I just wish people would acknowledge that the reason the AL West may get two or three playoff teams is because of the awful record rhe Rangers have. Has nothing to do with the talent of LA, OAK, SEA... On pace for almost 70!
That would mean going 15-18 for the balance...which is very doable. I'd really love to see them go 18-15 to finish with less than 90 losses. I don't think there are many circumstances in which you could call a 20 or so game improvement anything other than a success. I really hope this is a 2000-like springboard. Granted, we don't have Berkman, Biggio, Bagwell, & Alou hanging around...but it's great for these guys to get a taste for winning.
According to JdJO, it looks like the Astros discovered that Peacock was tipping pitches based on his arm slot. I wonder if those changes (physical and mental) are enough to give him a longer look to finish out the season.
Tipping pitches will obviously hurt you (lookin at you, Brad Lidge) but it would be foolish to not credit this stat as well: zero walks issued. Peacock has died when he has walked batters and yesterday had zero walks and 1 ER. If you're going to be a fly ball pitcher, free passes will lead to crooked innings. I would much rather see NiTro at this juncture, but a Peacock that walks fewer than 3/9IP will make me stomach him getting nods.
If the ultimate goal is to have a perennial 90+ win team, one might think we are nearly halfway to that goal (50-70-90). But I have a feeling the next 20 win gain will be harder than the first.
One would be ridiculously dumb to assume linear improvement in the wins column. Getting to mediocrity (75-80 wins) is fairly simple. After that each win is exponentially harder to get because the value of a win (increased playoffs chance) is exponentially higher. A 70 win team still has a zero percent chance of making the playoffs.
The Houston Astros have been in a multiyear rebuild, and their efforts are finally starting to pay off at the major league level. George Springer and Jon Singleton have each made their debuts for the team this season. Prospects such as Carlos Correa, Mark Appel and Mike Foltynewicz are expected to join them over the next year or two. If their stockpile of young talent fulfills its potential, the Astros could at some point follow the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays with a worst-to-first turnaround driven by a potent farm system. Most will assume that the Astros need that complete roster turnover before they can become competitive again, but that may not be the case. Many of their best players have improved significantly this season from where they were when they represented the core of a team that lost 100 or more games in three consecutive seasons. They may not all be stars, but their improvements can make them valuable pieces of a competitive roster, and that competitiveness might come much sooner than many expect. Jose Altuve | Baserunning It's funny to think of Altuve as one of the key veterans on the team since he is still just 24 years old, but this is his fourth year in the majors. With two All-Star selections in those four seasons, Altuve is probably the closest thing the team has to a star player. But despite those accolades, he has been a flawed player. He has hit at least .276 every season and stolen 30 or more bases three times, but a lack of power, plate discipline, baserunning efficiency and defensive range have limited his value. His power and defense are unlikely to significantly improve, but Altuve has made major strides this season on the basepaths. Because of a lack of traditional stats to capture a player's baserunning efficiency, many people will see Altuve's 35 stolen bases last season and assume he was a great baserunner. That was not the case. Altuve was only successful on 73 percent of his stolen-base attempts, which is close to breaking even when you consider that an out is much more damaging to a team's chances of scoring a run than an extra base is helpful. Meanwhile, Altuve also cost the team in non-steal situations. Baseball Info Solutions tracks good and bad baserunning plays, which cover positive baserunning events like taking an extra base and avoiding a tag and negative baserunning events like overrunning a bag or being picked off by a catcher. Altuve had 12 bad baserunning Plays in 2013, which was third-most in baseball. Altuve continues to be aggressive this season, but he has cut down on his mistakes. He has just seven bad baserunning plays so far this season, and he has only been thrown out on six of his 52 stolen-base attempts, good for an 88 percent success rate. Altuve has always had the speed, but it's his improved decision-making that has transformed him into an exceptional baserunner. Jason Castro | Pitch blocking In his first two seasons in the majors, Castro made a big impact with his bat. He hit 24 home runs from 2012-13 and walked in more than a tenth of his plate appearances. And while Castro was a solid defensive catcher in many respects, he really struggled to block wild pitches and pitches in the dirt. In 2012, he allowed eight passed balls and committed 36 wild pitch misplays -- pitches that the catcher had a legitimate chance to block that ended up becoming wild pitches -- despite sharing catching duties with Chris Snyder. His 88.9 percent block rate was 56th of 69 catchers with at least 100 opportunities. Jason Castro's pitch blocking, 2012-14 Season Catcher blocks Passed balls Wild pitch misplays Block rate rank* 2012 353 8 36 88.9% 56 2013 486 10 27 92.9% 22 2014 494 10 20 94.3% 9 *Minimum 100 opportunities Since his rookie season, Castro has steadily improved his pitch blocking. This season, he has blocked 94.3 percent of wild pitches and pitches in the dirt, which is seventh-best among qualified catchers. Previously, Castro's poor pitch-blocking offset his otherwise solid defense. Now it contributes to his overall excellent defense. We estimate Castro has saved the Astros six runs, which is tied for fifth-most among catchers. Dallas Keuchel | Command After