now. Now, fighting back the emotions, he's going to have to come out and play a Spring Training game, which is going to be tough for him, but I'm really proud [that] he won a job on the team."

The corner infielder opened 2015 with Corpus Christi and spent most of his 59 games at third base while batting .284/.415/.426. After his promotion to Fresno, he played primarily at first and delivered a .362/.467/.559 line with seven homers and 59 RBIs in 57 games.

White has only played first base this spring and boasts four multi-hit games out of 18.

Along with the first base trio, the Astros optioned No. 10 prospect Michael Feliz and reassigned infielder Joe Sclafani, catcher Tyler Heineman, outfielder Eury Perez and pitchers Jake Buchanan and Cesar Valdez.