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Astros 2024: Now, about that hitting

There has been a lot of focus on the Astros’ starting pitching problems this year, mostly due to their many injuries. The hitting discussions have been more sporadic and spent a lot of energy on the undeniable truth that Jose Abreu needed to go. Well, Jose is gone, but the offense still has problems. Kyle Tucker has missed a couple weeks and Chas McCormick missed more, but in general the offense has been healthy, but not that productive.

So, what are the numbers behind that – let’s do some 2023 comparisons against 2024 (so far). We will stick with the “rate” stats that we can compare easily to a partial season.

Season R/gm BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 5.10 .259 .331 .768 .294 3.6% 8.8% 19.9%
2024 4.36 .259 .316 .734 .289 3.2% 7.3% 18%

That is quite a drop off in runs/game for a team that has the exact same batting average. There is obviously a drop-off in walks and power all around including home runs.

Let’s look at the individuals who are contributing to this fall-off and instead of runs/game, I’ve thrown in a “new” stat – RBIs/ plate appearance.

Jose Altuve

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 .124 .311 .393 .915 .348 4.2% 10.7% 17.3%
2024 .090 .297 .347 .800 .344 3.4% 6.2% 19.2%

Let’s see, Jose is obviously down in producing runs per plate appearance. His slash numbers are down especially OBP and OPS. His power is down and critically, the Astros leadoff guy’s walk rate is down 42%. He’s a solid hitter but was exceptional last year.

Jeremy Pena

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 .082 .263 .324 .705 .323 1.6% 6.8% 20.4%
2024 .086 .278 .313 .687 .319 1.7% 3.7% 16.6%

Jeremy Pena was hot to start this season but has fallen back into the so-so numbers (or worse) that he put up in 2023. While he has done a good job of decreasing his strikeouts, his walk rate is in Dubon territory, which affects both his OBP and OPS numbers.

Alex Bregman

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 .135 .262 .363 .804 .270 3.5% 12.7% 12%
2024 .110 .241 .305 .702 .253 3.0% 8.0% 13.9%

Just like every season, Bregman started off slowly. All his numbers are significantly down from the full 2024 season. That almost 40% drop in walk rate is very unusual for someone who normally walks as much as he Ks.

Yainer Diaz

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 .159 .282 .308 .846 .292 6.1% 2.9% 19.6%
2024 .132 .255 .285 .649 .273 2.8% 4.0% 14.9%

The extra ABs Diaz has seen this season have not helped his slash numbers (BA/OBP/OPS) as they are all down significantly. He has improved both his K and walk rates, but his power is way down and was down a lot more before his recent home run surge. He is still a good run producer per plate appearance.

Kyle Tucker

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 .166 .284 .369 .886 .289 4.3% 11.9% 13.7%
2024 .153 .266 .395 .979 .245 7.3% 17.6% 15.7%

Tucker has been the team’s most productive hitter. Even with his lower batting average, he is one of the few Astros who is walking more and his home run rate is up 70% this season. Now if we could only get him back on the field.

Jake Meyers

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 .097 .227 .296 .678 .283 2.9% 7.6% 25.8%
2024 .121 .254 .312 .730 .304 2.9% 6.3% 21.8%

Meyers is a better hitter in 2024 and that may be tied to more consistent at bats. Amazingly his RBIs per plate appearance are the same as the next guy on this list, Yordan Alvarez. His walk rate is down a bit, but he has had real improvement in his strikeout rate and he’s raised that OPS into above-average territory.

Yordan Alvarez

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 .196 .293 .407 .990 .306 6.3% 13.9% 18.6%
2024 .121 .290 .362 .873 .304 4.6% 9.1% 15.3%

While most hitters would love to have Yordan’s numbers, they are down a bit and he is certainly not driving in runs at a rate that would be expected of him. That 34% drop in walk rate points to someone who is probably trying to go outside the strike zone to make something happen. His power is down and his RBI rate is down too.

Mauricio Dubon

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 .094 .278 .309 .720 .308 2.0% 3.9% 14.2%
2024 .130 .297 .321 .732 .306 1.6% 3.3% 7.6%

Nobody puts the ball in play as much as Dubon. That 7.6% K rate is a little more than half of the next best rate (Bregman – 13.9%), but he also does not draw walks very often (3.3%). He is putting it in play in almost 90% of his ABs.  His numbers are up a bit this season, but his RBIs / plate appearances are way up there for someone who is a singles hitter.