back-to-back seasons with an ERA north of 5.00, Keuchel seemed like a prime candidate to lose his job to one of the Astros' young arms in the coming years. Then this season happened. Through 22 starts, Keuchel has a 3.07 ERA, which is more than two runs lower than the previous two seasons and 12th-best among qualified AL starters. Keuchel's improvement seems out of nowhere if you look only at his ERA, but his peripheral numbers suggest incremental development. The critical fix seems to be with his command. Two seasons ago, Keuchel badly missed his catcher's target on 26 percent of his fastballs. That rate has dropped to 17 percent the past two seasons, and he has also improved the rate at which he has hit the target from 24 percent in 2012 to 30 percent this season. Overall, pitchers hit the target and badly miss the target 25 percent of the time each, so Keuchel's fastball command has improved from below average to well above average over the past three seasons. Dallas Keuchel's fastball command, 2012-13 Season Hit target Badly missed target BB/9 2012 24% 26% 4.1 2013 26% 17% 3.1 2014 30% 17% 2.2 MLB average is 25 percent for both hit target and badly missed target Keuchel's transformation is showing up in his walk rate, which has declined from 4.1 walks per nine in 2012 to 3.1 in 2013 and 2.2 this season. That stinginess in allowing free passes is especially critical for a pitcher like Keuchel, who does not have the raw stuff to overpower hitters and generate high strikeout totals. Dexter Fowler | Hitting away from Coors Field It was pretty unusual to see a player like Fowler, a productive outfielder still under team control, traded this past offseason. The Rockies had several reasons that might have driven that decision, such as depth at the position and the escalating cost of his arbitration-determined salary. However, one factor that is fairly common among Rockies players is the belief that they would not be the same players away from Coors Field, which is frequently the most hitter-friendly park in baseball. The last criticism seemed especially true of Fowler, who had shown massive splits in his home and road starts over his last couple of seasons in Colorado. In both 2012 and 2013, Fowler's on-base plus slugging (OPS) dropped by more than .150 points in his road starts compared to home starts. Many wondered whether Fowler's numbers would crater in Houston, but that has not been the case. Dexter Fowler OPS in and out of Coors Field Season Overall OPS Coors OPS Other parks OPS 2011 .796 .811 .782 2012 .863 .984 .720 2013 .776 .874 .678 2014 .773 -- .773 Fowler has continued to perform better at home in Houston than on the road, which is common for players on most teams, but his overall numbers have not declined away from Coors. His .773 OPS is only three points lower than it was last season. At his current performance level, Fowler seems like a tremendous win in a trade that cost the team Jordan Lyles, whose career ERA is 5.06. Bo Porter | Defensive shifting It may be cheating to include manager Bo Porter, but he is the easiest person to attribute a change in defensive strategy to. And the Astros have changed one strategy radically. Two years ago, the team employed a defensive shift on only 138 balls in play. Last season, which was Porter's first with the club, they increased their use of the shift to 496 balls in play, which was fifth-most in baseball. This season, they have blown that total out of the water. Through Thursday's games, the Astros have shifted on 1,095 balls in play this season. That is 469 shifts more than the second shift-heaviest team, the Yankees. Their lead over the rest of the league in shifts is so big that it alone would be the seventh-highest shift total this season. It is remarkable, and so have been their results. We estimate that they have saved 18 runs because of their shifts, which is five runs more than the next-best team, the Blue Jays. Based on an estimation of 10 runs per win, the Astros have created nearly two wins with their shifting alone. Perhaps those two wins do not mean a ton on a team that is on pace to lose 95 games, but a year or two from now, those two wins may be all the Astros need to reach the playoffs.
REALLY? how the fk is he not a star? he leads the league in batting and most doubles, and somehow hes not a star
Was at the game last night. Fourth row in left center. Man, Fowler was getting harassed by the fans up in the bleachers. I was laughing, couldn't help myself. They did the full on "gimme a D....gimme an E...gimme an X" chant. They harassed him about Dexter's laboratory. "Hey Dexter, why did Colorado trade you to a minor league team?" "Hey Dexter, what is an Astro anyway?" "Hey Dexter, who are those guys playing with you?" (During an outfield meeting) "Hey Dexter, $7 million isn't bad, but even Nick Swisher makes 20!" After a foul ball at third base when he didn't move....."Nice hustle, Dexter!" He took his glove off between pitches. Full on chant started...."Put our glove on!" Over and over again. When he finally did "Good job Dexter, I'm so proud!" This is why I love outfield seats. Also, as I walked in to my bleacher seats, in my Nolan Ryan throwback, I got booed. By the whole section. And then as I turned around and sat down, they started a "Robin Ventura" chant. I wanted to turn around and yell that Nolan was on the Rangers, and won that fight easily, but I didn't. Fun game.
I'm guessing they wanted to get his feet wet for one, and more importantly they wanted to get their coaches a good look at him against MLB competition.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/31819/mike-foltynewicz The first two weeks, he was used pretty regularly, every 3 days or so. But in the last week, not at all. This could be looked at like he missed his last regular outing, and will be used today. Or that he is being overlooked or in someones doghouse. My is guess that Folty is a very situational affair for Porter, and the particular scenario where he likes to use him, lately, hasn't occurred often.
