2nd inning, Tuesday night, 0-0 score, bases loaded 1 out - Conger K. Saturday, bottom 9, losing 3-2, 1 out runners on first and second - Conger K. Granted, his hit last night was a huge one, but he has failed more often than he has come up big over the course of the year. And, he is not a good defensive catcher. He can't throw anyone out. He (and Castro) have problems with pitches that Ausmus (man, were we spoiled by him) would get with his eyes closed. As a recent example, the WP on Qualls last night should have been caught.
But that's true of every player. Conger has had some huge hits recently, including a massive one last night that may go down as one of the bigger hits of the year when all is said and done. Yeah, fans way overrate the idea of clutch; it's a big bag of meaningless nothing. BUT - big hits are big hits, and a player failing 70+% of the time doesn't invalidate any of those.
This seems a little extreme. We've had a number of games that we won in the 9th inning this year. All those hits - and all the big hits in close games - seem to be more critical than a 4th inning hit in a game we won in a blowout.
In terms of how big last night's game was (the Rangers having crept to within a game), I thought it was an extremely big hit. No guarantee that game unfolds the same if Conger doesn't break that inning open.
I acknowledged that Conger's hit last night was a big one. I am just saying he hasn't been coming through as much as it may have seemed. He has had a couple of noticeable games with his two grand slams.
He also had a big game winning HR earlier in the year vs. Arlington... with given the standings, even just that one game is looming big right now. He had a 5 RBI game last week and a 4 RBI game last night. We all know what he is (or isn't) as a catcher, but he's one of the better left-handed hitter options we have available (presuming we can get him to bat solely as a lefty).
I would really like to know why it is Conger is struggling so much with base stealers this season. In Anaheim he threw out 24% of runners, which is only slightly below league average. Here in Houston he can't throw anybody out, the plays are rarely even close.
As has been said before, sometimes the starting pitcher has just as much to do with the ability for runners to get a good jump or the catcher to get off a good throw... as does the catcher's throwing arm quality. That being said, Conger's arm is neither strong nor accurate. It hasn't directly cost this team a game (yet), and runners simply won't run as much with Keuchel and Kazmir on the mound (yet). If there's any chance Conger would accept or be able to physically handle 1B, the Astros should explore it in the off-season.
But why has his arm gotten so much worse in one offseason? It isn't the pitchers because Castro hasn't had trouble.
1.) Castro's a better catcher. 2.) Conger is having a bad year and some of it has gotten to his head (perhaps with more regular play, he gets one by accident... almost had a runner on Tuesday night... i'd simply settle for semi-decent throws regardless of outcome).
Do you think he's offensively good enough there? He's been fantastic against righties this year, but it's completely out of whack with his career averages. I think Conger has been terrible from throwing perspective, but he seems to call a decent game (FWIW, his catcher ERA is marginally better than Castro's), and blocks the plate pretty well for his pitchers. He's made a couple of big time plays on bang bang plays at the plate. I recall when we acquired him, he was lauded for his pitch framing. There's a lot more to the catcher position than the throwing game. I wouldn't move him off it just for that.
Not saying I disagree with you, but over the last 3 years Castro has thrown out 23% of baserunners, and Conger had thrown out 24%. There was no evidence that Castro was better. It's visibly obvious how much better Castro's throws are than Congers, but results wise they were no different in prior seasons. I just find it very strange that Conger became a massive throwing liability for no apparent reason.
There are sample size issues there... if the pitching is "better" as a whole, there will likely be less baserunners and base-stealing, if a team is losing (like most Astros opponents have been all season), they're less likely to steal bases (opponents ran a lot more on Castro last year), But yes, I agree... Conger has been worse than he ever has been and there has yet to be a clear-cut reason why (hiding an injury?).
Seeing as what the Astros have been putting out at 1B for the majority of this season, Conger would have been an upgrade... but that's only if you don't get somebody better and you have other catching options. Agreed that theres more to catching than simply throwing out runners.... the Astros catchers also don't "call" very much of the game. Not sure if many teams still rely on their catchers solely calling the games.
Fair enough...which is how Marwin ends up at first. Who would have thought that at the beginning of the season? Heck, I thought the decision to send down Villar vs. release Marwin was borderline just earlier this year! I'm assuming Reed and White are in the mix next year... I like the idea of keeping Conger at catcher and using him against righties pitching with teams that are not good at running.
The Rangers are obviously going to stick around - and if they win 5+ of the remaining seven with us, they're probably going to steal the division. But we need to remember a few things: 1) the Rangers - for a team in contention - are not very good at home (32-32). That is far and away the worst home record of any contender in the AL 2) the Rangers are terrible against the AL West (23-32) 17 of their 23 remaining games are at home, and 20 of those 23 are against the AL West. Now, they do own a fairly decisive record against the Astros... that doesn't bode well. But they're going to have to reverse some year-long trends to push ahead of us. I lived in Dallas for 10 years; August fades are not uncommon in Arlington. It is HOT. Uncomfortably hot. The Astros still control this division. They need to effectively snuff out the Angels this weekend and then win at least two in Arlington. Good times...