Chas McCormick

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 .153 .273 .353 .842 .331 4.8% 8.8% 25.6%
2024 .102 .209 .273 .569 .291 0.8% 7.8% 28.9%

Chas has missed time this year, but when he has played, it has not been good. His slash numbers are a huge drop off, his Ks are unacceptably high and the great power he showed last season is gone. In 2024 he was one of the top run producers even with sitting out a big chunk of games. This year he needs to get things rolling.

Jose Abreu

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 .152 .237 .296 .680 .276 3.0% 7.1% 21.9%
2024 .058 .124 .167 .361 .143 1.7% 3.3% 23.3%

I held Abreu for a later look at his numbers. His 2024 has been a total disaster. The interesting number above is even with so-so slash numbers in 2023, he was knocking in runs at a very good rate, which matches the 90 RBIs he put up in 2023.

Jon Singleton

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
2023 .137 .194 .301 .624 .204 2.7% 13.7% 16.4%
2024 .076 .219 .319 .650 .278 2.7% 13.0% 26.0%

Singleton has been given a lot more playing time in 2024 and his slash numbers are up, but his production per plate appearance is down. That huge jump in K rate is what he needs to work on, as the season continues.

Martin Maldonado / Victor Caratini

Season RBI/PA BA OBP OPS BAbip HR% BB% K%
MM 2023 .088 .191 .258 .606 .260 3.7% 7.4% 34.2%
VC 2024 .148 .248 .287 .716 .250 3.5% 4.4% 13.9%

It is not an exact comparison, but with Diaz taking Maldonado’s starting spot, Caratini is sucking up ABs that Maldonado would have taken in 2023. Caratini’s slash numbers are quite good for a backup catcher and his RBI/Plate Appearance is one of the best on the team.

The bottom line for this team is that along with getting better production out of some of the underperformers (Bregman, McCormick, Diaz), they need the team to do a better job of walking and hitting when the ducks are on the pond. Will that be enough? Well, we will talk about pitching soon.

 

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81 responses to “Astros 2024: Now, about that hitting”

  2. Cut Singleton and bring up Loperfido.

    Trade Bregman. He won’t resign with a losing club and you don’t want to give him a QO.

    Get Tucker rehabbed, get him going toward an All Star appearance and then trade him.

    Salazar has been hitting well the last few weeks in AAA. Keep him here. Play Alvarez a third of the time in LF and two thirds of the time in DH.

    Play Chas in LF most of the time, Meyers in CF and bring up Leon to get him in the majors. Play your best minor league 3B in Bregman’s spot. Who cares if he is not so good. Bregman is not so good either.

    Rebuild! Bad w/l records reap high draft picks. Trade a couple of guys for International Free agent money and go after the best IFAs rather than the lowest.

    Keep your best prospects and replace the not-so-good ones with higher draft picks.

    Build around Alvarez, Diaz, Altuve and Pena, not as a foundation, but as a really good start.

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    • 1oldpro, Jon Singleton now has a -0.8 dWAR (per Baseball Reference). Twice today I watched him standing around looking at up at pop ups hit behind him, making no real effort at a play on either ball. I don’t know why he is still on the roster. I’m hoping he’s gone tomorrow night. We have multiple guys at our disposal ready to do a better job at first. I’m hoping Loperfido comes back tomorrow, as he’s once again eligible as of June 21. I’d make multiple changes. I just want to see some new beginnings. What are we waiting for?

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  3. Regarding the hitting, it’s apparent there has been a focus on first pitch hitting this year. And that has to come from Espada and his coaches. And maybe it has worked to the degree that we’ve gotten a lot of base hits early, hence the high club BA overall. But that comes with a price. Historically our most dominating Astro offenses have worked counts. For several years we stayed right at the top of team BB totals league wide. We ran up pitch counts. We made guys throw pitches they did not want to. We wore opposition arms down. We frustrated them. We got more extra base hits, had better slugging percentages and a higher club OPS. And then we got to bullpens earlier. That kind of offense helped our pitchers get rest between innings, gave them the luxury of a lead more often and allowed them not to worry about blowing a game with one pitch.

    Today we make it easy on the other club. We’re swinging early and we’ve lost discipline. This is not a traditional Astro offense. So many quick innings. I’ve never seen a club go down so frequently in less than 10 pitches. At this point, it’s becoming more obvious that 2024 will be the year we go home early. I don’t think we’ll see a change in philosophy this year. But we might not see Joe Espada back in 2025.

