I'm really starting to get excited about Keuchel, he seems to have gained a little velocity on his fastball and he just really knows how to pitch. His peripherals last year were much better than his results, and they are even better this year, except he is actually getting results now. Cosart gets the hype, but him and Obie look like much better starting pitchers at the moment. We'll see if they can keep this up. Offensively the Astros are due for some games like this, but I sure as hell didn't expect it with Hernandez on the bump though.
Pleasant surprise to see that type of offense against Felix. Hopefully we can take that momentum into tonight's game!
I don't notice a change in velocity. He sits around 88-90 with his FB for the most part (looking it up, it is a negligible difference from last year, but a reasonable improvement on his rookie year). Control is improved, and he's really started to use the changeup as an out pitch. So far, he looks to have taken that Wandy-esque leap I was hoping for in Spring Training. It would be wonderful if anyone on offense could come close to matching what our pitchers are doing.
They showed a graphic last night indicating an uptick in his velocity. I think it was essentially 87-88-89 (might have been some decimals in there).
.2 really isn't much, just seems like he's hitting 90 more. I guess I'm still stuck on his minor league/rookie numbers where he would routinely throw some pitches in the mid 80's. Looking at the numbers, his increased changeup velocity may be making it harder for hitters to identify.
great game last night. safeco field was eeeeempty. saw a few astros fans around the ballpark so that was nice.
I agree with everyone here that's growing tired of Altuve's mental mistakes. I know we signed Altuve to a (very reasonable) extension and all, but check out Ronald Torreyes at AAA if you want to see what a replacement from within our system would look like. Torreyes, you might remember, is a player we picked up from the Cubs in return for some of our international allocation money. He's another small-in-stature 2B, hits well, gets on base, and allegedly has good enough range that he can even fill in at SS on the fly. Kid doesn't show much in the way of power, but neither does Altuve. People were pretty surprised when Torreyes looked so good in the ZiPS projections at the beginning of the season, but he's putting up good numbers at AAA now and I wouldn't mind seeing him get a spot start here and there, especially if we decide Marwin Gonzalez doesn't have a place on the team anymore. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2014-zips-projections-houston-astros/
Kut Karter <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>RT “<a href="https://twitter.com/Nick_Mathews">@Nick_Mathews</a>: NL pitchers are hitting better than Astros' Chris Carter this season: NL pitchers: .129 (72-557) Carter: .123 (7-57)”</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/statuses/458745306687877121">April 22, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
McHugh looks like the second coming of Kirk Saarloos.... Great "change up", yet below-average fastball according to the scouting report. Fastball doesn't look that bad so far... if he can locate it well, certainly will be better than Harrell.
He's gotta be amped up. Sitting at 93, and he hit 96 on a pitch, well above the scouting report. Dude just struck out the side.
