***** Official Houston Astros 2019 Season Thread *****

6,848,221 Views | 74452 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by PSully97
W
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AG
you know Reddick is going to start drawing the ire of all the "shift gurus" and analytics guys.

big league players are not supposed to willingly make adjustments to their game to defy the numbers.

those folks count on MLB players being stubborn
Harry Dunne
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Deluxe said:

Rustys-Beef-o-Reeno said:

Reddick thankfully has learned from last year that he can't beat the shift so it appears he spent a lot of time working on his oppo swing and it opens up the field for him.
I get it if you are a homerun power hitter, it makes math sense to try and lift the ball, but someone like reddick it's imperative to hit to all fields
Exactly. He's not a good enough pull-power hitter to warrant attempting to beat the shift every time up (like maybe Bryce Harper or Jose Ramirez). Really happy to see him abandon that approach this year.

It's very possible that Brantley is also having an effect on him. After Reddick's home run last night, he made a gesture with his hands/wrists toward Brantley as if to say "I did what you said and it worked" and Brantley made the same motion back like "yessir".
Good catch, just went back and watched that.
Ag_07
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AG
Cole v Bauer tonight

Things may get chipping. Should be a good matchup.
Beat40
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W said:

you know Reddick is going to start drawing the ire of all the "shift gurus" and analytics guys.

big league players are not supposed to willingly make adjustments to their game to defy the numbers.

those folks count on MLB players being stubborn
I think some of that is predicated on the thought that if people are beating the shift, they are most likely getting singles. For example, with Joey Gallo, the thought is you're ok with him beating the shift because it usually results in singles and you're limiting his power threat. How many of us say someone should just lay down a bunt to beat the shift?

However, Reddick isn't just hitting oppo for singles. He's showing some power with doubles and a HR. And he's doing this with men on base. He's doing exactly what a big leaguer should do.

Someone like Gallo should learn from Josh and start trying to actually hit oppo because I'm sure he has enough power to get doubles and probably 5-8 HRs.

I also would like to see Altuve get back to the approach of hitting oppo more. It's staggering to see people shift against him, especially when all we need is a single from him to score a run.
Stros Schadenfreude
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Ag_07 said:

Cole v Bauer tonight

Things may get chipping. Should be a good matchup.


Cole has the fire, these guys have bad blood since College
Harry Dunne
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I'm not trying to rain on the Reddick parade. He's one of my favorite guys on the team and he has obviously worked hard to improve in this area.

That said, he has been hitting singles and doubles to the opposite field his whole career. I know the "he was a dead pull hitter and worked hard to beat the shift and become a spray hitter" narrative is more fun, but it's just not true.

https://www.fangraphs.com/spraycharts.aspx?playerid=3892&position=OF&type=battedball&pid2=3892&ss1=2019&se1=2019&ss2=2012&se2=2019&cht1=hangtime&cht2=hittype&vs1=ALL&vs2=ALL

I was surprised to see this as well, and all but a few of his HR have been to RF, but he's about as much of a spray hitter as they come.
Farmer1906
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AG
Look at the pull %.

Early in his career, he was a pull hitter (38-43%). He got better at using more of the field (35-36% pull). Then last year happened when he pulled 45% of the time. So far this year he's only pulling <31%. A career low by far. He's also going opposite field >30%, a career high.
Deluxe
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AG
Do 2018 only
Harry Dunne
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Yes, like I said he has worked hard and improved (especially from last year to this year), but people are portraying it like he went from being Chris Davis to Tony Gwynn over the offseason.
Ag_07
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AG
Because it's a slow day at the office. Here's some of his batted ball profile

% Pull / % Straight / % Oppo
Career 36.6/36.1/27.3
2018 43.2/33.1/23.7
2019 30.6/41.9/27.4

% GB / % FB / % LD / % PU
Career 38.9/24.5/27.3/9.3
2018 39.0/27.9/21.7/11.4
2019 38.7/19.4/35.5/6.3

So looking at things it seems like over his career he wasn't that far on the pull side of things but there was an uptick in 2018. So it wasn't he wanted to become a spray hitter but more like he wanted to get back to being a spray hitter. And the improvement this year isn't so much in the oppo category as it is in the straight up the middle category.

