Singleton... Can't put my finger on it, but he seems to make decent contact. Doesn't chase etc. Seems he has been a bit unlucky as of late. He def deserves all the AB's prior to ABREU return to see what we got. Would be such a great story if he turned in to something good.
Singleton’s babip is .059, that is incredible bad luck. He has only struck out in 11% of his pa since he got to Houston. He needs to continue to be in the lineup everyday for the remainder of the season. With Abreu hurt he is clearly the best option at 1B (assuming Diaz is at C).
Having Maldy at C is likely more palatable because the team around him is better, but I'd want Diaz to catch even more than I do now if Pena and Abreu were hitting. I think synergy and batting orders are generally over estimated in baseball by the public, but having a lineup that deep would wear out pitchers (I'd guess that lineup would be scoring well over 6 runs a game with everyone healthy assuming Pena an average hitter and Abreu a 25% better than average hitter).
Singleton has done everything right so far. So far he is exactly the poster child for small sample sizes. Back to back homers, 3 hit game makes him Babe Ruth then the next week he is Mario Mendoza. Let's see where he is if/after he gets 100 PA.
Singletons K/BB rates look amazing, but I really haven't been impressed with his quality of contact since the huge game. At least not enough to feel like we've really found something. Over such a small sample you can pretty much see whatever you want. I wouldn't mind Singleton playing every day for a little while if it didn't result in Diaz being on the bench over 1/3 of the time. Diaz "cant play first" is just more Dusty doesn't like him reasoning.
I noticed Kessinger leads Peña in both xwOBA and OAA at SS. Could Kessinger eventually pose a threat to Peña’s job at some point?
https://theathletic.com/4778149/2023/08/16/alex-cobb-surgery-chas-mccormick-triston-casas/ Chas McCormick stands tall Last year, only Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit more opposite field homers than Astros outfielder Chas McCormick. Surprising, no? But with a stance like he has, and low-ball approach like the one he has, it wasn’t surprising to him that so many of his homers were oppo screamers like this one. Vid If you listen to the announcers in that clip, they talk about how much McCormick loves the opposite field. With his stance, landing with his foot close to the plate like he does, he’s lined up to hit the ball that way. “I’m pretty closed off and I get more closed when I land,” McCormick agreed. “I always will land closed. If I’m open, I just feel like I’ll pull off balls.” This year, there’s been more of this, though. Vid Last year, 10 of his 14 homers went to right field. This year, five of his 15 have gone that direction. And the difference, mechanically, is very slight. He’s standing a little taller. “When I was wider in my stance, I was more closed,” he said in July. “But now I’m taller and I’ve been able to pull balls, get to balls a little more in. I’ve definitely worked on pulling the ball more. I’m open up top so I can get to more pitches, and I’m seeing the ball better.” He’s just a bit more upright this year (left) than last year (right), and that’s all it took to be able to get to more balls inside. He’s slugging .654 on balls on the inner third of the plate this year, and that number was .427 last season. “When I was wider and lower, I kind of had to come up and out to hit balls inside and up, and it was a popup or rollover, I just couldn’t get to it,” McCormick said. Sometimes the risk for someone who lets the ball travel and then wants to get more power in front of the plate is that they strike out a lot more when they try to pull the ball. Pull power is thought of as being in the front of the plate, so making that decision earlier should theoretically lead to more whiffs. McCormick, however, is swinging-and-missing less this year, with just a slight increase in strikeouts. “I’m also trying to have a little bit better approach and not swing at pitches I am not looking for,” he said about the risk of striking out with his new approach. “I’m seeing the ball better and not chasing.” His chase rate is down, and overall his production is in the top 15 among batters who have stepped to the plate 300 times this season. Seems like he’s made a good decision by taking a strength (taking outside and low pitches to the opposite field in the air) and adding to it (pull-side power). Others have tried to add power and contact up in the zone to low-ball prowess, and McCormick sees this similarly. “You have to find a way to hit the ball up,” he said. “Now there’s just a little more room up there for me.”
Dusty still thinks he stands “short.” Once he makes his mind up about a player, it seems like it’s really hard for him to accept that they’ve evolved. Hope Chas plays 95% of the remaining games down the stretch
McCormick is unique in the sense he had some really elite capabilities even when his production wasn't elite before this year. His ability to hit left handed pitchers is well known. What isn't well known is that he is the third best fastball hitter in the league. Opposite field power is mentioned here. Unfortunately before this season, he was putrid in other areas such as hitting breaking balls, hitting against right handers, and pulling the ball which made him slightly above average overall. This year, he really addressed his weaknesses which has made him an all-star level hitter. We really need to extend him, since these new found capabilities aren't going away and his elite skills are still there. He's not choosing one for the other. He's doing both well now.
It's bad, but I feel like I've seen much worst calls from Angel Hernandez this year....multiple times.
He played lots of first in the minors without Chris Carter level of issues. He has more experience at playing first than Dubon but yet...
Think 10-6 would be reasonable headed into the rangers series home: 3 mariners, 4 Red Sox, 3 yankees away- 3 Red Sox, 3 tigers. looking at their schedule 9-6 seems reasonable. That would put us 2 down going into that series. If we could win 2/3 we’d be right there 1 game back. if that happens or even if we are 2 or 3 back after that series I would expect us to run them down, we’ve got 9 with the A’s and Royals, 3 more with AZ to end the year who will likely be trying not at all to win, 3 with a SD team that should open up a can of quit by then and 3 with Baltimore in Houston. We have 3 with Seattle they have 7 with Seattle in the last 10 days. If Seattle stays in the race their schedule is much harder. If they drop out and have nothing to play for that becomes a problem I guess. This race is really going to hinge on if we can go something like 7-3 against Boston and Yankees. If we do that I like our chances a lot if we go 5-5 I’d slightly favor them if we go 3-7 or something like that it becomes a huge ducking hill to climb and we are sweating out if we make the playoffs
Couldn’t fall asleep, YouTube suggested Astros 2022 post season highlights from every game… well couple things: 1. I’m wide awake now unfortunately 2. Man I forgot just how insanely good some of these guys were. I know pena has regressed offensively and defensively but holy hell was he a god last year. 3. Yordan bombs literally still bring goosebumps, but honestly, so many homers and clutch ones too. Which leads me to 4. This team really knows how to turn it on when the lights are bright. I really hope dusty can get his head out of his buttocks and play Diaz so we can win the division, but even if we don’t, I still take this team against anyone in the AL when it counts.
