I know this topic has been beaten to hell, but
Chandler's article on Yainer yesterday had a few things that caught me eye.
Yainer's English is fine... or at least good enough. And Brown knows a little but of Spanish.
Quote:
The two 24-year-olds are an odd pairing on paper only. Diaz is Dominican. Brown was born and raised in Detroit and boasts a mean Midwestern accent. Diaz uses an interpreter for interviews, but Brown praised him for how well he can speak English on the mound and in pregame advance meetings.
"My Spanish," Brown said with a grin, "it's enough to talk about what pitches we're going to throw and that's that."
Sounds like the defense we all see with the eye test it matching what the coaches think. Rocket arm, blocking fine, and needs to work on framing.
Quote:
"The throwing has been incredible," Collins said. "I thought he's done a really, really nice job and given himself a chance. … With the new pitch timer and disengagement rules, I think some people are being a little more aggressive and have been very successful thus far. Throwing out runners, I think, is going to be difficult and a challenge, but he's executed quality throws pretty much every time. He's given himself the best chance to throw out as many people as he can, which has been awesome."
Diaz's average 1.91-second pop time the time from a catcher receiving a pitch to a middle infielder catching a throw tied with Willson Contreras for the eighth fastest among all catchers. Starter Martn Maldonado averages 1.90 seconds. Diaz's receiving needs some improvement, Collins acknowledged, but his blocking has been "incredible." Collins surmised that some of the poor receiving or framing stems from focusing too much on being ready to block a pitch instead of concentrating on a setup.
"Some of those have been mis-locations or setups with runners on base where he's been really focused on trying to block certain pitches and we haven't quite gotten to some of those borderline pitches," Collins said. "But the blocking has been incredible, the throwing has been great. All in all, very happy. Just continue to monitor some of those close pitches."
Interesting that Dusty decided on this pairing.
Quote:
Manager Dusty Baker hatched the idea to pair Diaz with Brown following the right-hander's first start of the season.
And this is what we've all been saying. LOL 300 at bats.
Quote:
Diaz's usage is otherwise perplexing. He started Tuesday for just the ninth time in the Astros' first 30 games. Last month, general manager Dana Brown told The Athletic that Diaz will "get over the 300 at-bats that I think we need him to get." After Tuesday, Diaz has taken just 31, prolonging the puzzling use of a player supposedly on this roster for his offense.
Diaz was never going to usurp Maldonado as the team's starting catcher, but failing to give him at-bats at either designated hitter or first base seems foolish. The team still wants Diaz to improve his chase rate and curtail his free-swinging nature, but he is in his current state a better option than David Hensley or Rylan Bannon, both of whom have received DH at-bats during this homestand.