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    • If the swinging early in the count and often is a philosophy that has been implemented at the insistence of someone, that someone needs to go or at the very least realize it isn’t working. In my opinion, It’s an absolutely ridiculous strategy. We swing at pitches that aren’t even close. It seems (I could be wrong) that opposing pitchers understand this. Lots of first pitches of at bats that aren’t anywhere near the strike zone and we swing at way too many of them. It would be interesting to see how many total runners have been on base this year when Yordan comes up as opposed to last year. It would seem to this amateur observer the “swing early at often at anything” strategy also hurts our pitching. I do believe in a soft rebuild. I’m just not convinced one way or another if we should be quick to trade Tucker or do everything we can to keep him. I think someone would have to offer me the whole store in order to pry him away. If I were in charge the untouchables would be Altuve, Alvarez, Abreu, Hader, and maybe Tucker. I also would not unload any of our starting pitchers…not even Framber. Pitching is a premium position and you can never have too much. Framber can be really frustrating occasionally but he’s effective more often than he’s not.

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      • Jeff, I’d hate to lose Tucker, because as I said earlier in the week, he is our anchor. But as we know, historically the organization has not signed our stars but rather let them go get their big contracts elsewhere. Unless the Astro recognize a real need to retool, history also tells us that Tucker will play out his 2025 season with the Astros and walk. Today he is so much more valuable to this team than whatever he might accomplish in 2025, unless of course Jim Crane decides to pay what it will take to keep him. And do we know if Tucker really wants to stay? So if Dana Brown can make a deal that better prepares this club to be competitive in 2025 and Crane has no real desire to give Tucker a 300 plus million contract, then to me it’s the way to go.

        Last night Will Wagner raised his OBP to .427. He’s got 38 walks and 21 K’s on the season. He’s hitting .315. He won’t give us 20 homers, but he knows the zone better and is more patient than any guy in the system, including Alex Bregman. He’s the kind of disciplined guy we need in the line up. He’s part of my solution at first. And we need to see if Loperfido really can or can’t play the bag. I sure hope we start to see the AAA guys show up. I’m already focused on next season. Let’s find out what we’ve got.

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  4. It appears the overall consensus is to hook up with Drew Carey to make some deals come the trade deadline. Count me in. I would not wait until July to DFA Singleton. I would also deal Bregman. I’d hate to trade Tuck, but let’s be honest, 10 yrs/$300 mil plus ain’t happening with Crane. Seven or eight yrs, $250-300 anybody? Either length covers ages 35/36. Let someone else pay those decline yrs. No way Tuck signs so we’re waving goodbye as well. Trade him this yr for peak value.

    Whatever blight has infected this tm’s competitive nature needs an infusion of youth to spark some embers and help root out complacency. By all means give some of the youngsters worthy a try.

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    • I guess we may as well get accustomed to using this phrase now. We’ll be hearing it a lot in the next few years.

      Maybe next year.

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    • You did get part of your wish anyway. Joey L is starting in LF tonight. I hope he gets bored to tears out there with the FNG pitching,

      Should be fun to watch anyway. That is what they used to say when I hired the handicapped…….

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      • I’m pleased that he’s back playing. Tucker might be out a month. Clearly the injury was more than presented. I don’t care where they play JL, as long they don’t waste him on the bench. Let’s see if he can keep hitting and get the strike outs down.

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  6. I’m curious to see this new AA pitcher for the first time. I wish him a lot of success. But talk about being tested by fire right out of the chute….!

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  7. Just thinking to myself while I wait for the game to start. Typing on my brand new Dell Inspiron that I was up until 0430 last night setting up. 🙂

    With Tucker being injured, it is painfully obvious to anybody with something between their ears besides air that he is crucial to the team’s success. Not only does he hit home runs and drive in runs, he forces the opposition to pitch to Alvarez, too.

    Should be driving the FO to sign him to an extension muy pronto I would think. It might even have a stabilizing positive affect (or is it effect? I always get that mixed up) on the rest of the players. Or at least some of them.

    But we do still have that overinflated cranium problem in the FO, so I don’t suppose it will work out that way…..

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  9. Is it 4 of Brown’s picks from the 2023 draft have moved up, one P now in the Show? I’m impressed. And this yrs draft is coming up. This is part of what he was hired to do. I’m in the fold for now.

    Already this tm appears different, playing like what we expected them to be. Let’s enjoy the honeymoon while it lasts.

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    • You call this a honeymoon?

      Man, I sure got myself in a lot of trouble the last time (only time) I said that. But that’s a different story from long ago and far away. Thank God!

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      • Let me express myself more clearly. The kid should not have been pitching the majors at this point in his development. The risk far outweighed any reward.

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    • I don’t understand so perhaps someone can explain it to me. Are you saying he got hurt because he hasn’t had enough innings in MiLB to learn how to throw a ball? I don’t think there are many players with major league experience that would support that theory. We can be sure Bloss was not given any expectation he would be staying with the big league club long term. It’s not like they plucked him out of high school…he played for two major college programs and is now 23.

