Looking at the Astros’ first month of the season, your humble servant took a quick look at the summary for last April.

It does not seem possible, but the 2022 team was worse and with the crummy starts of folks like Jake Odorizzi, Jose Urquidy, Martin Maldonado, Bryan Abreu, and others eerily similar to this season with a few names changed here and there.

The team was mediocre again this April (15-13) with a few more built-in excuses due to injuries to Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley, and Lance McCullers Jr. leading the way. The hitting is middle of the road in the AL (.245 BA, .320 OBP – both seventh, .698 OPS – eighth, and 4.57 runs/ game – 8^th). Their power is way down, as their 27 HRs rank 12^th in the league.

The starting pitching has been quite good, relative to the league, despite a few hiccups here and there. Their ERA is 4^th at 3.42, but not that far behind the leading Rays at 3.22. Their 1.22 WHIP is a bit lagging at 7^th, but their 157.2 innings pitched is third, only trailing 2^nd by one inning and only behind the Twins at first because they played an extra game.

The bullpen has a very solid 2.97 ERA that is tied for third in the AL. Their 1.15 WHIP is sixth in the AL, but only 0.02 out of the second spot. And in a very important statistic, they are 14^th in innings pitched at 94, meaning the starters are keeping this bullpen from being an overused, worn-down group.

Well, that’s the team’s situation, but we are here to throw a shout-out or perhaps a call-out to individuals on the team for their performances since the beginning of the season.

Note – these April awards include the two games the Astros played in March. Why? Because, like your mom always told you “I said so.”

Here is a quick chart of the Astros’ pitchers since the beginning of the season.

Name	Gm	W	L	Svs	IP	ERA	WHIP	HR	Ks/9 IP	BAA	OBPA	OPSA	IR/ IS
Framber Valdez	6	2	3	0	39	2.54	1.154	4	8.5	.248	.296	.678	0/0
Luis Garcia	5	2	2	0	27	4.00	1.259	3	10.3	.235	.310	.731	0/0
Hunter Brown	5	3	0	0	30.1	2.37	1.055	0	9.5	.206	.292	.544	0/0
Jose Urquidy	6	2	2	0	27.2	5.20	1.554	6	7.5	.297	.358	.871	0/0
Cristian Javier	6	2	1	0	33.2	3.48	1.129	5	9.4	.240	.281	.738	0/0
Ryan Pressly	12	0	2	3	11.1	3.97	.706	1	7.1	.154	.195	.452	0/0
Hector Neris	11	2	1	1	12	2.25	0.833	2	10.5	.163	.217	.520	6/3
Rafael Montero	13	0	0	1	12	2.25	1.500	1	12	.292	.346	.763	0/0
Phil Maton	11	0	0	0	13	0.69	.308	1	11.1	.071	.133	.300	9/3
Ryne Stanek	9	1	1	0	9	4.00	1.667	1	8.0	.235	.366	.719	0/0
Bryan Abreu	14	0	0	2	14.1	0.63	0.837	1	13.8	.109	.241	.436	7/1
Seth Martinez	9	1	1	0	11.1	6.35	1.853	2	8.7	.320	.393	.953	2/0
Ronel Blanco	8	0	0	0	11	4.91	1.818	1	13.1	.319	.389	.836	0/0

Note – I added the IR (Inherited runners) / IS (Inherited runners who scored) stat for the relievers.

Starting Pitcher of the Month. Hunter Brown – Hunter and Framber were neck and neck for the month, but basically, the only area where Framber is ahead is innings pitched. His 1.055 WHIP and the BA/OBP/OPS against are both impressive, but perhaps the most impressive stat is allowing 0 HRs so far this year.

Runner-up. Framber Valdez – His overall numbers are pretty darned good. He has pitched well enough to be better than 2-3 right now. One area that is a bit of a concern and may be tied to having to “hurry” on the mound is the 4 HRs in 39 innings. In 201.1 innings last season, he gave up 11 HRs total, and this year based on that many innings, he is on pace to give up 21 HRs.