I also think's it interesting to see the increase in LD% and decrease in PU% this year. He's even improved those numbers to better than his career numbers.
Marvin
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I'm really liking this Brantley signing. The team was missing a Beltran last year and I think we may have found a great (and still productive, which is even better) replacement.
Stros Schadenfreude
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Marvin said:

I'm really liking this Brantley signing. The team was missing a Beltran last year and I think we may have found a great (and still productive, which is even better) replacement.


Dude looks so effortless, one of the best offensive signings in a decade
Harry Dunne
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Beat40 said:


Someone like Gallo should learn from Josh and start trying to actually hit oppo because I'm sure he has enough power to get doubles and probably 5-8 HRs.

Never going to happen. Reddick was a spray hitter that got into a rut, worked hard at something he was already pretty good at, and is now doing it very well again (better than ever).

What Reddick is doing is awesome, but obviously not everyone has the skill to do it. Albert Pujols was the best hitter of his generation and the shift ruined him. Father time has gotten him a little now too, but a few years ago when he was still hitting 40 bombs, he was leading the league in exit velocity and hard hit outs. He was still tagging the ball, but just not able to go where the defense wasn't and it took 50-100 points off his batting average. This is a guy who has walked more than he struck out over his career and was a career .330+ BA guy going into his 30s.

Gallo is a dead pull hitter that strikes out 200 times per year. Although he has laughably been compared to Dave Winfield on here, he is much more like Chris Carter. I'm not saying he can't improve on his usual .200 BA, but he's never going to do what Reddick is doing.

Harry Dunne
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Exactly.
Farmer1906
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AG
Speaking of pulling the ball. Using more of the field isn't always better. Bregman needs to start pulling it more again.
Stros Schadenfreude
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Farmer1906 said:

Speaking of pulling the ball. Using more of the field isn't always better. Bregman needs to start pulling it more again.


He has an ops of 971 and an Ops+ of 162, better than last year.....what is the problem?
Ag_07
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AG
Stros Schadenfreude said:

Farmer1906 said:

Speaking of pulling the ball. Using more of the field isn't always better. Bregman needs to start pulling it more again.


He has an ops of 971 and an Ops+ of 162, better than last year.....what is the problem?

His last name isn't Tucker
Buck Compton
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AG
I like arguing with you but damn if this isn't spot on.
Harry Dunne
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The Tucker brothers have a combined -2.0 major league WAR.
PSully97
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AG
Buck Compton said:

I like arguing with you but damn if this isn't spot on.
Farmer1906
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AG
Stros Schadenfreude said:

Farmer1906 said:

Speaking of pulling the ball. Using more of the field isn't always better. Bregman needs to start pulling it more again.


He has an ops of 971 and an Ops+ of 162, better than last year.....what is the problem?
He's been flying under my radar, I guess. I hadn't checked the numbers and was just going off feel.

You do you, Bregman,
astros4545
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AG
Looks like there are gonna be a lot of bearkats in this thread for Kyle Tucker

Tucker isn't even on the big team and he gets it worse than Tyler white
Stros Schadenfreude
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Trevor Bauer is like the Bryson Dechambeau of baseball
W
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AG
need a professional start from Cole tonight. Nothing of this coming apart in the 1st inning stuff
Deluxe
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AG
Stros Schadenfreude said:

Trevor Bauer is like the Bryson Dechambeau of baseball


Underrated
Farmer1906
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AG
He's my least favorite person in baseball, but he's also a damn good pitcher.
Mathguy64
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AG
Pretty sure Stassi had started with Coke every game. Not tonight. Wonder if that's an accident or Cole wanting a change after last time out.
W
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AG
I don't think it's a coincidence that Chirinos is starting tonight
Mathguy64
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AG
I don't either.
titanmaster_race
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Throw strikes
titanmaster_race
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he's all over the place
Ags #1
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AG
Here we go again
W
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AG
whew, Cole survives the 1st
Mathguy64
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AG
His body language when he doesn't get a close call is very obvious as being frustrated.
W
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AG
didn't realize Kemp is only hitting .156
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