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  11. It’s obvious Espada learned his pitching mismanagment from DFB. He needs to go away before he trashes the younger arms before they even have a chance in the show. I hope Jake Bloss is OK. He has the talent if he can stay healthy,

    Which seems to be a major accomplishment in Houston these days…..

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  13. I confess my ignorance of player development in the minors lends to me being premature in being congratulatory for the youngsters. Hope Bloss is okay. With that said they cannot compound looking desperate making foolish mistakes putting their youth at risk. Sargeh, I am clueless as to why some of our betters hitters continue be so undisciplined during AB’s at this juncture.

    Dan you noted Yordan is probably trying to go outside the zone to make something happen. That’s an understatement. He is going outside chasing. A lot! My goodness, Jon has not had an rbi since May 21st. Lol, I just jinxed him into collecting two.

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    • “Yordan is probably trying to go outside the zone to make something happen.”

      Without Tucker batting behind him, pitchers aren’t giving him much to hit, either. They’re pitching around him. That doesn’t mean, however, that I think he should help them!

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  14. That inning was the most fun I’ve had all season!

    Hoping young Bloss is not seriously injured. “Right shoulder discomfort” is a phrase we’ve heard WAY too much this year. I agree with dave that he shouldn’t have even got the call tonight. But he did OK considering everything.

    Good to see Joey having such a great game. It’ll be interesting to see how (and why) they do that, though I think they will.

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    • I meant how are they going to keep him out of the lineup now? Sorry about that. This record skips now and then…… 😦

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  17. The Astros beat the mighty Orioles in game 1 of the three game series last might. It was certainly an entertaining game, with one potentially huge caveat. The Mariners lost again last night, this time to the lowly Fish. They don’t hit much and might well need to pick up bats by the deadline. That’s easier to accomplish than finding pitching though. We took a short cut last night. Hopefully the results of an MRI will not be the devastating news chewing at my gut.

    Joey Loperfido obviously creates a spark. It rubs off. He’s a potential leader. How could we all see that and have an organization that fumbled around with his opportunity to help win games? He plays the game in an intuitive way, not reckless but attuned to what’s going on around him. That catch down the third base line was remarkable because he’s had so little time to get familiar playing that left field corner. I hope management is done screwing Loperfido around and keeps him on the field somewhere until we can determine if he’ll hit frequently enough. As far as first base goes, I don’t care if he plays there, but based on his intelligence and athleticism alone, I’m pretty sure he’d manage.

    Maybe Jake Meyers is getting over his June swoon. That was a huge 3 run shot and another great catch of his own. Will Chas accept a month in Sugar Land if asked to go and regroup?

    I don’t have a clue what Joe Espada is doing. I don’t know if he knows. When you use Abreu-Pressly-Hader on Wednesday and Thursday, it sure limits your options on Friday. We sure know that Hernandez needs to go back. I’m not sure if an 11 run lead again Baltimore qualifies as garbage time. And why waste Taylor Scott with just 3 pitches? Were we saving Seth Martinez for extra innings?

    I’m not going to enjoy watching the Astros this weekend but of course I will be watching. I’ll be holding my breath a bit, hoping for positive news on the Jake Bloss front. That might not come until Monday though, assuming the Astros are willing to share it.

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    • Let’s be honest…the Orioles are one of the few teams with a real shot at winning the World Series. The White Sox are only marginally better than their AAA team…who also stinks. After dropping the opener on Tuesday, Espada knew the team needed to go out and win what turned out to be close games on Wed (4-1) and Thurs (5-3). He might have managed it differently on Thursday, but after they came back to take the lead did you really want to risk the outcome by holding your big dollar bullpen guys out in preparation for a Friday matchup and hope whoever was at the end of the bullpen didn’t screw it up? It’s 162 game season and Espada has to know he is managing for his job That doesn’t mean he’s going to do a good (or even better job), but he sure can’t afford to drop games in the standings by gambling against the bottom feeders.

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      • Devin, fair points. I’d like to respond by saying that using our three back end of the bullpen guys on Wednesday and Thursday was almost accepting a loss on Friday. But obviously that did not happen. Two things though. Seth Martinez has not pitched since the 15th. He’s been very reliable. Is he getting a mini unofficial trip to the IL? Gosh, I hope there is nothing wrong with him. And we’ve got to stop relying on Abreu so darn often. I don’t recollect an Astro team ever using a guy out of the pen three days in a row, with the exception of the most season. Hypothetically, if Joe Espada feels like managing for his job is more important than protecting his bullpen, then he should be worried abut his job. Of course we don’t know what’s going on though. And this year, we see to know less and less.

