Curious who the Astros’ main clubhouse leader is ? When Correa was with the team, he could be seen rallying the troops in the dugout. To me, guys like Altuve, Tucker, Alvarez and Bregs seem kinda passive. I was thinking maybe Brantley or now Verlander that he’s back ? McCullers seems to get fired up a lot but he’s kinda an injured bum. So when the Astros need a pick me up - who is the guy ?
Anytime I hear really bad pitching stats I get worried with the Astros because they seem to all of a sudden do amazing against us.
I think Houston has a bunch of leaders who lead in different ways. Altuve and Alvarez (and to a lesser extent Brantley) have the type of quiet leadership that the rest of the team thrives on. They don’t rah rah, but they never get rattled, and almost always produce on the field, and the rest of the team feeds off of that. Bregman is the brash leader who externalizes the confidence. He raises the expectations broadcasted to opponents and fans, and the other players then feel the need to live up to it. Verlander and Abreu (and to a lesser extent Maldy) have the kind of old hired gun leadership. They don’t go out of their way to mentor younger players but they do set an example for how to prepare. Tucker is the rare star player who is not a leader. I believe if he was on a lesser team he would behave differently but in Houston he has been able to lay low.
I want to know why our pitchers can get ahead 0-2 and immediately become allergic to the strike zone. I understand competitive pitches outside the zone, but they aren't even close.
I have read about Brantley and Maldy actually calling/having meetings at various points. There is no doubt that losing guys like Springer, Correa, Reddick, etc have changed the personality of this team. Verlander and McCullers are fiery, as are several of the bullpen pitchers but it's tough for them to lead the position players. My opinion is Maldy is the guy who steps up when it's needed but Altuve and Brantley are the guys players look to as examples.
I kinda miss cocky bregman from 2017-2019 years or Correas ability to fire up a team during the game. I agree leadership takes a lot of different forms but it seems like we are missing the firebrand (I’m just basing this off dugout attitudes )
I have a feeling this game will be a blowout, Correa's team, or the 713 team. So we may not need Dusty's wand today. But so far, putting Abreu 5th has Toothpick looking good. Don't let the pitchers overpitch.
I guess it's kind of like the Astros complaining about the batter's eye but not effecting other teams. Could be those two things are in the home teams head because it's talked about a lot around them. Road team doesn't think about it (except for Mike Trout).
Any response to this question that does not mention Maldonaldo, in my opinion, is disingenuous. As much as I prefer Diaz to handle a majority of the catcher reps. The Astros though, have a handful of lead by example types (Brantley, Altuve, etc).
That yesterday’s game going to go the Twins way, that the crowd would lift up the team, Sonny Gray would have a dominate pitching performance, etc.
Didn’t the manager of the WBC call Tucker one of the team leaders? I seem to remember that on a broadcast.