Relief Pitcher of the Month.  (Tie) Bryan Abreu and Phil Maton – Based on being used in higher leverage situations, this could easily be Abreu’s, but Maton has earned special recognition for having improved so much this year.  His .071 BA/ .133 OBP/ .300 OPS against are insane. Abreu has been brilliant also – so we will split the award this month.

Runner-up.  Skip this due to the tie.

Special Recognition Award. The Harry Houdini great escape award goes to Rafael Montero, who somehow has a 2.25 ERA despite putting up a 1.500 WHIP and a poor .292 BA/ .346 OBP/ .763 OPS against.

Name	ABs	Runs	Dbls	HRs	RBIs	BBs	Ks	BA	OBP	OPS	BABIP
Martin Maldonado	64	4	2	1	4	6	18	.156	.250	.484	.200
Jose Abreu	115	7	4	0	11	4	27	.235	.267	.536	.307
Mauricio Dubon	96	18	6	0	4	3	9	.302	.327	.712	.330
Jeremy Pena	112	21	7	6	16	5	30	.241	.298	.762	.276
Alex Bregman	105	16	4	3	12	21	15	.219	.354	.697	.230
Corey Julks	74	11	4	2	8	1	21	.297	.303	.735	.385
Chas McCormick	40	7	3	2	9	6	12	.275	.383	.883	.346
Kyle Tucker	98	10	3	5	20	18	18	.286	.390	.859	.299
Yordan Alvarez	81	14	4	6	27	13	26	.272	.388	.931	.320
Jake Meyers	68	6	3	2	8	5	22	.265	.324	.721	.364
David Hensley	56	8	1	0	2	7	23	.143	.238	.399	.242
Yainer Diaz	28	5	2	0	2	2	7	.214	.273	.558	.261

Positional Player of the Month. Yordan Alvarez – His 27 RBIs in only 22 games played stands out. His OPS is great, his BA is below his norm, those 10 extra-base hits are excellent. The key for him obviously is staying healthy – DUH!

Runner-up. Kyle Tucker – He is a step below Yordan in his overall hitting, which means he is probably in the top 10 in baseball. It is interesting to see that with the shift outlawed, all of a sudden both his BA and BABIP are much higher than last year.  

Biggest Surprise (Positive). Mauricio Dubon – If you say you knew Dubon was going to jump up and do such a good job offensively as mostly a sub for Jose Altuve, I would say, “You are a liar.”

Runner-up. Corey Julks – He was the biggest surprise to even make the roster. And along with that he has done a good job as a part-timer with a decent batting average and 8 RBIs in 74 ABs.

Biggest Disappointment. This is easy. Jose Abreu – Maybe the Astros should have seen this coming as Abreu had 1 HR in his last 56 games played last season. But they did not give him the big bucks to see him turn into a slap-hitting middle infielder-esque batter. Yes, I know he will heat up with the weather. But he has been playing at home in controlled conditions and still can’t get close to the Crawford Boxes.

Runner-up. I don’t care that he walks more than he Ks. I don’t care that he has a decent OBP, has scored a decent amount of runs, and has a decent number of RBIs. Alex Bregman should not be sucking at the beginning of the season again, and .219 BA for a month for such a good player sucks.

Crazy Stats…..There are a number of them:

• Not sure what is more surprising – Julks with 1 walk in 76 plate appearances or having 1 walk vs. 21 Ks.
• Kyle Tucker, who normally Ks a lot more than walking (90 Ks/ 53 BBs in 2021 and  95 Ks / 59 BBs in 2022) has been channeling his best Bregman with matching 18 Ks and 18 BBs to date.
• It’s the age-old “small sample”, but how can Ryan Pressly hold opposing hitters to .154 BA/ .195 OBP/ .452 OPS and have a 3.97 ERA? Especially compared to Montero.
• When major league hitters put the ball in play (doesn’t strike out) – they normally average about a .300 average on those balls. This is what that stat BABIP designates. The surprise players Dubon (.330 BABIP), Julks (.385), and Meyers (.364) would seem to be in line for some bad luck along the way to drop their numbers a bit more toward normal. Bregman (.230 BABIP) and Martin Maldonado (.200) would hopefully trend up with a little bit of luck.

As usual, it is your turn to comment. Any awards you disagree with? Any you want to award?