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  18. Thoughts

    • I don’t blame Espada if Bloss is hurt. He needed a starter for Friday’s game and one was provided to him by the front office. He went out there and pulled the young man when they saw him stretching oddly and his velocity dropped – even though the young man wanted to stay in.
    • It is rare you see two little league looking plays in one inning. You had Loperfido’s hit go off the first baseman’s glove sending Dubon to third and then the O’s made a poor throw to second when Loperfido kind of surprised them by heading for a double. Dubon trotted home. Then later on you had that crazy play by the shortstop who made a great dive and grab of the ball and then fumbled it, missed the tag on Bregman and then inexplicably looked at second base before lobbing it wide to third base.
    • Loperfido might be the spark for this team, but only if he gets to play. I don’t know what they rated it – but in my book that was a 5 star catch in the first. He certainly squares that ball up (so far) lots of solid line drives.
    • Astros are 5 games back in the wild card and 7 back in the division. Everytime I think they are going to catch up – they fall back again. I think the team has to wait to see how this goes a bit before they make big moves.
    • Of course, their hand might get forced if they keep losing pitchers. Is Verlander out for a while or coming back soon? Is Bloss out for a while? Whose next up if they have to call someone up? A.J. Blubaugh, who is pitching solidly at AAA (5-2, 3.58 ERA) after his own quick promotion (slower than Bloss) through the minors after being drafted in the 7th round in 2022. But are they looking hard at trading for someone? Or trying to stay in-house until the injured return?
    • It sure helps to have Alex Bregman hot behind Jose Altuve who is heating up. Too bad Tucker is not back and Yordan is consistently swinging at balls above the zone or way low inside.
    • Why didn’t Espada either leave Tayler Scott in for the ninth after getting the last out in the 8th? I kind of understood not bringing in Abreu early with him pitching three games in a row.
    • Hey Ronel – would it be too much to ask for a complete game? (Yes, it would against this offensive juggernaut).

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  20. I also don’t blame Joe Espada for the injury to Jake Bloss. When the Astros lost Javier almost a month ago, they were down to five starters. Dana Brown should have found someone, somewhere to have as a back up plan in case one of the five remaining starters went down, even if it meant making a trade for a guy that could only give innings, if not quality innings. Then we lost Verlander. And Brown started talking about moving a guy like Jake Bloss along. I did not even take it seriously. Devin, rarely does a guy go from Rookie ball to the majors in less than a year with just 80 innings of professional development. Almost every prospect is brought along gradually. In his very brief stop in Nashville, Bloss averaged 13 K’s per nine. In his short stay at Corpus, that number was reduced to 7.1 K’s per nine. The competition level changes quickly. Most guys don’t make it to AA ball. And then suddenly, Jake Bloss finds himself on the mound in Houston against maybe the toughest line up in the game, surrounded by 38,000 plus loud, supportive fans. No doubt he experienced the biggest adrenaline rush of his baseball career. The body takes over. He tries to get more on his fastball and extra spin on his breaking ball. All three plus innings were high leverage, guys on base. He did an admirable job. But he got hurt. Maybe it would have happened in Corpus. But he’s on the 15 day IL today. That’s ominous. It just was not worth the risk.

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  21. I hope y’all don’t seriously believe that Espada, Brown, or Crane (or even the legend in his own mind Bagwell) give one furry rodent’s rump about what happens to the kids in the minor leagues that they control. I mean beyond the effect that it may have on their bank accounts.

    I’d hate to think I’ve been hanging out with a bunch of dummies.

    Personally, if I had a grandson who was a pitcher, I’d want to keep him as far away from Houston as possible. Which is generally a good idea, but especially if you’re a pitcher!

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    • It reflects mostly on Dana Brown. He might do the same thing next week. Everytime he loses a pitcher the cost of doing business goes up. Nobody feels sorry for GM Dana and the Astro organization.

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      • He’s gonna be polluting the airwaves with his nonsense for at least half of this inning.

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      • Much warm air expelled, but very little information transmitted. He knows his lines and recites them well.

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    • Look, I know you want to complain about the leadership and if it makes you feel better have at it, but there is an important distinction here. They probably don’t care, personally, about anyone on the rosters of this MiLB teams. It’s not the same level of cold detachedness of a Jeff Luhnow, but every one of those guys who goes down with an arm injury is costing Crane more money and backing Brown into a corner. Every hurt player reduces his leverage for any move he could possibly make to improve the team. I have no clue on Espada so I won’t offer an opinion. But until we can grow pitchers on trees you can be sure Crane and Brown are going to agonize over injuries far more than any of us fans.

