After the Astros won for a fifth time in their first six games, Zack Greinke delivered a dose of reality.
“Pretty much every part of the game has gone good,” Greinke said after the Astros’ 4-2 win over the Angels on Tuesday. “Pitching has been good; defense and hitting has been amazing.
“It will never continue like this the whole year, but it’s a really good start.”
The team arrived home, and its dominance was halted, aligning with Greinke’s premonition and settling into the rhythm of a 162-game season. Slumps are inevitable, and successful streaks remain hard to sustain. The Astros destroyed the A’s for four games in a venomous Coliseum atmosphere but dropped two of three in Minute Maid Park’s more welcoming environment.
Nine games give a sample size far too small to draw any grand assessment. The Astros entered Sunday’s off day averaging 6.22 runs per game, had an .844 team OPS, and were tied with the Cincinnati Reds for the major league lead in home runs. Their pitching staff sported a 3.95 FIP and 1.138 WHIP, but the bullpen had walked nearly four batters per nine innings and had a 4.41 ERA.
All are bound to even out in some form or fashion. Until then, here are four takeaways from the very early going:
Altuve’s leadoff approach
Jose Altuve always seemed Dusty Baker’s safest option in the leadoff spot. Myles Straw’s speed is exciting, and the mere thought of Carlos Correa re-creating George Springer’s presence seemed enticing, but Altuve’s experience atop the order is better than both unproven possibilities. He hit leadoff during the 2015 and 2016 seasons before Springer took over.
Worry about Altuve’s abysmal 2020 season remained, but the six-time All-Star second baseman has allayed any concern early on. He is 13 for his first 37 with four extra-base hits, four walks and only four strikeouts. He also has scored a major league-high 11 runs.
“Sometimes I’m going out there trying to see more pitches, especially if we’re facing a guy that we haven’t faced in a long time,” Altuve said last week. “You see a lot of pitches to let my teammates see what this guy has that day. That’s pretty much the only different thing I’m doing. Besides that, I’m just trying to keep my approach.”
Altuve has seen 157 pitches in his 42 plate appearances, an average of 3.73. His career average is 3.38. As the Astros’ primary leadoff man in 2015, Altuve saw 3.23 pitches per plate appearance. Altuve’s affinity for first-pitch swinging is not gone — he’s done it 13 times already this season — but more patience could continue through the season.
Why Javier got demoted
The Astros’ decision to demote Cristian Javier following Saturday’s game generated some confusion among onlookers. Manager Dusty Baker prefaced the news by saying it was “much to our regret.” Javier struck out 11 across 8 2/3 innings during his first two starts while allowing only two earned runs.
Javier’s departure allows Jake Odorizzi onto the 26-man roster and signals a four-man rotation for the next two weeks. Sunday was the second of four off days during April. Odorizzi, Greinke, Lance McCullers Jr. and Jose Urquidy can throw on regular rest because of it, eliminating the need for a fifth starter.
The Astros could have kept Javier in their major league bullpen and send down either Brandon Bielak or Luis Garcia, both of whom have minor league options and are viewed as starters. The team apparently placed more emphasis on building Javier’s endurance. He lasted just five innings in his start against the A’s on Thursday and 3 2/3 frames during his first appearance of the season.
Bear in mind, too, that Javier entered the season behind other pitchers after missing a week of spring training due to COVID-19 contact tracing. Stashing him in the major league bullpen with an uncertain workload would not help his stamina.
The Astros can throw Javier in simulated games or exhibitions at their alternate training site in Corpus Christi, allowing him to stay on routine while conserving some of his major league innings. The 23-year-old Javier has never thrown more than 113 2/3 innings in any professional season.
On Saturday, Baker intimated that Javier will return to the Astros’ rotation during a four-game series against the Angels that starts April 22. For now, keeping Bielak and Garcia in the bullpen as long men could allow Baker to pitch Bryan Abreu in shorter stints. Abreu has found his command and excelled early on, throwing 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball as a long reliever.
Exit speeds
When he managed the Washington Nationals, Baker quipped that he didn’t care about exit velocities.
“Everyone talks about exit speeds,” he said. “I want exit hits.”
Baker’s current bunch is delivering both. The Astros are averaging 10 hits per game. Four of their regulars rank in the top 15 of hard-hit balls, according to Baseball Savant. Altuve, Yuli Gurriel, Carlos Correa and Kyle Tucker have all struck at least 15 batted balls 95 mph or harder.
Altuve entered Sunday with 17, behind only Manny Machado, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Corey Seager for the major league lead. Last season, Altuve hit just 51 of his 153 balls in play harder than 95 mph. Correa had just an 88.6 mph average exit velocity in 2020. After nine games this year, it’s 93.9 mph. Gurriel’s is 94.7 mph.
“My main focus right now is to hit the ball hard,” Correa said last week. “My approach is simple this year: I just want to barrel balls.”
Reliever roles
The Astros entered the season envisioning that some combination of Enoli Paredes, Joe Smith, Pedro Baez and Blake Taylor could handle the leverage innings leading to closer Ryan Pressly.
Paredes and Baez are on the injured list with no clear timetable for their return. Smith and Taylor have been hit around in their first few appearances. It is far too early for panic, but this is nonetheless an ominous start for Houston’s bullpen. Relievers have allowed 14 earned runs in their last 17 2/3 innings — a 7.13 ERA.
Smith deserves at least some benefit of the doubt given his pedigree and year-long layoff after opting out of the 2020 season. Underlying statistics suggest some bad luck, too. Average exit velocity against him is just 83.5 mph. He’s generating a 23.5 percent whiff rate.
Taylor, meanwhile, has induced just three swings and misses all season. He has thrown 60 pitches, walked two and yielded five hits. Fellow lefty Brooks Raley hasn’t fared much better but has battled a stiff back off and on.
While they sort out what’s going wrong, Ryne Stanek might be positioning himself for more high-leverage opportunities. The righthander struck out eight of the first 21 batters he faced. Until a home run by A’s outfielder Seth Brown in Saturday’s 7-3 loss, Stanek had not allowed a hit or run during his first five appearances.
Though he is maintaining a high-90s fastball, Stanek is throwing both his split-finger and slider a tad slower than he did with the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays. This season, Stanek averages 86.6 mph on his split and 86.2 mph on his slider, according to Baseball Savant. He averaged over 88 mph on both pitches in both 2019 and 2020.
Stanek has induced 15 swings and misses on 84 pitches. His fastball induced only five of them, but the splitter has been so effective early in the season that he’s found success. His career-long success against lefthanded hitters is comforting, too, given Raley and Taylor’s early troubles.
chandler.rome@chron.com
twitter.com/chandler_rome
"four" - Google News
April 12, 2021 at 04:48AM
https://ift.tt/3mOWLf3
Four takeaways from the Astros’ 6-3 start - Houston Chronicle
"four" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2ZSDCx7
https://ift.tt/3fdGID3
No comments:
Post a Comment