While Diaz has been discussed a lot in other threads, he and Brown have been the 2 brightest spots this season (not counting guys that were already good). 0.400 xwOBA and above is basically the Yordan zone. There is a good chance Tucker, Altuve, and Diaz fight over who the 2nd best hitter is on the Astros going forward.
He does hit, but it would be really nice if he was able to play a defensive position that we weren't getting good production out of, say like 1B or C At this point I think the front office has put their foot down on Diaz, and I doubt even Dusty is arrogant enougt to try to part timer him again. Which begs the question, what will Dusty do once Yordan is back. I know they don't want Yordan in LF 75% of the time, so Diaz would have to start getting a meaningful amount of reps somewhere besides DH. He won't be confused with a track star, but Diaz moves far better than I was led to believe. All the reports had him as "typical slow ass C/1B", but his sprint speed is right at league average, and he seems to move well behind the plate. With his arm strength, I don't think it's a given that he would be a terrible LF, particularly at MMP. I would rather have him at catcher, but anywhere is better than trying to play the "no place to put him" card.
Dusty is arrogant enough to slash all of Yainer's starts at catcher and play Maldy more than ever....practically every day now. He seems to have zero interest in his development there. He's our catcher of the future but is getting no reps. "As long as Yainer doesn't get the chance to make my sweet Maldy look worse as a catcher, I'm okay with just DHing him". What happens when Yordan/Brantley comes back? I expect Yainer to play half as much as he does now or less.
Diaz at C and Yordan in LF if the Astros make the postseason is the basis for a devastating offensive attack along with Tucker, Altuve, Bregman, Chas, and Pena. Just fix 1B and DH (Julks and Abreu have been looking better lately).
Very odd move..Maybe Korey Lee is coming up? I don't see Dusty being comfortable playing Maldy and Yainer in the same lineup without a backup catcher on the roster.
Unless one of our infielders is hurt it has to be Korey Lee...right? The only other options are Bannon, Joe Perez and Hensley (who hasn't exactly turned it around). A 3rd catchers mere existence on the roster is far more valuable than them right now.
This was my first thought. It is either that, a trade, or Brown is getting buy in from Dusty to play Diaz. Edit: Or an injury replacement.
Diaz, Pena, McCormick all project to give Houston >3fwar each at C, SS, and CF for league minimum. If they were allowed to play those positions full time.
Why would they bring up Lee to collect cobwebs on the bench? I think it might be an injury. Hell, maybe the planet was hit by a massive asteroid last night, we’re now all dead and in heaven, and Maldy is about to be set packing.
Why? Fans seem to think Dusty has a problem with it, but Dusty himself has never seemed to have a problem with it. Just a few days ago, he pinch hit for Maldy, moved Diaz to C, and gave up his DH. In the extremely unlikely scenario that Maldy gets injured during a game, I'm sure the Astros can manage the 1 or 2 pinch hits required to survive that game.
Maybe it was discussed in the game thread when the Astros lost 9-7 to the Reds, but the more odd move was pinch hitting for Maldonado and losing the DH by moving Diaz to catcher. If you won't even bring him in to that game (the exact reason you carry a third catcher), he should never have been brought back up on 6/09.
Injury makes the most sense. Lee makes almost none. Salazar has been a wasted roster spot all season. A dedicated PR would be more useful than him.
If it is Lee, it would mean one of two things: Brown has given up on trying to get Diaz in as catcher, and that Diaz will be an everyday player at DH/LF/1B. An asteroid is on its way and Brown wants to see how good Lee is to determine if he needs to call Bruce Willis or not.
I honestly think Diaz has more hitting talent than Tucker. Not as much talent as Altuve but he has more natural power. Neither are very selective about what they put the bat on.
Tucker is walking more, striking out less, and hitting the ball hard more often than he ever has. He's having a bad year defensively, but his offense being only very good has mostly been bad luck. If Diaz improves his plate discipline, his upside is MVP.
Diaz is a strange hitter. Apparently mediocre Max EV and poor plate discipline. However, he has elite bat to ball skills and apparently a well above average ability to barrel the ball upon contact resulting in an elite barrel rate (low K% + well above average barrel/BBE). I'm not sure who would be a good comp for him.