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  22. A modified lineup from yesterday

    Peña back at SS

    Dubon moves from SS to 1B

    Chas to RF

    Singleton and Cabbage to the bench

    Loperfido starts again in LF and batting 8th (8th?)

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  24. Glory be! All the Astros pitchers did a good job on the same day and the offense scored enough runs to actually win a series against the best team in MLB right now.

    I like this competition between Chas and Joey for the playing time while Tucker is hurt. Chas definitely came out on top today. But it’s a lot of fun to watch. I hope Cabbage hasn’t unpacked all of his stuff yet……

    Doobie is adequate at 1b for now IMO. Better than both JS and JA. But that doesn’t set the bar very high. I think that 71 year old woman who is trying to become Miss Texas could handle it……

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    • It’s great to see Chas wake up. I sure hope it continues. I look at it more a competition between him and Jake. If they both keep hitting, we might get a much needed pitcher for one of them in the next 5 weeks. Or, if someone finally decides to let Loperfido show that he can play first, it makes everything better. Excellent job again by Blanco. He’s a real story.

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  25. I’d hate lose either Chas or Jake. But one of them will be OMO when Tucker comes back. As long as the trade is not with a division rival, I’d be ok with it.

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  26. Good morning! Are our Astros teasing again? Yesterday’s 5-1 win might have been the tidiest of the season. They DO play better baseball with half of the first base equation resolved. But with just four starters right now though, it does not get easier. I picked on Chandler Rome last week for essentially being a mouthpiece for the organization. I don’t know what got into him, but his piece yesterday on the Astro pitching woes could not have gone over well within the Astro hierarchy. I wish I could share it, but I don’t know how to do that stuff.

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  27. 34 year old Albert Suarez goes for the O’s today. He’s been pitching all over the planet for the past 17 years. Originally signed by the Rays in 2008, he was picked up by the O’s last September and assigned to their AAA team. Today he’s making the minimum for the big club. His ERA is 2.15, the WHIP 1.200. 8 starts and 7 relief appearances. We used to have guys like this in our system. I sure hope we beat him up, but I’m guessing he does not go easily.

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      • It has been pretty clear for a while that Framber is a headcase that rattles. My guy is becoming less dependable as he ages.

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      • Trade that whiney little beeyatch and get something for him while you can!

        Maybe he’d be happier if he went back to the sh______ he came from.

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  33. Does anyone recognize this Astro team we have been waiting to see all season this past 3 days? The O’s were due a swoon having won 22 consecutive series, but we helped make that happen. Fastening my seatbelt to see what comes next.

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    • No, I don’t. For the last month or so, they looked so lethargic that I thought the “OXY” patch on the uniforms was representing Oxycontin!

      This team is much more fun……

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  35. Well, the AL West is within reach now. It wouldn’t be the greatest comeback ever but it sure would be great if they can pull it off.

    Keeping playing like you did this week, boys!

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  36. With the trade deadline nearing an abrupt return to mediocrity would have a devastating affect. Discounting that notion, do they have enough prospect capital to procure some high end SP or additional BP help without dumpster diving? To bad tms cannot spend cash to purchase assets or can they?

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    • We’re closing in on .500, so does that mean you’re fearful we will keep winning and be justified in claiming mediocrity or that we’ll start to drop games and fall back out of things again?

      They don’t have to send players in trades. We joke that so and so was traded for a bag of balls from time to time, but there are a lot of times where the trade is either for a PTBNL or cash considerations. In the latter it will sometimes be a straight cash transaction but is more often something like the Astros giving another team part of their foreign player signing bonus pool availability. It’s also worth noting that some teams will be willing to part with players simply to reduce how much they have to pay in salaries the remainder of the season or on future deals. The Padres made some moves and releases with that in mind last year.

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  37. Good morning!

    There are four main reasons the Astro offense is getting it done right now.

    Altuve, Bregman, Alvarez and Diaz all have great stats in June. If we can insert Kyle back in there at some point soon, things might really take off.

    On a smaller sample size, Loperfido and Cabbage are getting on base, Chas might be showing some signs of life. Dubon is erratic. Jake and Pena have struggled, but still gotten a couple of key hits. Salazar is having some competitive at bats in place of Victor.

    Jon Singleton has posted a .219 BA and a .524 OPS in June. And his dWAR is now at -0.9. Does someone have the cojones to send him home when Tucker comes back? That would sure would help with our crowded outfield situation. Is Tucker getting a new leg?

    Did Seth Martinez go on vacation?

    It’ll be interesting to see where our fifth starter comes from this weekend.

    These guys are teasing me.

    13-7 in June so far. Can they go 17-8 to finish out the month?

    Can we cobble together enough pitching without a repeat of the Bloss debacle?

