"Strikeouts are fascist." MMP isn't like Coors... You can pitch there, and pitch to contact there. Ausmus and Oswalt figured it out pretty early that you can pitch longer and extend careers by pitching to contact and forcing the ball to be hit out to CF and RCF...looks like Cosart and Keuchel (and Obie on Sat) are doing just that as of late. Sure, Lancaster doesn't "ruin" guys... but I would expect Appel's numbers to get much better the second he gets out of there.
Oddly, I worry about hitters more than pitchers at Lancaster. Lancaster punishes pitching mistakes. Lancaster can make a hitter feel he has the right approach when he doesn't.
I think the Astros having a "hitter's park" moniker is more myth than people think: FanGraphs Rating RotoWire
The hitter's park moniker was deserved its first season. It is now harder to hit homers to left center as the yellow line was moved up. Also, I think outfielders were having more trouble with playing in a new park (e.g. going back too far on hits off scoreboard, balls hit to gaps turned into triples too much) that first season. It could also have been that centerfielders were too juiced up for homers that the big centerfield caused problems defensively.
Its funny to still see Coors at the top, despite the "humidor"... and I think the main reason for this is just how BIG the ballpark was made (to try to combat the easier HR's), but in the process, it makes it much easier to get any sort of hit at all (and you can see by the vast number of doubles and triples, OFers are having a hard time getting to these balls from gap-to-gap due to the field dimensions). Of course, if you shorten the dimensions, the overall HR numbers are likely to go up...
Those gaps... huge. You bring a Carlos Lee into their left field and you could have a long day. You cannot mask a poor fielder in that outfield.
Exactly.... to me that compounds/accentuates the thin-air effect, not "combats" it. Not only are HR's still a risk, but every single other sort of hit is more likely to happen with any fly ball as well. Will there ever be a HOF caliber (or even perennial all-star caliber) starting pitcher from the Rockies???
From last night's Greeneville game. Juan Carlos Santos, the Astros' 39th-round pick from 2013, was the starter. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Santos showed a 90-91 mph fastball, 78-83 mph slider, and 81-mph change, all decent. Just had no feel today.</p>— Nathaniel Stoltz (@stoltz_baseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/stoltz_baseball/statuses/483376832642039808">June 29, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Greeneville's Eric Peterson worked 87-90, CB 76-77, good CH 75-77. Angel Heredia 91-93, CB 76-79, lot of effort.</p>— Nathaniel Stoltz (@stoltz_baseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/stoltz_baseball/statuses/483390103394738176">June 29, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Lefty Austin Nicely in for Greeneville, throwing 89-90 with good plane.</p>— Nathaniel Stoltz (@stoltz_baseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/stoltz_baseball/statuses/483395659115266048">June 29, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Nicely throwing 87-90 with some run, decent SL 78-81, show change 81-84. Good body, some projection there.</p>— Nathaniel Stoltz (@stoltz_baseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/stoltz_baseball/statuses/483405482972160000">June 30, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>And Nicely is done after 3 1/3. Was gassed, throwing 84-87 by the end. Aaron Greenwood in to get two outs.</p>— Nathaniel Stoltz (@stoltz_baseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/stoltz_baseball/statuses/483410555433414657">June 30, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>.<a href="https://twitter.com/astros">@Astros</a> prospect Michael Feliz of <a href="https://twitter.com/QCRiverBandits">@QCRiverBandits</a> replaces <a href="https://twitter.com/whitesox">@whitesox</a> prospect Frank Montas (<a href="https://twitter.com/fmpiedra71">@fmpiedra71</a>) of <a href="https://twitter.com/WSDashBaseball">@WSDashBaseball</a> on World Team.</p>— Futures Game (@futuresgame) <a href="https://twitter.com/futuresgame/statuses/483710694659870721">June 30, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Lancaster is a little easier place to pitch early in the season when it's still cool. Notice the Astros got Folty out of there very quickly last year, and Velasquez only pitched early this year. I imagine the Astros had the same plan for Appel as Folty, a quick stay with decent results and on to CC, but things went terribly wrong. If a pitcher stays there long enough, his numbers will usually inflate a great deal versus what they would be at a more neutral location.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> have optioned Jonathan Villar to Triple-A OKC.</p>— Howard Chen (@ho_chenCSN) <a href="https://twitter.com/ho_chenCSN/statuses/483816389740728321">July 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Anthony Bass is in Astros clubhouse</p>— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianmctaggart/statuses/483816521961979904">July 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
wow. i wonder who next year's opening day SS will be. kind of a tough spot for Luhnow. a year off from Correa, yet you can't just get a dog**** stopgap like Ronny Cedeno.
They definitely need a starting shortstop. If Gonzalez is the guy, then who will pinch run for Dominguez?
gotta sign a legit stopgap like Jason Barlett 2-3 years ago. Someone who can be average or just slightly below. The Astros are carrying enough high-value prospects batting for crap averages that they can't afford to carry below average stopgaps and expect to contend for a wild card anytime soon. If they need to toss a stopgap $5-8 mil per year for 2 years until Correa is ready then they need to suck it up and do it.
