With the utter extinction of small ball in today’s game… it really could put a lot of pressure on teams/pitchers who just aren’t used to those sorts of situations anymore. Altuve will always swing at the first pitch, huh?
Castro should have played way more this season. He's got offensive skills but hard to show it when you are rarely starting.
Can't fault the baserunning on paper, the runner should score on a that ground ball, Castro is just too slow.
Then you lose a lot defensively. But he's definitely better than the amount of playing time he received
He’s a career .705 ops hitter with 2900 at bats. That’s not a starter when combined with slightly better than replacement level defense. He’s got some power and is having a hot streak. The Astros have had trouble developing catchers, but have some with potential now. Yanier Diaz came over with Maton and I expect that was as big a part of why they made that trade.
Seems like everyone on the pitching staff is set on Maldy being their personal catcher. While we’ve had a historically great offense, and his defense justifies the black hole in the lineup it is a bit worrisome for the future. I imagine it will take Korey Lee some time to develop the chemistry Maldy has especially with emotional guys like Lance and Framber.
I think you are right. The Astros have a lot of young pitchers as well. The defense / game management is more valuable with this staff than the offensive upgrade from terrible to just not good.