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    • For the season Jon Singleton is hitting .231 with a .346 OBP when he starts a 2nd or more consecutive game. He has a 23.6% K rate in that time.

      When he is making the 1st start after a day off or pinch hitting he is hitting .203 with a .305 OBP. The K rate is an astounding 33.8%.

      If you are not going to play him everyday, release him. He is never going to be an all star, but he is passable offensively when you play him consistently, which they have not done in June. If you don’t play him, he is an awful pinch hitter, he can only play 1 position and that is just passably, you can’t use him as a pinch runner, and the roster is full of average to below average left handed bats. At least Cabbage can play all over the OF, 1B, and you can even stick him at 3B if you have too.

      I’m not trying to be the Singleton defender here, but if I told you if you gave him 500 ABs and he was going to hit .231 with 20 HR and a .346 OBP and do it for minimum salary after you had to release your 20M a year guy, would you take it? Probably. He can be a stop gap until we find the next guy, which I would hope would be in the offseason unless you are going to sell half your already depleted farm to rent Alonzo. But he has to play. Otherwise, he is just a slug taking up a roster spot. He is the exact guy I said before the season even opened, and I know they know this because Brown has acknowledged it.

      Is it possible that Espada just doesn’t want to risk that? What if Singleton does play everyday for a month and hits .180? Is that in his mind? Does he think that might cost him his job if the team is still below .500? We know he will get sold down the river on it on social media, especially after Abreu. But I say, sometimes you got to risk it, and there are things to point out in the numbers to risk it.

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      • I would not take it. Release him indeed. Historically, there is no reason to expect a .346 OBP from the guy, or 20 dingers either. As you noted Steven, he can’t pinch hit, he can’t pinch run, he can’t play another position. He can’t play first! But as much as anything else, (and I know you’re not big on dWAR) he’d probably put up a -2.0 in that department if given 500 AB’s over there. And that alone is completely unacceptable. Time to move on. The team needs to be younger and especially more athletic. I think we’ve already seen a bit of what that will do for us. Heck, I’d rather bring up Will Wagner tomorrow and have the ability to use him off the bench for several different situations. And he might well give us a .346 OBP with a much lower K rate. And I’d rather open up first base to athletes like Cabbage, and yes, Loperfido too. I guarantee you neither guy is going to give us a -0.9 dWAR at that bag. Singleton is simply not good enough to play everyday and should be released.

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      • There are currently ten 1B in the league with at least 10 HR. There are six with an OBP above .346. Singleton doesn’t have to do a lot to be in the top half of the league in production. If I’m making a move to replace him it’s with an eye towards how we will maximize our chances in October. I understand we have to get there, but the pitching concerns me much more at this point.

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      • This is almost reminiscent of the days we used to debate Robbie Grossman and Jake Marisnick.

        It depends on how you are going to use the player. If I needed 500 plate appearances from a player, I’m less interested in defense. I’m less interested in base running. I’m less interested in a lot of things – the one thing I care about is can that player control the strike zone. Can they tell the difference between a ball and a strike early enough in the process that they can lay off pitches that are way out of the zone. It’s important because in a lot of at bats I need someone that sees first base more often. Grossman has a career .346 OBP, a good 25 points higher than the league average. So what if once every 5 games he doesn’t make a play in LF that Marisnick would? Honestly, defensively, it may not even be that, it may end up more like every 10 games.

        Now if you tell me, I’m looking for a bench guy, a guy that can go get it if I put him out there in 7th to help hold a 2 run lead, or a pinch runner in the 10th inning to start on 2nd instead of Yordan, a guy that I need to use for all kinds of things, and sure, yea, he is going to see 250 PAs so hit some, Marisnick is a clear choice.

        The way the Astros are using Singleton, no issue if they release him. I don’t blame them. He doesn’t help. But I don’t think Cabbage, Loperfido, Dubon, or anyone else he has to put on 1B will have an OBP 25 points over league average, but you have to play him to see that benefit. And unlike Grossman, it can’t be sparingly, because he has a career of demonstrating what sitting does to him, it makes him even worse. And a sitting Singleton, with an OBP of .310, is helping no one at all.

        As for Loperfido, watching him play defense in the OF, I don’t want him at 1B. I want him playing everyday, in LF or CF.

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  38. Nobody seems to want to consider what impact defense has.

    I made it easier for myself. I went to Baseball Prospectus leaderboards. They rate all qualified players at each position both defensively and offensively. They use a whole bunch of different criteria. It’s all there.

    Offensively Jon Singleton is rated 35th out of 59 qualifiers. Is that acceptable on a team that wants to make a run in the second half of the season?

