Barring injury, no reason he can't. In his last 25 games (108 plate appearances), he's been one of the best hitters in baseball. .380/.437/.574/1.011
He's currently rocking a .387 BABIP, so no. He's hitting the ball extremely hard this season, but his launch angle isn't good. I suspect he will drive the ball more overall as the year goes on which will lead to a lower BABIP but better overall production if he stays healthy. He's certainly not incapable of hitting .300, he's got all the talent in the world, I just don't suspect he will do it this season. Trying to maintain a high BA isn't the target for him.
It would be nice to have him back in Sugar Land if there was room for him but I am expecting Berryhill there any day now.
The Astros’ coaching factory You’ve heard of front-office trees and managerial trees, right? Well, the Astros in the late 2010s developed a remarkable tree of hitting coaches, five of whom are sprinkled across the majors: • Jeff Albert, the Cardinals’ hitting coach, was the Astros’ minor-league hitting coordinator from 2014 to 2017, and an assistant hitting coach with the major-league club in 2018. • Dillon Lawson, the Yankees’ hitting coach, was a Class A hitting coach with the Astros in 2016 and 2018. • Troy Snitker, the Astros’ co-hitting coach, was a minor-league hitting coach with the organization for three seasons before joining the major-league staff in 2018. • Jeremy Barnes, the Mets’ assistant hitting coach, was the minor-league hitting coordinator who replaced Albert, holding the position in 2018 and 2019. • Ben Rosenthal, the Red Sox’s assistant hitting coach, was a minor-league coach with the Astros from 2017 to 2021, serving the last three seasons as the Triple A hitting instructor. “They were ahead of the curve,” one former Astros official said. “They brought real science to it.” Albert said he knew he had to hire Lawson as a coach on the basis of a text message Lawson sent him about practice methods. At the time, Lawson was coaching at Southeast Missouri State. “I was like, ‘Damn, he’s on top of it,” Albert said. “Now, we’re all competing against each other.”
I am hearing that Mark Appel is really close to being called up to the big leagues. He decided a couple years ago to give it another try and signed with one of two teams that offered him a chance in the minors - the Phillies. He is pitching out of the bullpen in AAA with a lot of success. The only thing that kept him from having a Cole Hamels type career is between his ears.
He has a 1.61 era but I think he is gonna get rocked if he gets called up. Still, good for him for persevering, even if he still is going to fall well short of his “potential”.
Good for him. He can avoid the fate of Brien Taylor. Amazingly, the Astros drafted 2 guys at 1-1 who never made the majors - Aiken and Appel.
https://www.mlb.com/news/mark-appel-called-up-by-phillies Great interview with Appel. Happy for the dude he figured it out and is gonna make the show.
