31 days until opening day brings us to #31 on the jersey countdown. After all the emotions of the last few days, #31 is more of a grab bag of fun guys to remember.
Joe Perez wore it for about 30 seconds last year, but the most recent impressive wearer is Collin McHugh, who donned it from 2014-2019. McHugh was claimed off wiavers by the Astros from the Mets at the end of 2013. He went 11-9 with a 2.73 ERA in 2014 and 19-7 with a 3.89 ERA In 2015, the Astros' first playoff trip in 10 years. He was hurt for most of 2017 but still got a ring, then made a great transition to the bullpen in 2018, going 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA and 94 Ks in 72 innings.
The most notable guy before McHugh was Astros "what might have been" favorite Daryle Ward, who wore it from 1998 to 2002. We always heard about this raw, untapped power that Ward had, and he wasa big piece of a blockbuster trade with the Tigers where we got Ausmus, LIma, Trever Miller, and CJ Nitkowski for Doug Brocail, Brian Hunter, Todd Jones, and Orlando Miller.
In 1997 between Double A and Triple A at age 22, Ward hit .334 with 21 HR and 98 RBI but he could never figure it out on the big league level. He hit 20 HR and slugged .538 in 119 games in 2000, but when he was installed as an everyday player in 2002, the power vanished (12 HR in 453 AB. he was eventually traded to the Dodgers in 2003. Ward and Berkman came up to the big league club together, and I remember a baseball coach I knew back then once saying, "If Ward had even 50% of Berkman's work ethic and passion for the game, he could be really great." Take that as you will.
All kind of randos wore the # before that - Sid Bream, jeff Tabaka, Russ Springer, even Bob Forsch when the Astros traded for him in 1988. Fun fact - I went to his first game that year after the trade. He pitched 8 innings of 5 hit shutout ball and hit a 3-run double off Norm Charlton of the Reds in a 5-0 win.
Also a shout out to #31 Frank LaCorte, who was incredible on the 1980 squad, going 8-5 with a 2.82 ERA, 44 games finished, and 11 saves. He pitched 5 years in the H overall after being a terrible starter in Atlanta. And he had a fierce early 80s pron mustache.
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