The Astros actually have had surprising production from CF. Meyers and McCormick have combined for almost 1.5 WAR so far. Meyers has been playing very well of late, has his OPS over .700% at this point. Meyers with an OPS of .750% is a very valuable player, and probably a 4-5 WAR type player.... I would like to see him try stealing some bases though. Julks has played well too. There is a lot of concern in the media about Abreu. However, he has gone in funks before, and has started the last few years poorly in April. He also had a very good Spring Training. I don't know if he will hit 30-35 homers this year, but I do expect 20 homers, a lot of RBI and an OPS of .780% to .850%.
I could not disagree more. Brantley batting 2nd and Pena hitting 7th is a much better and more productive lineup than Pena 2nd and Brantley 7th. Brantley gets on base and Pena doesn't. Pena hits HRs and Brantley doesn't. Any team that puts a player with an OB% under .300 in the #2 spot in front of MVP contending run producers is handicapping themselves unless they have no choice.
I could not disagree more. Brantley batting 2nd and Pena hitting 7th is a much better and more productive lineup than Pena 2nd and Brantley 7th. Brantley gets on base and Pena doesn't. Pena hits HRs and Brantley doesn't. Any team that puts a player with an OB% under .300 in the #2 spot in front of MVP contending run producers is handicapping themselves unless they have no choice. That's how 2022 Yordan Alvarez happens: MVP calibur slugger season and less than 100 RBI because the #2 hitter in front of him does not get on base.
He got caught stealing yesterday in his first attempt of the season. I would also like to see him attempt more with his speed.
I'm not concerned about the power. I'm more concerned about the strikeouts and being fooled a lot at the plate. He will start making hard contact soon enough.
He has had seasons of 140-150 K's before.... last year the White Sox had him cut down the strikeouts but cut down his power. Oddly enough he isn't striking out much at all against lefties, but overall is terrible against them to start the season.
Yes but you're missing the point that his OBP is not under .300 when he bats in front of Yordan. So try again. So you want the .230 hitting version of Pena batting 7th vs Brantley who will hit .315 no matter where he's positioned in the lineup. Got it.
You're assuming Pena was hitting because he was batting 2nd; but he might have been batting 2nd because he was hitting. Besides, even in the #2 spot, his OBP was a pretty bad .315 last year. He's at .302 in the 6 spot this year.
Pena also bats great in the number 8th spot. Why not bat him there? You get the same great production from Pena, but you use the magical properties of batting second on someone that will get on base even more.
