WATCH: Power didn't used to be Alex Bregman's strong suit, but it sure is now

The Astros' rookie, once struggling, has been on fire of late

Astros rookie infielder Alex Bregman is regarded by many to be the top overall prospect in baseball right now. However, the 22-year-old and second-overall pick of the 2015 draft famously got off to an awfully slow start to his major-league career.

After being called up on July 25, Bregman managed to go hitless in his first 34 big-league at-bats. His first hit didn't come until the bottom of the sixth against the Blue Jays on Aug. 4. Even before that, though, Bregman had shown signs of life. In his first two ABs against the Jays on that day, for instance, he lined out to second and then took a ball to the warning track.

Since ending that career-starting drought, Bregman has shown exactly why he's a highly regarded young hitter. Coming into Saturday's game against the Orioles, Bregman had hit safely in 13 of his last 15 games, and since the start of that game against Toronto he'd put up a line of .317/.371/.508. No, the overall numbers still don't look impressive, thanks to those aforementioned 34 hitless at-bats, but he's been punishing the ball of late.

On Saturday night in Baltimore, he kept it going in a very authoritative way. Take a look at this power-stroke ...

Quick bat right there. That one approached 400 feet and left the bat at 102 mph. That's been the pleasant surprise about Bregman this year. He's always been a skilled hitter, but power wasn't his strong suit. This year -- his first full season as a pro -- that changed.

Thanks in part to an improved ability to get around on inside offerings, Bregman led the Southern League in slugging before he was promoted to Triple-A. In the PCL, he slugged .641 in 83 plate appearances with an excellent Isolated Power (i.e., slugging percentage minus batting average, which yields a good measure of raw power) of .308. Then you see that shot above.

No, that wasn't Chris Tillman's finest changeup (he missed inside). However, Bregman's other two big-league homers came off a fastball from Jaime Garcia that he took to the opposite field and then this fastball from fellow LSU product Kevin Gausman ...

Yep, Bregman pretty well destroyed that one.

We knew Bregman was going to be a useful hitter who got on base, ran the bases well (thanks mostly to instincts rather than speed), and had the glove to stick at shortstop. What we didn't know is that he'd show this kind of power. As very recent events show, you can forget about that miserable to start to his career in Houston, and you can also probably forget about those pre-2015 scouting reports. Bregman's looking like a franchise talent already.