Whitley has been generating a lot of ground balls. Wonder if they will have him focus more on his two seamer to limit fly balls with how hittable his 4s can be.
the LockedonAstros podcast said after his first start that he dropped his arm slot to get more velocity and that led to increased horizontal movement on his sinker and subsequent increased 2-seamer usage.
This is why it's so so difficult to repeat in any of the major sports, you have to be healthy. We were fortunate, save for Brantley, that everyone was healthy headed into the post season. Let's see if we can repeat things on the health front.
Speaking of, did anything record the game where Whitley started and then try to watch it and 4 pitches into the game they switched off the game and started showing their Top 10 Now shows? I couldn't believe it.
All I know is that Tucker better not be hitting 6th. I can’t for the life of me figure out why Tucker isn’t our 2 hitter.
I understand Brantley in the 2 hole. And yes he's the prototypical 2 hole hitter, especially now that we have the new shift rules and are closer to traditional baseball. But Pena is protected there and the reason he did exponentially better than in the 7 hole. A real concern to see him revert to his sub .230 BA and take a huge step back in his sophomore campaign.
It's not easy to find external candidates that improve this team more than the internal candidates. It's just a fact. People have to stop thinking we are a shallow team struggling to win at a 500 clip.
He put a couple on base with HBP and BB and maybe an error worthy defensive lapse. But he worked out of it which is a good sign. I keep track of men reaching base and showed 3, but no hits were recorded on the box score. I'm not sure if it was my mistake or 3 batters reached base without a hit. But watching Gameday was difficult. At least one time they showed a batter striking out on one pitch.
You are assuming that Brantley will come back at full speed. That seems unlikely. You are also assuming that the gains Pena made last season will disappear and that he will not continue to adapt and improve in his second season. He will.
This is simple Pena is a really good fastball hitter, He's going to see more fastballs with Yordan hitting behind him.
I was listening. I think it was walk, error by Pena (described as a potential double-play ball) to put guys on 1st and 3rd, wild pitch that bounced right back to Stubbs, who picked off the runner from 1st, then HBP (grazed the guy's shirt). Got 3 outs, but threw a lot of pitches and it sounded like he was a little wild. Altuve made a really good play up the middle for the third out.
