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2019 Houston Astros Thread

Planet Houston

By Planet Houston
in Baseball

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My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer 3 weeks ago. Tomorrow she starts her treatment. She's been a wreck ever since the diagnosis. I mentioned a few pages back how a friend of the family manage

Rustic Horn
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Mez2
Mez2

Newest Astro fan was born earlier today at 12:09 am Mez3, holla!

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Scraps

Scraps 13812

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The record for lead off homers in a season is 13. Springer may hit that by the all star break. 
I'm waiting to see which team/manager decides through some sabermetrics bullshit that they should intentionally walk Springer to lead the game off. It will be epic.

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Wishbone

Wishbone 4958

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1 minute ago, Planet Houston said:

Goddamn I love this team. 

Corbin is filthy. George is a monster. Bregman is ridiculous. Despite a poor afternoon, Brantley is incredible.

Tyler White still sucks tho. 

Agreed. However, while I like what we saw today, tap the brakes a tad on Corbin until the other teams have a book on him. Hopefully, he can keep it up after that is out.

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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 78757

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3 hours ago, Mez2 said:

Chuy is going to play for the banditos as soon as he turns 8

two calls pre pre game - one was a an aggie / i struck him out in hs shout out (martin was all district CF and Pitcher), the other was a 'fuck the banditos' shout out. both had me laughing 

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9819

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Agreed. However, while I like what we saw today, tap the brakes a tad on Corbin until the other teams have a book on him. Hopefully, he can keep it up after that is out.

I joked earlier about Martin still not having faced an MLB lineup but pretty impressed by him today. Stressful enough making your MLB debut. being a hometown boy and doing it on Mother’s Day adds another level and he seemed completely unphased.

Can definitely see how is our most polished pitching prospect. all 4 of his pitches looked MLB ready and really nice game called by Stassi. Not sure Martin shook him off at all and seemed to be mixing speed and location exceptionally well.
If he’s hitting corners and keeping the ball out of the middle of the zone like he was today, the book on him is going to say “hits the corners and keeps it out of the zone. When he does that we’re fucked.”

Seriously, I think I can count on one hand the number of pitches in the middle of the zone.
The reports said he has excellent control which definitely showed today and makes me more excited about his staying power than say, James or Valdez.

Go get one more starter at the deadline based on whoever is the hottest, get McHugh right, avoid big injuries. Cakewalk to parade #2

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Rip76

Rip76 5022

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2 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:


I joked earlier about Martin still not having faced an MLB lineup but pretty impressed by him today. Stressful enough making your MLB debut. being a hometown boy and doing it on Mother’s Day adds another level and he seemed completely unphased.

Can definitely see how is our most polished pitching prospect. all 4 of his pitches looked MLB ready and really nice game called by Stassi. Not sure Martin shook him off at all and seemed to be mixing speed and location exceptionally well.
If he’s hitting corners and keeping the ball out of the middle of the zone like he was today, the book on him is going to say “hits the corners and keeps it out of the zone. When he does that we’re fucked.”

Seriously, I think I can count on one hand the number of pitches in the middle of the zone.
The reports said he has excellent control which definitely showed today and makes me more excited about his staying power than say, James or Valdez.

Go get one more starter at the deadline based on whoever is the hottest, get McHugh right, avoid big injuries. Cakewalk to parade #2
 

Dallas?

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Planet Houston

Planet Houston 4950

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Corbin showed enough with just two of his pitches that he’s a big leaguer. His fastball and changeup were both nasty. If he can consistently paint the corners like he was today at 95-96, and throw his changeup with with the same arm action and that same tail down and away from lefties, he will be set. Add in a decent slider and curve, and he’s a legit TOR starter. 

