Haven't had the time to actually watch Hoes play (other than the LA-homer game), but he seems to be on a tear. Closing in on a .350 OBP and a 0.310 BA - solid pickup.
I really starting to be optimistic about Hoes, he looks like the hitter I hope Altuve becomes. Hoes seems more disciplined. He's not gonna walk a lot, but he will collect a decent amount. But more importantly he waits for his pitch to do something with, as opposed to Jose who swings at the first decent pitch he sees. Therefore i feel more confident he will be able to maintain a good BA, and collect his walks. I don't expect him to maintain these numbers, although I'm not ruling it out, but he seems like the type who can easily maintain a .290/.350/.400 line to go along with his good athletisicm, he seems like a perfect 2 hitter.
The thing that frustrates me the most about Altuve is the fact that he will 90% of the time swing at the first pitch and put it in play. Whether it's an out or a hit it makes me mad. You have a tiny strike zone, work the pitcher. Don't bail him out with a swing on the first pitch. Personally, I think a Grossman, Springer, Hoes outfield will be awesome next year. Hoes is really starting to hit the ball well, Grossman has been great since he got recalled(as tellitlikeitis said in a previous post) and we all know what Springer can do. I would like for Hoes and Grossman to work on their arm strength. I feel like any pop fly to the outfield is an automatic run if they have a runner on third with less than two outs.
I was confused as well. Great game last night. Sure could use more of those. Nights like that give me more hope about our position players.
Hoes' arm is adequate (fringy RF, great LF). Grossman's is ok for LF. JD Martinez doesn't have a strong arm, but has done a great job in his career of throwing guys out by setting up well and having accurate throws to go along with playing in a short LF.
Two things that bug me about Hoes (and granted, I can only watch the Astros when they play the Rangers) is that he doesn't seem especially fast on the bases for a young player and he has had some horrible throws from the outfield. He's gotta work on getting the ball down and making better throws to the bases to continue to be trotted out there for any length of time. Glad his hitting is coming around though. Oh yeah, my wife definitely does not appreciate me yelling his last name for some reason...
I think his speed on the bases is good. In the field he has been terrible, IMO. A lot of his problems are things you can learn to improve, but at the same time, he shouldn't be making those mistakes after 5+ years of minor league coaching.