    Defensively, Singleton is rated 99th out of 108 qualifiers. He’s terrible in every category. He’s worse than Jose Abreu was.

    I know we can nit pick and find a couple of stats that fit any individual to make them look a bit better or a bit worse. But if one takes a couple of minutes and really looks at all of Singleton’s stats, broken down, he’s just bad. He’s not worth the minimum on any team that wants to win.

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    • I’d rather see Loperfido at 1B than Singleton, but Brown and Espada won’t answer my calls. I’d rather not see Dubon at 1B as a starter. Poor Cooper Hummel is still looking for his first hit so I’m not ready to put the pressure on him. Cabbage has played 62 innings at first in his MLB career and only made one error…so there’s that. I’d rather Diaz be catching. I don’t think Wil Wagner is the 5’11” they list him at just like I don’t believe Bregman’s height. Once you move on from Singleton you need to have a plan B.

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      • Devin, I’m very disappointed that you have not been in regular contact with those guys. With some effort, I think you could have gotten both guys moved out at the same time! That would have been something!

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    • Ive been saying that for since the beginning of last season.

      If I projected his numbers for 150 games this year he is at .264 with 17 dingers and 84 RBI, and I think he can do even more if he isn’t half focused on game planning with a pitcher the plan that day, which is arguably more important than what he does with the bat. But imagine, 100% of his time focused on studying the staff he is facing and game planning his own at bats.

      To me its the best answer, not only do you get to play him more, you also don’t get his hands beat up by errant foul balls.

      Of course, Caratini has to be healthy first.

      But it doesn’t seem a route the Astros are going to take mid-season. Maybe after the season there could be some “move Yainer” talk for the same reasons they moved Biggio 33 years ago.

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  40. I have high hope for a bunch of guys, and all of them won’t succeed. But I like Dezenzo, Whitcomb, Wagner, Leon, Matthews and others. Some of these guys will be impact players. And I especially look at Zach as a guy that might be groomed into a long term first baseman.

    When Tucker gets back, if Espada tries to get playing time for Chas, Jake, Yordan, Loperfido and maybe Cabbage too, it’s going to be tough to keep either of the the rookie’s busy enough. Is Cabbage a rookie? That’s why I keep thinking there needs to be another place to play them. And that might come at the expense of Singleton losing his job.

    Diaz might well be better off long term out from behind the plate. I sure like his .935 OPS this month. But kind of a change would not help up us right now,

    Maybe someone will get traded and the picture will become more clear. All I know, and I’ve said this several times, is that I’m looking forward to seeing what transpires between now and the deadline.

    It’s bound to help me form a clearer opinion of Dana Brown.

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  41. Devin, I’m hoping the offense has finally gotten on track, unlike what they were much of the season. The P is a mess and some things have to be figured out. I’m fearful of them falling off again and ultimately blowing that trade deadline window some of us have discussed lately. If they sustain winning into contention this discussion is a moot point. If not, let them make moves at the deadline to improve for 2025 and beyond.

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  42. Devin, I’m hoping the offense has finally gotten on track, unlike what they were much of the season. The P is a mess and some things have to be figured out. I’m fearful of them falling off again and ultimately blowing that trade deadline window some of us have discussed lately. If they sustain winning into contention this discussion is a moot point. If not, let them make moves at the deadline to improve for 2025 and beyond.

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  44. Chandler Rome is on a roll.

    This morning he posted in The Athletic on the Astros aggressive offensive tendencies. It’s a series of contradictions.

    A few points:

    No lineup in baseball strikes out less often and only three have a higher slugging %.

    Only two teams chase outside the zone more frequently.

    Just four lineups walk less than the Astros. Their 7.3 walk rate is the lowest since 2013.

    Bregman says “our offense needs to be more patient. We swing too much”.

    Only four other lineups swing more than the Astros, but none see fewer pitches.

    Surprisingly, only two offenses saw fewer pitches than the Astros in 2022.

    Chase rate has gone from 25.7 in 2021 to 31.50 in 2024.

    Uncharacteristic zone expansion by Altuve and Alvarez is exacerbating the problem. Atuve’s chase rate is 38.5 %.

    Only three lineups in MLB have higher contact rates,

    The Astros are the toughest team in MLB to strike out.

    When Jake puts his first pitch in play, he’s 23-50 with nine extra base hits.

    I don’t think any of these stats surprise any of us. We’ve watched it happen. We’ve seen all the single digit pitch counts by inning. But it seems the Astro coaching staff is finally wondering what they can do to figure this problem out. It’s safe to say though, if the Astros offense manages to find a bit of balance during the second half of the season, we’ll likely be more effective.

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