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Seasick Sailor

Seasick Sailor 3747

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On Corbin Martin's Ahead-of-Schedule Arrival

By Jake Kaplan

 

‘He has the stuff to pitch here for a long time’: On Corbin Martin’s ahead-of-schedule arrival

GettyImages-1148682292-e1557702930533-1024x681.jpg
By Jake Kaplan May 12, 2019comment-icon.png 6 save-icon.png

Corbin Martin might be the first player ever to pitch at Minute Maid Park in a high school game, a college game, a major-league spring training exhibition game and a major-league regular-season game.

The Cypress Ranch High School and Texas A&M product checked off that last box in Sunday’s debut for the Astros, his hometown team. The 23-year-old right-hander seized his opportunity to take the struggling Collin McHugh’s place in the rotation, validating the team’s decision to turn to him earlier than expected.

Martin showed why the Astros believe he will be a mainstay for years to come in his 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball against the Rangers. He retired 16 of the 20 batters he faced, nine via strikeout, before exiting to a standing ovation.

“After I got taken out, I sat in the dugout and just kind of let it soak in for a little bit and let my nerves calm down,” said Martin, who grew up about 50 miles northwest of Houston in the town of Hempstead. “It was a really good feeling.”

Martin had learned of his promotion from Triple-A only Saturday. He was aboard the Round Rock Express’ team bus from the Austin airport en route to their home field, Dell Diamond, after a 7 a.m. flight from Omaha. All of a sudden, manager Mickey Storey stood up and told the entire team the news.

“At first I was kind of just like, ‘OK.’ And then I was like, ‘Wait, what?'” Martin said. “It was a surreal moment and something I’ll never forget.”

With Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole atop their rotation and Wade Miley stabilizing the No. 3 spot, the Astros need Martin to be only a steady No. 4-type starter. He will be eased into major-league action, as demonstrated by his pitch count of 80 on Sunday. In Triple-A, his longest outing was 5 2/3 innings. His highest pitch count was 90.

But if he can amount to a steady arm for five or six innings every five games, it should be plenty.

Astros starting pitchers ERA FIP BB/9 K/9
Justin Verlander 2.51 3.94 2.2 10.7
Gerrit Cole 3.88 2.92 2.4 13.9
Wade Miley 3.18 4.29 2.2 6.0
Brad Peacock 4.30 3.34 2.4 9.1

In his debut, Martin leaned on his best pitch, a four-seam fastball that averaged 95 mph and topped out at 97, and complemented it with a mixture of curveballs and sliders. The second time through the order, he threw more changeups. He was confident enough in his changeup to throw it in a 3-and-1 count to Shin-Soo Choo in the third inning, a batter after Isiah Kiner-Falefa took him deep.

“I thought he did amazing,” catcher Max Stassi said of Martin. “He’s wise beyond his years. He’s very level-headed. No highs, no lows. Obviously, he has the stuff to pitch here for a long time. It was very, very impressive.”

 
Embedded video
 

Corbin Martin, Filthy 86mph Knuckle Curve (and whatever that is by Hunter Pence). 😨

 
 
 
 

 

“I felt really good,” Martin said. “I think I didn’t waste as many pitches as I had been in Triple-A. That was something I’ve been really focusing on and it’s something that’s going to help me moving forward.”

Martin’s rise to the majors was quick, as he made it to Houston less than two years after he was drafted. The Astros selected him 56th overall in 2017 with the better of the two picks they received as compensation from the Cardinals for the hacking scandal.

As a collegiate pitcher, Martin pitched primarily in relief. He prepared himself every season to be a starter but bounced around between Texas A&M’s rotation and its bullpen. Walks plagued his three years in College Station, which might typically scare off the Astros. But their scouts and the TrackMan data liked his raw stuff. They bet on his talent and their player development staff to translate it to results.

In the low minors, the Astros worked with Martin to refine his delivery and helped him turn his strike-throwing from a deficiency to a strength. He’s walked only 2.8 per nine in 179 career minor-league innings. In Sunday’s debut, he issued only one walk, to the penultimate batter he faced.

If there was a knock on Martin in the minors, it was that he didn’t miss enough bats. His 8.4 per nine in Double-A last season doesn’t align with the quality of his stuff. In his month in Triple-A to begin this season, he improved that number to 10.4 per nine. His pitch sequencing was an emphasis in spring training. Against the Rangers, he generated 10 swings and misses.

“His stuff is real,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said, “and his demeanor is very advanced for someone who’s only been in pro ball for a short period of time.”

Martin’s debut came earlier than anticipated. It was supposed to happen at some point this season but not this soon. The extent to which McHugh struggled in his last four starts (24 earned runs in 18 innings) accelerated the timeline.

McHugh’s back in the bullpen now, back in the same role in which he thrived last season. As a starter, he sorely missed the 2 mph he gained on his fastball when he was converted to a reliever. He averaged 90 mph with his fastball in his eight starts this season. The pitch was also responsible for four of the nine home runs he allowed and zero of his 42 strikeouts.

That McHugh struggled to locate his fastball away to right-handed hitters and inside to lefties compounded the problem. The ineffectiveness of his fastball led to maybe an over-reliance on his slider, which he threw 43 percent of the time. His slider has become his best pitch, but the more a hitter sees it the better prepared he is for the next one.

“I was disappointed, mostly that there wasn’t as much time as I wanted to be able to get things turned around from a starting perspective,” McHugh said. “I would’ve liked to have had some more outings to be able to sharpen up and get back to form like I was early in the season. But the baseball decision was made. I think part of it’s probably a factor of the success I had in the pen last year and the versatility I can bring down there.

“But this is a really good baseball team. So, I would just reiterate what I’ve been saying the last two years, that being able to be on this team and help this team in any way possible is a privilege and I’m excited to be able to continue to do that. Obviously, there’s disappointment mixed in. But I know the job I have to do and I know what I can do to help the team.”

As a reliever, the Astros would like McHugh to focus on being more efficient with his fastball. He made his 2019 bullpen debut in relief of Martin on Sunday and in his 1 2/3 innings allowed an inherited runner and one additional run to score.

“My fastball command hasn’t been great all season, but it was good enough early on to get me into favorable counts and deep in games. I just haven’t been able to do that in the last couple of starts,” McHugh said. “I feel pretty confident about making some adjustments that we’ve already made in the last week or so and hopefully it will show in performance.”

McHugh’s role change means the Astros will carry eight relievers in the bullpen for at least this week’s road trip to Detroit and Boston. They will have to make another roster move upon José Altuve’s activation from the injured list. The expectation is that Altuve, who has a Grade 1 left hamstring strain, will be ready to be activated May 21, the first day he’s eligible. Aledmys Díaz will continue to be the primary second baseman during Altuve’s absence. First baseman Yuli Gurriel could also see time at second.

“I think we’re all trying to be careful with this,” Altuve said. “It can take one day but it can take 10 days. We don’t know.”

The Astros chose Martin as McHugh’s replacement over long reliever Framber Valdez, the player most vulnerable to being optioned to Triple-A upon Altuve’s return. In his first six career appearances in Triple-A, Martin pitched to a 1.48 ERA in 24 1/3 innings. Fellow prospect Forrest Whitley, meanwhile, has a 10.80 ERA in 18 1/3 innings.

“We didn’t expect to have a change in the rotation in early May,” Hinch said. “But we weren’t afraid of it.”

The schedule presents the Astros two options the next turn through the rotation. They can stay in line and have Martin make his first major-league road start Saturday against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Or they can skip Martin and have Brad Peacock start Saturday on regular rest because they have an off day Thursday, thus pushing Martin to the White Sox series in Houston the following week.

Given how he handled Sunday’s debut, delaying his second turn won’t be necessary.

 

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kevwun

kevwun 16449

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One thing Martin will have to do is throw his high fastball a little closer to the top of the zone.  I know it's a rising fastball, but the Rangers were swinging at pitches that were a foot high.  Guys are gonna lay off that eventually.  He's gonna have to make it a little more enticing.

Edited by kevwun
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